BLUETRAIN Schallplatten & CDs

Review: Since relaunching the Bluetrain project in 2016 following a 13-year hiatus, UK techno mainstay Steve O'Sullivan has released a lot of inspired dub techno under the alias - not least last year's fantastic full-length, 'Steady Pulse'. To begin 2023, he unveils two fresh cuts that hit the same sonic heights as that must-check album. 'Precious Dubs', featuring the quietly soulful inflections of mic-man Prince Morella, adds O'Sullivan's sturdy, hypnotic and thickset spin on the vocal dub techno template laid down by Rhythm & Sound in the late 1990s, with deep bass, echoing motifs and hazy electronics riding a locked-in groove. On the flip, he goes even deeper on the pleasingly stretched-out 'Woodland Dub', opting to combine a more rolling, house style beat with ultra-deep bass, delay-laden vocal snippets and swirling dub techno textures.

Review: Since rebooting his dub fired Bluetrain project late last decade, UK techno legend Steve O'Sullivan has delivered a string of superb 12" singles and an equally as impressive album, Steady Pulse. Naturally, the latest Bluetrain missive is a hypnotic, dubbed-out delight. Lead cut 'Frozen Rose (Special Edition Dub)' is simply superb - a rolling and hypnotic affair that joins the dots between Rhythm & Sound's earliest minimalistic dub-house epics and locked-in dub techno - all solid beats, echoing vocal snippets, deep sub bass and aquatic melodic motifs. It comes backed by a fresh 'Roots Version' of much-loved 2022 single 'Precious Times', featuring the honeyed vocals of Prince Morella.

Review: Bluetrain is one of our favourite artists in any genre and a real dub techno don. He often drops his own work on his own label but here steps up to Kontakt with a couple of killer jams. First up he serves up a special edition dub of 'Frozen Rose' that is a signature sound for him: ice cold percussion and rolling east with watery, liquid, rippling chords disappearing off to an infinite horizon while shimmering vocals add extra layers of depth. Flip it over and you will find 'Precious Times' (feat Prince Morella - Roots version) which is another brilliantly heady back room sound.

Review: We will never have our fill of Bluetrain music over here at Juno HQ. The man born Steve O'Sullivan mastered the dub techno sound many years ago but still manages to turn out fresh bait to get our cerebral cortex firing and our feet tapping. He goes long on the a-side of this new EP but makes great use of the run time to sink you in deep to his liquid bass, rippling chords and smart vocal touches on 'Precious Times' (feat Prince Morella). 'Woodland Dub' on the flip is a foresty, mystic and enchanting roller in which to get lost. Perfect stuff as ever.

Review: Hard to believe, but it's 25 years since after the emergence of Steve O'Sullivan's dub moniker, and now Lempuyang has the honour of presenting the first full length album of all-new material. Over the span of nine tracks, Steve takes us on a version excursion, exploring a mixture of dub rhythms alongside a healthy dose of wizardry to work the floor. Featuring collaborations from Hidden Sequence, Another Channel, and vocals from Prince Morella. Strictly for connoisseurs - and yet utterly essential!

Review: The Lempuyang label gets off to a strong start by inviting one of the dons of dubby minimal techno to lay down some peerless material. Steve O'Sullivan's Bluetrain moniker is revered by anyone who knows their onions in the annals of UK techno, and he's on imperious form as the Homegrown Dubs EP fires up with the gaseous chord drops of 'Bubble Up'. 'Go With The Flow' is a sleeker, more uptempo affair with a snappy beat to appeal to the DJs out there, while 'Two Foot Terrorist' maintains the pace with some deeper metallic ink bursts for variation. 'Straight To The Back' channels the billowing tones of the A1 into a more groove-oriented form in case you want the tick of the hi-hat to steady your sea legs.

Review: The latest release on Steve O'Sullivan's revitalised Bluetrain label offers up a trio of cuts from the archives. All were produced during the mid-to-late '90s period when O'Sullivan first launched the label and used the now familiar alias. The A-side features a superb, dub-fired "Alternate 1997 Mix" of O'Sullivan classic "Midnight Creeper" in which deep space electronics flutter away atop crunchy machine beats and a booming, sub-heavy bassline. Over on side B O'Sullivan is in collaborative mode, first joining forces with Ben Sims on the deep, warm and hypnotic techno pulse of "Where's Burt? (Extended Version)", before hooking with Wis on the sparse, dubbed-out peak-time brilliance of "Echo Freak (No Lightweight Stuff Edit)".

Review: UK dub techno maestro Steve O'Sullivan is back with another payload of deep immersion heaters under his Bluetrain guise, this time on the Future Primitive label. There's a deadly restraint at work on "Congo Shuffle", where the elements get reduced to needlepoint precision and the low end rhythm section stalks with purpose. "Invisible Guest" takes things in an explicitly dubwise direction, channelling serious Rhythm & Sound vibes for an immaculate head-nodder, before "Paralyzed Dub" slows down further into an end of the line skank for the weary to find solace in - masterful movements in the echo chamber from start to finish.

Review: Yossi Amoyal's Sushitech imprint never fails to impress, whether he's unearthing the new breed or it's just techno and house innovators he's paying due respect to just like underrated legends such as Steve O'Sullivan aka Bluetrain; who the label has released several volumes of work both new and old. This time it's for O'Sullivan's lesser known Bluetrain imprint. Long regarded secret weapons to 'those that know'. Foundation Dub: Chapter One features fresh cuts from the O'Sullivab studio and they've even been given actual track titles this time around, hooray! We particularly enjoyed the smoked out and glacial groove of "Friday Night Dub", the sublime bass driven dancefloor groove of "Head On" (which will work on any occasion we guarantee) or the proper and purist dub therapy of "Special Request" which keeps it as real as anything Basic Channel have done also.

Review: Strictly for connoisseurs …..selected and hard to find cuts from Steve O'Sullivan's legendary 90's bluetrain imprint. Remastered from the original tapes and pressed on heavyweight vinyl.

Review: Veteran British producer Steve O'Sullivan originally premiered the track 'Chant Down' on the long-player Steady Pulse earlier this year for Alistair Kelly's Lempuyang imprint which now gets treated to some fine remixes. O'Sullivan gets stuck in for the first rerub on the A-side, a slinky and hypnotic Recycled dub, while over on the flip he dons the Bluetrain alias again for the icy and cavernous version Excursion providing the perfect backdrop for its mesmerizing vocal. Finally, BLKRTZ head Deadbeat takes the track into even murkier and ominous territory on his impressive perspective.

Review: Steve O'Sullivan's Mosaic train keeps on rolling, this time via the LTDX series which reaches its second station stop with two more dubbed out dancefloor delights for the deepest divers. O'Sullivan dons his Bluetrain guise to deliver the UK steppers-indebted "Armchair Analyst," which artfully folds subtle dubwise influences into its minimal techno construction. On the flip side, Roger Gerressen spaces things out good and proper with the slow-stalking groove of "Long Overdue," fusing the best elements of contemporary minimal and classic dub to create a fine extension of the Rhythm & Sound blueprint.

Review: Lempuyang's third offering is an outstanding split release between Steve O'Sullivan & Hydergine, label bosses for Mosaic/Bluetrain & Ranges. In 'Binary Riddim' Steve delivers a two-part dub track spanning >13 minutes, seriously heavy in the low end; melancholy strings in the first half, progressing to outright menacing chord stabs in the latter. A versatile track offering something for both warm-up and the dancefloor. Complimenting on the flip are 'Mystic Light' and 'Lunar Eclipse' from Hydergine. Deep, dubby atmospherics meander over a weighty 909 kick on B1. Subtle minimalism a la Terrence Dixon, pitched down on B2. Essential release!

Review: Keeping firm to the now well-trodden "Scientist meets" formula, this release through Convent once again hears Joseph Alpern aka. J Gabriel absorb the dubbing wiles of Hopeton Brown into his own minimal techno laboratory. 'Fly Again' follows up the first Scientist collab 'Too Far Gone' from 2023 with yet another red snapper, and comes backed by heated reworks from Steve O'Sullivan and Bluetrain, each of whose generosities know few bounds (they offer two and three remixes each!).

Review: Dub techno don Steve O'Sullivan's Mosaic label is back with a new dubs series and vol 1 kicks things off with a real doozy on lovely red wax. The boss himself offers up a Bluetrain special edition dub of Hidden Sequence's 'Synapse' which is all icy lines and liquid rhythms which make you think of some frozen lake on a misty morning. Sub Basics (Temple of Sound, Lion Charge Records) opens up with a fresh dub laden track with rippling chords, tons of echo and rolling drums on 'Quarters.' Both are timeless dub outings, as you would expect from this label.