February: 18 albums you need to hear this month
That's the month sorted, then
Throwing Snow 'Embers' (Houndstooth)
Artists like Ross Tones, aka Throwing Snow, are the reason we all fought so hard to save Fabric. Signed to the electronic music institution’s artist label, Houndstooth, his new album is inspired by nature’s recurring patterns and blends together left-of-centre dancefloor experiments, sound design and field recordings in an expansive electronic opus. You hardly hear the word dubstep mentioned these days, but Cantor’s ‘Dust Pt 2’ displays all its hallmarks: the furniture-rearranging bass, screeching synth lines and breakbeat. ‘Recursion’ sprawls across its six minutes like modern-day Bach, while ‘Prism Pt 1’ is loping analogue house that jerks and pivots to an idiosyncratic tempo. Stephen Worthy
7/10