Eddie Symons' fine recent run for Central Processing Unit continues. The NULLPTR mastermind makes it four releases on the Sheffield label in five years with Recursor, a six-track EP which balances precision-engineered machine-funk grooves with an overarching aura of gracefulness. Recursor finds its lane from the opening title-track. On the quicksilver 'Recursor' we get Drexciyan punch, a needlegun bassline and staccato arps offset by eerie washes of synths. There's a tension between the two elements of the track, and this yin-yang combination means that' Recursor' will work equally well for both the rave's darkest corners and also the euphoria of a sunrise set. After the title-track begins the record at breakneck speed, 'Pulsar' puts proceedings into cruise control. There's still enough punch in the drum programming to ensure that 'Pulsar' will deliver in the dance, but this mid-paced tune is dominated by its warping bassline and keening keys, all of which comes together for a pretty and strangely wistful number. 'Pulsar's energy persists into following cut 'Phase Function, though there's a twitchiness to the bassline here which gives this track a nervier, more neurotic feel. As well as the golden age of Detroit electro, you're also looking at Silicon Scally and Annie Hall as ballpark references, though there's a winning idiosyncrasy to the production here which is all NULLPTR's own. The groove which kicks off the second half of Recursor is one of the most focussed on the whole EP - 'Seil' has a bassline which moves with the intent of a heat-seeking missile. When combined with the distant snap of 808s and twinkling arps, the whole thing very much maintains the shadowy feeling of 'Phase Function', and it's an energy that Recursor rides into 'Stone Tape'. 'Stone Tape' boasts another stellar bassline, but rather than the low-end barrelling forward intensely as it does on 'Seil' the bass here skips all around the mix, pleasingly erratic and playful. 'Portal' is an apt title for Recuror's sixth and final track. Indeed, the whole vibe of 'Portal' makes it a perfect closer for this EP of detailed electro jams. This tune really does feel like a portal being opened, the bass and drums busying themselves on the floor while chemtrails of synth in the upper-end of the mix intimate something enticing beyond the threshold. Sparky yet sleek, Recursor is the latest fine machine-funk collection from NULLPTR. RIYL: Annie Hall, Silicon Scally, Legowelt

NULLPTR never fails. Since emerging in 2016 with the Optical LP, Eddie Symons' project has become a byword for top-draw contemporary electro productions. After triumphantly returning to Sheffield's Central Processing Unit with 2020's Future World full-length, NULLPTR follows that album up with a new quartet of machine-funk slammers. Striking a balance between highwire, twitchy rhythm programming and some deft textural work, the Terminus EP demonstrates exactly why the NULLPTR name is so respected in the world of electro. The first half here almost showcases the two sides of the NULLPTR sound in microcosm. Opening track 'Connected' zips along like one of the racers from a Wip3out game. The 808s are all booming breakbeats and hissing-piston hats, with a jittery synth bassline nipping in and out of the spaces left vacant by the drums. Atop these swirl eerie keyboard pads, the reverb from them draping across the rest of the instruments like fog above a city. By contrast, following cut 'Mesospheric Cruise' is the yin to 'Connected's yang. Where its predecessor was tense and coiled, this lilting number is expansive and open like a primetime Virginia joint - though the point where the wistful house pads strip back to foreground the twinkle-toed electro beat still has a pleasing crunch to it. The B-side of Terminus serves dystopian snap from the off. Genre masters Drexciya are invoked by 'Syndicate'. The needle-gun bassline here turns itself inside-out across these five minutes, and all the while the tune is laced with some evocative shadow-realm synth pads. A similar energy courses through the EP's closing title-track, a cut which also brings into play a booming four-to-the-flour that gives it an unstoppable sense of forward-motion. Like 'Connected' and 'Mesospheric Cruise' - indeed, like all of the NULLPTR material that Central Processing Unit has brought us down the years - these jams will sound positively devilish when deployed in a dark basement. The Terminus EP sees electro don NULLPTR (Eddie Symons) deliver four slices of unadulterated machine-funk heat. RIYL: Virginia, Cardopusher, Drexciya, Silicon Scally

Two years after debuting on Central Processing Unit with the acclaimed Aftrmth EP, Nullptr returns to the Sheffield label for the release of new full-length album Future World. Nullptr has created a set of perpetual-motion marvels here, wind-'em-up-and-watch-'em-go electro tunes in which synth lines and 808s weave dexterously in and out of one another to form these lovely interlocking patterns. Many of the tracks on Future World are anchored by needlegun grooves in the Drexciyan mode. The album's opening number 'Arrowhead', an eerie dystopian-electro take, sets the scene in this regard, and cuts like 'Cytron' and 'Phantom Cell' also have a rugged bump to their low-end - particularly the latter, which features a deliciously nasty bassline drop about halfway in. While busybody drum programming persists throughout the album, Nullptr's fondness for washed-out pads means that Future World also provides the listener with space for contemplation. Third track 'Sweet Luna' may be robust enough to do damage on the dancefloor, but its deep chords and relatively muted bassline also push it in the direction of 90s electronica and IDM-techno. 'Sweet Luna' opens the door for many of the subsequent numbers to balance driving beats with wistful textures, and while electro remains Future World's core style the harsh sound of machine-funk is softened throughout by these warm synth tones. Rather than playing it safe within the genre's familiar confines, Nullptr instead uses electro as a base from which to incorporate other sounds throughout Future World. 'Wave Cannon's bleep-bloop modulars and twittering hi-hats are pure robo-funk, but the track's jumpy bassline shows off a sense of adventure derived from braindance. There is also the ghost of a breakbeat in Nullptr's snare programming here, something which lurks in the back of 'Arvanche' later in the tracklisting. Meanwhile the uptempo 'Bit Device' pushes through to the ruminative techno of Virginia's early Ostgut Ton releases. Nullptr throws us another curveball in Future World's home straight. The album's title-track closes the record out, and it's a cut which takes us deeper than anything that's come previously. Here Nullptr both lowers the tempo and also does away with drums, leaving the listener with little more than some hanging-garden synth pads and pregnant bassline. It proves to be a hugely atmospheric coda for this delightful album. RIYL: Jensen Interceptor, Assembler Code, The Exaltics, Drexciya