Tags: Minimal Techno

Review: Pilgrims of the Mind is the one and only album Vancouver's Stephane Novak released. It was back in 1997 and was a CD-only issue that now makes its debut on vinyl. The record fuses pop, downtempo, prog and house in a series of silky tunes high on emotion. It is awash with classic 90s melodies that are whimsical and dreamy, carefree and magical. Each track has a real sense of musicianship and adds up to a captivating listen overall - something all too many LPs of today seems to forget to focus on. In recent years this record has started to get some of the underground recognition it deserves, and this vinyl release will only hasten that positive contemporary reassessment.

Review: Ten year anniversary? Has it really already been ten years since Recondite's sophomore album 'Hinterland' came out?! Recondite almost single-handedly was responsible in many peoples eyes for the resurgence in techno during the early 2010s. After beating down the doors of Ghostly International for many years, the fans finally get their wish in the shape a new, shiny reissue. Coming on smokey black vinyl this time, nobody has a reason to not have this record in their collection. Included are legendary tracks like 'Stems', 'Clouded' and 'Leafs'. Many think that not only is this the best Recondite album but one of the best techno albums of the year 2013.

Review: Manuel Tur's Intertextual release gets pulled apart and rebuilt here by some fine remixes for the Spaced Repetitions label. The first out of the blocks is 'Omina' (DJ Counselling remix) with its layers of sugary and crystalline synth over supple house drums. 'Flakon' (All Is Well remix) slows things down to a dubbed-out world of downtempo bliss, 'Slow White' follows a similarly slow-burning route thanks to Yuu Udagawa's poised and dreamy remix and 'Shadowgraph' comes live with some psychedelic synth swells over yet more mid-tempo and percolating beats, which are one again the work of Yuu Udagawa.