Tags: Acid Techno

Review: Sound Signature are at it again with their dark, driving and jackin' grooves. Every time Theo Parrish decides a tune is worth pressing up nice and loud on vinyl, it's wise to pay attention. And so it proves here, with Chicago native Spekter dropping one-sided 12" "Pipe Bomb", a deadly and pounding excursion into the murkier corners of house music. It's not one for the faint hearted either, as an overwhelming sense of moodiness pushes ever forward, dripping in twisted samples and heavy techno kicks.

Review:  been four years since Chicago producer Andres "Specter" Ordonez pitched up on Theo Parrish's Sound Signature label with the smoky, bleep-laden killer "Pipe Bomb". Here, he returns to the Detroit veteran's imprint, bringing with him three more slabs of fuzzy analogue oddness. "The Gooch" is the real killer, a 10-minute freakout that sounds like a jazz band making murky techno with just analogue machinery to play with - all wonky electronics, subtle acid and loose but relentless cymbals. The bolder "Zodiak" impresses with its 303-driven aggression, while "Body Blow" sounds like Hieroglyphic Being jamming with Buddy Miles. On Mars. That's gotta be good, right?

Review: Honey Dijon and Josh Caffee is a powerful coming together of black talent on the long essential Classic label. After a spoken word introducing from Caffee - a lauded DJ and live act who regularly blows up the likes of Block9 at Glastonbury - comes "Le Femme Fantastique" (extended mix). It's a twisted bit of raw, brain frying house with prickly drums, spiky synths and a great vocal delivered over the top. KiNK & KEi serve up an extended remix that is drawn out and somewhat stripped back, so it bangs in different but equally high impact ways. This EP is pure club dynamite, make no mistake.

Review: The Afro Acid Plastik label has been doing a fine job of carrying new and retrospective works from DJ Pierre, with the most recent focus being on extensive remix packages around the iconic 'Acid Track'. This fourth installment comes with a slightly heavy heart as fellow Chicago titan Paul Johnson leads the way with his 'Jack Nation' remix pumping out while his sad passing still weighs on our minds. Elsewhere, Marko Nastic, Shinedoe, Zombie Nation and NUDE all deliver versions which pay tribute to the legacy of one of the most important club tracks of all time.

Review: Chicago extraordinaire Jamal Moss aka Hieroglyphic Being's third solo album is titled There Is No Acid In This House, and sees him return to Soul Jazz Records. Using his idiosyncratic electronic sound, Moss takes influence from the experimental minds of fellow Windy City innovators such as The Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, The Art Ensemble of Chicago and Sun Ra, through to icons of his hometown's house music scene like Ron Hardy, Marshall Jefferson, Lil Louis and others who have defined Chicago's musical universe over the last half a century.

Review: Woody McBride's Sounds label continues to dive back in the archives and revive some absolute gold standard techno for modern diggers. This collab effort between McBride (in his DJ ESP guise) and DJ Skull originally came out in 1995, and it still sounds fierce to this day. 'The Drive' is a stripped down tool with all the right chops to tweak out a locked-in raver, but 'G-Rated' is the real gem on the record. In a blistering hailstorm of 303 squelch you get a definitive example of acid techno at its finest. 'The Power' might well find relevance in the present day trance-techno scene thanks to its unsettling leads and relentless forwards thrust.