Review: Back to 96: The 4th Wave was a producer named Steve Paton. Also operating under aliases such as The Invisibles and Lo-Fi Sensibilities (when he appeared on Mo Wax), Steve didn't remain active for too long outside of the 90s but he left us two killer EPs. One on Planet E in 95 and this one on Kirk Degiorgio's Op-Art in 96. Reissued for the first time, and now featuring the twinkling downtempo delight "Lounge Music" (which was only ever previously available on a compilation), it's a powerful example of the Detroit/UK feedback loop at the time as both techno hubs were influencing each other. "Attention Please" rolls out the breaks, "Mean Streets" bites like a woozy UR record while "Cosmic Dance" whips up a tribal frenzy for the finale. 23 years old and still sounding future.
Review: Adlas steps up to the Hayes label here for the very first time and impresses while doing so. His take on techno is economical and stripped back but never light on impact. 'Deadstock' opens with glitchy textures and creepy, subterranean sonic echoes while a linear beat rolls on. 'Magnetic' is a little more punchy and is powered by a pulsing bassline while 'Open Question' is a dubbed-out cut with beats that skate along and twanging hits reverberate throughout. 'The Rumors Are True' shuts down with another glitchy broken beat and coarse claps with some tripped-out synth work up top.
Review: Coyu's Barcelona-based Suara label continues to push the thresholds of hard techno, with this new one by legend Cisco Ferreira under his reknowned The Advent moniker. Brace yourself for The Movement EP, featuring heavy duty sonic artillery that must be handled with extreme caution. From the brutalist dystopian slammer "Witches Spell" to the unrelenting peak time fury of "Live 98 Tour" which is reminiscent of timeless classics like "Bad Boy", to the Detroit style breakneck electro funk of "Same 4" which is a collaboration with his son Zein. Ferreira proves yet again that even after 30 years in the game, he is still miles ahead of the rest - respect!
Review: Ellen Allien remains at the top of her game for big, pounding Berlin techno with a deviant edge, and that's no more apparent than on 'Rave Luv'. Chopping up vocals and messing with the synth shapes, she proves that just a few tweaks can take a tried and tested formula into wild and weird new territory, which is why she's such a vital artist after all these years. Backing up that consummate A side is 'Lust', a more melancholic affair balancing menacing undercurrents with mournful melodics in the middle distance, strapped, of course, to a 4/4 beat.
Review: Fourth part of the compilation celebrating the tenth anniversary of the Milanese record shop. This collection is entirely composed of previously unreleased music, exclusively produced for the occasion by many artists of great relevance in the worldwide music scene, who supported the store over the last ten years.
This EP features Ellen Allien, Kreggo, Timeslip89, Itinerant Dubs and Heith.
Review: Altone, an emerging talent in dub techno, delivers the Invincible Nature EP on Denmark's Echocord Records, a label revered for over two decades. The EP showcases Altone's knack for crafting deep soundscapes. Side-1 features 'Naturally Unnatural,' presenting two distinct takes: the first is sparse and minimal, epitomizing classic dub techno, while the second version is more techy and aggressive, adding an edge to the composition. Side-2 brings remixes of 'Unnaturally Balanced.' Thomas Fehlmann, a legendary producer, lends his expertise to the 'Naturally Flowing' remix, infusing it with a fluid, dynamic quality. The 'Another Channel' version rounds out the EP with a quintessential dub treatment, staying true to the genre's roots. Invincible Nature EP is a compelling showcase of versatility in dub techno and Echocord's enduring influence in the scene.
Review: Danza Nativa is rightly celebrating its fifth anniversary recently and now follows up the first part of its anniversary compilation with part two, featuring tunes from across a broad spectrum. The first side delves into tribal rhythms and strident synths with Amandra keeping it stripped back and minimal and Dino Sabatini going deep and dubby on 'Danza Tribale'. Polygonia and Plants Army Revolver then set your mind free to wander among lush sound designs and captivating rhythms that head deep into a humid and futurist jungle.
Review: Amorphic and Tensal hook back in to the machine to dialyse their crafts once more, with 'Highland Frequencies' offering up four, machine-numbered atoning lambs to our mech overlords, following up the equally arrayed 'Distant Landscapes' EP (2024) on Blueprint. Now bringing their distinctive cataloguing system to the discographic vanitas Mord, four more 'AT' tracks make for an irresistibly well-layered, synthetically one-of-a-kind release. Only 'AT4' gets a subtitle, 'The Sleepwalker', where a sandman's slumbrous, lollygaggling beats somehow, at the same time, betray a subconscious, paradoxical restlessness.
Review: An-i is the alias of Berlin-based Korean-American Doug Lee, an artist with over two decades in the game already under several different monikers. This is the third EP to come under this name since debuting it in 2015 and finds him in an even more bold and adventurous mode than ever. Opener 'Rabble' is controlled techno chaos, a flurry of whirring machines and unrelenting drums that will frazzle your brain. 'Rubble' is just as intense, a big wall of rusted synth work and industrial noise mangled into something rhythmic and futuristic. 'Chapel Perilous' on the flip then offers up a spaced-out journey deep into the inner psyche. A welcome return from a truly singular artist that comes on fluorescent yellow wax.
Review: OHM is quickly becoming a quality imprint you can count on for techno and dub techno. The ninth addition in the series, it calls for an excellent blend of composers to balance this EP out. Veteran Jamie Anderson collabs with the brilliant Owain K on opener. The 'Aqua Dub' builds a euphoria for late night smiles. Smooth is an understatement on this linear gem. One artist on here that's been making strong appearances on many dub techno labels is the ever-talented Francisco Aguado. 'Balance' is a great tribal transition track for any DJ who can it creatively to build the means to an end. On the second side, Star Dub offers the very addictive and techy 'Forst'. Ending on a high note, the brisk and flighty 'Ever Growing' by Volpe completes the ninth edition in a rapturous mood. If you like deep techno, the OHM series is a must to collect.
Review: Ilian Tape staple Andrea returns to the imprint, marking a big one for the Munich-based operation with a massive album by Skee Mask also this week. As always, UK and rave influences are abundant throughout the talented producer's work and this one is no exception. This EP is called Sktch and features the cavernous, glacial and downright knackered dub techno of 'Sarec', followed by the sinister subterranean breaks of Auxl and the meditative deep dubstep frequencies of 'Kjones' which sees him delve deeper into off kilter territory.
Review: Dan Andrei is arguably one of the finest selectors of this generation and a master minimal producer who makes electronic music of the highest order. His latest outing sees him inaugurating his own brand-new label alongside Claudiu Stefan. Rainbow Hill is a platform for their more personal ideas and starts with four more of Andrei's brilliantly deft yet dramatic tracks. 'Numan's Touch' kicks off with rolling drums and bass and a fine eco-system of cosmic pads, twinkling keys and fizzing synths that are theatrical and involving. 'What Else?' then gets darker and more intense with heady loops and wispy pads, and again the ante is upped and the darkness pervades once more on the tense and taught dub-tech roller 'This Is What I See'. Last of all, 'Bluer Than Ever' floats above the floor with airy pads and radiant chords. A perfect 5am vibe.
Review: This is the first in a new collaborative series between Derailed Records and Planet Rhythm who have teamed up for a new vinyl series that launches with Rotterdam's ARKVS. 'Sonus' rumbles with low-end threat and fizzy static that locks you in the moment. 'Deviate (feat Ronald Nels)' is more sparse with claps echoing out to an event horizon as supple acid tones linger in the air. 'Amphibian Velocity' layers up gurgling synths and pent-up drum tension and 'Crashing Rhythms' is a punchy but deep closer and a fourth and final evocative and sophisticated offering which gets this series underway in style.
Review: Atimpuri emerges from the Italian prog techno scene with Present Magnificus, a sublime new EP for the small but already well formed Spaziotempo (or 'space time') label. Giordano is already known amongst those who know as a fine DJ and producer, as the uninitiated will now discover with this top label debut. He explores fusing of an array of styles form techno to prog, trance to Italo, breakbeat to electro on an EP that is thoroughly of the moment. all the sounds are sci-fi in design and futuristic in mood with compelling grooves and plenty of great designs that work as well on head as they do heel.
Review: One of the genre's funkiest groups, continuing where Cybotron, Model 500 and Drexciya left off and heading to a style all of their own, Aux 88 aka Tom Tom (Tommy Hamilton) and Keith Tucker (DJ name DJ K1) give two tracks from their classic 2009 album Mad Scientist an inaugural outing on vinyl, getting electro fans everywhere dribbling with instant Pavlovian desire in the process, no doubt. 'Voice Modulation' is slower, heavier and steadier, built around a shuddering b-line that anyone with a pulse will find hard to resist. 'Mad Scientist' the track, meanwhile, is faster and, with its vocoder-ed vocal delivery from Tucker, gives a good flavour of what makes the Michigan pair a vital live act as well as a legendary studio prospect.
Review: This new 12" from Glaswegian producer Harvey McKay sees him reworking Daniel Avery's 'Drone Logic' into a driving, big-room missile i and it absolutely slaps. Upping the tempo and leaning into a more percussive framework, McKay doesn't just touch up the original's swirling psychedelia, he rebuilds it for peak-time pressure. The acid line is still there, twisted and stretched, but now it rides atop galloping drums, shimmering hi-hats and the kind of pneumatic swing that's become McKay's signature. It's a brand new release on Phantasy, pressed in a limited run of 500 and already a fixture in the sets of Avery, McKay and Erol Alkan. The sound is somewhere between soulful techno and heads-down warehouse hypnosis i powerful without being punishing. What's clever is how it stays true to the hazy mood of the source, but flips it into something entirely more immediate. As a one-sided 12" it's a bold statement, but one that's easy to understand: it only needs one track when it hits this hard. Built for high ceilings, smoke machines and stretched-out moments mid-set, this is an edit that earns its hype. A slow-burn classic reborn as a proper dancefloor weapon.
Review: They don't call him Bay Boy for nothing - Bad Boy Pete is indeed that and shows it here with four fierce cuts of blazing techno for grotty, strobe-lit warehouses. Kicking off this wild and in your face ride of anarchistic bangers is the unrelenting 'Is That All You Got?' with its manic saw tooth synths spraying about over hard, edgy drums. 'What Shall We Say' is another one that fires out of the speakers with some menacing leeds and kinetic drum funk, 'Filthy Dark Bass Techno' then hammers it home with more hundred mile an hour drums and 'Morning Warehouse Techno' is pure sleaze and filth. Brilliant.
Review: Two sides of mega-minimal, textural minimal and a dash of drone here, shared equally between friends Bastian Balders and Anton Kubikov. The producers bring a sophistication to the tech, reflecting the huge variation in the emotions they indulge. Something between ecstasy and horror is heard on Balders' 'Machinery', while Kubikov's 'Introland' is comparatively hopeful and tearjerking, with its delayed piano refractions and filtery-in-and-out strings.
Review: What can be said about this timeless banger that hasn't been said before? From the iconic throbs of acid to the delirious string hook, the menacing intonation of "ecstasy" to the eerie plastic strings, this is as seminal as a rave track can get. While many out there will no doubt have this jam tucked away on any number of techno compilations or cramped up on one of the original single issues, "Energy Flash" is a track more than worthy of its own luxuriant single-sided release, and in doing such a release so many years on R&S are making a powerful statement.
Review: John Beltran's label debut sees the maestro flexing and showcasing the full spectrum of his composing and production skills over four diverse tracks.
Review: Dutch label Brew returns with more moody techno that is both deep yet impactful. It's Robert Bergman at the helm and '3 AM' is his opening gambit. It has ghostly voices shimmering across the beats with a menacing low end, rugged bassline and scaring percussive sounds. '#5' is another fresh sound with great sound designs and alluring rhythms and last of all is 'Drum Trax' which is a third and final blend of nostalgic and futuristic house tropes for heady basements.
Review: Given that legendary London DJ Steve Bicknell was one of the earliest champions of "proper techno" in the UK, it's been heartening to see his recent renaissance. Renewed interest in his 1990 productions has allowed him to issue a string of previously unheard gems from the vaults. Awakening The Past takes this approach, too, serving up a trio of previously unreleased gems from 1998 - the wonderfully trippy, late night techno loop jam "Physical Life", ragged acid workout "Natural Vibrations" and even more psychedelic "Fearing The Mind's Fears" - and a cut recorded earlier this year in Berlin. Interestingly, the latter - an intense, bleeping, modular-sounding slammer entitled "Conscious Awakening" - sounds like it could have been recovered from the same dusty DAT as the other tracks, despite being 100% new.
Review: Billus is a new name to be emerging from the Melbourne scene and here he shows his mastery of groove and percussion. There is a real lightness of touch to the breakbeats of the opener 'Cubic'. They mean you instantly take flight and drift through the skies next to pillow melodic clouds that cast your mind adrift. It's deliciously deep and colourful stuff. 'Shifting Sands' is another mix of suspensory chords that pan all around and bubbling, percussive drums that are hard to define. 'Splay' sinks into a watery world of dubby chords and skeletal but compelling beats and 'Under The Canopy is melodic minimalism of the highest order.
Review: The Birgan project is all about melding diverse musical words - ambient, techno and Afro-inspired polyrhythms - into something that is utterly unique. Many artists set out with this intention but few achieve it as successfully as this one, as this sensational EP shows. It is an immersive and escapist five-track work of stunning sound designs and inventive rhythm that feels both organic and natural yet synthetic and futuristic. The tracks explore deep, mysterious sonic landscapes that are both tranquil yet complex and make for an immersive, thought-provoking listen from the dubscapes of 'Beats Of The Congo Cosmos' to the more psychedelic realms of 'Subaquatic Sonic Voyage'.
Review: London-based Lewi Boome brings his class to this new release on Well Street, strictly limited to just 100 copies so you better act fast! 'Dust Devil' opens with a deft touch - the pinging synth lines and airy drum loops suspending you in a tripped-out world of futurism. That cerebral style continues through the lithe and elegant, dubbed-out rhythms of 'Etched Alive' and the more unsettling moods of jungle-techno cut 'Tumble', complete with distant bird calls and humid pads. 'Deep Shear' rounds out with a little more low-end grit as the fourth and final cut on a superb EP.
Review: Third part of the compilation celebrating the tenth anniversary of the Milanese record shop. This collection is entirely composed of previously unreleased music, exclusively produced for the occasion by many artists of great relevance in the worldwide music scene, who supported the store over the last ten years. The artists who produced the music for this compilation are Egyptian Lover, Ellen Allien, Thomas Brinkmann, Neil Landstrumm, JD Twitch, Matias Aguayo, San Proper, Tolouse Low Trax, Jay Glass Dubs, Dj Marcelle, Jorge Velez, Tamburi Neri, Fabrizio Mammarella, Heith, Itinerant Dubs, Timeslip89, Kreggo and Intersezioni Ensemble. The entire work is composed of 4 x 12", plus a bonus EP.
Review: There is a reason Mark Broom is still so revered in techno circles after all these years. He has a knack for sound design and crafting such powerful kicks that his tunes are always irresistible to both DJs and dancers. He offers up two more high grade weapons here for the second release on Beard Man. First is the maximal minimalism of the bendy 'Loop 132' with its glitchy hits and undulating synths, then comes the more driving and uplifting dub techno banger 'Loop 131.' The titles of these tunes make you wonder just how many of these this man has sitting on his computer ready to go.
Review: Return To Disorder welcomes Evighet Records label head Marco Bruno for some brilliantly controlled sonic chaos on this new electro exploration. His Sharp Focus EP brings together ambient, breaks and techno to snappy electro rhythms of the sort that he has already showcased in style on labels such as Blueprint Records and Machine. This one opens with the sleek, future-facing and speedy sounds of 'Storyteller' before 'Values Over Ego' gets more textured and raw with knick-snapping hits and prying synth lines making for real turbulence. 'Twist Of Fate' is a jungle workout that ducks and dives on warped bass and 'Karmic Pattern' is a slow but textural and intense closer with rueful chords.
Review: For all his innovation, Burial has historically shied away from delivering full-throttle, mind-altering club bangers. Certainly, we can't remember him serving up anything as rhythmically intense as the two dystopian techno slammers showcased on this 12". Both feature many of his usual sonic trademarks - oodles of vinyl crackle, end-of-days aural textures and creepy ambient electronics - but are underpinned by bombastic 4/4 beats rather than sparse, post-dubstep rhythms. A-side "Pre-Dawn", a dense and incredibly intense affair, is the more energetic and instant of the two, though weirder and looser flipside "Indoors", which contains some pitched-up rave-era vocal samples and woozy riffs amongst its highlights, is also very impressive.
Review: Call Super delivers a superb telecommunication in the form of 'Swallow Me'. We're not sure why Call Super wants us to ingest him, but we're not going to question it too much. The new track samples Kamala Sankaram's performance at the final Resonant Bodies festival in New York in 2019. "In Ancient Greek, ololyga is the ritual shriek of women, a sound so alarming to men that it could not be uttered within their earshot" - goes the liner text. Sonically, Mr. Super blends the ololyga with Hebden-esque shuffles and glossy dance schlop, building a deeply resonant tune sure to kill egos the world over.
Review: Derek Carr has been doing his thing for a long time, but it's definitely the last five years or so that have seen him gain wider recognition for his dedication to a vintage sort of deep techno. Making no bones about his influences from Detroit and the Artificial Intelligence era, he's cultivated a swooning strain of machine soul which is now regularly appearing on his own Trident label. This second part of Elektro Static features another four lush excursions through luscious pads, bubbling arpeggios and crisp drum machine beats. Across the whole record, it's a well-established sound executed to perfection by a true lifer.
Review: Needs' commendable charity drive continues to bring forth the goods, both in terms of good causes and world class club music. Rallying round in support of World Mental Health Day 2020, Shanti Celeste kicks the record off in style with the rapid fire, deep-diving workout 'Fantasma'. OCB keeps the pressure up with the psychotropic techno of 'RS3', while Michelle works up some delightfully freaky synths on playful jacker 'Aesthetic'. Bobby's 'Free Your Mind' is a 90s-tinged, full fat techno production indebted to Detroit, Peder Mannerfelt keeps things stripped and raw on 'Our Levels' and Yu Su weaves a beautiful tapestry of interweaving rhythms on 'Brittney'. Adam Pits' trippy techno sounds resplendent on 'Wind Tunnel' and DJ Sports completes the set with the inventive, dembow slanted funk of 'Needs Dub'.
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