Back catalogue: Techno (All)

Review: Vinyl debutants The Kid N Cliff (most likely an alias for a better-known artist or artists) are the latest outfit to join the ranks of "interpretation" and "homage" specialists Dirty Blend. There are two tracks on offer, both of which are pleasingly epic and stretched out. A-side 'Don't Be Alarmed' is raw, spaced out and analogue rich, sounding like a light-tough rework of an early jacking Chicago house cut or obscure proto-techno treat from the early 1980s. 'Heavy Thump (Bangdatshyt)' sounds like an edit (or tribute to) something from a similar period - all jacking, lo-fi machine drums, deep and filtered bass, vinyl crackle, Ron Hardy builds, and more sampled drums. Whatever it references - and early Chicago house is the obvious comparison - it's breathlessly brilliant.

Review: Roland Klinkenberg is back on Late Night Burners with his Sim o1/Trance Textures 2 EP and does a fine job of hooking you in form the first beat. 'Planetoide' is warm, surging tech house with an underlapping bassline to die for. 'Loopy Tune' is a different proposition with a much more bumpy and playful rhythm full of bounce and 'Encountings' closes down with the more teary eyed and trance-tinged euphoria of the whole EP. In between is the raw, stripped back 'Subterranean Express' to make for a fourth different tune in this fine and varied package.

Review: Moroccan production wizard Kosh returns to Casa Voyager for a rather impressive new four-tracker, 'Get It Done', which does exactly that and then some. Straddling as many genres as to remain somewhat unpigeonholeable, we launch into the full-bodied breaksy dubstep opener that is 'Hurry Up' before landing on 4x4 rave turf with 'Break It Until You Make It'; both tracks are liberal with their sample choppage and fidgets. The titular B-sider introduces an infectious chord swing and spit-snare, while the closing 'Despair' lets us in on the darker side of Kosh's inner world, as we careen through the acid-pad-filled veins of the beast.

Review: ***B-STOCK: Slight tear in top of sleeve and a few creases on sleeve, otherwise product is in excellent condition***


** REPRESS ALERT ** Russian DJ/producer Nina Kraviz recorded 'Mr Jones' back in 2013 which receives a reissue on REKIDS here on clear double vinyl. A fine collection of sturdy DJ tools, it features the sensual deep house cut 'Desire' featuring her own vocals, the sonar transmissions of 'Remember' which ventures into techno territory in collaboration with Detroit dub techno engineer Luke Hess, as well as the dreamy hypnotic beats of 'Black White' and closing it out with the minimal basement jam 'Sheer'.

Review: Japan's Thinner Groove flesh out their distinctive aesthetic with every new release. This time around, they welcome none other than Lemmi Ash, KOOLMFL and Sonic Weapon for a collaborative three-track EP of lowercase minimal tech and textural vignettes. The aim of the game is best encapsulated in the label's commentary: "each track can add a distinctive touch to the night, as like completing your cocktail with lemon and/or lime". Each track indeed sounds to the ear akin to how a fruity garnish tastes, with Ash's 'Presence' bringing tart citrine breaks notes to a gracefully held glass vessel. KOOLMFL's 'Atonbow' is drier bitters, barely availing itself of its trembling chords and sampled vox after an ultra-snappy initiation featuring a mere bass and kick-clap. Thinner Groove know all too well that good music is like an excitation of the flavour palate, and that minimality is the thing that lets such flavours sit.

Review: Ohm and Kvadrant return to their spiritual home of Kontakt with more of that grandiose dub techno immersion they do so well, plumbing epic depths both within and beyond the functional demands of the dancefloor. 'Precious Little Diamond' kicks the record off in a steady-cruising form, guided by a smooth minimal tech house beat as the engine for some choice dub techno chords and mechanical hiccups. Deadbeat then takes the helm for a version which plunges into abstract echo chamber sonics he's spent decades perfecting before Levon Vincent completes the picture with a remix which heads into the outer limits of deep techno immersion.

Review: Ohm and Kvadrant continue to offer their services in the dub techno vein; clearly, this isn't their first Kontakt. 'Treasure Of Kings Garden' reflects a single fantasy: the muted pleasure of discovering a forbidden gem buried at the bottom of his royal majesty's grounds. We imagine Ohm and Kvadrant's king to be a tyrant; necessarily, in fact, his sadism is the exact measure against which this diamond's value can be measured. The three mixes of the sole track 'Precious Little Diamond' unfurl like different stages of bejewelled delight and respite, from the initial 4x4 discovery to Deadbeat's halfstep black market laundering, and followed shortly by Levon Vincent's impressively textural evocation of cathartic relief, on receipt of such requisitioned-then-resold royal riches.

Review: Just in time for Valentine's Day, System 108 from the Netherlands marks eight years of business with Eight Years Of Love Pt 1, a superb 12" packed with fresh house sounds from across the spectrum. Simple Symmetry & Lord Fascinator open up with 'The Search Continues', a thumping acid laced tech house cut with indie vocals while Cream Soda bring twitchy electronics and amped up drums. There's electroclash-style rawness from Kovyazin D, Lipelis & Cosmic G explore a more celestial sound that will place you amongst the heavens and Gleb Filipchenkow shuts down with slow, elastic, acid laced gurgles on his 'Mieux La' (feat Ode).