KASPAR レコード& CD

Review: Monika Kruse's Terminal M is the sort of label that serves up functional techno that keeps DJs with plenty of weekend weapons without ever really getting any headiness. It is Kaspar who does the basics well here with two tracks that do very different things. First up is 'Imagination' which layers up hands in the air synths over patient, slow burning beats that will cast a real spell on a crowd before things get too steamy. And then on the flip is the banger - 'Cycle Of Life' has darker energy, slamming drums, raw and pixelated leads that never stop twisting and turning.

Review: Monika Kruse's Terminal M takes us on a another of her stripped back techno trips here with studio wizard Kaspar at the controls. 'Valhalla' is real drama with sweeping synth lines and cantering drums that never let up. 'Feel Alive' is darker, harder, more edgy and with eerie pads up top that have something of an old school trance tinge. 'Close Your Eyes' is then the EP highlight for us with its impassioned vocal cries and flat footed drum stomps. It's main room techno with enough emotion to work in more nuanced settings.

Review: Kaspar has been busy slinging out high grade house jams with a hefty side serving of funk for many years now, landing in all the right places like 4 Lux, Clone, Housewax and Midnight Shift. Further cementing the Portugese producer's credentials, this release on Finale Sessions brings a spread of styles to the table, showing off his diversity in the studio. "Everybody Jump" is impossible to ignore with its heavy bass lick and fresh take on tough, looped up disco house, while "Coastal Soaring" takes a more ethereal approach seasoned with clattering percussion, jazz funk bass and wistful pads. "Higher Fire" strikes an uplifting peak time house tip, and "Cid's Thump" gets slow and nasty with some particularly psyched-out FX swells.

Review: Kaspar resurfaces following issues on Clone Club Series and 4Lux with the Bastard Boogie Joints EP for the Hands Off label. A limited vinyl pressing, this four track EP demonstrates once again Kaspar's production versatility whilst collectively showing his talent for analogue produced house music deep with grit and funk. "Beach Dusk" is a laid back beat down exercise, as upright bass, emotive strings, deep rhodes chords and off kilter synth metrics combine for a track that's both perfect for the start of a long set or the closure of a bangin' night. 909 patterns duel with a psychedelic funk riff on "Memory Lane" with trippy results whilst "Azazel" is Kaspar in delay laden boogie mode. "Bottom Rock" ends proceedings on a real rumbling deep house number which slowly but surely builds around core elements of super tight bassline, jerking gated arpeggios and a rolling live 909 beat into a real voyage.

Review: Given that every release to date has been a winner, we're expecting big things from the latest volume in Snuff Trax's electro-focused In The Dark Again series. Predictably, there's not a weak link in sight. We're particularly enjoying the spacey electronics, woozy melody lines, snappy drum machine hits and warehouse-friendly intent of Kaspar's "Deleite Obscuro. That said, Lectromagnetique's punchy, TB-303 electro floor filler, "The Abyss", is also superb and arguably the most floor-friendly cut of the lot. Elsewhere, Vault drops a chunk of revivalist Italo-disco dustiness and Synkronized goes all weird, spacey and distorted on the equally as inspired "Coma Jam".

Review: With a name like the 'Bangers' series, one can only guess what you're in for. This is the eighth installment in the series from Terminal M, the German label run by techno fiend Monika Kruse. This four-track EP compilation - and there are many more where it came from - reinforces the most hardened cores of the German underground, whether they manifest as mystic darkside trance (Zajon's 'Fierce Pain') or verging-on-hardstyle apocalypses (Kaspar's 'Since 94').