Review: Oslo's A:G has been doing his thing successfully for some time, side-stepping expectations of music from his home city by delivering music that's frequently heavier and more mind-mangling. Here the Norwegian delivers the debut release of a new label, Nocturnal Expeditions, beginning with the restless acid lines, deep bass, vintage progressive house motifs and semi-bleeping lead lines of 'Beyond The Veil'. He opts for more stomping beats and LFO-inspired bass on the similarly psychedelic 'Patient Paradox', before reaching for rave piano stabs on the nostalgic excellence of 'First of 22'. Best of all, though, is closing cut 'Gone Full Circle', where ethereal melodiesm spacey pads and squelchy TB-303 tweaks ride a psychedelic house groove.
Review: A new acid/psychedelic dance duo from Italy, Acid For The Grandma follow up their two initial EPs 'Dynamic Fluo' and 'Humans' for a third contribution to their homegrown label of the same name. With this one, the story goes that "Grandma has concentrated all her miraculous hyaluronic rhythmic elixir" - (into what, we're not sure) - "delivering an intense joy of flavours with a distinctly mineral taste. A strong gluten mesh for your neurons oscillates sinuously, swelling with the ethereal sound of your dancing bodies. Stay stimulated." Evidently, all we need to sustain such nervous stimulus is this music, which themes itself thoroughly after the acid experience while also indulging classic motifs from acid techno; closer 'Pitchadj' has to be our fave.
Review: For their latest trick, the Rawax crew has taken a deep dive into the back catalogue of Roman Flugel and Jorn Elling Wuttke's work as Acid Jesus - the project with which they made their name before morphing into Alter Ego. Lead cut 'Radium' dates from 1995 and wraps alien electro sonics, proto-minimal techno motifs and pots and pans percussion around a deep bassline and hypnotic machine drums. The pair's passion for heads-down hypnotism and metallic noises is further explored on the superb 'Uranium Smuggle' (which originally appeared on the flip-side of 'Radium'), while 'Hibernation Drive' is a punchy and evocative electro number first released in 1997.
Review: Planet 303 is a distant astral body where acid rules supreme but you are invited. And it's an offer we never like to refuse because the soundtracks that play out there are always unreal, just like this latest one from Acid Synthesis. 'Actu Ikulurit' blends 90s breakbeats and dreamy techno synth work with an undulating acid lien that anchors you to the floor. 'Semplicita Aciduza' is a little more serene but comes with some lovely melodic rain that falls down the face of the 303 and 'Hafna 303s' brings a psychedelic and colourful edge. 'Actu Malti' closes with plenty of journeying cosmic charm and celestial energy.
Review: AgainstMe makes a powerful debut on Renegade Methodz with 'Diagonal Prism', a four-track EP that offers up his refined minimalist approach to techno. Known for meticulous sound design, AgainstMe brings a fresh yet distinctive style to this Greek label and is sure to pick up plenty of new fans as a result. The EP opener 'Drama' introduces dense grooves and subtle yet impactful drum patterns that build tension, while a throbbing synth weaves in and out. The title track relies on hypnotic repetition and driving rhythms, while '4PM' brings peak-time energy with crisp, dynamic beats. Closing with 'Spasmoi' AgainstMe delivers a compelling club groove that masterfully balances intensity and rhythm.
Review: You always know what you're gunna get with Planet Rhythm and that is classically inclined techno that is economical in design but never less than high impact. Antic Soul contributes to that fine legacy with this new EP which opens with the high speed and dubby techno lushness of 'Crd Expression' before 'Borderlands' gets more raved up and injected with some raw textures and wobbly stabs. 'Fallout' is wall-rattling, panel-beating dub techno and 'Serenity' is more icy and nimbler, with bouncy drums and stabs all making you move your body at the whim of the machines.
Review: ***B-STOCK: Sleeve damaged but product unopened and in excellent condition***
In line with the timely reappraisal of all things R&S related, the resurgent Apollo have seen the opportunity to bring one of their most celebrated records back for another round. Aphex Twin's ambient recordings mature magnificently with age, sounding ever richer and more emotive as the rest of electronic music continues to play catch up all around. From the gentle breakbeats of "Xtal" to the aquatic techno lure of "Tha", the airy rave of "Pulsewidth" to the heartwrenching composition of "Ageispolis", every track is a perennial example of how far ambient techno could reach even back then. It's just that no-one quite had the arm-span of Richard D. James.
Review: The Liverpool-based DJ and producer ASOK returns to DVS1's Mistress Recordings with his most diversified EP yet: "Mistress 14" unfolds ASOK's raw, analog-heavy sound aesthetic full of broken kick drum patterns, stepping basslines, and lush synths.
First Order Approximation - "Obsessive Behaviour" (5:45)
First Order Approximation - "Unresponsive" (5:14)
Review: Respected Italian artist Alan Backdrop joins forces with First Order Approximation for the second release from the Sense Code label. This tasteful techno split delves into the darkest realms of deep techno right from the off with 'Converging To Center' drilling down into a desolate wasteland. 'Gravity Self' is another suspensory linear groove with no signs of human life and 'Obsessive Behaviour' is a heady one with static electricity fizzing about the rubbery drums. This collection of hypnotic and ever-evolving tracks is designed for smoky basements and late-night sessions for real heads.
Review: Rising Boorloo artist Beltrac shows why he is so well thought of here with five tracks that deliver a dynamic collision of sleek, dub-infused minimal rollers reminiscent of the late '90s and early 2000s tech-house but paired with high-energy drum-driven explorations. After the bubbly synths of 'Tek Code' comes the more direct and crisp 'VIP Section (Otherworld mix)', then Side B features a standout remix of 'Echo Response' by Eora's dub master Command D who transforms the wonky bassline of the original into a hazy, after-hours dub techno gem. The meticulous production really elevates these irresistible grooves.
Review: Bloody Mary's Alternate States Of Reality on Dame Music delivers a powerful exploration of techno's diverse sounds. Side-1 opens with 'Reality One' (Acid mix), a heavy-hitting track drenched in mid-90s acid energy. The buildup is intense, leading to an explosive release that captures the essence of classic acid techno. Following it is 'Reality Two' (alternative mix), which shifts the vibe with a breakbeat/electro twist, introducing a darker, moodier melody. Flipping to Side 2, 'Reality Three' (909 mix) brings in a more percussive and straightforward warehouse techno feel. It's a banger designed for peak-time moments on the dancefloor. The 'Reality Three' (Slam mix) remix adds a Detroit flavour, playing with tempo shifts that keep the listener on their toes. Blending different styles while keeping the energy high, this is a strong addition to any techno enthusiast's arsenal.
Review: Acid Cuts Greece does exactly what it says on the tin right from the off here with its first album. It comes from Boy Disco and kicks off with twitchy, club-ready weaponry with clipped oval samples and bright flashes of 303 that make your eyes water. 'All Night Long' manages to be at once twitchy and acid and ready for a rave but also deep and soulful thanks to the pads and vocals. Elsewhere there are more hypnotic acid lines on 'Moozique', then stripped-back warblers like 'Pumped' next to percussive jams like 'Jack That Body.'
Review: Alta Ripa signifies a seismic shift in Ben Lukas Boysen's artistic journey. It revisits the foundational impulses of his youth, shaped amidst the serene beauty of rural Germany: a bucolic backdrop where his creative palette flourished. However, it was his move to Berlin in the early 2000s that electrified his sound, infusing it with the city's pulsating energy and diverse cultural influences. Playing on themes of transience and movement - of both of the locality of the individual and of history on a macroscopic level - this is Boysen's fourth album under the name, bringing magnanimous Latin to the continual plods and progressions of high-spec cinematic techno. Boysen specifically aims for controlled chaos: keeping to the progressive tech backbone whilst providing bays and nooks in which both harmonic and discordant blurts might nest themselves.
Review: The latest EP from the Lonely Planets label co-founder Caim plunges you into an innovative soundworld of ancient myth and futuristic techno brilliance. The title cut 'Medusa Hunter' weaves hypnotic rhythms with smouldering, Goa-inspired melodies that are driven by venomous basslines that evoke suspense and intrigue. 'Hypno Gravity' is a weightless cut with balmy neon pads and silky beats that lure you into a trance where time fades and consciousness drifts. 'Adonis From Space' is another supple and stylish sound with ambient pads adding scale to skeletal rhythms. 'Desert Planet06' shuts down with a masterful blend of dubby undercurrents and aquatic sounds.
Review: According to musician Calagad 13, we have reached an advanced stage of development where the manifestation of growth of all life is under the control and management of artificial intelligence. Whether this is factually correct or merely a cultural amusement is irrelevant; its very uncertainty is what lends its use a definite gravitas. It's also the kind of statement that helps desirously package wicked dystopian electro EPs, such as 'Inner Revolution' here. Calagad 13 lays down his most explicitly personal work to date; six electro coups land shocking respective psychic blows, 'Moksha' to 'Chaos' growing increasingly vocoded and bellicose in their electro judders and dry sorties, amounting to not just an outer, but inner, war.
Review: The Acid Cuts label has pressed up this superb new album from Cleon in super limited quantities: just 50 arrive on limited and numbered vinyl and they are sure to shift. Let's Do It is a characterful work of techno brilliance with the title cut opening up. It's got zippy pads, big, unbalanced kicks and fat bass that all make you move. 'Can U Feel It?' harks back to the classic acid house of the early Chicago days and 'Hot Iz The Rhythm' then rides nice elastic and rubbery kicks with some molten acid. Elsewhere 'Hoopla' gets more raw and 'C'Mon' closes with a bang.
Review: An especially astute 90s throwback comes in the form of this Lapsus Records reissue of Cold Storage's 'wipE'out' - The Zero Gravity' soundtrack. Cold Storage is the one-time moniker of Welsh game musician Tim Wright, whose original pieces making up this work - the OST for the nominal, lightning-fast futuristic racing game - come amidst well-known soundtrack curations a-la Leftfield, The Chemical Brothers and Orbital. But it's Wright's work that is most novel here, centring on accelerated notes of drum & bass and the pure synth rush of trance; the kinds of sonic signifiers that production newcomers know, love and constantly rehash today.
The Emanations - "Rhythm Is Easy" (feat Janet Planet - Che Luca Lucid Rave mix)
Review: The fully mixed version of Confidence Man's debut Fabric mix record is here on CD. In contrast to the selectors' LP version - also sold by us - this full version is a seamless, singular slab of optical laser-read musical licence, espousing the central vibe-theme of Confidence Man's message: have confidence. Well, except for want of a receiving ear, we find ourselves tentatively able to confide in Confidence Man's Fabric mix ("better than therapy" joke happily dodged) as a substitution in the meantime; for it too shows us that real, authentic, and boundless confidence can, believably, indeed, be found in bouncy dance exclusives available on CD only. Among these are Patrick Prins' kitsch chipmunk banger 'Fiesta Conga' and Cygnus X's steezy-cheesy trance stutterer 'Positron'03'. With both many a throwback and a present promo in tow, Confidence Man dice up and dole out a small slice of their huge stash of their patented auricular confidence dust.
Review: Craven Faults' 'Bounds' is the latest EP-length project to be outputted by the otherwise elusive Northern English artist. Once again building on his admirable, psycho-terrestrial approach - in which the artist embarks on long, restless trans-Anglican journeys as creative fuel for the alluvial fire - 'Bounds' hears the otherwise anonymous Faults trace the fault lines of the Black Country's pastoral-industrial contradiction, beginning said journey "less than 20 miles North-West of the city", and with no further elaboration than that. Side A traipses through three heat-hazed, ground-dwelling, humid humuses - the vague scrapes of heavy metallic industry looming over each mix, straddling both back and foreground - and only 'Lampses Mosse' permits much respite from the trek, via a tremblingly, relievingly spread synth bell. 'Waste & Demesne' is the B-side's epitaph for England's feudal legacy, its drawn-out basses and quavering pedal notes congregating to mourn the natural losses resulting from centuries' worth of exploitation.
Review: D Leria (Giuseppe Scaccia) leaves us delirious yet again with another frontline hypnotiser EP for Non. This sextet of sound-scanners seem at first glance as deliciously want of emotion as any release on Non ever gets, and yet through D Leria's characteristic sound, we hear an EP unafraid to scrape against the emotive skysill, though not before a transition through the wacky. The A2 'Energia' pits wriggly lead whirls about sprung kicks, and 'Kaleidoskop' veers gooier, spraying an array of cephalopod ink-squirtings on the surround mix. We return to Brum techno arcana with 'Voodoo Magic', while the ambient highlight 'Apnea' is likely to be the most "melodic techno" vibe ever released on Non, teasing the leaden cheese whilst technically getting away with a more suspensory roller. Closer 'Goccia', finally, is the closing masterclass in sensory sapping and tactile tongue-tying, foreclosing on beats in favour of low pulsations against which giant laser-neurons spark like thunder overhead.
Review: On Rave On Time, her third EP of 2020, Charlotte De Witte giddily pays tribute to the throbbing, warehouse-ready techno sound of her home city of Ghent - and particularly the intense, mind-bending brand particularly associated with R&S Records in the early 1990s. De Witte sets the tone via the razor-sharp and insanely heavy title track, where ragged acid lines and spiky synth stabs leap above a stomping techno groove, before opting for drums, drums and more drums on the restless 'There's No One Left To Trust'. Acid techno is the order of the day on 'The World Inside' and 'Common Era', while triple-time closing cut 'Wahr Ist Sie Dann' is an odd, alien-sounding treat.
Review: Charlotte de Witte takes care of the sixth outing on her ever more prominent KNTXT label, and does so with her usual sense of techno power. "Sgadi Li Mi" opens in hard hitting fashion, with laser-link synths shooting across the face of the cantering drums and distant vocal cries adding a churchy feel to the arrangement. "Return To Nowhere" dials it back to a more shuffling techno groove and "Ensemble" offers perfectly transcendental techno for late night reveries. Enchanting ambient vocal "What's In The Past" closes out a forceful EP.
Review: Berlin's Sin Sistema shares Denzel's latest EP 'Glorified Intake' after the debut release 'Techniques 4 Life', continuing in the exploration of topsy-turvy, street-level techno sonics. Leading with a mysterious initialism, Denzel prefaces this EP by telling us its tracks were made during a transitional period between cities - H and B - a tale of two. A-siders 'HKI 13' and 'Nightrun' represent a two-point movement of metallised echo and resonant ricochet - the first coming as an "ode to roots", furtively working in breath-muttered "get down, get low" voxes - and the latter working around a cool torrent of domino-effect percs and rattles, like metal piping trailed against a fence. B-siders 'Sus Mind' and 'Generational Funk' first dreamatise and then tribalise the vibe, the former especially making the best use, in our view, of dub delay and diatonic dream-pads.
Review: We love a good studio DJ name and DJ Europarking sure is exactly that. There is just as much fun and irony to his hard-hitting beats on his new EP for UFO Inc. 'What Is What' takes the iconic sample from a Datboy Slim anthem and slams it over some hard techno drums. 'Musicmakers' has dub harmonicas and female rap vocal hooks, more hard-hitting tech drums and some rave-ready synth stabs. 'Penniless Tonight' barrels along at 100 miles an hour with trance-inducing synths up top and 'Level 10 (Princess Vs Bison)' is a final all out dancefloor assault.
Review: It's hard to find fault with anything by Detroit stalwart DJ Stingray. The Motor City veteran rarely puts a foot wrong, regardless of whether he's focusing on futurist techno or blistering, Drexciya-influenced electro. This EP for Lower Parts delivers the best of both worlds. On one hand, you have the stargazing bounce, undulating bassline, and shuffling 4/4 rhythms of "eRbB4" (also impressively remixed in an alien, Rotterdam electro style by Kon001), and the driving techno intensity of "Acetylocholine". On the other, there's "Denddrite", a ghetto-tech and footwork inspired electro blast that contrasts hissing rhythms with yearning, stretched-out chords.
Review: The Holding Hands label is back to pressing up vinyl after a pause during the COVID years and this EP is perfect to be spun nice and loud. Earth Trax deals in big dance sounds and opens this one with 'Amnesia' (dub mix) which has a thudding kick and big bright chords. 'Stars' then brings more euphoria with lush pads and grinding basslines and 'Someday Soon' locks you into a zoned-out vibe with its rich arps and retro stabs. Last but not least is 'Dislocation Blues' which rides on dubby broken beats with swirling cosmic pads.
Review: Munich's techno powerhouse Ilian Tape is back with a new EP which, as usual, features a quarter of direct and unmistakably functional tracks but the designs are top-notch. Fireground - a male/female duo - first offer us the big, bouncy, percussive banger 'Glare', before 'Stand' keeps it just as tribal and percussive and straight up. 'Spin' brings a little playfulness with some sleek machine soul sounds adding warmth and a bit of Detroit colour to the clattering drums before 'Red Night' shuts down with jazzy blend of smeared Rhodes chords and yet more bold drums and hits.
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