Back catalogue: Techno

Review: A repress for four prime slices of classic Baby Ford minimal tech gear, from the rhythm-centric drum machine fest 'Very', the resonant bleepy tones of 'Test', the sparse and spacious 'Down' and the subtle acid undertones of 'Percy'. Baby Ford is finally getting his props as one the UK acid and techno scene's true innovators and pioneers, and these four very mixable tracks are four more reasons why this is only right.

Review: Bespoke cutter's journey into the unknown continues across five tracks of stripped hyper-funk. Sliced and diced, this meticulously crafted music is designed for the body as much as the brain. There are hints of so many genres here and yet, all woven together for maximum funk - and damage on the most discerning of floors. The previous bespoke cutter releases have gained widespread attention from those in the know - and this is the most developed and satisfying work yet.

Review: Bezier returns to Dark Entries with Valencia, a six track rumination on memory, geography, and transmutation. Multi-instrumentalist Robert Yang's Bezier project has appeared on Dark Entries many times over the last decade, most recently with the 2018 LP Parler Musique. Says Yang, "What started as a project to investigate the love of the sound and scenery while living in San Francisco quickly developed into a passionate search for interlocking melodies and driving rhythms." On Valencia, Bezier invokes twinned places. The Valencia Street of San Francisco is channeled, which was the center of the city's vibrant new wave scene in the 1980s. But also echoed is Valencia, Spain, and La Ruta del Bakalao aka La Ruta Destroy, the Spanish clubbing scene throughout the 80s and 90s famed for its aggressive and synthetic sounds. Valencia is a darker record for Yang, exploring themes of submission and catharsis with nods to SF's gay leather bars of the 70s and 80s. The high BPM salvos of "Valencia" and "Scrupulous" capture the frantic energy of Bakalao and Valencian wave acts like Oltima Emocion. Elsewhere Yang mines the dreamy space disco and Hi-NRG sounds they're known for, like on the brooding "Past the Marshes" or the anthemic "Reservoir", which features their partner Len.Leo on vocals. Bezier deftly navigates past and present, light and dark, pain and pleasure, the stasis of memory and the flux of time. Valencia was mastered by Alex Michalski, with EQ for vinyl done by George Horn. Gwenael Rattke designed the sleeve, which features an 80's punk zine-esque geometric grid pattern mirroring San Francisco street maps. Also included is a 5x7 postcard with notes.

Review: Bigeneric was the alias of veteran Swiss producer Marco Repetto, under which he released the now legendary Venydia EP back in 1995 on The Spacefrogs label. Diamonds & Pearls Music now reissues this seminal classic, which features the evocative title track - a true zeitgeist which treaded similar sonic territory as Laurent Garnier at the time, while on the B side 'Styrax' is a more minimalistic and rhythm-based cut similar to what another contemporary, Plastikman, was doing. Finally, a previously unreleased, beatless version of the Detroit hi-tech soul influenced 'Electrophoria' is featured as an exclusive.

Review: Bleep techno formed as a result of likening the arpeggiated bleeping of techno, with the sound of contempoary bleeps: small toy robots, Speak n' Spells, the digital chatter of sci-fi foley in franchises like Star Trek and Star Wars. Now, music editor Jurgen Laarmann argues vehemently that bleep is back, and in EP form, likens its resurgence with the advent of NFTs and cryptocurrencies. 'NFT', therefore, is a four-tracker like no other, with the banging original track coming together with Bleep stalwarts including Michael wells, Tricky Disco and Justus Kohncke.

Review: German artist Stephan Bodzin has done a fine job of keeping himself at the forefront of the melodic techno world, not least with his always boundary-pushing live shows. He takes that energy into the studio when cooking up his scintillating club tracks, too, and always has. This reissue on his own Herzblut label revisits one of his many stand cuts. 'Valentine' is a wonky one with creepy bass and mysterious melodies over crunchy tech beats. 'Papillon' takes flight like its butterfly namesake, with elegant leads and rubbery bass all doused in glorious melodic rain that has a sci-fi edge.

Review: Tony Rodriguez has many strings to his bow already as Brothers' Vibe and the head of Mixx Records, and now he's embarking on a new venture in the shape of the Toad Red label. Focused on a harder-edged sound than the deep house he's normally associated with, Rodriguez has invited Esther Duijn and youANDme to join in the fun with some finely crafted techno for open-minded dancefloors. Meanwhile there's an original BV jam in the shape of "Dee's Drama", while Rodriguez also unveils a new modular-focused alias named Silent Rodgerz. It's a new chapter for the New Jersey mainstay, and it promises exciting things to come in the future.

Review: Boss Tracks gets ignited as a vessel for the work of three nefarious cartoon individuals who may or may not relate to three Liverpudlians with a penchant for jacking hardware tackle. John Heckle, Mark Forshaw and Binny are formidable enough on their own, so combined as Phantom Planet Outlaws there's no shock to hear the acid raining down in a most expressive of ways. "Hybrid 1" finds Heckle squeezing atonal hooks out of his gear like a free jazz maverick while Forshaw fires off the whipcrack tones on "Flash Back". Binny meanwhile brings a malevolent twist on searing loopy techno to bare on "The Return" making this a record for only the toughest heads to drop.