Back in stock: Techno (Alles)

Review: Mystics Arts is young label from Belfast that welcomes vocal duo Black Bones aka the DJ and production duo of Aaron Black and Timmy Stewart. Both men have been at this for many years and bring considerable know how, studio chops and dance music understanding to an EP that is aimed square at the rave. It's all about hands in the air breakbeats, old school rave energy, lush chords that come on stronger than the rush of an E and are steeped in the culture of pirate radio, illegal parties and warehouse sessions. A timeless EP that will light up any dancefloor.

Review: Dark Entries welcome back the inimitable Doc Sleep aka Melissa Maristuen for a superb new album of ghostly and ethereal house and techno. This is a welcome follow-up to last year's ambient and IDM exploration, Birds, and shows another side that draws on Maristuen's years of queer clubbing. It fuses aspects of New York house, Berlin techno and West-coast breakbeats and is "a love letter to the West Coast's magnificent natural landscape, the light of the Pacific sunrise." That is reflected in the sublime synths and silky rhythms which manage to both move your body but also captivate your mind. It's another cracking album from the Doc.

Review: Unstoppable Munich label Ilian Tape has another entry in its fine ITX Series here and this one is called 'Biospore Farmers' from Fields of Mist, describing it as "Sunrise Beams Through Orbital Mist." In less abstract terms, it is a gorgeously hazy and lo-fi electro-exploration. The first two cuts are slow, doleful and reflective with grainy pads and deep space ambiance swirling around nice rough-edged broken beats. The B-side picks up the pace with the brilliantly kinetic bounce of 'Astral Projection Spores' and then the skittish and celestial trip that is 'Orbital Mist'. A high-class EP once again.

Review: Amsterdam collective Forsvarlig Arkiv is branching out with a new label that is going to represent what they are all about. This debut EP, 'Arkiv I', comes after many years of expert curating of their podcast series and welcomes four different, equally vital artists to offer up some fresh techno. Forest On Stasys kicks off with 'Sunken', a swamp and gurgling bit of mind-melting sound design, Zemog's 'A'te' then rides on silky, meditative loops with rising synth tension and Eyvind Blix follows a similar path with a more psychedelic edge. Biocym shuts down with 'Sabotage', a more percussive and edgy sound for late-night freaks.

Review: Russian label Samizdat follows up its notable first release with a second 12", this time from Genning. It is classy and sophisticated outing all the way with this one as opener 'Stair To The Sky's Rooftop' soon sets you off on a trip to the stars with its slick rhythms and glistening celestial chords. 'Window To The Dub' follows more of a tech house template with loopy drums and bass that rumble up and down and 'Summer Lighting' then zones you out on some lovely pads and frictionless drums. Last off all is 'Mystic Lakes' which takes off on balmy pads and plump, cuddly but dynamic drums.

Review: Jack Bags is back on La Sabbia with volume two of his Panorama Groove series. Once more he flies through a mutant mix of electro and techno in his own singular style. 'Another Acid' is first out of the blocks and layers up gurgling 303s with dark and sleazy vocals over a fat mid-tempo groove. 'Gently Glide' does just that with a more serene atmosphere, silky chords and ice cold drums - it's a super nice tune for late night grooving. Elsewhere are the likes of the grubby 'Ground Control', the Chicago jack of 'In My Mind', twisted and sludgy electro-techno motions of 'Operating Base' and the futurism of the more stripped back 'Underbush'.

Review: The seminal musicians who have graced King Biscuit Time on US radio are too many to count, but who's complaining when so much gold material can be dusted down and given a fresh pressing. They surely don't come more momentous than this - German electronic pioneers Kraftwerk captured in 1975 as they were in the midst of progressing from their warm, organic kosmische roots towards the game-changing synthesis they're eternally treasured for. 'Autobahn' is of course the big hit here, stretching out over the A side as it should, but don't overlook the wonderful 'Kometenmelodie' and two-part 'Morgenspaziergang', all demonstrating Schneider, Hutter et al as the extraordinary visionaries they were.

Review: Jeff Mills for Axis Records. Are there any more exciting words for fans of Detroit techno? Here The Wizard assumes his MIllsart alias and once again sets off to explore extra terrestrial soundscapes. The tempo here is slower than under his own name, leaving more space for the sci-fi details and cosmic motifs to really sink in. The beats roll deep, too, with gentle percussive clatter dropped in from above. In the case of 'Breaker Breaker One Nine' the sound is almost Glenn Underground-esque. It is the EP highlight, though the glistening 'The Upside Down' is not far behind.

Review: Poetic Hovering Synth Tinkerer.

Review: Soon as you drop the needle on PH Project's opener 'Blue Yellow Twist' here we guarantee you will be twisting your face in mock disc guts. The bassline is a filthy and old-school gem with organ chord stabs and spoken word snippets adding the irresistible sense of naughty house funk. DMA then bangs the box with cosmic synths and hints of 90s post-rave, Pilot System cruise on a chunky bit of bass-driven house and Frozilla & TJ go deep on far-sighted chords and bubbly bass. This is unpretentious, functional but fun house music from a small but already well-formed label.

Review: Loud Enough has readied its third outing and this one comes from the amusingly titled Raiders of the Lost Arp. As you can expect from the alias, this is music that leans heavily on arps. 'Funk009 (Otto-Zero-Out)' kicks off with thudding and taught house drums overlaid with rattling percussion and detuned synth hooks. 'Funk010 (Lava P)' hist harder, like an Italo Johnson party banger and then the flip side flips the script as it should: 'Funk006 (Drop)' has a more lively and lithe groove, brighter chords and an uplifting energy. Rounding things off is 'Funk007 (Circular)' , a cosmic looper with the best arps of the EP raining down the face of the gritty beats.

Review: Tel Aviv twosome Red Axes can always be relied upon to deliver trippy, mind-altering and left-of-centre music, regardless of what stylistic or rhythmic framework they're operating in at any given time. That assessment rings as true as ever on the duo's first Shall Not Fade outing. Opener 'The Electric', for example, mixes druggy and hallucinogenic electronic motifs with a throbbing, retro-futurist house groove, sci-fi synths and the creepiest of lead lines, while 'Next One Is Bill' is a twisted, brain-melting jack-track propelled forwards by a filthy TB-303 bassline. Turn to the B-side for 'The Bee', a buzzing, foreboding chunk of punk funk/dub-disco/dark house fusion, and the intoxicating mixture of music box melodies, restless Chicago house drums and clandestine sounds that is 'Axes in the Sky'.

Review: Positivesource unveils a thrilling new chapter here with Berlin-based producer Regent's brilliantly eclectic new Aphid Riot EP. Having contributed several previous releases to this label, Regent's anthemic tracks have become staples in DJ sets by label founders Blue Hour and Philippa Pacho. The EP kicks off with the hypnotic 'Occult,' featuring infectious bass-lines and blissful atmospherics then 'Khmera' follows in the form of a relentless percussive anthem with nostalgic vocals. 'Aphid Riot' brings bold UK flavours and mashes up vocals, breakbeats, and classic basslines then a 'broken' version of 'Aphid Riot' brings things to a close with a more introspective take. Regent's versatility is on full show here,

Review: Dino Sabatini returns to his own Outis Music label with another mesmerising selection of deep electronic sounds that seem to take plenty of influences from dub, downtempo, ambient and trip hop. The open has a creeping melodic sequence that is forever subtly shifting and brings a sense of eeriness to the smooth and unhurried dub rhythms below. 'Inenarrabilis' is then a double quick flurry of tiny synth loops and trippy effects then 'Plena Lunae' allows you to breathe once more and sink into a vast dub soundscape. 'Ego Experior' shuts down with some paranoid baselines bubbling up through a slowly churning groove. Some quality work here for sure.

Review: Zodiak Commune reaches right back into the early days of the Dutch acid techno and electro scene, and it remains an essential outlet for tough and gnarly rave gear for darkened souls. This new record is a split between Umwelt and Serge Geyzel, continuing a series of split discs pitting serious underground operators against each other. Umwelt's side kicks off with the blistering acid electro of 'The Wake Of The Anthropocene' and follows up with heavy but melodic pearler 'Cosmic Dancer'. Geyzel's 'Off The Ground' is a nervy slice of acid with sad-hearted undertones, and 'Hostage' completes the set with a moody, percussive throwdown.

Review: There is no messing about on this ninth transmission from the Neighbourhood label, which comes from the studio of Yant and is comprised of well designed tool-like techno cuts that pack a serious punch. 'Broken Strings' is a linear pile drive with warped, twisted synth sounds peeling off the groove, while 'The Stunter' is stripped back to a lithe rhythm and more smooth synth details that dance up top. 'Conquering' again gets more ragged and raw with edgy, unresolved loops and some massive hi hats while last of all it is 'Lost Hours' that melts the mind with its sublime and subliminal mix of drums and synth.