Review: A2L were active between 1988 and 1990 and released two albums and several EPs on labels like 1st Bass, Big One and Force Inc. Their sound blended British psychedelic house with elements of new beat, industrial, EBM and early acid house and in doing so captured the raw energy of the UK rave scene. Notably different from typical acid house acts of the time, A2L's music took in machine funk, samplers and turntable techniques to create trippy, infectious grooves. This collection compiles rare underground gems from them from 1989 and features standout tracks like 'Even Though It's Make Believe' and 'Come On.' It's a great look back to the experimental spirit of the late 80s.
Review: Although it's a genuinely terrific album, A3000's 1994 set Magnetic Gliding remains unknown to all but a handful of 90s ambient and ambient techno enthusiasts. Musique Pour La Danse has, wisely some would argue, decided to reissue it. Produced by Swiss scene stalwarts Marco Repetto (best known as part of cult post-punk era combo Grauzone) and Stefan Riesen - who later joined forces again as Synectics on Reflex - the album flits between spacey deep techno workouts (sublime opener 'Sonic Stripes'), psychedelic ambient soundscapes (see the similarly impressive 'Flow'), and the kind of hybrid cuts served up by 90s contemporaries such as Spacetime Continuum and Air Liquide. In a word: essential.
Review: Modular synthesizer fetishist Luke Abbott apparently got the inspiration for this sophomore set during time spent as the "musician in residence" at the Wysing Arts Centre in Cambridgeshire back in 2012. Named after a piece of woodland close by, it sees Abbott using live analogue electronics to try and create a "natural life cycle" over the album's nine tracks. Interestingly, it differs from his impressive debut album in a number of ways; while Holkham Drones touched on krautrock, drone and intense ambience, Wysing Forest doffs a cap to spiritual jazz, Terry Riley and ambient explorer Pete Namlook. It's a beguiling set, all told, and one that constantly veers between crunchy bursts of intense IDM and becalmed, breathtaking ambience.
Review: Sama' Abdulhadi is a DJ who very proudly represents her Palestinian roots and is the first artist from her homeland to break out onto the international stage. She has a passion for sound design and has famously been arrested and jailed for eight days for desecrating a religious site when she played a set, with permission, at Nabi Musa. Her entry into the legendary fabric series is a doozy with emotive techno and cavernous deep house from the likes of Michael Klein, Carbon & Peter Groskreutz and Acid Arab as well as her own cut 'Well Fee' (feat Walaa Sbait).
Review: UK artist David Duncan recorded only one EP as Ability II and it recently got reissued and soon snapped up. Now, much to the delight of fans of the man behind the classic tune 'Pressure Dub' he is back. This album features an exclusive collection of tunes he made back in his heyday in the 90s, none of which were released at the time, and none of which you will have ever heard before anywhere. They feature his signature sound designs across seven cuts that sound as futuristic now as they ever could as they combine jacked-up house, techno and tech into scintillating and dub-weighted sounds for the club.
Review: The Abstract Eye often works live and crafts tunes in one take, and that MO is the idea behind this new collection. It features plenty of hard-to-define sounds from over the last ten years, many of them with a cosmic synth outlook and raw analogue drums. 'Skyfather' is a real eye opener with its sense of mystic cosmic wonder, 'Real Myths' fizzes bring as burning phosphorus and 'A Yearning Feeling' is more paired back and introspective with jittery drums and electro rhythms all soothed by the melancholic synth work.
Review: As the artist alias kind of suggests, Abyssy takes a deep dive into the unknown depths of the human spirit. It finds the artist returning to Simona Faraone's label after several years and finds him exploring electronic sounds of the 70s and 80s, blending Berlin school minimalism with Detroit techno's soul and funk. It is a record that ranges in mood and tempo as it heads into oceanic depths where wispy pads and chattery percussive patterns collide in unusual ways. It's a largely abstract album of unusual sound designs and genuine electronic discovery that often has you wondering just how certain abounds have been made.
Review: Electronic music is guilty of so many injustices it's hard to know where to begin. Among the least talked about historically is the lack of space made for South Asian and South Asian-heritage artists, who, despite the written pantheons doing their best not to emphasise it, have contributed an incredible amount to the canon's many genres. Things are improving in terms of representation and visibility, but there is still a very, very long way to go.
Even without the urgent need for more equal coverage, it was always going to be hugely exciting to get a copy of an Acid Arab album. And Trois does not disappoint. The Paris-based production duo invite us into ever-deeper corners of their sound, from the tense prog chug of 'Ya Mahla' and the stripped techno build of 'Rachid Trip', to the slick and sexy, writhing broken gem 'Gouloulou', it's as varied as the influences involved.
Review: New York City techno veteran Adam X returns to Long Island Electrical Systems under the ADMX71 alias, where he once again explores the outer fringes of experimental electronics on his latest LP The Aging Process, existing at the intersection of industrial, EBM and techno. Beginning with the contorted noise soundscape of 'Speaking Via Telepathy' he soon unleashes the seething brain bash of 'Sensor-Tised' followed by the strobing tunnel vision of 'Walking Through Walls'. Elsewhere, there's more dystopian themes aplenty as heard on the static TBM pulse of 'They've Instilled Fear In Us', or the pitch black war funk of 'Leading The Way' and the muscular slow burner 'Leading The Way'.
Review: During the 1990s, Age was one of the most used aliases of man-of-many-pseudonyms (and all round techno legend) Thomas Heckmann. He released many singles and two albums under the alias, with the first of the latter - 1994's "The Orion Years" - being the most celebrated. This 25th anniversary edition of that set proves why. While the track listing is slightly different from the original version (a couple of tracks have been omitted in favour of unheard cuts produced in the same period) it remains a fantastically spacey, far-sighted and sci-fi focused set that brilliantly blurs the boundaries between techno, acid, electro, ambient techno and electronica - all bubbly TB-303 lines, firm beats, alien melodies, deep space chords and undulating basslines.
Review: Michel Amato aka Amato is a French producer more widely known as The Hacker. Alongside Miss Kittin, Amato has been a cornerstone of the European house, techno, and electro scene, dropping singles and album like bombs. Having contributed to a previous split 12" on Cititrax, Amato returns to Minimal Wave's sister label with a wondrous homage to industrial, EBM and electro in Le Desordre De La Nuit. The difference between The Hacker and Amato? The sounds of The Hacker are more constrained than this particular whirlpool of pseudo electro and gargling quasi techno. Whatever you want to call it, these four slammers are all made for the dark room dance, each one nastier than the other and all of them audibly produced by an artist with plenty of experience and effectiveness know-how.
Review: Black Truffle is celebrating the tenth anniversary of Oren Ambarchi's Quixotism with a special reissue, originally released on Editions Mego in 2014. This remastered edition, with enhancements by Joe Talia, brings back Ambarchi's ambitious workia summation of his past explorations and a precursor to future innovations. Quixotism presents a single, LP-length composition divided into five parts, anchored by Thomas Brinkmann's pulsating electronic rhythms. The album starts with delicate orchestral and piano textures, gradually evolving into a vibrant polyrhythmic shuffle featuring tabla player U-zhaan. Ambarchi's guitar traverses a wide array of acoustic spaces, from crisp, clipped tones to deep, reverberant expanses. The piece's slow, dream-like transitions and the intricate interplay of its elements reflect both a culmination of Ambarchi's previous work and a hint of his future directions. A fresh opportunity to rediscover the charm of Quixotism.
Review: Repeat continue their exploration of Mark Ambrose's imperious tech house legacy with another double pack that will delight diggers and dismay sharks in equal measure. 'Harmony (Sun Mix)' is a truly dreamy cut that will go down a treat as we head towards sunnier dancefloor moments across the Northern Hemisphere. 'My Soul Your Soul' has a deadly broken beat edge to the drum programming, while 'Destiny Angel' creates a starry-eyed disco-house fusion that has to be heard to be believed. The quality and ingenuity spilling out of every one of these tracks is a marvel, and as a collection this release helps cement Ambrose's position as one of the finest artists to emerge from the mid 90s UK scene.
Review: This superb new record from AnD embarks on a conceptual journey inspired by the fusion of granular synthesis, innovative sound design, and rhythmic explorationd within polyphony. It delves into the cosmic phenomenon of star collisions as the artists leverage their background in engineering and explore mathematical intricacies surrounding the timing and impact of stellar collisions. Through a sonic landscape echoing the vastness of space, this record incorporates elements of white noise, fragmented breaks and minimalist synth arrangements that are said to mirror the mental experiences of the listener.
ODESZA - "This Version Of You" (feat Julianna Barwick - Joseph Ray extended remix) (6:31)
Parra For Cuva - "Mimose" (3:47)
Agents Of Time - "Zodiac" (7:10)
Gorgin - "Heartbeater" (4:58)
Tao Andra - "Dream On" (6:42)
ANNA & Rebuke - "Ignite" (5:42)
Binaryh - "Daemon" (6:17)
Paul Roux - "Baby Baby" (3:45)
Review: Global Underground present the next release from the nextmost DJ to grace their City Series. ANNA's dynamic sound encompasses multiple styles and genres, from ambient through house to techno, and encapsulates the effortless chic and vibrant nightlife of one of the coolest cities in Europe - Lisbon. This modish Portuguese metropolis has always enjoyed a certain notoriety, but this has perhaps not been felt so intently more than in the last five years or so. ANNA now fleshes out Lisbon's essence, capturing its descending narrow streets, castellated jetties and glorious sunsets with a progressive house, trance and techno mix that satisfies all possible ends of a newfangled tourist's dream.
Review: Howard Dodd (Tongue, Anoesis, Oxidation, Doc Bozique) takes control on the third Anoesis release on Cosmic Soup. Supercade is one that's been long anticipated by fans of their well designed breakbeat sounds and their first since 1995's Blood & Sweat on D*Fusion. As such there is a hint of 90s post rave magic to the 11 cuts here, all with cosmic intent and deep grooves - tunes that have you lost in a reverie on the heart of the dance floor but with your gaze turned skyward. Essential stuff.
Review: In line with the timely reappraisal of all things R&S related, the resurgent Apollo have seen the opportunity to bring one of their most celebrated records back for another round. Aphex Twin's ambient recordings mature magnificently with age, sounding ever richer and more emotive as the rest of electronic music continues to play catch up all around. From the gentle breakbeats of "Xtal" to the aquatic techno lure of "Tha", the airy rave of "Pulsewidth" to the heartwrenching composition of "Ageispolis", every track is a perennial example of how far ambient techno could reach even back then. It's just that no-one quite had the arm-span of Richard D. James.
Review: Originally released in 1996, Aphex Twin's fifth album in as many years meant business from the very moment the wild and whimsical opener "4" scribbled it way through the speakers. With jaunty jams such as "Cornish Acid" and "Fingerbib" running amok mid-set, Richard D James Album acted as a fine mission statement to expect the unexpected and never anticipate formula or form. And it still carries that very same message today. Essential.
Review: Faithfully jammy acid techno from the idiomatic Acid Cuts, a new Grecian outing helmed up by an as yet unnamed head honcho. 'Der Compositeur Classique' is the first LP on the label and comes by way of producer Apoll, real name Andre Pollmann, a longtime fixture of the German industrial landscape come soundscape (he grew up in the Ruhr area), whose movements through the 80s industrial and EBM circuits through to minimal techno has made for a well-seasoned though not unbalanced purveyor of sound. An eight-tracker of knockingly brutal acid pingers, this is a motherboard's worth of complication and fidget here, best among them being the deep house-techno trembler 'Top Of The Block' and the utilitarian, preferential hip house verger 'Coffee, But No Cookies'.
3500 Miles Away From Detroit (The Beginning) (7:36)
Dark Moonlight (6:29)
In A Circle (6:30)
Brighter Swallow (Westgate mix) (6:41)
That Bond (You Are Not Alone) (7:01)
D Mecca (6:03)
Unborn Life (7:43)
The End (3:59)
Review: Acquit Records are setting out on an ambitious one, presenting their latest foray into vinyl releasing with this incredible new LP from Arbilla. Both label and artist move incredibly low-key, but unearthing the info was worth it. Arbilla aka. Phil Robertson and his own adjacent imprint, Xistence Records, follows up prior greats such as the 'Movement' EP with this full-length, which takes after Detroit techno and catapults it to ever further cosmic reaches. Zooming out to the macro-point of galaxy filaments and Bootes Voids, we begin with the brukky opus '3500 Miles Away From Detroit' before seguing into the percussive workouts of 'Brighter Swallow' and 'Mecca'. A real sense of expanse is given off from the otherwise raw and up-close analogue sound; the cosmos is, of course, airtight.
Review: Multi Culti presents a captivating full-length release from Peruvian artist Aristidez, cofounder of Lima's Casa Locasa and the nonprofit label Behua Icara, which supports indigenous culture. Now based in Berlin, Aristidez has been steadily building his reputation with releases on labels like Calypso, Disque-Discos, and Kebrada, as well as notable remixes for Amplio Espectro and Playground Records. His music, praised by Matias Aguayo and the late Andrew Weatherall, stands out for its deep rhythmic sensibility and subtle nods to indigenous influences, all while avoiding cliches. This album showcases Aristidez's ability to blend a wide array of electronic influences into a cohesive, hypnotic experience. Across its seven tracks, listeners are treated to a sonic journey that spans breakbeat-driven 90s rave, 80s proto-trance, cult dub, and downtempo grooves. Tracks like 'Gastonia Dub' and 'Make Flutes With My Bones' reveal a mastery of rhythm and atmosphere, creating an immersive, kaleidoscopic soundscape that is both danceable and introspective. This collection is a testament to Aristidez's skill in crafting timeless electronic music that resonates with both the dancefloor and the discerning listener.
Review: Tristan Arp's second album on Facta and K-Lone's Wisdom Teeth is a multidimensional exploration of sound blending pin-drop rhythms, ethereal vocals and swirling ambience. The writing started in Mexico City and was completed in New York and through the tracks, Arp fuses modular synths, cello, found sounds and spoken word to craft a rich world where nature and technology converge. Inspired by the idea of machines collaborating with nature, the album's hopeful tone envisions a future of rewilding and new possibilities across tracks that were performed live and improvised throughout. Many standout moments include the 10-minute 'Life After Humans' which ogres a beautiful escape.
Review: Tristan Arp returns to Wisdom Teeth with his second album, 'a pool, a portal', blending modular synths, cello, found sounds, and spoken word. The LP, crafted between Mexico City and New York, continues where his debut 'Sculpturegardening' left off, creating an ambient soundscape where nature and machines co-exist. Featuring a collaboration with Guatemalan cellist Mabe Fratti, this record is a journey into a future where humanity and technology evolve together. The artwork, like the music, blurs the line between the natural and the digital.
Review: Arutani's third album Who We Used To Be is a meditation on times passed and alternate lives lost, filtered through the decorative lenses of deep, minimal, tech and dub. As if to paint a character portrait of the artist himself, this is a measured, calm, light, mindful and modest album, replete with bulging concave chord undulations and synaptic percussive snaps for balance. Everything from electro's usual dotted rhythmic pattern to progressive house's woodblocky felicities are checked off here, plus the glissando'ing lead on 'In Case You Wondered What I've Been Doing' is a special highlight.
Review: De:tuned house As One on their latest album-length demonstration in melodic house and techno. With over 30 years of studio experience under his belt, the pivotal British producer also known as Kirk Degiorgio once again lands on De:tuned with the mesmerising eight-track album, Requiem. Now joined by Catherine Siofra Prendergast, this progressive melodic release spans every wondrous end from elegiac acid to fractal bleep techno, keeping every waking or sleep-dancing moment harmonic and blissful over its course. Only the cavernous 'Message Received' marks any comparatively sinister moment, its textural harmonics offering little respite for the purely diatonic ear.
Review: In a Catholic or other ecclesiastical context, a requiem is a song written and recited as an intended repose for the dead; a lyrical aid for mourning. And with over 30 years of studio experience under his belt, British techno producer Kirk Degiorgio lands on De:tuned with his very own 'Requiem', an eight-track excursion through ambi-mesmeric audio in the vein of digital, calculative ambient techno and other adjacent dance styles; though we are indeed left to wonder whether we're mourning anything here, because by the sounds of it, nothing at all has died. A longtime alias of Degiorgio, As One is nonetheless joined by fellow songwriter and producer Catherine Siofra Prendergast for this particular trip through the cyberspace sublime; best among these acid ambient apotheoses have to be 'Message Received', which slings low compared to the gaseous highs that precede it, and the closing 'Requiem', a masterclass in nimbus-floating techno.
Review: Space jungle master ASC returns with 'Hiding In Plain Sight', except this one is certainly not part of his usual repertoire. Rather than being drum n' bass, the producer focuses entirely on atmosphere and unusual rhythmic ambientscapes, leaning into electro when beats do pick up. Largely, though, this is a project that encourages sublime awe at the cosmos through huge synthwork, rather than drawing attention to its beats - a common trope for ASC. Favourites of ours include 'Orbiting Neptune' and 'Galaxies', both of which prove ASC has much more up his sleeve than most of his EP bits might reveal.
Review: Italian-born/Berlin-based DJ & Producer Pasquale Ascion delivers his second LP since 2016, comprised of largely 303 centered sounds. Acidtraum is a journey into the dark side of the genre, with a dozen tracks that combine lysergic synths, heavy drums and haunting ambience. Further showcasing the Neapolitan producer's wide sonic repertoire, there are moments of bass-heavy electro as heard on 'It Began With That Sound', throwbacks to early hardcore rave sounds explored on 'Needless' (Troller Coaster Kaos mix) and wild Italo reinterpretations ('Tribute To Bad Passion') in addition to many straight ahead techno bangers.
Review: To coincide with the twenty-fifth anniversary of Berlin club Tresor, Juan Atkins and Moritz Von Oswald have released a second Borderland album together. It begins in ominous mode, with the title track's brooding bass tones casting a long, dark shadow, but the pair soon find a way to break away from the gloom with the mesmerising chords and heavy rhythm of "Lightyears" and the wonderfully spacey Detroit techno of "Riod". Both "Odyssey" and "Merkur" push the tempo back down but keep an emphasis on hypnotic, woozy textures, snappy drums and jazzy tones, while "2600" shows that Van Oswald hasn't lost his ability to craft dub-heavy, dreamy techno.
Review: DDS has tapped up the mysterious and enigmatic Japanese dub techno stylist Shinichi Atobe for another album. Discipline is his seventh for the label and each of those has been as faultless as the next - happily, this keeps up that impeccable run which started with a debut on the Chain Reaction label in 2001. The eight cuts on the record offer up delay-laden steppers, swaggering 909 rhythms, plenty of evocative pads and subtle backlit synths that bring a future feel to the soulful, authentic grooves.
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