trip Schallplatten & CDs

Review: We didn't see this coming but we're very much delighted it has: the peerless dub techno don Steve O'Sullivan with a full length of past triumphs and unreleased gems on Nina Kraviz's always adventurous Trip label is always going to be worth hearing. The Brit stretches his legs and pulls out all the stops here to cover plenty of ground while reaming true to his signature sound design excellence: bouncy, minimal but strobe-lit cuts like 'Kesk', twisted 90s techno sounds like 'Grun', barely-there IDM-adjacent sounds like 'Groente' and ice cold dub cuts like 'Botala'. A real masterclass.

Review: ***B-STOCK: Sleeve damaged but otherwise in excellent condition***


It was probably inevitable that Nina Kraviz would launch her own label. Even so, the fact that she's chosen to do it with an eight-track compilation featuring previously unheard material from herself and a mix of veterans (Exos, Steve Stoll, Terrence Dixon under the Population One alias) and newcomers (Parrish Smith, Bjarki) is particularly noteworthy. While Kraviz's own contributions have an unsettling, off-kilter tech-house feel, for the most part The Deviant Octopus is as dark and intense as its' fuzzy sleeve art suggests. That means Berlin-friendly late night techno and throbbing, otherworldly jack tracks aplenty, with occasional lapses into distorted analogue acid. The slowed down vocal mix of "Out Of Control" from the recent Population One LP is a real highlight too!