Techno (Alles) charts

Review: Turin techno stalwart Andrea has been serving up slabs of goodness on Ilian Tape since way back in 2012, though "Ritorno" is remarkably his very first full-length excursion. The 12 track set is far more varied than his fine club-focused singles, with the Italian variously turning his hand to swelling, Global Communication style ambient techno ("Attimo"), ultra-deep breakbeat dreaminess ("SKLYN"), melodious, jungle-influenced IDM ("LS September"), bassbin rattlers ("TrackQY", the skittish brilliance of moody roller "Reinf"), dreamy soundscape techno ("LG_Amb"), angular fusions of bass music and dark Italo-techno ("Drumzzy") and picturesque ambient dub slow jams ("Twin Forests").

Review: With the exception of Skee Mask and the Zenker brothers, no producer has released more EPs on Ilian Tape than Stenny. For that reason, it would be fair to say that "Upsurge", his first foray into the full-length format, is long overdue. In keeping with the creative opportunities provided by the longer format, the 12-track set is framed as a "journey through the ups and downs", with hazy strolls through ambient, IDM and dub techno sitting side by side with skittish, off-kilter and occasionally dark forays into more club-focused electro, post-jungle and broken techno territory. There are plenty of subtle variations to be found within both broad categories, with Stenny managing to provide a unified front thanks to the pleasingly atmospheric and mood-matching nature of the collected cuts.

Review: The rise of Ilian Tape has been piloted by Dario and Marco Zenker with a steady assurance, so it makes perfect sense for the brothers to helm the first long player project from the Munich label. Immersion is a vibrant, atmospheric stroll through their various influences and inspirations with plenty to admire amongst the ten tracks. There is the bustling, leftfield breakbeat techno of "TSV WB" and pounding "High Club" (a no-nonsense dancefloor assault blessed with occasional eyes-closed chords), as well as sublime tech-jazz of "Cornel 21" and pitched-down junglisms of "Innef Runs". Interestingly, there are also a number of crusty, distorted ambient interludes, with "Erbquake" sounding particularly potent.

Review: One half of the former Ilian Tapes fixture The Zenker Brothers, Marco Zenker continues his solo adventures with 12 tracks of idiosyncratic techno productions. If you're looking for a comparison it's perhaps worth looking over the border to Vienna and the two fingers to convention shown by Cheap Records at their height. In similar style, the tracklisting sees lithe, dancefloor pleasers like 'Carefree' and edgily distorted 'Switch Stance' rubbing shoulders with the vintage drum machine-led dubbiness of 'The Tibet Terrier'. So, whether you're after maverick beats or something renegade and yet playable, it's all here waiting for you.

Review: There's an undeniably far-out feel to the Zenker Brothers' second album, Cosmic Transmission, which adds further layers of trippy textures, hallucinatory sounds and smoky intensity to the aural blueprint first explored on their 2015 debut full-length Immersion. There's much to admire throughout, from the mind-bending ambient weirdness of opener 'When Nothing is Safe', and the slipped dub haze of 'Whose In Control', to the drug-addled IDM of 'Natural Connection', and the polyrhythmic techno trip of 'Divided Society'. Most striking of all is the trio of tracks that close the album, all of which are powered forwards not by heavy techno beats (or even their usual crunchy, off-kilter breakbeats) but rather a series of ear-catching, fuzz-soaked synthesizer arpeggio lines.

Review: Those renegades at Ilian Tape are back once again with another forward-thinking album of fresh and potent techno, this time from Packed Rich. His long player "depicts the journey of an individual traveling through a field of energy that connects different locations in space," we're told, and along the way, it warps space and time to leave you spellbound. Punchy broken beat drum programming, hyper-real synth lines and cosmic colours all bring this record to life. It's a psychedelic mix that sometimes sounds like an MPC jam amongst the stars, at others like you're in freefall through the cosmos and sometimes laid back, stoned as can be gazing off into the heavens. Lush.

Review: Mariachiara Troianiello, the Milan-based sound artist behind the moniker Katatonic Silentio, works at the crossroads of electronic music, performing arts and sound studies. Acting as a live performer and an independent researcher, she seeks to bridge different spheres and approaches to sonic production. Now, the ever reliable Ilian Tapes have gave her free reign to use her 15 years in the game to create some exquisite, atmospheric sonic shapes that melt the barriers between genres. Across four sides of vinyl she brings us everything from totally wigged out ambient sounds to lively, bubbling electronica and sub bass-enhanced rhythmic assaults. Her world is a bewildering, sometimes disorientating one at times, downright beautiful at others, but one in which you'll want to hang around in for more than a little while.