Back catalogue: Techno (All)

Review: Kassian never hurries his release rate which means that when the Shall Not Fade and SB Jamz producer does drop new music you need to tune in. This latest comes six months after his self-released and self-thief versions 003 back in January and arrives via the esteemed K7. 'X-303' is twisted and textured techno for late night warehouses with 'Tabla' a more layered up jumble of percussion and loopy drums. 'Prelude' burrows deep on a prying lead and bulky but rubbery drum loops and 'Patterns' rounds out with an edgy vibe, clipped vocals and uneasy synths that keep you locked.

Review: Mineral Cuts is back with more otherworldly tech house offerings, this time in the form of a split 12". KG Beat is up for with a well constructed and prog-tinged track that is always on the move; always giving you the feeling that it is going somewhere big. It's the synth sequences that convey that feeling and mean you remain locked in throughout. Cosmic Soup Sound System then styes sup to twist melons a little more with 'Eddie De Boing De Boing,' another track that gives you a dancefloor rush with waves of warm synth over old school tech house drums that are perfectly clean and punchy.

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: ** 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 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.