DJs: Most Charted - Techno - Most Charted In April 2012

Review: ** Repress for the Tang fans ** Obsolete Music Technology aka Steven Tang has had another great year, nurturing his personal take on Chicago-filtered house music. "Mmmmmusic" is just sublime, taking us on a journey through rugged, drum machine terrains, swaying pads and crafty vocals; whilst the reprise version unearths those synths to create a majestic soundscape which develops into a semi-groove thanks to its smart melodies. Over to the B-side, "Distance" is as deep as one can go, aligning sharp slabs of percussion to more tranquil pads and woozy synth chimes. We even get a boisterous Chicago Skyway refix of the title track, rendering almost unrecognisable thanks to a truly mesmerising bundle of hi-hats and toms. Beautiful.

Review: Having become something of a regular fixture in the Mote Evolver camp, Shifted is back once again to head up Side A of the second Parallel Series 12". As you might expect, the techno comes bleak and throbbing from the Shifty one, although avoiding excessive heaviness over immersive progression and dubby FX. On the flip Samuli Kemppi plies his quirkier trade, using offbeat synth mess to counteract the steady rhythm of the bottom end on "Trans Neptunian". "Detached Object" meanwhile fires off streams of interlocking sounds which spiral around the relentless kick for a classy exercise in techno restraint. Highly recommended.

Review: The steadily-rising Modularz imprint strikes back once more with some killer, no-nonsense techno wares from Developer and Eduardo De La Calle. Developer's tracks plumb bleak depths, where the only tones allowed into the mix clang in atonal disharmony. De La Calle's "The Solution" has a little more warmth in its pulsing dub chords, but still maintaining that linear function for elongated mixes and hypnotic sets. The real jam is Developer's funky-assed "Under" which gets its jack off the nagging hi-hat, while the cavernous hits punch out off beat for a devastating rhythmic slayer which should get techno heads body popping like there's no tomorrow morning.

Review: Boddika and Cosmin TRG join the ranks of Appleblim & October, Aardvarck, Fengler, Rolando and 2562 in reworking the wall shuddering sounds of Skudge on the fifth - and perhaps most incendiary to date - Skudge Remixes 12". Al Boddika Bleeky is at the top of his game right now, thanks in no small part to a cluster of Joy O collaborations and his A Side revision of "Below" continues the producer's lineage of deadly acid re-rubs, twisting the diva vocal led original down an altogether darker path. Cosmin TRG is nominally charged with a harder task in reworking "Ursa Major" the beatless opening excursion from Skudge's debut LP Phantom, but does an equally accomplished job in stamping his own sonic agenda on proceedings, firming up the track with some granular handclaps and white-hot chords. What's Swedish for 'must have'?

Review: Brace yourselves for another mean slice of unforgiving techno at the hands of Regis and Ancient Methods in their Ugandan Methods guise. Things start off coolly with the title track, as the menacing stomp gets offset by a plethora of delayed and decayed metallic hits darting around in the foreground. "Between A Sleep & A Sleep" actually lets a little light in, as a gentle melodic hum tempers the usual raging techno tropes, but really it's a cheeky foil to the all-out devastation of "She Belongs To Eternity"; an exercise in brutality dressed up as distorted noise and passionless rhythm.

Review: Hot on the heels of his critically acclaimed Whalesong EP for Trelik, OCH returns with another equally crucial deep club orientated two tracker. The A Side cut, "Sophisticated Animated", contains a level of funk and energy that is often lost in today's house music. Being constantly inspired by the US pioneers of the genre, OCH presents stripped back Chicago grooves alongside heavy analogue bass and jacking percussion, teasing with a sprinkling of 303 acid and a sparse yet deadly piano solo. Up next, "Moonlight Sonata" is OCH's deepest work to date, incorporating dubstep inspired drums and ambience with lush old-school synth chords which build and modulate before the track climaxes into a thundering four to the floor workout. Shrink-wrapped clear vinyl pressing.

Review: Germany's Fachwerk stable drops a second collaborative EP from label heads Mike Dehnert, Roman Lindau and Sascha Rydell. Entitled, quite simply, Fachwerk EP 2, it follows last year's Fachwerk EP which included tracks from each of the three producers at the centre of the label's quite singular techno vision, which combines crunchy, swung mechanical rhythms with warm, rolling, dubby tones. It's one of several releases which will culminate in the release of the label's 25th release, which we imagine will be something quite special indeed. The EP is as brilliant as you'd expect, with the muscularity of Dehnert's "M10? augmented with vocals that sound like snatches of Arthur Russell, the metallic strings of Lindau's "Grow" and the manic piano groove of Rydell's "When You Play It" all offering solid entries into the label's formidable catalogue. This label is simply on fire at the moment - don't sleep.

Review: The latest release on Field pulls together four wildly diverse tracks and in the process proves that fresh thinking in techno need not revolve around Berghain-style repetition. Dutch producer Delta Funktionen though does demonstrate on "Work" that there is still some life left in the dub techno sound, presenting a tougher, jacking track with a visceral filter that tears its way through the arrangement. Rod's contribution is also an unusual proposition, rougher than his dense, loopy releases on Klockworks, as doubled up rhythms and metal-plated, gained drums vie for the listener's attention. Counteracting these intense peaks is Mark Du Mosch's "L'Argeant"; the groove is stripped back and bassy, but suddenly Du Mosch lets loose with a flamboyant Italo melody line, breathing colour into the greyscale surroundings. Roberto Auser throws one final curveball on "Fatal Attraction" - a beatless affair, its epic synths loom as ominously as a Resse bassline and will tingle as many spines as Derrick May's strings.

Review: For those who had assumed Sims was merely a loop techno producer, 0401 provides a pleasant surprise. The UK producer's love of slamming beats and dense, claustrophobic rhythms is present and correct, but on this occasion it sounds like there is a more fluid, dynamic approach at play. This is due to the use of rasping percussion and a malevolent filter that rises through the track. Former UR operative Rolando shows that he hasn't lost his magic touch on the remix of "New Blood". Coruscating drums and a wild acid line make for a thrilling combination, but Rolando hasn't forgotten his house leanings and the swinging rhythm also features a repetitive vocal sample.

Review: The opening track on Taken is a piece of hypnotic, deep techno from one of the genre's pioneers, showing that Jeff Mills can still knock out some fantastic music. An all-encompassing rhythm structure drives the track along as subtle pads gently trample over a rock solid beat. We hit more traditional techno territory with the second track, a relentless attack on the senses with an almost inescapable sense of dread pervading throughout. The third cut takes us on a deep space exploration into sound, with robotic bleeps dancing through an unnerving series of textures and pads. The percussion and kick-drum take a back seat as Mills allows his depiction of the future to make the rhythm move. The intensity grows with each passing second making this another track that simply won't let go. The EP closes out with "Track Four" and another piece of Videodrome, nightmare techno. You'll be falling through a black hole as clocks whir backwards all around, and visions of your past wrongdoings flash in front of your eyes. This final cut keeps you spiralling down into the deepest pits of human despair until there is nothing left but your mind and a guilty conscious. Highly recommended.

Review: Sick twelve of explorative dub techno textures from Canadian label Silent Season, pairing the ever inventive sounds of STL with Belgian producer Djorvin Clain either side of clear red wax housed in a recycled sleeve. Picture Boards Of Canada's "Happy Cycling" stripped of its melodic niceties and dragged unwillingly through the dystopian recesses and you might grasp how the trudging dubscape "Beats Of Spirit" sounds - with STL filling the lower expanses with rich field recorded textures, over which a cavernous clomping beat caked in sonic gristle traverses lopsidedly towards infinity. The B Side has two cuts from Clain's album Pattern Of Thought, with "The Untitled One" a superb exercise in contrast as spring time recordings contrast with the deep rumbling textures and clicking rhythms. "Kajimeara" is more industrially minded, with distant metallic intonations gradually teasing out a thick bass drum thud evoking at times the sounds of Dehnert, Demdike Stare and indeed STL as the track creaks and steams ominously towards its finale.