Before we say anything else: make sure you come join us this Sunday 9 May at The Lock Tavern in Camden, London, for our latest unmissable free party. Having almost razed the building to the ground with February’s Joy Orbison, Rustie and MJ Cole epic, this weekend we welcome the mighty Actress (Honest Jon’s, Werk Discs), dubstep hero D1 (Tempa), and Numbers’ latest signing, Slackk, with support from the FACT DJs. We kick off at 3pm and run til 11pm close, charting a scenic path through house, techno, funky, dubstep, dancehall, garage and grime. And did we mention it’s free?

Here in the UK the week has of course been dominated by the banal but compelling ins and outs of the general election – talk of swinging, hanging, smashed-up Polish light aircraft and “getting into bed with Peter Mandelson”. But that doesn’t mean that shit hasn’t been going on…

Juke continues to blow up outside of the US, with Footwork man DJ Nate signing to Planet Mu; we also heralded the debut of LuckyMe’s The Blessings and the returns of Sistol, James Holden, El-P, Antony & The Johnsons and Ratatat, not to mention tasty reissues of work from Matthew Larkin Cassell, E.A.R., Burial Hex / Zola Jesus,

Mike Dehnert kicked off the week with a blistering live set for FACT mix 146, while Bristol’s Redlight (formally Clipz) ended it with a fiery session of grime, electro and dubstep.

In features this week, Flying Lotus talked about the conception of his colossal new long player Cosmogramma, and we tracked down the pair behind the Southern hip-hop album of the year so far, Burn One & Starlito.

In the reviews section this week, new singles from Ramadanman, Swindle and Instra:mental received rave reviews for their “virtuoso woodblocks”, “ragged riffs” and “drugged out sewer lullabies” respectively. Roll Deep’s UK number one hit, ‘Good Times’, didn’t fare so well. In the albums section, we looked at potentially David Byrne’s last great album, and pondered whether Flying Lotus’s Cosmogramma epic lived up to its hype.