Review: Rambadu's self-titled label is young but already onto a good thing with a distinctly deep brand of techno. This time out the boss is back once more but in cahoots with Italian techno legend Claudio PRC. They cook up a trio of mind melters starting with 'Sai.' Warped lines menacingly roam about the stereo field over sparse kicks and deep abs. 'Matika' is just as paired back and atmospheric in a deep, dark way with slowly churning drums taking you deeper down the rabbit hole. 'Aqua' is a meatless blend of distant groans and wispy pads that keeps you in suspense.
Review: Worldwide Heavy Industries Vol.1 is the latest wax drop from Flux Musical Art and Brutal Forms and it makes for an immersive trip deep into industrial soundscapes and futuristic themes. Dominik Muller's intricate 'Too Many Posers' soon sucks you in followed by Ryuji Takeuchi's dynamic 'In Your Mind' with its unusual rhythmic innovation. On the B-side, 6SISS and Hypnoskull's intense 'Losss' gets super raw with an industrial edge, while Low Order's 'Taste My Venom' explores darker experimental territory. Skumring's atmospheric 'Corpse-Ridden' closes the album with a mood as dark as you would expect given the title.
Review: Lukid and Tapes are on a proper roll with Rezzett at the moment, following up on a knockout 2023 on The Trilogy Tapes with this self-released clutch of weirdo techno-not-techno nuggets from the outer reaches. There's distortion in abundance, and a laissez faire approach to soundsystem impact in favour of textural, atmospheric sculpting. It's dripping with intention even as it stumbles inquisitively from one lo-fi tweak to the next, sounding utterly inspired and delightfully unhinged in equal measure. What's most important is the melodic warmth which peeks through the noise, edging this above the usual murk associated with noise-doused electronics.
Review: Following 2023's When A Worm Wears A Wig, Robin Stewart returns with Crinkle and delivers a set of warped dub techno tracks that apply advanced dub logic to precise, pointillistic rhythms. Channelling influences like Peder Mannerfelt and Rrose, Stewart revives classic genre tropes with a fresh perspective that dives deeper into the physicality of sound and focuses on bass throbs over aggressive kicks. Standout tracks like 'Stomach' surprise with lolloping off-grid beats soaked in lysergic textures while 'Compact' delivers a more traditional peak-time vibe with innovative processing. The title track brings everything together with mind-bending spectral rhythms.
Review: XXX is back with a steamy 16th EP and it features two original tracks by Anastasia Zems & Radial Gaze on the A-side, with remixes from Chinaski & S.I.R.S. on the B-side. The originals are characterised by dark industrial vibes, sharp kicks, and throbbing yet playful basslines that will persuade any dance floor to get throwing shapes. On the flip side, Chinaski's remix takes an unexpected turn as a trance-like trip that climbs higher and faster with each beat. S.I.R.S. offers a contrasting disco remix with an irresistibly groovy bassline, and just as irresistible is the playful artwork by Gees Voorhees that perfectly captures the eclectic nature of this EP.
Review: London promoters Sagome continue their evolution and expansion into an essential label with their third release. This one comes from Italian duo Rain Text which comprises Giuseppe Ielasi, a renowned mastering engineer and one-half of Bellows, and Giovanni Civitenga, who hosts the long-running Skyapnea show on NTS. Their new album III offers sequentially titled, intricately detailed electronic compositions that blend abstract techno, glitchy sound design and experimental electronica. Comparable to Mika Vainio's sonic manipulation yet more densely layered, III nods to the fractured sounds of Actress and the decay-driven textures of late-period Jan Jelinek. It's engaging and unique, to say the least.
Review: American guitarist, singer, and lead songwriter for legendary rockers The Velvet Underground, Lou Reed also had a distinguished solo career, including Metal Machine Music, which remains one of the most radical and controversial albums ever released. First issued in 1975, its wall of feedback and distortion defied all musical convention, splitting critics and fans but earning cult status for its uncompromising vision. Now celebrating its 50th anniversary, this landmark work returns for Record Store Day 2025, having once been described by celebrated critic Lester Bangs as "the greatest record ever made in the history of the human eardrum," and who are we to argue.
Review: Mind Express boss Refracted, AKA Berlin's Alex Moya, emerges from the depths of some murky, oily, opaque lake. A place unsettling and unnerving - the site of some unknown tension - but also wonderfully inimitable and hard to countenance. Powerful stuff, just not really in a way that immediately presents itself as such. Nevertheless, before you know it these tones have enveloped and ensnared. Call it ambient techno, call it ambient, call it pure futurism - parts here almost feel like the ambient noises of familiar things that haven't been invented yet. If that makes sense? A moody precog of a record, it whirs and drones, echoes and dissipates. There are moments when structure become more defined, like the mystery of 'Initiation', but for the most part these are aural infinity loops.
Friday Afternoons, Op. 7: A New Year Carol (part 2) (3:00)
Challengers: Match Point (3:21)
Compress/Repress (2:25)
Review: Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, known for their remarkable work with Nine Inch Nails and film scores like The Social Network, deliver a techno-charged soundtrack for Luca Guadagnino's tennis-themed love triangle drama Challengers. The score is a pulsating mix of electroclash, synth-pop, and driving techno, expertly weaving traditional instruments with electronic beats. Reznor and Ross take Guadagnino's vision to heart, crafting a soundtrack that not only drives the narrative but also challenges expectations with its bold, rhythmic energy. Tracks like 'Compress/Repress', co-written with Guadagnino and featuring Reznor's vocals, showcase their ability to blend artistic expression with the film's themes of control and power. Overall, this is a excellent soundtrack that works well to support the visual or just listening to it without having seen the movie.
Friday Afternoons, Op 7: A New Year Carol (part 2)
Challengers: Match Point
Compress/Repress
Review: When Italian film director Luca Guadagnino commissioned long-term collaborators Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross to write and produce the soundtrack for Challengers, he had a clear idea in mind: music rooted in Berlin techno and 90s rave'. Reznor and Ross undoubtedly delivered, creating heavily electronic music that veers between guitar-laden nu-rave ('Yeah x10'), throbbing peak-time workouts (the Moroder-goes-to-Berghain flex of 'Challengers'), tech-tinged nu-disco ('The Signal', 'The Points That Matter'), pitched-black EBM-techno fusion ('Brutalizer') and acid-fired insanity ('Pull Over'). There are occasional nods to more classical movie soundtracks - see the choral versions of Benjamin Britten's 'New Year Prayer' - but for the most part it is a thrill-a-minute ride through deliciously heavy rhythms, basslines and electronics.
Review: This debut from the mysterious duo Atiq and dreadmaul is an immersive concept album which explores the ancient themes of transformation and initiation by blending mysticism and archaic rituals with modern electronic beats. Each track transports listeners into a haunting soundscape rich in organic elements like bone flutes, throat singing and shamanic invocations, all woven into intricate electronic arrangements. The album strikes a perfect balance between the ancient and contemporary with a feeling of ritual and cermet in the long form and immersive rhythms that are as unforgettable as they are hypotonic.
Review: Rivet's newest album for Editions Mego blends optimism and negation, emerging sanguinely from a period of personal tragedy and disillusionment undergone by the artist. Mika Hallback, a key figure in the Swedish underground, first gained attention with industrial techno as Grovskopa before shifting to experimental work, including On Feather and Wire (2020). After the loss of fellow musician Peter Rehberg and his dog Lilo, Hallback created the somber L+P-2 (2023), and now Peck Glamour marks his return, coming reinfused with hope and exploration. Drawing on punk, industrial, techno, and trauma, the album combines synthetic and organic elements, with 'Orbiting Empty Cocoon', with its tugging, metal ballistic sound-rooms sounding like an Au-technic, cybernetic ritual, a dance anthem 'Patitur Butcher' and 'We Left Before We Came' concluding on comparatively layered zoonotic notes; posthuman synthesis backed by birdsong.
Review: Robert Rental is back on the mighty Dark Entries as the cult label reissues his Mental Detentions album as an expanded double pack. Rental is a Scottish pioneer of DIY electronic music who played a key role in shaping the UK's countercultural sound alongside collaborators like Thomas Leer and Daniel Miller. Though he released little solo music, his 1979 cassette Mental Detentions was a standout of the era that featured raw demos made with budget equipment like a Roland drum machine and Stylophone keyboard. Tracks like 'Stuck' offer a distorted take on the classic motorik sound, while 'Vox' delivers an 18-minute ambient journey in which it is easy to get lost. Rental's work captures the spirit of experimentation and innovation in the face of limited resources.
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