Back catalogue: Techno (Alles)

Review: The romping stomping Daniel Avery, is back on Phantasy Sound with a new two-track 12" which doubles up as the label's 50th, and continues the English producer and DJ's path down a streamlined, hard-edge techno path. Unsurprisingly, "Sensation" is a total juggernaut, a heady techno track that slithers its percussion sway amid huge mounds of delays and atmospherics. Over on the flip, "Clear" sticks to a techno formula insofar as its mid-to-fast tempo, but the melodies and chimes emanating from its underbelly are something wilder and altogether more ethereal. Conniving DJ tools!

Review: Although there's always been a sense of momentum driving Daniel Avery, those gears have switched up a notch or two this year, possibly linked to his decision to quit recording under the name Stopmakingme. His arrival on Erol Alkan's Phantasy Sound imprint seems so natural it's strange that it's only happened now, and means the Bournemouth lad done good has essentially worked with his two teen idols in Alkan and Weatherall. The Need Electric EP arrives just as Avery has let slip his commission to complete a Fabric Live mix and the four tracks have him working fully with a vocalist for the first time. The title track pays homage to Avery's formative Electroclash years, bringing the attitude of Miss Kittin and The Hacker up to 21st Century scratch as the stripped down groove twists itself ever tighter around the detuned analogue core. "Taste" and "One In The Wave" will mess with peoples expectations (in the best way possible) whilst "The Eagle" shows Avery has learnt plenty since joining Weatherall's Scrutton Street mafia.

Review: This young DJ /producer is one of 2012's most promising new artists - take one listen to Water Jump and it's clear why he is so hyped. "Reception" uses a mutant, noisy take on Chicago house basslines to brutal effect, while "Drone Logic" also revisits the past to create a new vision for the future. There, heavy drums roll in and an old school progressive house bassline - one that sounds more Guerilla than Digweed - is chewed to pieces by bursts of electronic feedback. But it's "A Quiet Life" that really stands out. Underpinned by a splurging bass, haunting angelic voices breeze in as psychedelic drums that have little bearing to traditional house / techno structures explode through the speakers.

Review: Blessed with cloudy, Aphex Twin-esque electronic orchestration and metallic percussion, "Quick Eternity" provided a fitting finale to Daniel Avery's recent album, Song For Alpha. It's little surprise, then, that Phantasy Sound boss Erol Alkan has decided to release it as a single. You'll find Avery's own Club Edit - a slightly more percussive and hypnotic interpretation with a DJ-friendly intro and extended, end-of-night-friendly beat-free outro - on the flipside, but it's Four Tet's headline-grabbing remix that will take the plaudits. It's a mix in two halves, with a stunningly blissful and loved-up first four five minutes (think shoulder-swinging two step beats and rush-inducing synth flourishes) making way for four minutes of percussive, wonky and psychedelic techno intensity. It really is breathlessly good.

Review: Floppy haired indie techno wizard Daniel Avery has become one of the genre's most notable craftsmen. He has done fine projects with Nine Inch Nails's synth player Alessandro Cortini already recently but now is back with a superb new solo album for his home label Phantasy Sound. The 11-track work is composed entirely of piece he made for his London show Together in Static. It The socially distanced show took place at the recently restored Hackney Church which no doubt influenced the gothic sounds and shadowy drones that define the album.

Review: Having given keen listeners a healthy preview in his Fabric live mix last year, the artist formerly known as Stopmakingme delivers his full-length album for Erol Alkan's Phantasy Sound. It's a limber brew that channels a strong dose of analogue trickery through smart and snappy beat constructions, all bubbling, aquatic synths and troubled delays propelled by unfussy drum patterns so that the melodies can do the talking. Primarily this is a dancefloor album, moving from peppy breakbeat driven numbers to gently bumping house, but always the playful, ineffably warm synth work sets the tone, from "Naive Response"s robotic charm to "Drone Logic"s soaring grind. It's an album brimming in confidence and nailed with precision, and it's packed full of incredibly usable floor rockers to boot.

Review: While Daniel Avery's earlier LPs were deemed by the artist to be dissociative exercises - either working in dance or ambient escapism - his new album 'Ultra Truth' faces up fearlessly to life. Through mega washed out and blurred breaks and, it's the sonic expression of Avery "staring into the fire" of life, however dreamy and indistinct the experience of it may be, and living mindfully, completely in the body he finds himself housed in and controlling. Of course, dance music is embodied music, so we're more than blown away by this representation; Avery pulls it off by going in a direction we've not heard him move in before.

Review: In recent times Daniel Avery has been busy collaborating with the likes of Alessandro Cortini and Roman Flugel (the latter as Noun), so few expected him to drop a new solo album in 2020. Yet Love & Light, his surprise third full-length, could well be his most sonically stunning set to date. Beginning with the gaseous ambient opaqueness of 'London Island', the set sees him blaze a trail through 1990s style Sabres of Paradise/Sabresonic techno, hazy dub techno, beatless soundscapes and intense drone tones, before switching focus to deep, gentle and melodious mutations of breakbeat, IDM and electronica.

Review: Phantasy Sound's main man Daniel Avery has linked up with modular wizard Alessandro Cortini for a debut full length, "Illusion Of Time". It came together over many years, with no real concept or constraints but it has still managed to make a powerful impact despite its spare, lo-fi, ambient vibes. There are heavier, darker tracks like "Inside The Ruins" that are brilliantly bleak, but also thoughtful meditations like the title track, which has some magical piano playing at its core. It's the rays of light amongst the darkness that make this such a beguiling and beautiful listen, and a perfect soundtrack to long lost days at home during lockdown.