Ben Sims – Fabric 73 [FABRIC145]

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Prolific, eclectic, and always evolving, Ben Sims’ name has been synonymous with quality techno for nearly two decades. His enviable career path mirrors the history of twenty years of popular music in the UK, drifting from hip-hop and reggae into the early days of pirate radio, the peak of acid house, and pummeling hardcore. Sims has always been a precocious listener – in his early teens he would DJ his school’s disco parties prior to gaining a reputation as an advanced talent on the rave and club circuit – and his experience is reflected in the timelessness of the selections on fabric 73. Beholden to no specific era or genre beyond the power of their pure transportive grooves, on fabric 73 Sims showcases the restlessly creative selections that continue to make him an essential and inspiring DJ for advanced techno listeners worldwide.

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Ben Sims – Fabric 73 [FABRIC145]

Peter Van Hoesen – Life Performance [TRESOR265]

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One year on from ‘Perceiver’, Peter Van Hoesen presents his first live album, documenting his performance during the Time To Express label night at Tresor on July 19th 2013. Armed with three synths, a drum machine, two iPads and some outboard effects, he covers a brace of new material woven with recent releases in typically disciplined and unrelenting PvH style, capturing his highly efficient energy transfer and breathless momentum in full effect and perhaps providing better context for his music than any studio album could.

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Peter Van Hoesen – Life Performance [TRESOR265]

Synthek & Audiolouis – Reclaim Your City [NATCHLTD004]

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The fourth Natch release present many ways to approach modern Techno. Ryc is an acid descent to the underground, driven to the depth by the darkest basslines whilst Raffaele Attanasio take off with a bangin’ remix really efficient on the dancefloor. Meddle shows the pure Natch style at its finest, which Mattias Fridell remix infect with a diverse and powerful rhythmic pattern.

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Synthek & Audiolouis – Reclaim Your City [NATCHLTD004]

Abdulla Rashim – Aksum [ARR006]

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Journey through vivid sonic currents and states which might as well be regarded as Rashim’s magnum opus: the 006 release on ARR is a new height delivered as a mini-album. The more basic and primal spirit of this release encapsulates Rashim’s music in a way which makes total sense. Bound over six tracks, they all display a different perspective of this dramatic colossus.

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Abdulla Rashim – Aksum [ARR006]

Uku Kuut – Grand Hotel [PPU052]

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PPU providing yet again with 10 more selections from the archives of Estonian funk front man Uku Kuut. Grand Hotel is an instrumental journey from his days in the Soviet Union, Sweden, Los Angeles, Estonia. Including his very first home recording dating back to 1982, and a track that was recorded at Herbie Hancock’s personal studio. It’s a miracle these masters are still around after 30+ years of traveling from country to country. They finally find a safe place to rest.. Grand Hotel.

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Uku Kuut – Grand Hotel [PPU052]

Gay Marvine – Bath House Etiquette Vol.4 [BHE004]

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Gay Marvine presents 4 new reworks… A1 Burning Love – ”Burning Love Breakdown”: Juan Atkins once claimed this to be his favorite 12” from the ‘disco’ era, which would have been called progressive in Detroit. A2 Southern Freeze – ”Southern Freeez”: A natural palate cleanser, this jam is both smooth and jagged, putting together elements found in First Choice and Steely Dan in a perfect Jazz dance floor context. Pre-synth genius from John Rocca. B1 Sweet Secret – ”Frozen Faces”: Transforming the classic German Synth Pop jam into a more uptempo floorfiller. Please take her advice and dance. And dance. B2 On The EMS – ”On The Run” (Pink Floyd, 1973). Finally an easy to DJ version of this synth classic. Given a steady jacking rhythm and slowed down to 130 from the original 165, this cut will rock floors for the adventurous DJ.

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Gay Marvine – Bath House Etiquette Vol.4 [BHE004]

Bariş K – 200 [EES002]

BARIS K - 200

The second release from [Emotional] Especial sees the welcome return of Baris K. Known for his edit series of obscure Turkish Psychedelic, Rock and Disco, here he takes the producer’s chair to present “200”. Working with musicians and singers to create a completely original production. The song’s message for equality (of the sexes) highlights the bigotry and backward political and religious boundaries his country faces and acts as a siren to the current troubles. Handed to Emotional Recordings over 5 years ago but with no label to release it at that time, now we are delighted to be able to release 200’s message. The original is backed with remixed from new Romanian production duo Khidja, as well as East London’s finest, The Asphodells. Teaming up with guitarist Balabas, Romania’s Khidja turn in a deep and introspective interpretation mixing their own heavy eastern influences, while the B-side sees Weatherall and Fairplay don their Asphodells mantle for two renditions that firmly lay it before the ALFOS alter. With artwork (by Jamie Paton) highlighting the struggle for fairness and freedom in his homeland, we hope the release can be seen as a support for their tribulations and highlight the talent that lays East.

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Bariş K – 200 [EES002]

Julius Steinhoff – You Collect Secrets [PLAYRJC027]

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Three tracks that nicely bend the rules of deep house and push bass lines into the abyss. A leading member of Hamburg’s Smallville Records and one half of the critically-acclaimed and party-proof Smallpeople, Steinhoff delivers three tracks that nicely bend the rules of deep house, meander the maze of trance-hypnotism, cold-forge metallic drums and push bass lines into the abyss. A record that owes as much to Larry Heard’s way of thinking, as it does to white rooms and probably subconsciously to James Holden’s art of playing records. Built for eternity.

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Julius Steinhoff – You Collect Secrets [PLAYRJC027]

Robert Hood – Eleven [MPM018]

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Following on from his Floorplan album and November’s Floorplan EP, Robert Hood returns with a new double header on M-Plant, to close 2013. He delivers these two new cuts of pulsating, body-moving Techno with that classic, deep and minimal Hood sound. He builds ‘Eleven’ and ‘Alarm’, layer upon layer, gradually drawing all the elements together, until they become a penetrating attack on the senses.

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Robert Hood – Eleven [MPM018]

Duplex – First Day EP [DOLLY016]

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The return of the Dutch masters of deep! Rotterdam techno veterans Duplex show how it’s done with three lush & warm interstellar techno tracks from that forgotten future… Pure, dedicated and very well-crafted. This will orbit the dancefloor straight into outer space. And as an extra the Steven Tang remix of ‘Jx3PO’ to heat things even more up.

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Duplex – First Day EP [DOLLY016]

VA – 100DSR Compilation [100DSR]

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17 years after first releasing a cassette EP from label boss Marsel van der Wielen under his Peel Seamus guise, Delsin has now hit the landmark category number of 100. Truth is, taking into account choice re-issues and specials such as the recent house series, there have already been scores more than 100 releases. Nevertheless, in that time the Dutch label has become synonymous with a wide range of timeless sounds from house to techno to dub to electronica, nurturing and championing some of the most respected names in the scene, all of which can now be enjoyed on 5 separate, various artist vinyl EPs or one impressive two disc compilation. Far from just a collection of tracks, the 100DSR compilation has been carefully curated to tell the tale of Delsin. Each record conveys a slightly different part of the story – be it house, techno, beats or electro – yet every one is tied together by the label’s own underlying sense of desolate melancholy. Across the five EPs and complete CD collection there are tracks from newbies and old favourites alike, including Sawlin and Delta Funktionen, John Beltran and Bleak, Redshape and Convextion, Gerry Read and Claro Intelecto.

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VA – 100DSR Compilation [100DSR]

Chevel – Air Is Freedom [NON010]

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Non Series has become one of the strongest and well respected labels if we speak about serious techno. For its 10th birthday the label comes up with the debut album by Chevel and delivers again more than only a handfull of tracks.

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Chevel – Air Is Freedom [NON010]

VA – Halal Prepared Vol. 2 [BOE022]

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Arriving back in the spring of 2010, the first edition of Halal Prepared from London label Boe Recordings featured Iron Curtis, KiNK and Ladzinski and has remained a 12″ the more considered selectors at Juno HQ keep in their record boxes. Primed by Boe as the onset of a new V/A series, it’s taken the label three years to decide on what artists to feature on this second volume, with a great online mix series of the same name available for those craving some Halal flavoured house. Smallville graduate Arnaldo calls shotgun here with the playfully named A side hogger “A Shop That Sells Everything But At Twice The Price” filled with the sort of texturally deepness that made his Blank Slate record from earlier this year such a popular 12″. Label boss Ben Boe deems the time right to surface with his first original production and “Low Rider” fits snugly in with the refined house aesthetic the under-rated Boe Recordings has developed over the course of it’s five years of releases. French producer Anaxander rounds out Vol 2. In fine style with the deep and dubby “Dance Et Cetera” showcasing his percussive chops.

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VA – Halal Prepared Vol. 2 [BOE022]

VA – 100DSR/VAR4 [100DSR/VAR4]

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The on-going celebration of Delsin reaching 100 releases continues here with the 4th in the series of 100DSR releases. Featuring key label friends Redshape, D5 and Area Forty_One, it’s another compelling package. First up is the famous masked one with a track specially made to celebrate the centenary. Fittingly it is entitled ‘100 (Classic Mix)’ and finds him in a doleful mood, layering sad synth motifs of a hubbub of nicely crushed drums and scurrying percussion. Sad but optimistic, uplifting but heavy-hearted, it’s a quintessential Redshape track that manages to be industrial and romantic at exactly the same time. Next up is D5, who has basically only ever released on Delsin since emerging in 2001. It’s be a few years since his last EP, but this new track makes the wait worth while: ‘Stem Cell’ is a light-footed, harmonically enriched bit of house that has large opens spaces glowing golden white as paddy kicks keep busy below. A blissful but purposeful track, the final offering comes from sometime Ann Aimee producer Area Forty_One, who offers the dynamic and juddering bit of deep techno that is ‘Supervoid’.

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VA – 100DSR/VAR4 [100DSR/VAR4]

Terrence Dixon – Badge Of Honor [SFTDXLP001]

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Badge of Honor pushing the envelope of techno with quirky, Detroit-infused abstractions that only the masterful Dixon could conjure up. Far removed from his Population One moniker, this is Terrence Dixon’s fourth LP in an illustrious 20-year career. The album hits us with raw, all-encompassing techno cuts alongside some choice left-field experiments (View From A Lighthouse, Radio Room and Light Years), cementing Terrence’s reputation as the free-form producer of choice, not unlike a modern day Sun Ra. From the P-Funk basslines and melodies of Operation Acoustic and Incoming, to the dark, undulating Mills-esque sound of The Atlantic, this is a release that seemingly covers all the bases. Over a year in the making and already doing the rounds with those in the know, Badge of Honor represents techno from a future age, conceptualised to go well beyond the surface…

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Terrence Dixon – Badge Of Honor [SFTDXLP001]

The Parallel – Distinction [GR002]

Cover art - The Parallel: Distinction

Granulart Recordings presents the second release, coming from one of the irish finest Dub & Detroit techno producers The Parallel. Strong EP with three tracks, a great mix of top dub techno with just the right amount of classic Detroit sound.

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The Parallel – Distinction [GR002]

Simian Mobile Disco & Cosmin TRG – Surströmming [DELI011]

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Following that excellent Bicep collaboration, Simian Mobile Disco join forces with Cosmin TRG for the latest release on their Delicacies label. On paper the two parties make logical collaborators thanks to their love of minimal textures and subtle melody, and in execution the results are a resounding success; “Surstromming” sees those rubbery acidic basslines SMD are famous for take a pulsating approach, throbbing its way through subtle dub chords and a robust 4/4 rhythm. “Sannakji” meanwhile is a considerably trippier affair, combining a taut arpeggio with well placed moments of ecstatic chord release. Two tracks sure to cause maximum warehouse devastation!

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Simian Mobile Disco & Cosmin TRG – Surströmming [DELI011]