Conforce signs ”Wavetable” to Sungate – an energetic and diverse four-track EP produced using mostly wavetable synthesizers. These chord-driven tracks showcase a sophisticated danceable approach with proper groove. Rotterdam techno in its purest form.
Third release on Steve Pickton’s co-owned Fencepiece record label features something special from the Other World Studios archive – the first ever Stasis release from 1993. Three sublime examples of classic UK Techno from one of the true originators – Vanmannans Answer also features an early studio collaboration with fellow UK legend Nuron. Originally released on the tiny Time is Right label.
A staggering collection Detroit techno-soul music, beamed directly into your consciousness from 1994. Kenny Larkin is one of a handful of artists from the city whose original and unique sonic output has helped shape and advance techno as an art form and as a serious musical movement across the world and it’s galaxies beyond, a formidable DJ and producer whose music continues to push the envelope today. ‘Azimuth’ gives us what would be Larkin’s first full length offering, and across 11 tracks of blistering hi-tech machine funk, ambient, soul drenched rhythms and futurist club music he deftly crafted a classic. Originally released on Warp Records, ‘Azimuth’ is a record that effortlessly sounds like it came to earth yesterday while being 25 years old, a true Detroit classic that still makes waves across the planet today.
To open M-Plant’s 2021 schedule, Robert Hood announces the return of the Perpetual Masters series. The ‘Underestimated EP’ still sounds as fierce as it did when it was originally released in 1998, delivering Hood’s personal style of minimal, stripped back Techno with crisp beats, powerful build-ups and flawless grooves; nothing is superfluous.
Emotions Electric presents the Planetary Highways compilation, a deep journey thru Interplanetary sounds in a beautiful Gatefold sleeve with artwork from the legendary Detroit visual artist Abdul Haqq.
For almost three decades now Kosta Athanassiadis aka XDB has been involved in the constantly changing world of dance music. His curiosity and dedication to electronic music spiral deep into the depth of House Music and Techno and where ever he appears he generously shares his unique knowledge in this field with equally dedicated crowds. Now he presents “Inspiron” actually his debut album, coming out on Dial.
Kompakt welcomes 2021 with a new member in the person of Dutch techno legend, Orlando Voorn. Orlando brings his extensive knowledge of Techno and House to the forefront for his Kompakt debut “Internal Destination”. Spacial sounds connect perfectly together – the playfulness of the track feels like each moment is caught in mid-air but the beat keeps it all moving forward without hesitation. “Ride The Wave” rounds out this EP – an electro loop is serenaded by a funked up synth melody that jams to the drum in the most soulful of ways.
Metamorphic is announces a new EP from Mirror Touch, a new project from London-based producer Tim Van Zandyke. The sound of Mirror Touch can best be described by a moment in time when mid 90’s trax records from the US Midwest combined techno’s brutalist grooves with layers of emotive harmonies harking back to Detroit’s funk, soul and jazz legacy. Then techno sound hurtled forward, blazing new paths of experimentation, minimalism and hypnosis. Mirror Touch points back to that magic moment when Techno emerged from Detroit, with a series of hardware tracks that combine emotional rawness with the flow of 21st century techno.
Network’s 30th Anniversary celebration continue with a dig in the vaults finding three timeless treasures from UK Techno pioneers Nexus 21. The “Progression Logical” highlights how skilfully the Stafford duo – Mark Archer and Chris Peat – combined their love of Detroit inspired Techno with North of London Bleep culture. The third track is well and truly an historic piece of Techno history – Carl Craig’s first ever remix no less.
‘Psy Visionary’ is the latest outing by the long going Spanish techno producer ORBE. On his self titled imprint he’s been pushing futuristic and hypnotizing techno sounds since 2014. His latest collection of tracks is a full solo effort and comes as an expansive 4LP vinyl box exploring a wide universum of techno. Atmospheric and spaced out booming techno trips spread over 16 heavy cuts to showcase ORBE and his visionary sounds.
Erell Ranson confidently displays his renowned character of finely textured Electronics with old school aesthetics on Propersound 007. Electro, Deep Techno, and Downtempo are the styles traversed to you from the machines with emotive class, and ambient pads across 4 lovely tracks.
New DeepLabs Record release featuring a special collaboration by label founder Luke Hess & his brother Jeff Hess. This is the 10th Anniversary release on DeepLabs featuring full sleeve artwork by Haqq. Three functional and diverse Detroit Techno tracks with stripped down analog sounds reminiscent of the mid-90’s warehouse scene.
The Dutch Sci-Fi Master DJ Surgeles is taking us for a space travel within this 4 tracks EP on Modular Underground.
Delsin presents two supplement EPs to the recently released retrospective compilations of Wladimir M. and Florence. This first Florence disc its a collection of rarities. The EP opens with Convextion’s remix of ‘The Vineyard’, never been released on vinyl before. Second track on side A is the original mix of ‘Exploration’ as featured on the very first Eevo Lute EP in 1991. Side B opens with Peter Ford aka Baby Ford’s remix of ‘The Vineyard’, originally released in 1996. The EP closes with the original instrumental version of ‘Disappointment’, to which the lyrics and vocals by Wladimir M. were added later on.
A master in letting shapes find their form, Dixon allows the listener to wallow in recurring scenes. Lost Communication Procedure, Found In Space and Remarkable Wanderer etch a sound world of choral vibrations and cinematic dirge. Where gaseous clouds scrape the natural sonic pastures of such environments, the hypnotized listener staggers a drunken step, moving sideways by 0 or 1 or -1 into new scenes. Not least an expert in industrial abstraction, a human silhouette permeates Dixon’s sound. His ethereal storytelling portrays the heart-rending romance of Unconditional Love and unearths in I’m Away In Detroit monologuing moodscapes recalling our GPS voice assistants. Out of Darkness initial recalls Kraftwerk’s Geiger counter, as from pure signal data and feedback spells an unceasing locomotive wormhole. Hazy, dense grooves drive across bleak city scenes in We Can Rebuild Him, into the raw vibe of Framework and the rude stabs of Spectrum of Light. The varying presence of Dixon’s work is one of his textural signatures, at arm’s length, brushing right within, and far out. The bumping mood of Earth Station is one such moment, close enough to isolate the diving bass somewhere within, simultaneously from afar it becomes positively gravitational.
Delsin dives deeper in the Dutch techno archives once more by re-masterering, re-cutting and re-releasing Ballet Mechanique’s Embody EP. A keystone release containing four tracks of tough, yet emotive electro jams, sounding fresh till the date of today. Originally released in 1996 on Eevo Lute Muzique and definitely one of the highlights when it comes to pure futuristic techno soul. The Embody EP from Jeroen Borrenbergs aka Ballet Mechanique and Eevo’s in-house graphic designer at that time made his first public work on one of the most influential techno labels from the Netherlands.
As Morganistic, Luke Slater only released a handful of cuts-but among those was the album ‘Fluids Amniotic’, still widely praised today as a benchmark techno long-player. Regularly featuring in the sets of Hood and Mills, Morganistic’s dark, rumbling minimalism was, as the album title suggests, the sonic equivalent of being trapped in the murky, viscous fluids of some sinister alien womb. Slater unearthed the original DAT and reel-to-reel tapes and got them remastered by Matt Colton at Metropolis. Fluids Amniotic will get re-issued both on vinyl and digitally for the first time in 25 years.
Detroit pioneer Robert Hood joins Rekids label with a new album entitled ‘Mirror Man’, showcasing his innate knack for crafting paired back but intricate rhythms that deliver punch and soul. Opening with the cinematic ‘Through A Looking Glass Darkly’, the album quickly flows into precise, powerful four four. There’s mesmerising cuts such as ‘Fear Not’ with its throbbing bass and spectral vocals, the twisted and off-key ‘Run Bobby, Run’, not to mention muscular tracks designed to light up dancefloors like the machine driven ‘A System of Mirrors’ or the mesmerising ‘Face In The Water’. Hood also breaks things up with downtempo and mind-bending interludes, including the tranquil yet spooky ‘Black Mirror’ and the beatless and murky ‘Freeze’. Each of these are aural feasts that demonstrate his vast musical pallet. From start to finish ‘Mirror Man’ is an education in finesse from one of techno’s most heroic artists, landing on one of electronic music’s most important labels.
Debut album from Israel Vines on Interdimensional Transmissions, a futuristic fusion of UK bass, post-jungle breakbeats and techno with the rhythmic flex of Detroit Electro. Across its nine tracks, Vines channels the spirit of undulating UK techno and bass — think Bristol and London — into a form and shape all his own, indebted to his American Midwestern roots. Rolling beats, uncommon rhythms, and club-floor sensibility paired with a polyrhythmic touch.
