De:tuned Schallplatten & CDs

Review: UK techno mainstay Kirk Degiorgio has made a lot of great music over the years, much of it under the machine soul/tech-jazz-inspired As One alias. His latest EP is another typically impeccable slab of Motor City inspired tech-soul brilliance. Lead cut 'The Unveiling' is deep, gently uplifting, gloriously spacey and effortlessly far-sighted, bringing bags of emotion as well as authentically crunchy machine drums, immersive pads and awe-inspiring melodies. He opts for an enveloping, otherworldly ambient techno/IDM sound on 'Descend Module', with discordant notes and hallucinatory acid lines riding high in the mix. The EP also boasts two reworks of previously released cuts. Ian O'Brien goes ultra-deep and gently breakbeat-driven on a superb revision of 'The Ladder', before Luke Slater drops a hypnotic, ultra-deep revision of 'Absorption Spectra' as The 7th Plain.

Review: De:tuned is the perfect home for Kirk Degiorgio's As One project, where his steeped history in deep, emotive techno and affinity for jazz melds into some of the most stunning machine soul out there. If you're familiar with the sound you'll be instantly sold on these tracks - they don't just ape a bygone sound like so many are doing with that early 90s UK techno vibe. These pieces take that approach and elevate it - the production soars and the expression comes through in startling high-definition, and that goes for the stellar remixes from Ian O'Brien and Luke Slater in The 7th Plain mode as well.

Review: The seemingly unstoppable rise of De:tuned continues, as they take a break from serving up sci-fi techno, IDM and ambient techno to deliver something a lot more intense: a surprise EP from original House of God Birmingham resident DJ Paul 'Damage' Bailey. Channeling the spirit of his friend Surgeon while offering up something fresh, the two original tracks on show are undeniably inspired. 'Hadal Zone' adds weirdo noises, bleeps and mind-mangling electronic pulses to a slipped Afro-techno groove, while 'Decompression' is a wonky, triple-time workout full of Ket-addled electronics and wayward loops. Makaton re-imagines that track as a locked-in late-night techno throb-job, while James Ruskin turns 'Hadal Zone' into a buzzing, industrial-influenced electro-bleep number.

Review: Paul Bailey, known as Damage, proffers his sonic take on the concept of what damage is and could sound like in the abstract. Like a giant piston hurtling at us, and repeatedly crushing us from above, we're thrown menacingly into the sniffly wiggles of 'Hadal Zone' and the reinterpretive work of the likes of James Ruskin and Makaton. It's a worthy addition to the Brummy techno canon, and should be noted for its unique wonk-tech veer.

Review: Brian Dougans continues to deliver nostalgic jams as Humanoid, the alias he used - pre Future Sound of London - for his acid house and techno inspired late 1980s productions. Like the rest of his Humanoid material for De:tuned, Sweet Acid Sound is forthright, funky and full-throttle stuff, with mind-mangling TB-303 lines and jacking TR-808 drums the order of the day. Dougans sets his stall out via the surging, far-sighted title track - which genuinely sounds like a long-lost turn-of-the-90s warehouse anthem - before doffing a cap to fellow UK acid house pioneers 808 State (and specifically their pioneering Newbuild anthem) on '808 Nation'. Over on side B, 'Roached' is a moody and spaced-out affair rich in ragged acid lines and intergalactic chords, while 'Si-Rak' is a raging, TB-303 heavy jack track that's almost guaranteed to blow your mind.