Back catalogue: Techno (すべて)

Review: Rawax first released John Selway's Real EP back in 2020. It has aged well and is still an in-demand 12" following the sell-out of its first run. As such the German label reissues it now just as it was the first time around. The title cut is a tribal and chunky house number with thumping drums offset but tender and barely-there whispers. 'Sliders' is a twitchy technoid stomper with a sleazy vibe and the urgent, hurried grooves continue through 'Wraecca', this time overlaid with swirling solar winds and busy synth modulations. Proper tackle.

Review: The mighty Rawax has now put out more than 100 releases and they are all as timeless and useful as the next. Sublee steps up for this new slab of sound and kris off with 'v' which take sup the whole of the A-side but enervating outstays its welcome. It is a progressive house cut with a driving low end, plenty of grit in the percussion and pads that circle round to bring scale and a sense of cosmic adventure. 'Simple Two' slips into a deeper, more silky tech house vibe with lovely melodic patterns raining down from above. 'Hey Brother' shuts down with some dark breakbeats and mind melting synth leads that are pure peak time, post-rush fodder.

Review: Swayzak is a micro house, minimal and techno duo, aka James S Taylor and David Brown from the UK, whose name alone will get many older dancers hot under the collar. Their craft was second to none during their peak and here we get a reminder of that with a new outing on Rawax. 'Floyd' is a jazzy dancer with live claps, spinning hi-hats and louche grooves all topped with synthetic synths that never quit. 'Doobie' is a more deep sound with late-night headsy vibes. The drums are supple, the synths squeal and spoken word mutterings add a human touch. Two well-realised and effective cuts from Swayzak.

Review: First released in 1999, Swayzak's 'Floyd/Doobie' shook the British duo's catalogue. Though it wasn't 'Bueno' or 'Fukumachi', this deep house cut was the next best choice for followers of the then burgeoning tech house circuit. Swayzak were already favourites on this and the deep house scene, and had clawed in acclaim for their involvement in both as early as 1993. One particularly prolix bio deems them the incipients of "1st wave 2000-era progressive deep minimal", which is too analytic even for us manic categorisers. No, we prefer to take these two big-hitters as they are: brimming with enthusiasm for a gadget-packed future, 'Floyd' fizzes and twitches with the pulsing blurts of a saw synth, as if to suggest constant magnetic stimulation from above. 'Doobie', meanwhile, hears our protagonist disrobe the techno utility belt, returning to a wireless home, so to gaze out over a subtly detuned chord landscape set to munching percs.