Back catalogue: Techno (すべて)

Review: After two utterly essential releases on ae Recordings and Primary Colours in 2021, Altone once more delivers the goods for Lempuyang. The label's eighth release brings together two of the most respected heads in the business on remix duties. Altone's deep & pulsing title track 'Vortex' gets Yagya's glacial treatment on the A-side. 'Customization' on the flip gets a Bluetrain rework; with Steve's trademark Special Edition Dub giving the track a dancefloor edge.

Review: There's a beautifully symmetrical aesthetic to the latest Lempuyang release that totally mirrors the impeccably positioned and delicately balanced sounds going on in the grooves. Two of the most consistent producers of the last few years - Altone and Gradient - produce creatively related tracks, the former named 'Day Drama' and the latter taking on 'Night Drama'. Then they hand their respective tracks over to each other for remixing duties and bingo, a pretty vital 12" is created, a gorgeous set of shimmering dubs on the A-side, and some heavyweight business for dark rainy nights on the flip. Both producers employ a modern day dub flavour to their minimal, moody techno, with it probably being fair to say that the influence of Maurizio and the Basic Channel label is fairly significant in the worlds of both. Altone's sound is a little grittier and seemingly fizzing with radioactivity, decaying and disintegrating as each offering proceeds, where there's something a bit more spartan and linear about Gradient's grooves, that seem to undulate and reverberate almost invisibly, propelling these exceptionally mixable, enjoyable DJ tools along almost under their own momentum. Nice work all round.

Review: We shall never apologise for our love for the work of Steve O'Sullivan. His contributions to the world of dub techno are second to none. They are also mad consistent both in style and quality which means they never age. Here he steps up to Lempuyang with his Blue Channel alias alongside Jonas Schachner aka Another Channel for more silky smooth fusions of authentic dub culture and Maurizo-style techno deepness. Watery synths, hissing hi-hats with long trails and dub musings all colour these dynamic grooves. They're cavernous and immersive and frankly irresistible and the sort of tracks that need to be played loud in a dark space. In that context, you'll never want them to end.

Review: The Lempuyang label gets off to a strong start by inviting one of the dons of dubby minimal techno to lay down some peerless material. Steve O'Sullivan's Bluetrain moniker is revered by anyone who knows their onions in the annals of UK techno, and he's on imperious form as the Homegrown Dubs EP fires up with the gaseous chord drops of 'Bubble Up'. 'Go With The Flow' is a sleeker, more uptempo affair with a snappy beat to appeal to the DJs out there, while 'Two Foot Terrorist' maintains the pace with some deeper metallic ink bursts for variation. 'Straight To The Back' channels the billowing tones of the A1 into a more groove-oriented form in case you want the tick of the hi-hat to steady your sea legs.

Review: Veteran British producer Steve O'Sullivan originally premiered the track 'Chant Down' on the long-player Steady Pulse earlier this year for Alistair Kelly's Lempuyang imprint which now gets treated to some fine remixes. O'Sullivan gets stuck in for the first rerub on the A-side, a slinky and hypnotic Recycled dub, while over on the flip he dons the Bluetrain alias again for the icy and cavernous version Excursion providing the perfect backdrop for its mesmerizing vocal. Finally, BLKRTZ head Deadbeat takes the track into even murkier and ominous territory on his impressive perspective.

Review: Lempuyang's third offering is an outstanding split release between Steve O'Sullivan & Hydergine, label bosses for Mosaic/Bluetrain & Ranges. In 'Binary Riddim' Steve delivers a two-part dub track spanning >13 minutes, seriously heavy in the low end; melancholy strings in the first half, progressing to outright menacing chord stabs in the latter. A versatile track offering something for both warm-up and the dancefloor. Complimenting on the flip are 'Mystic Light' and 'Lunar Eclipse' from Hydergine. Deep, dubby atmospherics meander over a weighty 909 kick on B1. Subtle minimalism a la Terrence Dixon, pitched down on B2. Essential release!

Review: Coming in hot after last year's Pura Lempuyang compilation is this new two part 12" offering up cuts from it on limited edition turquoise wax. Dib kicks off with 'Cieloterra' which is a devilishly deep and dubby techno cut with fizzing synths running across its face. Federsen is much more smooth and silky with liquid pads and a sublime sense of frictionless groove to his 'Random Motion' while Grad U offers more heavy and stumbling dub quakes on 'From The Shadows.' Last of all is Altone's 'Emergent Structure,' a lush minimal excursion with deft hits and feathery pads over sublime drums.

Review: San Francisco is most often associated with the cartoon sounds of DirtyBird when it comes to electronic music but Federsen offers up some deliciously deep dub techno here. He joins the Lempuyang stable and brings with him plenty of fine Maurizio influences from the off: 'Rotation' is all grainy pads and lo-fi drum loops , 'Noir' has a more silky and minimal tech house feel and 'Expiravit' brings a classic dub sound. The closing track 'Aeon' is perfect for late night smoking sessions.

Review: Last year's superb Pura Lempuyang album has been pulled apart and served up on a couple of separate 12"s and this is the second one. It comes on limited turquoise vinyl and offers four cuts of stylish deep dub and techno. Fletcher's 'It's A Virtue' goes first with taught, twanging bass and grubby basslines then Mike Schommer's 'Kingmaker' offers liquid dub funk with watery pads and hissing static. Nicolas Barnes picks it up a little with a darker but still warm dub techno roller in 'Sonic Dial' and Redrop's 'Genesis' is the more driving of the lot but again exists right on the ocean floor.

Review: Hidden Sequence have appeared on legendary dub techno label Mosaic in fine form of late and now they land on the Lempuyang imprint with four more serene fusions. Their Theories of Time EP opens up with the swaggering dub rhythms and bottomless depths of 'Distortion', a cut as heady as they come. 'Travelling,' as the title suggests, has a deeper rolling groove and more movement to it as it snakes through underwater dub caverns. Flip it over for more widescreen and serene explorations of the ocean floor with 'Shift' and mysterious leads of 'Delay' which is a fourth and final frictionless dub dream.

Review: Part two of this outstanding release brings on board the remix talents of Mosaic head honcho Steve O'Sullivan for an A1 cut aimed squarely at the dancefloor. Hidden Sequence member Stefano Ugliano provides a solo outing under 6884, and the B-side features some heavyweight vibes from Fletcher and Federsen. Essential release!

Review: Hidden Sequence return to lempuyang for the first in a two part release, collaborating with Milly James. The first 12" features original vocal versions of 'Legends' and 'All I Need', presented alongside a reduced dub and a beautiful, summer-ready deep house-tinged remix from HS captain Paul Simmons.

Review: As you probably know, Lempuyang is a vital techno label that puts out a lot of music. Amongst that is the annual compilation series which again in 2024 is split over a pair of 12"s. Pura Lempuyang Telu Part 1 is packed with new material as well as a cult cut from the vaults that has been remastered. That is Martin Jarl's deliciously deep 'Weetabix' while Yagya keeps it heady with 'Gogur Dagur', Ohm & Octal Industries lay down icy dub techno on 'Chanti's Dream' and Paolo Zuliani's 'Facing Reality' is a more upright and steely closer.

Review: Merv keeps it super deep here with a trio of supremely tasteful techno cuts doused in dub culture. 'Sliver' is first and awakens the sense with some gentle rattling chords that sound like distant thunder rolling in with a storm. 'Embrace' is airy, with big kicks and frosty pads shimmering across the airwaves and crisp hi-hats cut right through. 'Strain' is last up on the flip and is an elongated journey through some sugary melodic pixelations, a frosty dubscape and hints of melancholia. All are perfect for those late-night and intimate back room sessions.

Review: The mighty Lempuyang label returns with its annual compilation series, again this year split over two superb 12"s. Both of them feature a remastered track from the vaults and in the case of this EP that is the hotly in-demand 'Dubby Plug' by W Moon which is a potent, kicking dub techno cut freshly remastered for 2024. ElsewhereHydergine's 'Ultraviolet' is soulful Detroit-inspired machine music and Dubrovnik UK's 'Waves' fizzes with static electricity. Merv's 'Unity' is the vast, cavernous opener and might be the best of the lot

Review: Iceland's top export and collaborators Ohm & Octal Industries come together for another fine release once more here on the Lempuyang label. This time they turn up the heat just in time for summer with a trio of fresh, super-deep yet driving cuts. Each one brings its own sense of dance floor magic with 'Venezuela' layering up the dub chords, 'Mexico Tripping' having a more shimmering house vibe and 'Argentina' getting more raw and heavy in its onward march. Anton Kubikov provides a remix then smooths out the edges and sinks you into a zoned out deep and dubby roller.

Review: Bjarnar & Jonas's last album back in 2023 was critically well-received and now it is back in all-new form as a selection of four classy remixes. First up it is Seven Villas label boss Pablo Bolivar who gets all blissed out and paddy on 'Bara', while Merv brings some nice smeared chords to the rolling, hypnotic dub of 'Erebus'. On the flip, Philipp Priebe Saeti's take on 'Stratospheric Clouds' reworks it as a shimmering and bottomless dub lit up by some warming chords and last of all, Waage flips 'Anguta' into a dark, stark and punchy dub-tech monster that comes on like an unstoppable wall of noise. A quartet of seriously meaty sounds overall.

Review: Lempuyang makes it to release number 15 with a devastatingly deep new EP from Deepchord Records co-founder Mike Schommer. He kicks off with 'Scapegoat' featuring the alluring vocals of Milly James which echo out over super slow-motion dub rhythms and icy pads. The Pole rework brings more crisp hits and distant eerie drones over a more pronounced rhythm but one that remains devilishly sparse. On the flip, 'Deceivers' has more hypotonic drive - a fleshy dub stepper to lock in any 'floor and then 'Believers' slows it down to a crawl once more. An essential dub EP that promises no represses.

Review: SND & RTN brings it home on this new 12" for Lempuyang that explores their signature techno depths. 'Palantir' opens with fathoms-deep dub and ice-cold synths that snake their way over the face of the track, while 'Hyperdrive' has rumbling chords and smeared pads that keep you on the ocean floor and 'Dub Conjurer' allows in a little more light from the surface with delicate shards piercing the murk. 'Tales From The Outer Rim' shuts down with a nice gentle rhythm that undulates beneath rippling pad work and works well as perfect early evening warm up.

Review: The second release on Lempuyang comes courtesy of Tomoki Tsukamoto. In the late 90s Tomoki put out releases on Gez Varley's G Records, i220, and of course ran his own Metrojuice Records imprint; putting out some of the most sought-after deep & dubby techno records under his alias W-Moon. After a hiatus of over 20 years he now returns with four new tracks under his own name, still retaining that deep signature sound.

Review: 25 years ago, one of the most essential deep & dubby techno projects put forth its roots in the form of the 'JS' and 'MCMLXV' labels. Two decades later the consistency & quality of James' output is as solid as ever. The aptly titled Universe EP showcases the breadth of his talent; from the atmosphere-skimming feel of 'Refracted', to the melodic vibes of 'Cyclic'. The flip sees more familiar territory in the abrasive 'Gravity Waves', and the expansive & soaring 'Blueshift' has future classic written all over it. Timeless material.

Review: Hard to believe, but it's 25 years since after the emergence of Steve O'Sullivan's dub moniker, and now Lempuyang has the honour of presenting the first full length album of all-new material. Over the span of nine tracks, Steve takes us on a version excursion, exploring a mixture of dub rhythms alongside a healthy dose of wizardry to work the floor. Featuring collaborations from Hidden Sequence, Another Channel, and vocals from Prince Morella. Strictly for connoisseurs - and yet utterly essential!

Review: To celebrate its first anniversary Lempuyang firmly stakes its claim amongst the forefront of deep techno labels with an outrageous line-up consisting of eight of the most respected heads in the business, all doing their stuff across four pieces of vinyl. Among the highlights are the growling menace of Sa Pa's 'Randomer', Gradient's fizzy, dubbed up 'Dopamine Rain' wearing its Basic Channel influence on its sleeve, the ghostly rave stabs of Deadbeat's 'Planterwald' among a sea of radioactive white noise and the clear, sculpted linear grooves of 'Growing Pains' by Bluetrain. That said, there's no weak link among the eight cuts and put together into one coherent package it's more than the sum of its parts.