Variety Magic – De:tuned 58

A whole album’s worth of mid-90s material from the multi-alias man Luke Vibert, aligning in time with the Plug EPs (‘Visible Crater Funk’, ‘Versatile Crib Funk’ etc – anagrams of Luke Francis Vibert), which were largely sidestepped at the time by the & bass scene, and claimed instead by the Aphex and Squarepusher crowd, who recognised a kindred eccentric. These ones never exited the fridge, but their retro-releasability proves that fact only came down to an issue of sheer volume. Sourced from a cache of DATs Vibert found in 2011, dated 1995-98, Variety Magic is the same operation, sourced from the same mid-nints archive; including the magnificently titled ‘I Wank In My Mother’s Underwear’, a lewd layer-cake of busty breaks and chanting, vibra-soul ad-libs.