Back catalogue: Techno (すべて)

Review: Dub techno don Luke Hess has been a mainstay of Omar S's FXHE label for as long as we, or anyone in fact, can remember. The Motor City talent dropped this particular EP, 'Dubout EP #3.13', back in 2011 but it now resurfaces and has aged to perfection with some extra touches from Smith himself. 'Narrow Road' is strident and direct dub techno with signature FXHE chords. 'Leads To Life' is more liquid and paired back with an undulating bassline and a cosmic feel to the swirling pads. 'Unity Excerpt' closes with more icy beats, hi-hats and skittish synths that snake throughout the mix.

Review: With a title like Annoying Mumbling Alkaholik, you'd expect this three-tracker from the mighty Alex "Omar" Smith to be full of pent-up anger and bitter frustration. Sure, there's a raging rawness about the third track - an undulating trip into spiraling acid territory - but for the most part the EP is a beacon of simple beauty. The opening track is particularly picturesque, with beautiful, new-age influenced melodies and immersive pads riding a cymbal-heavy Detroit deep house groove. There's more Mood Hut/Future Times style synth work on the Tangerine Dream influenced "Track 2", which contrasts deep, sun-kissed melodic loops with a fuzzy drum machine groove.

Review: FXHE has been brimming with activity in recent times, with a steadfast flurry of singles refusing to let the quality drop, and now the big bossman delivers another two slices of finely cured business in his inimitable style. The lead track is an arresting piece with just a kick to drive proceedings, leaving ample room for a haunting array of bleeps and a 'speak & spell' vocal until the track slowly ramps up with some more prominent drum programming. "Mayall II" on the flip is a less tense affair, with a cheery string refrain and old school jack-in-the-box beats disseminated in a plain and simple fashion.

Review: No-one embodies the sound of Detroit quite like Omar S. The badman beatmaker has been touring out his idiosyncratic jams for more than two decades and rarely ever misses. Right now we've got a bunch of restocks of his earlier works landing and this one is from right back in the early days of his FXHE label. It opens with the wonky acid and whistle madness of 'Polynesia' then take sin the clunking, mechanical house of 'Churchill', scratchy sounds and wispy synths of the experimental 'Micronesia', low slung house sleaze of 'Frontwardsflip' and phased and drunken bassline madness of 'Nikademas'. Superb.

Review: Despite having already released a 16 track album this year, Detroit's finest, Omar S, proves that there is quite simply nothing stopping him as he issues the four track Nelson County. "Don't Let Dis Be HapNin! Comes on like the classic "Psychotic Photosynthesis" at witnessed through a haze of smoked glass, while "U Heard What Da Man Said Muthafukka!!" is something much more driving, like taking a spin on Detroit's streets after dark in a souped up Dodge Charger, before "Nelson County" sees the tough house-focused denouement take place in a dingy backstreet club. As always with Omar S, this stuff doesn't mess about....

Review: As he often tell us himself in his track titles, no one does it quite like Omar S. Even listening back to his earliest material from 20-odd years ago, it still sounds fresh and like no one else, which is why it's time to get excited about a bunch of reissues we're got hold of. 'Track 8' is an EP from 2004 with two brilliantly, beautifully raw house cuts that typify exactly what Smith is all about. The first one is eight minutes of scruffy kicks and brushed metal drums with eerie and alien melodies snaking their way through the beats. The second one is very similar in style with even more rawness and an unsettling but intriguing melody.

Review: The Detroit badman always delivers the goods, but he'd recently focussed on his more house-centric style thanks to a series of sleek, soulful releases. This time, he's come out all guns blazing with this new four-part killer, led by the absolutely nutty groove that is "Sink Holes" - a proper slice of Omar S acid, delivered in fine style and with his inimitable rawness. "HELL ON EARTH" is a moodier, funkier house tip with a jazzy side, while the flipside's "Hit It Bubba (I Want My Dadda's Rekids!!!!)" is a fast, upbeat house bomb with a crazy little disco sample that floats amid the grainy bass drums. "Party Marty" is a no nonsense kind of lick, pouncing away with a steady, yet unmistakably Omar S-style percussion, and a heavy bass blow. This is one hell of a way to make an appearance this early in the year - highly recommended!!

Review: Omar S has always seemingly enjoyed working with other local talents and giving them a platform of his own vital FXHE label. That's what he does here as he looks to Motor City creatives in the young King Milo, Tayloe and old friend John F.M. He kicks off in solo mode with some signature stripped back house futurism on 'Tongue Pecker' before 'Pain' is a high speed and sleazy ghetto bumper. The standout is 'I Love Your Girl Friend' (feat John FM) with its heart aching vocal, gorgeous piano chords and deep, dusty drum bumps. A real classic in the making which is followed by another achingly beautiful mix of soulful vocals and grotty lo-fi synth and drums on 'Some Good Loving' (feat Tayloe).

Review: New Omar S 12" featuring John FM!

Review: FXHE maintain their monthly heat emission for 2012, with label boss Omar S displaying all aspects of his production prowess (as well as skill for a humorous track titles) across four productions - one of which features the button bashing assistance of one Patrik Sjeren. There's something icily brilliant about the restrained "Income Tax Refund Dance" melding a dark piano riff with snapping 808 kicks and rippling lo fi rhythms which only further justifies the title of Omar S's killer 2011 LP. It's complemented by the far rowdier box jam "The White Castle Song" which jackhammers a simple yet highly flammable key riff over low rent percussion for FXHE's most potent ode to the perfect warehouse moment since the all conquering "Here's Your Trance..." Given the lack of additional info, we presume the Patrik Sjeren that produces the B Side "Untitled" track is the same Patrik Sjeren that released in the mid 90s under a multiplicity of aliases, and his contribution is every bit as incendiary as the track preceding it, whilst "3c 273" sees Omar S slip into pensive utopian electro mode with aplomb.

Review: Detroit heavyweights Omar S and Theo Parrish link up for a one-track release that lives up to its bold title. 'The Grand Son Of Detroit Techno!' stretches over ten minutes of raw, hypnotic movementidusty drum programming, looped keys and a low-slung groove that simmers with intent. Omar S keeps the arrangement locked and heads-down, while Theo's unmistakable fingerprints surface in the swung percussion and deep jazz-inflected textures that evolve across the track's longform structure. It's a meeting of minds that feels completely unforced, rooted in lineage but defiantly forward-facing a release that speaks in fluent Motor City dialect without ever turning nostalgic. Unapologetically stripped, functional and soulful.

Review: After more or less owning 2011 with a surprise album, a collaboration with urban crooner Colonel Abrams, an ahead-of-the-game reissue of Marc Kinchen and the all-conquering "Here's Your Trance Now Dance", FXHE don Omar S kicks off a new year with Wayne County Hills Cops Pt 2 (where, we ask, was Part 1?), a hook-up with the mysterious OB IGNITT. The eponymous A-Side is characterised by the kind of glistening synths last seen on "Here's Your Trance...", with a rugged analogue bass line giving the track with the requisite bump. A tired cliche it may be, but this could easily soundtrack an 80s cop movie: clearly Omar has this in mind given the 12"'s title and the fact the record's centre label features a doctored image of Eddie Murphy from Beverly Hills Cop! On the flip, Omar S provides his own remix, drowning the synths in dubby textures and showering them with shuffling hats for a more heads-down take. Another killer 12" - business as usual at FXHE, then.

Review: The unique thing about Omar S's music is that no matter how much later you listen to it after its initial release, it still sounds mad futuristic. His dusty grooves and otherworldly synth sounds take on many different forms and atmospheres and for this one back in 2010 it was all about occult cosmic worlds. 'Kosmos 1402' has rickety kicks and hits that spit and fizz with grit and grime, while 'Plesetsk Cosmodrome' then sinks into deep astral worlds with rubbery bass bouncing beneath warped pads and 'Skynet 2 B' has a more playful feel with cute chords and a nice skipping rhythm.

Review: This EP from 2010 is an oldie but a goldie, which is pretty much something you could say of everything that this Motor City maverick has ever put out. It finds the former Ford factory worker in techno mode from the off: 'Ultra Fine One' is a pounding mid-tempo cut with airy hi hats and kicks that never quit. The whole thing is marbled with fuzzy synth sounds and a corrugated acid line that pries ever deep. 'Ultra Fine Two' is, in essence, the same cut but with broken beat patterns and different filters applied to the acid line. 'Mid 90's' is gloppy acid techno with warped bass and loopy kicks designed for 5 am freakouts.