Available on: Werk Discs 12″

Matt Cutler’s recent promo mix for XOYO showed a man infatuated with early ’90s dance music, and his latest release on Werk Discs continues the theme. A love letter to the Detroit sound as well as UK rave, ‘Once In A While’ has rapidly risen to anthem status since Kode9 selected it as the exuberant opener to his DJ-Kicks mix.

The best club tracks are capable of creating their own atmosphere and here the Nottingham producer effortlessly captures the breezy optimism of early rave. Re-pitched steel drums skip across an undulating surface of lush synths and scattershot 808 pads, while a buoyant bassline propels the track from below. Picking up where last Lone single ‘Angel Brain’ left off, this is another lesson in un-self conscious nostalgia, incorporating all the tropes of a specific era of dance music while remaining current enough to prevent it becoming merely a delightful anachronism.

Lone made his name with albums referencing the disjointed hip-hop of Flying Lotus and the electro-boogie of Dam-Funk and it’s not yet clear whether this release is the continuation of a brief flirtation with rave or indication of a more deliberate stylistic shift. Encouragingly the tantalising previews of forthcoming mini-album Emerald Fantasy Tracks suggest that he has plenty more to offer in this area: a prospect to make even the most jaded electronic music fan go weak at the knees.

James Waldron