Techno Recommendations August 2013

Review: Most commonly known for his minimalist, click house endeavours as Akufen, Marc Leclair switches attention to one of his lesser used aliases in Horror Inc, serving up a full album for the Perlon label. Leclair has operated as Horror Inc sparingly over the years, serving up only three original EPs and a smattering of remixes - with his last release under the name coming in 2010's Aurora EP for Haunt. There's a sense of the unknown about Briefly Eternal then, moreso as Perlon have been pretty guarded about it ahead of release. A decidedly cinematic downbeat opener in the shape of "Phowa" sets the tone, as Leclair uses the LP format to showcase his talent for instrumentation and orchestral arrangement more than ever before. Perlon fans need not worry, those skipping, expertly produced beats are still there for the most part.

Review: After years sound tracking the dancehalls of Bristol via their considered selections as DJs, brotherly pair The Kelly Twins add label bosses to their CVs with the establishment of Happy Skull. The label kick offs in illustrious fashion with a collaborative release between two of Bristol's most interesting producers, Kowton and Hyetal. Adopting the name Systems Of Desire, the pair worked on a track together, before going off to produce their own individual versions entitled "Control" and "Consumption"; the results are exactly the intriguing cross between Kowton's raw, crunchy, grime influenced techno and Hyetal's glistening synth work you would imagine.

Review: Special Request was launched in earnest in March of last year by Woolford as a creative outlet for "vinyl only releases with no boundaries", and has drawn from a palette of booming basslines and expertly edited classic rave breaks across the four 12" releases thus far. The Hardcore EP sees him stepping up to Fabric's Houndstooth label in advance of a full album later this year, and it's just as rude as the material thus far; "Wall To Wall" sees Woolford adopting a techno framework, with evil vocal samples rattling between heavy, bouncing kicks, and "Broken Dreams" sees more rambunctious jungle, with heavily filtered breaks and clattering snare rolls tethered to a hardcore bassline. The remixes don't mess about either; Anthony Naples turns in a spectral remix of "Mindwash" that keeps the rhythmic ferocity but somehow makes it maudlin and downbeat, while Lee Gamble reworks "Capsules" in a highly experimental, tripped out end of the night style. Big recommendation on this one...

Review: Despite the distance that separate their respective bases of Brooklyn and London, Donor and Truss have forged a strong production partnership over the past six years with strong ties to Perc Trax. On Aber they make their debut for M_Rec with four tracks of similarly metalworked techno; "Spatial" sees a dry 303 worked inside cavernous house chords, while "Beneath" sees a sludgy experimental track filled with dread, On the flip, "Ease" sees a shrill morse code sequence underpinning weighty kicks and powerful percussion, while "Aber" offers tribal rhythmic power and nothing else, letting its booming toms and eerie atmospherics do the work.

Review: That steely girder of crisp techy grooves Mr G is back on Rekids, except this time he's reaching into his sizable back catalogue to serve up some old gems on a chunky reissue compilation. This 12" deals in just three such jams compared to the 21 on the CD, but as you would expect they're three essential cuts from a master of heads down DJ-friendly bombs. "Songs For My Cantor" is the deeper of the selections, dealing in ambient pads and keys in a positively dreamy context, while "Lights (G Out Dub)" heads straight for the jugular with some filtered heat treated house. "Moments" is equally fiery, although more hooked on an insistent loop refrain for its own brand of dancefloor dynamite.

Review: Hakim Murphy and Ike Release have had an impressive year thus far as Innerspace Halflife, dropping some worthy releases for French labels Latency and Syncrophone and now the Chicago duo arrive on the Skudge White operation. Founded by Swedish duo Skudge in an effort to unearth fresh and undiscovered talent, the label has done just that thus far scoring twelves from rising Swedish pair Fishermen and English Sebastien Tellier look-a-like Koehler. Whilst Innerspace Halflife's discography arguably means they can't really be viewed as 'undiscovered', the Chicago pair don't really get the public props their output merits. The four tracks on their 1000 Years Of Acid show why they're so under-rated, traversing Detroit influenced house, techno and electro, while dabbling with '90s rave basslines and sequenced drum machines programmed to the duo's rhythmical and home grown Chicago jack.

Review: As anyone who has seen them DJ recently can attest, there are few doing techno harder than AnD right now, and this second instalment of their ongoing white label series continues their journey into ever more nightmarish territory. "002" is the hardest cut of the lot, offering a relentless assault of broken beats and not much else; on the flip, "0202" delivers a rolling flurry of hollow kicks and scratchy metallic textures that sound like Blawan at his most tetchy, while "0222" changes the script entirely with its stuttering, swaying beat pattern, grizzled dub floor and queasy textures. Big tip on this one....

Review: Juju & Jordash are noted for their experimental nature - with last year's triple LP for Dekmantel perhaps the most conclusive example. Unleash The Golem: Coffin Train sees Jordan Czamanski and Gal Aner return to their conceptual Golem series for Golf Channel with the A Side challenging the aforementioned Techno Primitivism in the experimental stakes. Seventeen minutes long, "Coffin Train" sees the Amsterdam pair conjure up their most claustrophobia inducing production thus far, marrying the freeform electronics of their Magic Mountain High material with vast, droning passages and corrugated acid tainted bass lines. The accompanying "Coffin Train Getaway" is much more rhythmically focused, paring back the textural experiments in favour of plundering through a broken techno rhythm that's got Clapton squat party written all over it.

Review: Swedish producer Abdulla Rashim has steadily been building a name for himself thanks to his impressive stream of self-released output and releases for Prologue and Concrete Music, and on the Alem Maya EP it's easy to see why. With a style that blends the monochromatic style of Sandwell District with the tribal percussive feel of Shackleton, "Alem Maya 1" manages that rare feat of creating linear techno with just the right amount of swing. "2" adopts a tougher approach, with steel-clad bass pushing minimal beats forward, while "3" continues along the same trajectory, with stacked layers of rigid percussion creating all manner of hypnotic effects.

Review: ** REPRESS ** Forbidden Planet launched in fine fashion last month, securing some original material from Nation and Creme artist D'Marc Cantu that was complemented well by an accompanying remix from DVS-1. The Montreal label demonstrate they are equally capable of uncovering unheralded talent with this second release from the rather search engine unfriendly Breaker 1 2. Allegedly hailing from Florida, Breaker 1 2 seems inspired to use the same lo fi house template of his fellow North American contemporaries but take it to a much weirder place. Lead track "2" is the straightest production here, despite the unpredictable hi hats that skitter throughout and it doesn't quite prepare for where Breaker 1 2 goes on the flip. The synth tone that roars into action on "DMT" is an unexpected delight whilst "Estonia" mutates swiftly from hazy insouciance into full on dark room techno.

Review: The debut release from Munich label Public Possession (borne out of the record shop of the same name) knocked us for six when it dropped last month, with the Tambien trio of label founders Marvin & Valentino and their compatriot Bartellow bringing forth a robust pair of techno cuts dipped in analogue fuzz but still powered by a desire to make people move. The label makes a swift and equally worthy return with this three track transmission from Matthew Brown, a producer who allegedly hails from the Great Western area of Tasmania. Whilst some might spend their time frantically googling the factual accuracy of this information (you'll be greeted with a wizardly looking Brown if your skills are strong) you are much better served sinking your senses into this self titled EP, with two rasping cuts steeped in the mysticism of Detroit electro complemented by a more pensive final track.

Review: Following solo singles for Electric Minds and Curle and the recent Live at Freerotation LP on Workshop as part of Magic Mountain High, Move D adds the Archipel Recordings label to his 2013 profile on this collaborative release with the Montreal-based producer HEAR. "Irene Birth" sees the pair going deep, with a simmering piece of house swathed in dub stabs and glistening textures, with a bassline that rolls gently into the horizon. "Open Spaces" sees the pair bring the vibe up gently with its warm strings, firming up the kick drum but going even more trippy with those alien textures; "Montytek" is a total curve ball, balancing a fast, driving techno rhythm with gently looping synth hypnotics. Another winner from Moufang!

Review: Kicking off a series of remixes of tracks taken from Peter Van Hoesen's Perceiver album, this first 12" features two very opposing artists in the form of Donato Dozzy and Sigha. The Voices From The Lake producer elects to rework "Attribute 39", stripping out the beat and expanding the original track's outro section into a deeply complex piece of soothing electronics enhanced with drifting choral elements. Complementing this, Our Circular Sound boss Sigha lines the second side, pushing the glitchy dubbiness of "Attack On The Reality Principle" to the back and bringing his own patented brand of icy minimalism to the fore.

Review: Seeming to have hit a particularly prolific point of late with scores of releases dropping, Terrence Dixon is back once again to kick off the Reduction label with some fittingly restrained techno excursions. The first track is a masterclass in unresolved tension, with nothing but a kick anchoring the pacing pair of synths that fret and fritter around one another in an endless loop and yet sound utterly engrossing from start to finish. "Track 2" has a more diverse sound palette, taking in grainy samples and letting a decidedly electronic hat tick away alongside the kick but still the emphasis is on holding back rather than letting go, even if there are ebbs and flows to be had in this particular workout. "Track 3" gets into more bugged out Dixon territory, the jerky nature of the synths within constantly straining against the insistent tick of the hat for a positively woozy end result.

Review: If the LIES credo is "Non Stop" then the UK counterpart to Ron Morelli's label in the relentless stakes is surely Unknown To The Unknown. Their latest release sees DJ Haus label turn to the analogue house sounds of a supposedly lost alien sect in the shape of Lords of Midnite. The Drown In Your Love EP presents three supposedly "lost rhythms that some consider the key to existence" retrieved by US military droids from the anonymous Lords Of Midnite, who is described in lurid terms by the label as "a sect of humanoid aliens lost for generations and almost erased entirely from the history books", the three tracks on the forthcoming Drown In Your Love EP are supposedly the "lost rhythms that some consider the key to existence" retrieved by US military droids. In reality, the person responsible for the music actually resides much closer to home, and is someone with a fondness for multiple aliases and fanciful backstrokes; the penchant for rave-inspired breakbeats, Chicago house and tape saturation present across the three tracks.

Review: The mighty Jamal Moss returns to BioRhythm under his lesser used alias The Sun God, having debuted on Paul Du Lac's growing label with the devastating Being Hieroglyphic EP last year. The four cuts are very much a worthy accompaniment to Moss's previous Biorhythm release, reconnecting your mind, body and soul with the Dharmic way in increasingly devastating fashion. Lead track "Tower Of Ha" sets the tone, lulling you into thinking Jamal has gone all straight before a deranged acid line comes careening into view and attacks with increasing aggression from various angles. Beginning from a markedly cruddier place is "The Fife Of Bodidharma" which sees a high hat procession gradually break free from the dirt encrusted low end to lock into a focused groove. "The Library Of Babel" is the descent into abstraction you expect from a Moss production and the one that justifies fully the warning from the label that they won't accept responsibility for the mass hallucination, neurological disorder you might experience from playing these out loud.

Review: Warm Sounds have been steadily making inroads into the murky hardware production scene with releases from the likes of The Raw Interpreter and Lucretio, and their seventh release comes from the unheralded Berlin-based producer Battista. Coming from the same school of production as The Analogue Cops, the Energy Core EP sees Battista deliver a selection of five mangled machine tracks, from the flayed acid of "Alive In Another Era" and heaving hardware scrapes and broken ceramic rhythms of "Helps Ground Fighting" through the deeper, more classicist vibes of "And His Space Travel" and minimal wave stylings of "Digging Back". Limited copies as ever!

Review: The run of remixes from Nina Kraviz' self-titled album continues unabated, and this time, following sterling efforts from Urban Tribe, Steve Rachmad, KiNK and Marcellus Pittman, it's the turn of DVS1 to step up. On the menu are two opposing reworks of "Best Friend", which expand on the original's whispering vocals with an original contribution by Naughty Wood; the "Forever mix", which fills out the spacious, improvisational original with rigid, dubby organ stabs, firming up the kick for a more dancefloor friendly effect, and the "Dub test" version, which brings the lead in slowly over a gaseous swirl of minimal percussion and billowing bass. The inclusion of Kraviz's seriously weird original rounds things out nicely.

Review: As usual, the Power Vacuum press officer nonchalantly trumps any attempts from the Juno review team to adequately describe Acid Dik, the label's latest 12" courtesy of UK techno veteran Mark Broom... "Step into Broom's Dojo and be met with a sausage Apocalypse, as the UK techno Magus flays alive your wildest dreams using his brace of bangers. With snake-like precision this chimera of the shadow realms pounds techno oblivion from his production line. Sparks fly as gleaming loaves of acid-soaked brilliance fly out the bakehouse door, the master baker's eyes spinning like electronic roulette wheels - out of control under delirious bass weight. Enshrouded in the blue haze of the shamans gourd pipe, Mr Mark Broom is again set to blow the back doors off any club this side of Basildon."

Review: Claro Intelecto, Gerry Read and Unbroken Dub feature on the first 12" in a series of five from Dutch label Delsin primed to celebrate reaching 100 releases. Founded back in 1996, Delsin have undoubtedly slipped past this number if you factor in all the reissues, one off releases and their rejuvenated Ann Aimee sub label, but everyone loves a special edition release so lets not nit pick. You can expect material from Sawlin, Conforce, Redshape, Mike Dehnert, Delta and Newworldaquarium on subsequent 100DSR/VAR drops and the series is inaugurated in fine style here. "Fighting The Blind Man" is classic scatterbrained Claro Intelecto, whilst "Granny Bag" demonstrates that Read's wild side has not been tamed by his swift rise in popularity over the past year or so. Siberian producer Unbroken Dub manages to sound both calming and slightly foreboding on the excellent final cut "Spacing".

Review: Opening his own Granulart imprint with a debut release from himself, Kessell sets out his stall with a moody pair of techno tracks whose dub stylings come with a healthy serving of Detroit influences; "Graviton" sees its driving beat clouded by swirling chords swathed in delay while "Sphere Of Influence" sees the textures of its counterpart morph into a full on storm front, as chords ricochet like thunderclaps. Substance proves an inspired choice of remixer for both tracks, smoothing out the more tempestuous elements of both but keeping things nuanced and deceptively complex.