RAXON レコード& CD

Review: Ahmed Dawoud hails from Egypt but is based in Barcelona, and as Raxon he's steadily built up a powerful brand of peak time big room techno and house which is reliably rocking labels like Kompakt, Ellum Audio, Drumcode and Truesoul. It's the latter - a sublabel from Adam Beyer - he returns to with this mammoth two-tracker, leading in with the captivating synth hooks and chunky drums of 'Cosmic Cure' before following up with the snaking buzzes and creaks of 'Conscious Technologies' on the B side, positively summoning the AI sprites and unleashing them on his stadium-sized crowds.

Review: Egyptian artist Raxon continues to make big waves with his widescreen astral techno. He has often landed on Maceo Plex's Ellum Audio label land that is where he returns now with another club-ready two tracker that is designed to make for some epic moments in big spaces. Opener 'Mantis' has heavy, churning drums and plenty of twitchy synths, turbo-charged sci-fi stabs and cosmic intentions. On the flip is 'Input Robot', a bouncy bit of elastic techno with more jostling drum work and plenty of astral synths make it an expansive groove. This one marks another big outing from this ever evolving artist.

Review: Having previously operated on labels renowned for pushing a more underground or left-of-centre take on techno (think Kompakt Extra and Ellum Audio, for starters), Raxon has finally been given a chance to shine on techno's most commercially successful imprint, Drumcode. As you'd expect given the label's trademark big room sound, opener "Connection" is a little bolder than some of the Ehyptian's previous work, with foreboding, undulating bass, robotic bleeps and raw, rushing, intergalactic stabs helping to create a genuine sense of rapid forward movement. Flipside "Orbit" is equally as twisted in its own way, with wonky noises and thumping beats being contrasted by a fluttering, tech-house style lead line.

Review: Raxon has gone from being a well known name on the local scene in Dubai to an international techno headliner with credits on huge labels like Ellum Audio and Cocoon, which is where returns now with more of his astral techno funk. 'Robotalia' is a mid tempo number. The synths are skewed and intimidating, the chords up top pixelated and the rising sense of tension there to ensure the floor goes off. 'Kryptonite' is a deeper cut with its own moody sense of menace, tumbling synth sequences and dramatic motifs that will be perfect for the main rooms of Ibiza this summer.

Review: Raton has grown to be a quite an integral part of Drumcode as well as the underground at large and now after previously working on the likes of Ellum Audio he finds himself in the studio with techno bigwig, Adam Beyer. The pair cook up two versions of the same cut here. 'The Signal' (Night mix) is a dramatic cut with an epic baseline and space-age synth craft over chunky drums that are constantly on the rise. 'The Signal' (Day mix) is a much more melodic and light cut but has just as much low-end heft. Both of these tunes give you an insight into how big name DJs like this see techno working in different settings.