Firm yet seductive Detroit-rooted techno tracks by Johannes Volk all with his trademark 909 drum programming and hypnotic synth- & basslines, perfectly connecting past with the present. Deep, raw, stomping, grooving, rocking and no-nonsense. Featuring an even deeper & rawer remix by Unbalance.
Throughout the ’90s and early 2000s, the Missile imprint was responsible for releasing a slew of blistering techno cuts from production heavy weights DJ Hyperactive, Inigo Kennedy, Frankie Bones and DJ Slip. In 1998 the label released Heiko Laux’s Re-Televised EP, which 15 years later has earned itself a repressing on New York imprint Thema. It has commissioned two 2013 remixes in Donor and Truss, the labels New York connection and Stroboscopic Artefacts boss man Lucy. Haux’s original may lack the weight of their modern day reworks, but its stone-crunch kicks certainly don’t lack punch. Donor & Truss share the B-Side with Haux’s exemplar, creating a quintessential ’90s infinity loop, intermittently injecting a rough samples from “Re-Televised”. Lucy’s remix remains loopy also, only adding dour and industrial atmospherics, unsettling children’s voices and Strobo’s trademark low end.
It’s increasingly hard to keep tabs on everything Boris Bunnik does these days, but one of his most loved aliases is Conforce. It is that identity he assumes here for a return to one of his most regular homes, Delsin, following the still excellent ‘Escapism’ album he served up at the end of 2011. This Time Dilation EP is designed for deeper dancefloors: ‘Nomad’ roams in dark and derelict spaces with the clatter of machines off in the distance and a sense of tension never far away. ‘Receiver’ is a more purposeful cut that rolls on vast techno kicks as glassy tinkles and ominous synths colour the backdrop before ‘Last Anthem’ bangs the hardest of the lot. It’s techno, but techno stuff with cinematism, techno that really traps you in the imagined alien world of Conforce from start to finish. Closing out the EP with ‘Embrace’, Bunnik brings you back to earth with a softening dub cushion that glides forwards through more huge open spaces that sound like underwater caves. Few design sounds as evocative as this man, despite the fact he does so on such a regular basis.
Here’s a brand new stellar cooperation by Oscar Mulero & Christian Wünsch. The duo’s commitment is to depart from their trademark sound in search of a new transmission. They join software and hardware to create this four-piece EP that explores the deeper side of techno, heavily inspired by space and futurism, focusing on liquid textures, harmonic sequences and classic drum machine sounds, yet preserving the danceable feeling.
Non Series continues with a hard hitting 4 tracker. Savas Pascalidis and Oswld teams up for a mind blowing weapon.
Remote presest a four track various artist EP including Haze N Adaze aka Lady Blacktronika, Kammerton, Perseus Traxx and Lakumer.
Munich’s excellent Permanent Vacations nudge towards a century of releases with a typically warm EP of huggable electronic grooves from the unpredictable Tevo Howard. Epic opener “Pump & Bounce” is the stand out cut. Built around a heady, intoxicating fusion of melancholic chords, tactile synths, stargazing melodies and seemingly cheap electronic sounds, it rises and falls for an impressive nine minutes. “You Have A Way With Words” spits and jumps with fuzzy machine rhythms and low-slung synths, while the hypnotic rhythms and crystalline arpeggios of “What Is Sound” are stunning in their emotion-rich simplicity.
Theo’s getting jazzier and more eccentric with age (if that’s possible). On this latest jaunt he seems to be re-tracing the steps of one his biggest influences, Sun Ra. “Dance Of The Medusa” is an experimental jazz number with the emphasis on experimental. Although somehow squeezing into a standard 4/4 time measure, the sounds and syncopation between the instruments is anything but normal, as Theo deploys piano attacks, torn strings and his usual MPC abuse to the track. “Bubbles” sees more experimentation, squelching artifacts ricocheting against detuned hats and hollow bass notes. The whole B side is given to “Ambalamps” which may well become an emotive, melancholic, future-ballad if we were to get invaded by aliens and be facing a huge world apocalypse. Reversed strings and minor key riffs and melodies are smudged and stirred into a dark, introspective blend which screams of desolation and hurt. Indeed a dark venture for our man Theo but then he always liked to keep us on our toes – and the track is, by no mistake, undeniably Theo.
Juju & Jordash present the second part of their ‘Unleash The Golem’ on Golf Channel Recordings, featuring two tracks ‘Coffin Train’ and ‘Coffin Train Getaway’.
The Hipodrome Of Music 