dave sumner
Sandwell District – End Beginnings LP [PODR012LP]
‘End Beginnings’, the new album by Sandwell District, is the collective’s first new music since the tragic death of Juan Mendez (Silent Servant) in January 2024. Mendez’s stunning artwork and visuals have always been a central pillar of Sandwell District; in fact, he worked on a piece titled ‘End Beginnings’ – now the title of the third album and a tribute to their late friend. ‘End Beginnings’ invites new recruits – Monic, Rivet, and Sarah Wreath – and brings together towering techno and mind-blowing dancefloor dynamics, a masterful combination of innovation and ecstasy. It’s as deep, sturdy, and hypnotic as you would hope from the unit that invoked a sea change in techno and related club music during the 2000s and early 2010s.
Function – Green EP [INF-025]
To relaunch his seminal imprint, Infrastructure New York, Function presents his new 12″, Green EP. Celebrating 27 years of Function releases this year and the label’s 25th anniversary, the label will serve as an outlet for his new material, reissues of out of print classics from Synewave, Sandwell District and Ostgut Ton (and of course, Infrastructure), as well as developing new artists. Green EP encapsulates the same raw power and hypnotic energy of his genre defining Sandwell District releases updated with a modern flair.
Function – HATE Podcast 326
Dan Nurse – Other Side Of The Tracks [HR004]
Housewerk presetns a limited re-press of the classic of Dan Nurse aka Dave Sumner, “Other Side Of The Tracks”.
Function – Awakening From The Illusory Self [TRESOR320]
An enduring fixture in the techno and electronic music landscape, Dave Sumner continues to step through new terrains, reinforcing his spike and vision. He returns to Tresor Records with a new Function record, entitled Awakening From The Illusory Self.
Function – Subject F (Transcendence) [EAUX1491]
Seven years after its inception, Eaux is announces the first solo release by an artist other than Rrose. As a member of the Sandwell District collective, David Sumner aka Function was instrumental incultivating the Rrose project. After releasing the first three EPs and album by Rrose between 2012 and 2013, Sandwell District terminated their mission abruptly, prompting Rrose to start a new label (Eaux) for solo projects andcollaborations. This EP brings history full circle.
LSD – Third Process [LSD002]
The techno super-group of Luke Slater, Steve Bicknell and David Sumner aka LSD is back again with the third installment of their Process series. Futuristic drum programming and mind melting melodies for maximum dancefloor impact spread out over three tracks, touching all assets of an hypnotic high-energy techno trip.
Function – Existenz [TRESOR315]
For his new album Existenz, Function marks a clear step away from the corporeal techno of his recent releases. Pivoting around themes of religion, sexuality, trauma and healing, it is a work expansive and celebratory, a clear liberation from a deeply internalized past. Formed from a collection of recordings made in a period from late 2016 to mid 2019, Existenz takes the form of a creative outburst in reaction to a number of traumas – recent, childhood and throughout Function’s life. Life partner Stefanie Parnow assisted the production process in its entirety, providing inspiration, spiritual healing and featuring vocal contributions.
LSD live @ Movement Festival (Detroit) 25.05.2019
LSD – Second Process [LSD001]
LSD is the techno supergroup of Luke Slater, Steve Bicknell, David Sumner. They launch their new self-titled LSD imprint with a six track double pack of pure techno. Focusing on psychedelic aspects of techno while drawing on the unique rhythmic sensibilities of each of the three members, between them this group have all had a major impact on the global techno scene over the last two decades. Their new collaborative double pack carries on where the debut left off with six tracks of melodic and mind melting techno with surreal atmospheres and propulsive drum programming that takes you into the next dimension.
LSD live @ Dekmantel Festival 2018
Function – Recompiled II/II [A-TONLP03]
LSD – Process [OTON109]
This debut single from previously unseen outfit LSD is remarkable for a number of reasons, not least the fact that the trio is made up of legendary UK techno producers Luke Slater, Steve Bicknell and Dave Sumner AKA Function. Given their collective history of making thumping, mind-altering techno, you’d expect Progress to be both heavy and trippy. That’s certainly what you get from opener “Process 1”, where psychedelic electronics and cascading, otherworldly noises rise above an armour-plated techno groove. They push the envelope even further on “Process 2”, a track blessed with restless cymbal lines and weird, off-key electronics. In comparison, the similarly intense “Process 3” seems deep and woozy, though the incessant, 1990 style bleeps and “LFO” style synths guarantees a suitably hallucinogenic feel throughout.
Function – Recompiled I/II [A-TONLP002]
Function retrospective landing on Ostgut Ton’s sublabel A-Ton. Essential techno selection. Recompiled I/II is the first of two vinyl-only releases of Function, which previously contained unpublished pieces as well as already out of print music. Function, one of the true techno-underground veterans, has been active as DJ and musician for over 25 years. He is a founding member of the Sandwell District collective, Berghain-Resident, operates the Infrastructure label and has been publishing Ostgut Ton since 2013.
Function – XLR8R Podcast 397
Function – Berghain 07
Function – Synewave Reissues Part 1: 1995-97 [INF016]
Back when Dave Sumner relaunched his dormant Infrastructure New York label at the start of the year, vague allusions to some sort of planned retrospective were made as a means to tantalise and excite. With the label now fully up and running thanks to a series of great techno 12″s from Function, Campbell Irvine, Inland and a select reissue or two, it seems those plans for a retrospective are a lot firmer. Synewave Reissues Part I: 1995-97 is the first of two 12″s that will precede the release of the 28 track Recompiled: Various Works & Pseudonyms, 1995-2012 compilation in 2015 and draws from material Sumner committed to Damon Wild’s Synewave label. Both “F3” and “F4” are some of the earliest productions Sumner committed to tape as Function and are complemented by a new edit of “Shift F1” from his Infrastructure pardner Inland.
Function / Vatican Shadow – Games Have Rules [HOS425]
Here’s something to excite those of an experimental techno bent: a collaborative set from veteran producer Function and drone/industrial sort Vatican Shadow. Given the qualities’ of both producers, it’s perhaps unsurprising that Games Have Rules is rather good. Like any good collaboration, it tempers the more outlandish aspects of each producer’s work, delivering a set bristling with icy textures, bittersweet ambience, dreamy atmospherics and, perhaps most pleasing of all, sprawling techno (see the brilliant “Bejewelled Body”). Highlights are naturally plentiful, from the crystalline mood of “A Year Has Passed” (reminiscent of Selected Ambient Works era Aphex Twin) to the murky textures and spooky electronics of “The Nemesis Flower”.
The Hipodrome Of Music 