DJS: MOST CHARTED - TECHNO - MOST CHARTED IN JUNE 2015

Review: The Peer Pressure EP from the under-rated Mark Forshaw finds Scenery Records once again highlighting the rich strain of local production talent in the Liverpool area. Involved in the Merseyside scene since the '90s, Forshaw has released on labels like Mathematics, Tabernacle and Apartment and is also a member of Phantom Planet Outlaws with John Heckle and Binny. If you've checked Forshaw's prior output you will be happy with Peer Pressure as soon as the grubby, jacked up house of the title track hits its groove, with his four other cuts heading down a similarly unpredictable path. Kudos to Scenery for seeking out Swedish producer Daniel Andreasson to remix the title track too! This is another no nonsense EP from Scenery that is lovably rugged and unpredictably creative.

Review: Releases on Dolly offshoot Dolly Dubs are infuriatingly infrequent, but when they do appear they're invariably excellent. This latest offering - the first for 12 months - is predictably impressive. It's Martyn's second contribution to the series, and his first EP of 2015. There's naturally much to set the senses tingling, from the wobbly analogue bass, dreamy pads and loose, rave-era house breakbeats of flipside "Don't Block The Box", to the pitched-down jungle rhythms, bittersweet chords and notable bass of opener "Done Away". The swinging, spooky and downright chilling "EF40" is pretty darn tasty, too.

Review: The latest label to benefit from the hardware mangling sounds of Jamal Moss is Tabernacle who secure some productions from the Mathematics boss under The Hieroglyphic Being Experience name. The two tracks on Methods Of Transfer Book I 12" are based around music from an improvised performance Moss gave in New York last year and both get reworked by John Heckle. Given the fact Heckle was given his break by releasing through Mathematics a few years back, it's nice to see the Liverpool producer tackle Moss's productions. Moss opens and closes the record with his original productions, "Create/Objects I" and "Create/Objects II", and both fizz with unpredictable energy. Inbetween, Heckle runs the voodoo down with a pair of gnarly reinterpretations that could well blow a few speaker cones.

Review: A lot more eyes are on the brothers Zenker and their Ilian Tape label in the aftermath of Immersion that fine exercise in the art of the techno album but it doesn't seem to be fazing Dario and Marko. If anything they are remaining resolute to the approach, and the artists, that have served them so well as the label as risen these past few years. Junt sees the welcome return of Skee Mask, who delivered a real highlight of Ilian Tape's 2014 schedule in Serum, and the four tracks suggest the unheralded producer is quite the talent. The mood veers from tense dystopian electro on the title track to rolling abstract soundscapes ("Hover") to deft wall shakers ("Larus Canus"). Final track "Start Up Trak (edit)" is quite beautiful!

Review: Appian Sounds' Indelible Expressions series returns with its second and final chapter, this time spear-headed by a totally different collection of artists. The Irish label have featured plenty of exciting talent in the past, including Joey Anderson, Imugem Orihasam, Eduardo De La Calle, so we know that they can throw together an excellent variety of artists to form one hell of an EP. This time we have: Evigt Morker with the supremely dubby and laid-back "Langbro Kyrka", "Once Upon A Time In A Dub" by G-Prod, "ison" by Vidab and Curle members Hiver, and a cracking piece of percussive grit-house by the one and only XDB, always up for it and never shy of a fat groove.

Review: It would be fair to say that John Heckle is Britain's unofficial Chicago house king. By Chicago house we don't necessarily mean tracks which sound 'old-school', but rather ones which contain that loose feel, the kind of DIY approach which was adopted by everyone from Armand to Steve Poindexter. His latest bundles of drum machine magic land on Lunar Disko - Ireland's prime techno outlet - and it's five tracks of synth-heavy house music for the more trained of ears. From "Bon Voyage" to "Implications Of Meaning", Heckle goes in heavy on the drums and his unmistakably distorted touch but there are plenty of melodics within, such as the beautiful chimes of "Drunken Organ". Hot!

Review: The second release on FINA White is a four tracker from rising Barcelona producer and former RBMA attendee Clip! Diverse releases on Discomaths, Classicworks, Sweat Taste and JD Records, coupled with his signature 'hardware only' live shows have really put Clip! on the map locally and throughout Europe. Key to his sound is a shifting style and impressive knowledge of sound design, displayed on this Brotherhood EP though four pure and unadulterated peak time cuts. There's a real menace to the bassline, low end throb and razor hats of the title track, whilst "R36" showcases the fusion of sounds Clip! can attain in his productions. On the flip side, "Forward" is, surprise, a no messing, relentlessly percussive banger whilst "Dissonance's Technique" heads down an equally straight-up, rough n' ready path.

Review: Liverpool's Scenery Records has been making a real splash over the last 18 months, delivering the kind of top notch, analogue-heavy deep house gear that invites comparisons with the best labels from Vancouver, Washington D.C and New York. There's plenty more to cheer on this label debut from Liverpudlian producer Binny, not least the immersive melodiousness, dancing synthesizers and rhythmic hustle of "Retrospective". Chicago Skyway delivers two impeccable rubs of that track, with the second - a new-age techno stomper built around beautiful synthesizer arpeggios and drum machine cowbells - standing out. Flip for the glassy-eyed intelligent techno-meets-deep house thrills of "A Moment In Time", which is also given a pulsating acid techno makeover from Scenery veteran Circular Rhythms.

Review: Limited silk-screened action from the techno capital! Berlin's 777 imprint delivers another mysteriously sourced collection of tunes, this time from the shadowy Glyn figure with the superbly named Youtube Rips. "Identity Switch" is a pumping, lo-fi house swayer with a dusty percussion work, while "Kevin Lomax" is deeper, less rigid and boasting a wonderful artillery of dubby melodies. Last but not least, "Caught On (In a Flash)" offers the dancefloor antics thanks to its cut-throat kick-snare flex and heavy-bottomed bass drums. Gnarly, indeed!

Review: In 2010 James Ruskin and Mark Broom turned more heads than usual with the release of their No Time To Soon and Erotic Misery EPs, both of which found a release on Blueprint. Following this the pair formed a new project called The Fear Ratio, and they've just released a new album on Skam. But if you're after another taste of the booming warehouse techno that took hold around the turn of the decade, this two-track 12" will give you a reenergised version of "No Time Too Soon" (with extra 2015 industrial scrapings) and, for all we know, a reduced version of all time classic "Erotic Misery".

Review: Dutch techno luminary Orland Voorn receives the makeover treatment on this latest juggernaut from the blooming Out Er imprint, who have out together quite the line-up on this one! The track in question is "Gain Upwards" and the first to rewire its structure is Detroit techno pioneer Juan Atkins, and the producer is in no mood to fool around thanks to his injection of heavy percussion stabs and molecular sonics - a truly fantastic return to form by the man! Atkins is swiftly followed by Berliner ROD and his moodier, swamped-out reinterpretation; on the flip we have Dial's Efdemin with a chuggy house and bouncy house version, and finally Haiku's cerebral take on the original...a ride into the darkest quarters of techno. What a pack!

Review: Contest for Supremacy is DJ Spider and Marshallito's second release for Will Bankhead's label and features three quite mind boggling productions. If you lock into Rinse on the regular you should be familiar with lead cut "Nuclear Winter" which features their trademark sticky programming and bizarre vocal incantations before a midpoint deviation into the most delightful jazz piano breakdown and sampled African chants. The grubby beatdown of "Geiger Count" bristles with kinetic energy and sci fi overtones, just wait for the track to unravel as a voice utters "hello, I am from the planet Mars and I need help". B side hogger "Zero Point" is the nearest thing to a banger here and is rife with more unsettling, post-apocalyptic vocal samples.

Review: If the smiley face clad centre label wasn't a sizeable enough clue, Happy Family is a new project from New York staples Eric Duncan and Justin Vandervolgen which sees the pair try their hand at acid house. Both are closely associated with disco edits of course, but if you've seen either DJ you'll know they are well up on all forms of dance music. This expertise is deployed perfectly on the two tracks here, with "Burnt" a relentless exercise in strobelit 303 madness that is a no brainer for the sweatiest part of a DJ set. They tone it down a bit on "Hard To Breathe" which despite the title is an altogether looser production with plenty of room between the tumbling drums and hypnotic lead synth lines.

Review: Trevor Jackson has long been obsessed with blurring the boundaries between art and music, so his decision to release the 12 tracks that make up Format - his first album in 14 years - across 12 different physical formats (including 8-track, VHS and reel-to-reel tape) could be viewed as a grand artistic gesture masquerading as a commentary on the disposability of recorded music. Either way, it's nice to see that The Vinyl Factory has finally decided to compile all the tracks together on this triple vinyl release. Musically, Format explores Jackson's usual obsessions - industrial, new wave, EBM, electro, post-punk disco and techno, in particular - with great gusto. As a result, it's a moodier set than his more playful early work (particularly Playgroup), but ultimately more fulfilling.

Review: Deep house veteran Ramon Lisandro Quezada AKA DJ QU makes his debut for Giles Smith and James Priestley's Secretsundaze imprint with a fine EP of woozy, off-kilter house. "SS1" is rolling, hypnotic and trance-like in its' dedication to groove, with darting electronics and looped riffs riding a wonky, late night rhythm. "Fearless", on the other hand, is loose and trippy, all curious vocal samples and swirling strings. Finally, "Loveboxx" offers a dose of saucer-eyed late night fun via a pulsating bassline, cascading chords, delay-laden percussion and dusty, sun-baked melodies.

Review: Ukrainian Stanislav Tolkachev has been a little quiet of late - by his productive standards, at least - so it's heartening to see him back in action, returning to M_Rec after a two-year absence. All Night Vigil is a varied affair, moving between the spiraling beatless electronics and cluttered, confused textures of "Vitamin K", the surging angular techno-funk of "That's Where The Dog Is Buried", and the discordant throb of "All Night Vigil", which seemingly utilizes the electronic motifs of the opener in a more dancefloor-centric setting. Best of all, though, is closer "The Chance For Both of Us", an unrelenting sprint through alien melodies, intense acid lines and unfeasibly heavy kick drums.

Review: The latest release from Untilmyheartstops sees the label turn to an individual they know all too well in Duckett, a fellow resident at the excellent UK festival Freerotation. As the title suggests, Part 1 (Coffee, Women and Skits) is the first of two releases due on Untilmyheartstops from Duckett and backs up his status as an unsung hero of the Welsh scene. All four tracks nestle snugly in the brand of deep house this label has cultivated, yet Duckett still covers quite a lot of different ground stylistically. From the Borft style guttural throb and shuffle of opening track "Crappop", Duckett veers off into more cerebral, introspective territory on the delightfully fuzzy "Blackbody Radiation" whilst "Valentines Day Is For Animals" is a shimmering highlight.

Review: Uh oh, Truncate is back onto your subwoofers with the second chapter of his recent remix series...the last outing still pounding its way across the Juno HQ! This time the American techno maverick chooses Par Grindvik and Dustin Zahn to mould "Mira Mar" into bleepy, hi-hat-heavy tool, while Zahn himself strips "Modify" of all its dignity and cuts it down to a beautifully simple kick-beat approach. Grindvik closes this chapter off with a deeper, more mentalist take on "Mira Mar", where the melodies are catapulted into oblivion thanks to intricate FX processing .

Review: ** Repress ** Dave Huismans swiftly follows on from that incendiary 50 Weapons 12" with an equally explosive return to the Clone Basement Series. One of the first names to contribute to the series back in 2009, both "Hang Up" and "Sweetback" find Huismans eschewing the jagged, garage flecked drill techno dynamism of last year's "Take The Plunge" for some of his "most banging, straight-forward club material to date". The lead track is bristling with uneasy liquid funk, heavily diced Hancock vibes cascading around the buccaneering drum patterns with glee. "Sweetback," meanwhile, creeps out from the murky depths, driven by dust battered kicks and gnarly, sinewy analogue twists - there's no greater philosophy at work here, it's simply dark techno for dark rooms.

Review: Given the DIY ethic at the heart of both Nation and LIES, its little surprise that Beau Wanzer, a close associate of both labels, has chosen to self-release much of his vast archive of material. Following a superb debut LP last year, four more cuts from the Wanzer studios are presented on this untitled 12". Overall it's a record that is quite typical of Wanzer's solo work, with vintage hardware and nightmarish textures combining to create a quartet of end-of-days jams. There's plenty of variety within the four tracks, though; contrast, for example, the industrial-influenced, off-key techno throb of "Beaches of Leeches", with the wonky experimental curiosity "Drew Is A Dogeater". Best of all, though, is opener "Beefhearts", a suitably distorted, gritty and aggressive foray into off-kilter electro territory.

Review: Dutch label Dynamic reflection continues to go from strength to strength with their latest offering from Abstract Division, the power duo comprised of label boss paul Boex and Dave Miller. The original of "Metropolis" is a nice slice of soulful melodic techno that fans of Heiko Laux or Vince Watson will be all over. The first thing you may think then listening to the Trolley Route mix is it sounds like Oscar Mulero; it is and the remix adopts his trademark hypnotic take on things. It all gets more hectic on the accompanying big gun remixes from Function and Marcel Fengler; Dave Sumner's pounding yet atmospheric version is all you'd expect, but he keeps the lush melody of the original intact and it works well. Fengler's rendition delivers exactly what he's renowned for in the form of energised, peak time minimal; just the way it should be!

Review: De Niro Is Concerned is the latest compilation to surface on Nina Kraviz's trip imprint - the Siberian artist's label gaining new momentum in 2015 and diversifying thanks to a selection of fresh artists - and it's an exquisite blend of house, techno and straight-up jack-funk. Among others, you have Iceland's Bjarki with the raw and sparse "Revolution", Millsian Detroit sounds from Deniro on Dumans, and Kraviz herself with Exos on the wavey and hypnotic "No Criminals". All in all, a wildly comprehensive bundle of house-techno hybrids for that 3am slot. Raw and diverse, wild and seductive.

Review: Combine your favourite elements of Steve O'Sullivan's Mosaic label with Basic Channel, and Exos's Q Box, original released in 1998, will fulfil all your minimalistic, dubby dancefloor desires. The cold, percussive tones of "Attfalt" share a similar cadence with the early material of Rod Modell's DeepChord material, while "Haus I Krukku" is pure, rhythmically driven dub techno. "Gegnum Skraargat" is the most colourful of this record's four tracks, with "Spaellt", contrarily greyscale and stony in comparison. Techno doesn't get much more authentic than this.

Review: A fifth saunter through the '90s archives of Anthony Child arrives courtesy of the man's own SRX label, presenting some prime Surgeon material newly remastered by Dubplates & Mastering engineer Christoph Grote-Beverborg. As the title suggests, this 12" draws from Childs' techno experiments circa 1995 and Surgeon fanatics should focus on the two variations of "THX 1139" that originate from a limited and highly prized white label. Complementing these is the pounding minimalist loop techno of "Fivo" and "Paggo" with this latter track sounding so very clean in comparison to the scratchy Youtube videos for its original 12" release on a split with Funk D'Void.

Review: There was naturally some surprise when Manchester producer Marcus Kaye - best known for his soulful D&B work as Marcus Intalex - started making techno under the Trevino alias back in 2011. It was his 2012 EP for Ben Klock's Klockworks imprint that really sealed his reputation amongst the techno community. Here, he returns to that imprint, bringing with him three varied tracks. Contrast, for example, the rave-era breakbeats, stretched-out pads and epic breakdowns of "Eclipse" - an unashamed chunk of early '90s revivalism - with the spooky melodies and intense rhythms of "The Dismal Truth". Then there's "After The Rain", which fixes Detroit techno chords and melodies to a pulsating, electro-influenced groove.