THE HACKER レコード& CD

Review: This tidy EP gathers together some of The Hacker's most sought-after early tracks, all of which have been re-mastered to leave them sounding weightier than ever. First up is the pulsating brilliance of electro-techno fusion workout "At Night", which - like two other cuts on the EP - first appeared on legendary 1998 12" "A Strange Day". This prime chunk of mind-altering body music is swiftly followed by the sparkling, saucer-eyed alien electro-funk of "Leather Dreams" and the hard-wired Kraftwerk style electro heaviness of "Body Electric" (a fuzz-soaked slammer based around the Robots' "Numbers" that initially came out in 1998). "The Night Flight", a bubbly Drexciya style number from 1999, completes a fantastic package.

Review: Veteran of the fist-pumping kind of electro inhabited by Miss Kittin and I-F, it's not so often you see a new release from The Hacker these days. Still, he's made it back to deliver three Italo-flavoured nuggets on Tigersushi in the style of romantic 80s arpeggios and fat synths he made his name on. "Through The Ether" is unashamedly cosmic in its tone, boasting elegiac reams of melody over those steadily pulsing bass notes. A rasping snare gives "Mind Games" a marginally tougher edge, but really this is sweet songwriting for swooning swingers on the dancefloor.

Review: 20/20 Vision have firmly gaffa taped their flag to the electro antennae with "Exit Planet Earth", a new compilation series celebrating veterans and newcomers in the business of tweaked out machine funk. The Hacker is up first with "Positif/Negatif", a rubbery, FX-laden workout with plenty of uneasy space around the core rhythm section. 214 follows up with the decidedly creepy, sound design-embellished "Testy Robot". On the flip Reedale Rise brings something a bit livelier with the plush synth flex pinging through "Lux". Derek Carr completes the set with "The Gap", a lush slice of melancholic machine dreaming for mellower moments.

Review: Electro is a genre with concepts riven deep within its DNA, and Brokntoys is a label that likes to approach the conceptual from fresh new angles with each release. Or should that be blurred angles, as this latest Brokntoys 12" casts the iconic Luke Eargoggle as conductor alongside an impressive cast of the Swedish producer's contemporaries. Michal Amato (aka The Hacker), Marco Bernardi, Das Muster and Rutherford all line up to work alongside Eargoggle for a most impressive 12" that covers all facets of contemporary electro. The Hacker and Eargoggle's "Body" is almost New Beat, sounding like a lost Dissident cut, whilst "Rat Wire Chomp" with Bernardi falls neatly in the camp of Motor City futurism. There's a satisfying rhythmic snap and some dastardly vocoders on Rutherford and Eargoggle's "Stalker's Behave", whilst the Das Muster collaboration, "Starke," might just be the best slice of electro here.

Review: It's been some six years since Caroline "Miss Kittin" Herve and Michel "The Hacker" Amato last delivered fresh material together. While we await further news of their long-mooted comeback, there's this tasty EP of previously unheard archive material to enjoy. Made up of tracks recorded between 1997 and '99 - when their production partnership was in its' infancy - The Lost Tracks Volume 1 contains a number of fuzzy, stylish, floor-friendly bangers, from the S&M-themed madness of opener "Leather Forever" and stripped-back electro gem "Nightlife" (a tribute to Berlin clubs of the period, apparently), to the high-tempo acid-loaded freakishness of "Loving The Alien". Top-notch sleaze.