Back catalogue: Techno (Alles)

Review: Two years ago, Italy's Balearic Gabba Soundsystem switched from remixing and re-editing their favourite cuts to curating compilation style EPs of similarly minded fare. They're in that mode again here, presenting a trio of cuts that combine the saucer-eyed warmth and loved-up musicality of Balearic music culture with grooves and rhythms firmly focused on the dancefloor. They begin by showcasing Wallace's sublime remix of Sewell & The Gong's 'Better Worlds', a locked-in, hypnotising fusion of semi-organic deep house grooves, new age melodic motifs and the dreamiest of ambient chords. Over on the flip they dip into slo-mo Italo-disco/acid house fusion via SIRS fine revision of My Friend Dario's 'Tell Aro', before treating us to a Pedro Bertho remix of Verdo's 'Belvourdier' in which sparkling Balearic house piano riffs, undulating acid lines and mid-80s "chorus" synth sounds rise above a fluctuating synthesiser bassline and hustling beats.

Review: The Clergy label celebrates ten years in the game by serving up another of its vital techno sermons. This one comes with the sub-head 'Charlie' and sure is a charged-up various artists affair that kicks off with the anxious synth designs and nimble drum funk of USAW's 'Kokedama'. Red Rooms coats his beats in dusty and scruffy hi-hats on 'Imaginary Pleasures' while Bidoben gets more deep and eerie with the melodic howls of 'Mimic.' SLV's 'Ohne Sonne' keeps the tension levels high with paranoid synths peeling off an unrelenting groove and two further offerings explore more paired back sounds that tunnel deep into the future.

Review: Belgian-born, Vietnam-based innovator Peter Van Hoesen returns to the fore here with a daring four-track EP that dives deep into experimental techno. Known for his precision and intensity, Van Hoesen lives up to that as he crafts a cerebral yet visceral journey through chaotic structures and abstract rhythm. From the hypnotic disarray of 'Definition by Absence' to the stormy turbulence of 'Variables Edit 1,' each track embraces unpredictability without forgetting the floor. 'Prime Directive' disorients with anti-club energy, while 'Morphology' offers a slightly more grounded groove that gives form to his conceptual explorations. Fearless stuff as ever from big Pete.

Review: Dutch imprint Voy operate extensibly out of the much more capacious Ukrainian outfit Mulen Records, whose propriety can ultimately be traced back to towering Kiev artist iO (Aleksandr Voznichenko). With no mission statement to its name, it's hard to know what the Voy sublabel is up to, save for the intrinsic end-in-itself that is ninja-starring heads-down, motile minimal our way. Bleak textures (both visual on the inner labels and audial between the beats) predominate on Voy, and this 15th totter is no exception to this rule. Expanding out from the imprint's establishing minimalia, however, we now hear another unknown artist lock down a glistering Italo-esque array of neon burbles, in a two-track manoeuvre of fell insatiableness.

Review: With a name like Global Underground, we're left starry-eyed at a fanciful idea: a vast, interconnected network of tunnels, reticulating every nightclub in the world. Who wouldn't want that? While the possibility of such a thing is most likely inexistent in our human lifetimes, the eponymous international record label at least aim to make a "global underground" real in spirit with their City Series of mixes. Their latest full-length from Montreal native Joseph Capriati captures this fervent mood: with the initiate DJ repping the jubilant Canadian city, the mix segues between Ame, Len Faki, Deetron and Louie Vega highlights, and is a modern house and techno showstopper.

Review: ***B-STOCK: Sleeve damaged but otherwise in excellent condition***


It was probably inevitable that Nina Kraviz would launch her own label. Even so, the fact that she's chosen to do it with an eight-track compilation featuring previously unheard material from herself and a mix of veterans (Exos, Steve Stoll, Terrence Dixon under the Population One alias) and newcomers (Parrish Smith, Bjarki) is particularly noteworthy. While Kraviz's own contributions have an unsettling, off-kilter tech-house feel, for the most part The Deviant Octopus is as dark and intense as its' fuzzy sleeve art suggests. That means Berlin-friendly late night techno and throbbing, otherworldly jack tracks aplenty, with occasional lapses into distorted analogue acid. The slowed down vocal mix of "Out Of Control" from the recent Population One LP is a real highlight too!