DJ RICHARD Schallplatten & CDs

Review: Following the "working man's techno" of Young Male, the second release on the fledgling New York label White Material, comes from the equally unheralded DJ Richard, and its equally as good as the label's debut, if not better. "Leech 2" combines a Baltimore club style vocal sample with a steely NYC house backbone and rumbling analogue bass, all flipped on its head at the mid point by an inbuilt rewind and a sonorous melody that sounds like creaky pipes, something expanded upon in the ambient industrial tones of "Stone Worx". On the flip "M.D.W.B" offers something completely different; the flanged chord strums that open the track suggest a delicacy that soon gives way to an imposing analogue saw tooth and suspended strings, while "Shade Of '77" pairs cavernous ghetto style 808 rhythms and a looping vocal sample with a soundscape that is pure sci-fi dystopianism. Put simply we haven't heard a release this exciting in quite some time.

Review: The first release from L.A.G. was a solo affair from it's founders Point Break (aka Arthur Kimskii and Cory James) whilst the second which arrived back in January was a split affair between them and Jordan Poling. This third release from the label that was founded in New York but is now a Berlin concern features no less than four artists so expect the fourth L.A.G. drop to be a double 12" affair with 8 cuts! Back to Meet Us At The Loft (perhaps named in honour of Berlin wax spot Record Loft?) which sees Point Breaker Arthur Kimskii going solo with the heads down techno business of "Different Animal" which sets the tone for what follows. Sandwiched inbetween similar cuts from John Hester and Hinode is "Broken Lead", a sublime, mind bending production from White Material's DJ Richard that you simply need to check!

Review: Carsten Jost, Lawrence and Bianca Heuser's Dial Records imprint recently celebrated 15 years in business with the CD-only All compilation of previously unreleased fare. Here, some of those tracks come to vinyl for the first time. Stefan Tcherepnin kicks things off with the delicate, Japanese-influenced downtempo pop of "I Want To Be Art", before DJ Richard reaches for the Detroit techno cymbals and jazzy chords of the wonderfully wonky "Zero". Flip for the atmospheric, beatless electronics of Christian Naujoks, the deep techno lusciousness of Pantha Du Prince's "Timeout On The Rocks", and the shimmering, spacey ambience of Queens' impeccable "Earth Angel".