Back catalogue: Techno (すべて)

Review: Musek return for another V/A release, flaunting their artists' variegated hitmaking capacities. Fronting the release is a wonderful rework of Stockholm trio Art Fact's 'Rain In The South' from 1989, to which Francesco Farfa and Hamsa bring extra electronic-bodyweight to an originally dripping synth tune. A mystical mood is continually proferred across 'Mystic Perc' through to 'Blue Yes' by Roberto Manolio, traversing chime tinglings, acid breaks and dreamy vocals: "pretty blue eyes... you're mesmerised... don't look to hard... you may never come back from that..."

Review: Deeper shades of a finely sifted pedigree. Irish label Appian Sounds, helmed up by Al Blayney, champion only winnowed techno sounds, not threshed. A welcome international team huddle in, with these six artists from locales as far-flung as Amsterdam and Valencia contributing the likes of 'Tsuneo' and 'Persist'. The tunes verge melodic as they move through and beyond jankiness, distending die-cut acids and subtly synthetic humanisations, especially in the percussion department. 'Fuego' is the zen roshi's choice, its gaffered, glass-smithed pads topping off a naturalistic percussive surging forward, one best experienced with your eyes closed.

Review: Echoes of Glory serves up a second helping with the assistance of Hardway Brothers and Masonic Noodles aka Sean Johnston and label founder Grant Dell. 'Escape On The Midnight Express' gets two tidy tech house versions with distinct flavours which should appeal to those who like their 4/4 grooves tripped-out and headsy. The Hardway Bros version is a pneumatic, boxy workout swathed in dub and rolling slow and steady for the warm-up crowd, while Dell's Masonic Noodles interpretation takes a sparser approach sprinkled with mystical synth motifs to send a chill through the dance.

Review: Detroit house hero Kyle Hall returns with his biggest project in some time in the form of Transmissions, a new double album on his own well-regarded Forget The Clock. All six tracks have enigmatic, functional titles and the music is as idiosyncratic as ever. Each one veers more towards techno than is Hall's usual style, with pulsating synth lines and tight, dusty drum tracks making for stripped-to-the-bones grooves. Later on, things grow ever more abstract with twisted acid lines screwing their way through the increasingly ragged and roughshod drums. These are perfectly imperfect jams from a master of the form.

Review: Kyle Hall and Steven Julien have been working together on and off for a whole decade now as Funkinevil. To mark the occasion they have pulled together their first two releases - namely 2012's 'Night / Dusk' and 2013's 'Ignorant' - on one new double album that very much sums up their raw house sound. The Detroit-London duo draw on plenty of their hometown's signature aesthetics, from well swung drums to soulful synths, and the results are still fresh sounding and captivatingly deep. Importantly, all these years later, there is still real emotional punch in these tunes as well as damn good grooves. Essential stuff from this vital pair.

Review: The now 20-year-strong Sushitech have been working on this one for two years and finally it drops - a new album from cultured dub techno don Per Hammar. This is a seriously deep journey into his signature sound that melds the genre's most classic side with a fresh modern twist. Cuts like 'Generation Drive' have a nice crisp sense of motion as well as lovely warped pads, while 'Juvial' brings a sense of curiousness with its undulating drums and bass. 'Defender' leans into sleek techno styles and will have you cruising in no time. An instant classic album, for sure.

Review: Per Hammar and Berlin-based label Sushitech are a match made in heaven as both have long since proven their credential in the world of dub techno. As the label turns 20, it kicks off its year with an album that has been two years in the making and features a top-quality array of dub techno sounds. Malin Genie features on two of the more kicking and propulsive cuts, while Jannik Jivung adds an organic touch to two more. In between those sounds are percolating slow-mo jams like 'Representant Dubb' and more kinetic sounds like 'TX Files' with its fresh kicks and rolling bass.

Review: Having built plenty of hype over previous outings, Hardacre finally drops this long-awaited debut on Alien Communications. It's a standout long player with acid, house, electro and techno all jumbled up into effective, 'floor-facing sounds that are high on power. There are lithe, metallic twitchers like the Kraftwerkian 'Transmission' as well as more future-facing and acid-laced bumpers such as 'Alien Intelligence' with plenty of cinematic and atmospheric bits like 'Radio Command' in between. A classy take on a classic sound.

Review: Detroit dub techno don Luke Hess says that this is his "most eclectic and techno-driven album to date" and that it blends together his signature subterranean sounds with his indelible Motor City touch. It again works well on cultured dance floors but is also a deeply spiritual album that will have your mind wandering to some lovely places. From the opening moments of 'Dokimion' you're sunk into widescreen soundscapes that pair painterly synths with immersive low ends. Cuts like 'Stoicheo' bring serene melodies and closer 'Hiketeria' is a misty, foggy cut that oozes late-night intimacy.

Review: Chicago extraordinaire Jamal Moss aka Hieroglyphic Being's third solo album is titled There Is No Acid In This House, and sees him return to Soul Jazz Records. Using his idiosyncratic electronic sound, Moss takes influence from the experimental minds of fellow Windy City innovators such as The Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, The Art Ensemble of Chicago and Sun Ra, through to icons of his hometown's house music scene like Ron Hardy, Marshall Jefferson, Lil Louis and others who have defined Chicago's musical universe over the last half a century.

Review: The inimitable Jamal Moss comes forth with his second offering for Madrid's Apnea records. 'The Moon Dance' unfurls over 11 tracks- in turns pensive, elegiac, and slammin'. Between the sedate expanse of opener 'When The Earths Shadow Falls On The Moon' and the final cymbal strokes of gauche, machine funk closer 'Mawu', Moss lifts us on yet another Afrofuturist space flight of fancy, passing through superclusters of deep house, tactile techno and stroboscopic piano jams along the way.
Standout moments include the smoove-as-u-like-it intergalactic lounge jazz diversion 'The Moondance Moon Walk Version'; its steezy stride-piano vamp seamlessly intertwining with Moss' signature babbling acid intrusions, the irresistibly groovy bump of 'Tethered 2 The Divinely Spaces With In' and the hypnotic sway of 'Celestial Poems Of The Lady With 10000 Names', which opens up from Terrence Dixon-esque introspection into broad windy city string washes and synapse-tickling bleeps. With this collection, Moss pens yet another crucial chapter in the seemingly bottomless hieroglyphic being scroll. While 'The Moon Dance' is one of his most accessible and harmonious works to date, it doesn't lose an ounce of the rawness and immediacy of his previous work. Essential listening!

Review: Much missed Detroit techno legend Mike Huckaby created The Down Under Kit for the Australian leg of the Red Bull Music Academy's world tour and it's so much more than a simple sample pack, as Huckaby gives a narrated tutorial on creating templates and generating ideas, a fascinating glimpse into his philosophy and techniques. Obviously, there are lots of thumping kicks, distinctively trademark pianos and pads and more to load up, but this pack not only gives you the means of production, it also gives you a guide to how to put it to its most effective use.

Review: HudMo is on rampant form at the moment, firing off collaborations left, right and centre and, as usual, never missing. That said, this project feels like something very special indeed, as he doubles down on kinship with Canadian techno legend Tiga to make an album in thrall to the surge of feelings that hit us when we submit to the possibilities of the night. It's a romantic kind of techno that comes on like early B12 or Artificial Intelligence-era techno in places, but there's also some crafty hooks and flamboyance as you would rightly expect from such a heavyweight studio pairing.