Every issue of Grooves magazine is an essential purchase for me. It's easily the best electronic music magazine out there (and one of the best mags, period). It's not so much for the writing (which is solid, if nothing special) but for it's breadth of focus, attractive layout, and gigantic review sections (covering music, DVD, live, and software critiques each issue).

With four months between issues, a lot tends to change. Slowly, the content has been shifting away from pure laptop music, with the bubble finally breaking with the present issue. It's about time. Artists embracing live instrumentation, electroacoustic sounds, or vocals (to go with their laptops) are no longer cult rebels, they're becoming the norm. Even established artists like Mu-ziq, whose latest work borrows heavily from UK garage, are making a point of radically altering their styles and wriggling free of the niches they've established for themselves in the last several years.

Bravo to Grooves for continuing to flex with the times as well as putting out their usual excellent product.