Author: hipodrome
Matador – Kingswing EP [MINUS116]
Matador aka Gavin Lynch is a new Dublin artist on Minus. All bleeping soft focus melody lines and cantering kicks, it’s a slowly building bomb. Elsewhere there is shimmying, suggestive minimal coated in warm tape hiss on ‘Mambo’ and brooding, heavily-weighted backroom sounds speckled with rasping, rising synth lines and glistening percussion on ‘Hitbox.’ ‘Nomans Land’ is a bouncy, with wispy hi-hat ringlets and a buried-in-the-mix, undecipherable vocal running through it. The little details around the edges are what bring the groove alive. Coming from a different angle altogether is Korrado’: its melancholic notes hang above firm, pulsing kicks and bittersweet overtones.
Gianluca Meloni – Anthemusa EP [OUTIS002]
The second release on Outis Music is a collaboration between label owner Dino Sabatini and his old friend Gianluca Meloni.
VA – Karat 45 EP [KARAT045]
Karat delivers vinyl extracts from his last CD compilation Katapult Festival. Abstract techno by Skudge, Portable and Phillippe Cam.
Shifted – Telic [OCS003]
The third release on Sigha’s ‘Our Circula Sound’ imprint drops in the shape of three outstanding tracks from Shifted, hypnotic and textural, leaning heavily on his influences outside electronic music.
Marcel Dettmann – Deluge / Duel [50WEAPONS016]
Marcel Dettman puts out some jacking analogue sounding techno tracks on 50 Weapons. This is a classic 90s techno influenced EP that shows that the purest sounds are at the core of each Dettmann tracks.
Milton Bradley – The Dark Of The Psychic Unknown [DNRESISTTHEBEAT007]
Outstanding, completely alienated and dark sounding Techno from Milton Bradley on his own label Don Not Resist The Beat.
Kowton & Tom Dicicco – Untitled EP [PSQ007]
Kowton and Tom Dicicco present a split EP on Project Squared. Tom Dicicco’s original is driven by a low-mid range thick stab and pounding kick drum, littered with intricate but not overbearing hi hat and snare work and some very atmospheric mid range. Kowton’s is subtle and sparse, low fidelity and plodding, with rattling percusion carrying the tune along. On the other side of the record, Kowton’s remix of Tom’s original is driven by an enormous bassline, with an off kilter dubby feel to the slow tempo and genre defying tune. Tom’s remix of Kowton rounds off the EP with a return to stab driven Techno, pulsating, dynamic and trance inducing.
Unbalance – Unbalance #3 [UNBALANCE003]
Russian producer Unbalance continues to present his own vision of the many differing strains of techno for the third in an ongoing series of hand stamped clear twelve inches. On the A Side, “Legacy” jitters with peak time intent, as granite like textures collide rhythmically with the insistent jagged syncopation, with Unbalance deftly judging when to adopt an increase in pressurised poise. In comparison “Euphoria” commences in the deepest recesses, with the saturated bass throb becoming ever more viscous as the track bumps along, craftily accruing intricate sonic details which lend the track a woozy hypnotic narcosis. The mood gets drawn ever further down on the final, sludgy sounding “Violet’s Night” where fractured textures battle it out with the rattling percussion amidst swarms of cricket like atmospherics.
Marcel Fengler – Studio Mix November 2011
Norm Talley – Transmissions Part 2 [THEMA028]
In spite of 3 tracks on the original Transmissions that fell a little closer to what the heads would expect from Detrot Beatdown man Norm talley, on Transmissions, Chapter 2 he serves up two techno tracks.
Future Past – Game Theory EP [ART-DDS007]
Kirk Degiorgio dusts down his Future Past moniker for a no-nonsense techno release. The title track typifies the EP, with a bubbly bassline and doubled up claps supporting whooshing, churning filters. It’s the same approach on “Sparta”, where a walking bass and warbling acid lines suggest a clean, pure sound, but then an intense filter pushes it into the realms of peak-time techno. “Skrunch” dispenses with the lighter, more playful elements in favour of a tunnelling groove that flows to the sound of arcing acid and a dark riff undertow, while “An Act of Modulation” completes the transfer from bubbly techno to a leaner-edged sound with squelchy tones tweaked against the backdrop of an insistent spiky rhythm track.
Kez YM – Stride EP Promo Mix December 2011
Marvin Belton – Find A Way EP [MM029]
Beautiful EP by Marvin Beltin on KDJ’s Mahogani label. Warm rooted soulful Detroit house tracks.
Frank Booker – Hope [FA029]
Fine Art present a new release by Frank Booker, with the boogie / slomo-house groover ‘Hope’ and the irresistable hook and dub/disco feel of the more uptempo ‘No Delay’.
Klovn – Cover UP [PHIL004]
Ka§par – Ode To The Ancients EP [GR015]
New release bt Ka§par for Groovement. Inspired by the great masters and their legacy, Ka§par pushes himself towards the future with his own galactic sound palette. The B side features a remix by Carlos Nilmmns.
Tim Toh – Pandemonium [PHP058]
Ron Trent – Kids At Play [EB001LTD]
New label by Ron Trent who presents a amazing track as first release, taken from his forthcoming album. Lovely mixture of spiritual house, classic Chicago tracks and Ron’s jazzy side. Beautiful and hypnotic dance music that we could hear for hours in a row.
Linkwood – Secret Value [SHEV004]
Linkwood returns home to the Firecracker fold with a monumental EP for sister label Shevchenko. Containing three beautiful and timeless pieces of house music, the release also precedes the producer’s long awaited LP on Firecracker early in 2012.
