Issue 58 with 808 State 7"

808 State are on the cover. Acid house pioneers, rave provocateurs, electronic pop stars by accident – are back with their first album for 17 years. Recorded at the old Granada TV Studios in Manchester, it’s called Transmission Suite and it’s a corker, which is why they've interviewed 808 State’s Graham Massey and Andrew Barker for the lead feature of this month’s cover story. The return of 808 State isn’t the only reason to be cheerful. There’s also Luke Vibert’s Valvable and Paranoid London’s ‘PL’, two albums that are on heavy rotation in the Electronic Sound office over the summer. They’re both soaked in the squelch of the Roland TB-303, the little silver box that powered the late 1980s acid house revolution. There's plenty of other great stuff elsewhere in this issue, including Stephen Mallinder, Anna Meredith, M83, Dave Ball, Jenny Hval, Greg Wilson and Neil Arthur. Plus Floating Spectrum and also Floating Points.

A terrific 808 State seven-inch to accompany this issue. On one side is Ozawa, a synth-heavy out-take from the Transmission Suite sessions. On the other is a 21st century reworking of the band’s 1990 hit Cubik, which 808 man Graham Massey describes as having “a massive weight compared to the original”. Both Ozawa and Cubik 80890 are unavailable elsewhere and, as with all our releases, this seven-inch is a limited edition pressing exclusively for readers of Electronic Sound.