Fantastic five: return of the old guard

Dance music might be packed with barely-out-of-school bedroom producers and fresh-faced YouTube and SoundCloud smashers nowadays, but that hasn't deterred the gold-plated artists from carrying on. If anything, it's spurred them on and they're out in their droves this year, with five key players releasing albums.

The Prodigy
As this one's already been released it's only right to kick things off with the fellas from Essex. They were pretty confident from the off, saying the album, 'The Day Is My Enemy', would "sweep the floor" with EDM DJs. And did they deliver? Course they did. After generously sticking it up on iTunes for a full stream, their sixth LP - featuring Sleaford Mods and Flux Pavilion - shot straight to the top of the UK charts. They did say they might retire soon, though, so don't get too excited about a seventh.

Groove Armada
The announcement of this one by Andy Cato and Tom Findlay might as well have been two fingers directed at major labels. Coming out on Moda Black as part of the 'Little Black Book' series, the pair revealed people were telling them to release a comeback on one of the big boy labels, but said they just want to "play and make house music" instead. If the eight-minute, searing synth stunner 'Alright' is anything to go by, you've made the right choice, lads. Expect this one on June 6.

The Chemical Brothers
Come July 17, the five-year wait for another Chems album will be over. The follow-up to 2010's 'Further', 'Born In The Echoes' sounds pretty sweet from what we've heard so far. Annie Mac premiered the super shiny Q-Tip collaboration 'Go' at the end of last month and they've also dished up a plate of erratic acid with 'Sometimes I Feel So Deserted'. With further collabs with Beck and St. Vincent, we're mega excited to hear what else The Chems have put together. It's a shame Ed Simons won't be part of the live tour, though. Guess you can't have everything.

Leftfield
Talk about taking a break. Although Neil Barnes is a lone ranger now, having split from group partner Paul Daley, new album 'Alternative Light Source' is arriving via Infectious Music on June 8...a mere 16 years after the last. First track 'Universal Everything' arrived with a hefty remix package including Hodge and Legowelt and last week we were treated to steppy tripper 'Bilocation' with Poliça's Channy Leaneagh on vocals. Leftfield's been in the cellar for a while and it's got the taste of a well-kept vintage bottle of rouge to prove it.
[ Photo: Dan Wilton]

The Orb
Members may have come and gone in The Orb's 25-year history but the group still march on. Now in the hands of Alex Paterson and Thomas Fehlmann, they make their return to Kompakt (after the 'Okie Dokie It's The Orb On Kompakt' LP) on June 22. We haven't heard anything from 'Moonbuilding 2703AD' yet but if Paterson's description's anything to go by, don't expect a relaxing soundtrack for your morning commute. "It's a solid piece of music that mutates into an eight legged lunar Land Rover and takes off into a cosmic horizon of a million sounds, patterns and textures," he said. Should be absolutely wicked, then.