Review: Sundries' Disco Goodies series, which rounds up the best of the label's digital releases and presents them on multi-artist EPs, reaches its fourth instalment. It hits home hard from the start, where Berobreo's 'Soul Driven Dynamics' provides an attractive mix of 1970s orchestral soul samples and rubbery deep house beats. Experienced re-editor Oldchap brings the goods with a lightly tooled-up and beefed-up rework of an orchestra-sporting disco gem ('Coloridos'), before X Gets The Crest delivers a percussive, hot-stepping and filter-smothered re-wire of a much-loved Cymande classic ('Still Come Home'). Over on side B, Alexny's heavy disco-funk re-edit ('People Says') is joined by a hazy and horn-heavy revision courtesy of Sould Out ('City Gal') and the pitched-up disco loop-funk of 'Since You Came' by Workerz.
Review: PRSPCTV aka XENTRIX is an emerging Belgian techno talent who steps out here with his first release on Musik is Egall. His moody and atmospheric original 'Perspective & Surface' is found on the B-side. It's a hunched-over, stripped-back deep techno and dub fusion with grotty synths and vast incendiary hi-hats hurrying you along. Label co-founder Oliver Hess steps up with his own remix on the A-side and flips the track into something as deep as they come, with dubbed out chords and warm, edgeless but driving kicks and smeared pads all laced up with muffled vocal mutterings and rising synths. It's one for early-evening groove sessions or late-night zone outs.
Review: Various Shades is right! Zagreb label Forbidden Dance bring together the talents of Patrice Scott, Aleqs Total, XDB and Gary Superfly for a fine gradient of hex-perimental dance music, fully exciting our many aural rods and cones. An earful of minimal moods are conveyed on Scott's 'Be Yourself', with its fidgeting stereo bass sound design especially impressing, while Aleqs Total's 'People Round Town' lets a seedier sonic underbelly of aspic acid spill out onto main street. 'Odican' by XDB is the most unsettling number, with a repetitive vocal hallucination resounding in and out of a tenebrous centre mix, while Superfly's 'Free Fall' marks a recovery from the A1's relative panic attack, through intravenous hi-hats and concordant chords.
Review: Riviera's early momentum continues here with a punchy four-tracker from six on-point artists. Lewis Taylor kicks off with 'Non Stop' which is a straight up and funky peak time then pumper with bright chords and plenty of fun in the atmosphere, Cult keeps the energy high with 'Total Kill' and X Coast & DJ RaDa then offer the acid-laced and turbocharged bass stomps of 'Come Together.' LIL NASSTY then flips the script with some sleazy trap beats with menacing bars and futuristic synth patterns on 'Get It Up So' and DJ Pacifier shuts down with some high-speed ghetto-tech in the form of the relentless 'Fried Again.'
Review: X-Press 2 signed a deal with Acid Jazz that not only means all their back cat is now more widely available, but also that the legendary house outfit will release new music with them. However in the midst of that and a superb new album comes this, a reissue of a 1992 classic for Record Store Day 2024. It features two bold and anthemic treks that tap into their signature style which is raw, stripped back, driving and hypnotic with subtle but smart samples adding just enough detail to really keep you laced in for the ride.
Review: Goettingen's long standing dub techno servant XDB takes us to Chicago At Midnight with this new 12" on Pariter. 'Fenders' is one and is a deliciously elastic rhythm with rolling kick drums setting a hypnotic groove as the bubbly synths rise up through the mix. 'Cagomi', more edgy and amped up with gritty hits and swaying bass, gets a new lease of life after first surfacing on XDB's Metrolux Music back in 2009. The same cut gets a remix from Delano Smith that's more rooted to the floor in the Detroit man's usual textbook style. A classy outing from all, then.
Review: The second release on X Files. This waxy, splattered green and black 12' features 'two extremely dangerous peak time recordings that have been causing destruction on dancefloors the world over.' On the A-side, there's some proper heads down tackle in the form of bass-driven minimal cut 'Txxic' which samples a particular pop princess' hit track - guess which one? Over on the flip, the Rominimal vibes continue, well into the afterhours of course, on druggy microhouse cut 'Itta'. Tip!
Review: The Diffraction EP on Polychrome Audio Records is a journey through diverse techno and house sounds, crafted for dark, intense dancefloors. On the Side-1, Hong Kong's Xiaolin opens the EP with 'Yonggum,' a progressive house track that sets an ambitious tone with its flamboyant and dynamic beats. Following is Barcelona's Iro Aka with 'Psy Sights,' a hypnotic techno cut that deepens the mood with its driving rhythm and introspective groove. On Side-2, it features Lyon's Desire with 'Psy Against Men's Tears,' an electrifying psy-infused track that blends pounding beats with ethereal melodies. Dublin's Dylan Forbes wraps up the EP with 'In Tongues,' a progressive anthem that delivers a burst of energetic rhythms and vibrant energy, perfect for lighting up any floor. Diffraction EP is a wide range of influences and sounds for those looking for adventurous techno.
Review: Serbian-born, NYC-based DJ and producer X-Coast returns with a new set of high-energy tracks designed for big arenas and main stages. As shown when remixing Shygirl's '4eva 'and DJ Gigola's 'La Batteria', he blends house, techno, electro, drum & bass and trance on labels like Steel City Dance Discs, Higher Ground and Mama Told Ya. X-Coast's signature sound fuses 90s and 00s rave nostalgia with modern production here and results in the tribal-infused 'Neapolis', soaring trance of 'Desert Storm,' and diva house energy of 'Hold Me Baby'. They all make for a dynamic collection which shows off X-Coast's genre-spanning versatility.
We use cookies to personalise content and ads, to provide social media features and to analyse our traffic. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners who may combine it with other information that you've provided to them or that they've collected from your use of their services.