Back catalogue: Techno (Alles)

Review: Simone de Kunovich and Pancratio join forces on the 'Memory Card EP,' a captivating three-track release that marries retro video game nostalgia with cutting-edge electronic music. Inspired by early PlayStation 1 adventures, the duo masterfully weaves samples from obscure games into their compositions, crafting a sound that is both minimalist and evocative of 32-bit textures. Whether it's setting the mood in the mellow early hours or energising a peak-time crowd, this EP equips DJs with versatile tracks that promise to electrify any dancefloor. With its unique blend of exuberance and nostalgia, the 'Memory Card EP' is a must-have for enthusiasts looking to add both depth and dynamism to their sets.

Review: There's plenty to get sucked into on this latest 12" transmission from Germany's Movida. It is Part 1 of a new Waterdrop EP from a quartet of artists. Somfay goes it alone to start with on the far-sighted and zoned-out house of 'Arborvitae (A Voice Like Water). Luc Ringeisen & Funk E then link up for 'Treinta Y Siempre' which is a lithe and sleek electro-tinged rhythm with lovely downbeat bass notes and more uplifting melodic patterns. Last of all is Polyfan Polyphenix, a jittery and rugged rhythm with razor sharp hi-hats and twisted vocals that bring a leftfield sound to 'Polymorph 2.'

Review: In the past 20 years Pan-Pot have ridden many a wave of techno's evolution, moving from their roots in the mid-00s minimal boom through to the fierce, kinetic techno they're putting out now. Having recently dropped the PROTO single on their Second State label, the Berlin duo present their third studio album. As that upfront single confirms, Pan-Pot are here to have fun with assistance from the likes of Hugh Betcha laying down a pitched-down spoken word turn that feels like big room Berlin techno in a nutshell. Across this ten-deep album, there are a lot of avenues explored as Pan-Pot demonstrate the depth and breadth of their vocabulary within the modern techno lexicon.

Review: Despite their name, we find that the music of retro technicians Paranoid London offers us a rest from the paranoid mental state that the Great Wen often instils. Now out on a tenth anniversary edition, the duo's raw acid techno debut, released in 2015, heard two Londoners take temporary flight to Chicago, re-imbuing urban smoky techno with a long-lost sense of looseness and grit. Working in relative anonymity, the duo drew praise for their sparse use of original Bernard Sumner vocal lines, affording the record an esteem-by-proxy as well as a sense of turning full circle, as PL's Quinn Whalley actually spent many a pre-teen afternoon in Factory production wizard MArtin Hannet' studio. But it's the record's own minimalism that keeps it satisfyingly repetitive yet never complaisant. PL go their own way, swirling the old school round a ringer road of outer-city grit.

Review: Photek's masterpiece for the new millennium Solaris catches a repress on Proper recordings. From propulsive, metro-setting opener 'Terminus' to the elegiac, trouble-in-paradise closing synth meditation 'Under The Palms ', Rupert Parkes casually shakes off all expectation with a flurry of infectious head boppers channeling everything from the fragmentary half-step of the nascent broken beat stylie- read: 'Juno' (sic), to the snarling Valve-era techstep of Dillinja and Lemon D on 'Infinity' via Larry Heard's late 90s deep lounge leanings on the peerless 'Mine To Give' (note the similarity in artwork with Heard's Genesis). Solaris is very much a product of its time, the highest praise possible given the early 00s was one of the most amoebic and fluid periods in UK dance music history. It speaks to the undying british dancefloor tendency to allide tempo and atmosphere, casually felling boundaries in genre to create something as reverential as it is innovative. Classiq.

Review: Back in 2021 Adam Pits heralded the start of the On Rotation label with his own debut album, A Recurring Nature. Now he's back with a follow-up which finds him stretching out as an artist ever more - a fact which is absolutely evident from the gorgeous ambient swathes of opening track 'Lost In The Ether'. Even when the drums kick in on 'Sleepless', they're more tilted towards fragmented patterns and organic tones rather than rote drum machine sounds. There's space for peppier electronica and steppy heads-down gear, but throughout Pits imbues his sound with the richest synthesis imaginable. In that sense, you can track the path of development from his earlier work while enjoying the adventurous new terrain he's exploring as an artist.