Detroit techno luminary Terrence Dixon joins Kynant with six tracks of signature minimalism.
detroit techno
Biz – Sleep Walking EP [CLIQ004LTD]
Australian Biz is back with another EP of serious grooves. He creates a vibe that seduces the soul yet also has the tough elements that work so effectively on the dancefloor. This is the fourteenth release on Biz’s own label cliq, founded in 2002.
Monobox – Regenerate [MPM040]
Robert Hood presents the return of his Monobox alias with an album featuring seven tracks. For the return of Monobox, Hood has envisaged that the vessel has been lying dormant for 40 or 50 years and is now beginning to rise up again, or regenerate. The new Monobox album, ‘Regenerate’ creates an all-enveloping story from its opening chapter and the atmospheric ‘Rise’. Stripped-back tribalism ensues with ‘Blackwater Canal’ before the ominous ‘Wargames’, while ‘Angel City’ brings a lighter, sparkling touch. Disc two delivers the gritty ‘Exoplanet’ running at over nine minutes as it gradually draws you in, then flip over for the sweeping grooves of ‘Drydock’. The album closes on the album’s title track where vintage melodies sit alongside techno futurism.
Mihail P – Streams Of Thought [CMD008]
Common Dreams bring a new 4 tracker from Mihail P, including a special John Shima remix. Electro breaks, synth basses and a cool pad to complete the perfect journey.
Francisco Mora Catlett – Electric Worlds [PLE65405]
Planet E Communications releases ‘Electric Worlds’ LP by Francisco Mora-Catlett, marking Francisco’s first electronic album in celebration of 30 Years of Planet E. Francisco Mora-Catlett’s career spans decades, genres and astral realms, perpetually defined by the quest for survival and being free. The Mexican-American percussionist, composer, and producer makes his solo debut on Carl Craig’s renowned Planet E Communications with his first electronic music album, ‘Electric Worlds’. Whether pushing the limits of free jazz with the Sun Ra Arkestra in the 70’s, studying at Berklee College of Music and touring with Max Roach in the 80’s, or playing in Carl Craig’s “The Innerzone Orchestra” in the 90’s, Francisco’s passion has always been for the capacity that the music created by black and brown people has to free the human spirit.
Terrence Dixon / M.R.E.U.X – Total Chaos [BLUG015]
A stylish return from Blumoog Music with 4 tracks of pure Detroit style techno. Psychedelic sounds demonstrate, again, the great mentality of these two artists, loyal to old school underground techno. Terrence Dixon presents two minimalist tracks which will capture attention from everybody on the dancefloor; M.R.E.U.X insists with his unique style, distinguished by dizzying rhythms and pure energy.
Mark Hand & Neil Iceton – Holiday In Beta Centauri [INN8005]
Way back in the 1990s, Mark Hand, Neil Iceton & Jez Nicholl channeled their love of sci-fi-fired Motor City techno into a string of inspired releases under the alias Cubic Space Collective. After reuniting for a memorable machine jam at Freerotation festival in 2016, Hand & Iceton headed back into the studio for a one-off session and recorded ‘Holiday in Beta Centauri’, a musical love letter to Mad Mike and the rest of Detroit’s most militant futurist techno crew.
Second Phase – Mentasm [RS9109]
Second Phase (aka Joey Beltram and Mundo Muzique) are 2 legendary producers whose output shaped an entire generation of ravers, DJs and producers minds. ‘Mentasm / Mind To Mind’ is one such influential release, literally creating new styles, new directions and impacting on dance music for decades to come. Unique programming and fresh sounds made their records stand out head and shoulders above everyone else’s output. This is a quintessential techno record, a glimpse of innovation from back in the day. 1991 techno classics – repressed and reissued for 2021.
Lost Trax – Mind Over Matter [148DSR]
Lost Trax pops up at Delsin once more. It’s their second EP with new material on Delsin after their Surface Treated EP from 2019. On Mind Over Matter, Lost Trax steps in the world of old school pre-nineties jackin’ Chigaco and Detroit sounds. Four tracks filled with razor sharp 303s, bubbling FM-basses, jacking drums and offworldy emotive melodies, making this an excellent pack for the late nights.
Ausgang – Output [KEYLP02RP]
In the last years the Berlin-based duo Ausgang got attention in the worldwide techno scene through releases on their own label Ausgang Records. Nico and Roseen show on their first LP a clear vision of taste and quality, coming from the true techno culture. Eight tracks moving from electro to techno, based on radical essential elements reflecting their 90ies roots. Both share the basic idea of techno: raw and gritty sounds with pounding rhythms. Made for darkened rooms with fog and strobe lights. Nothing more, nothing less.
Monobox – Forwardbase Kodai EP [MPM039]
Robert Hood is set to regenerate his much-loved Monobox alias with a new EP followed by an artist album. The ‘Forwardbase Kodai EP’ features 2 exclusive originals that will not appear on the forthcoming album, alongside a remix by Ø [Phase] and a blistering Robert Hood Re-Plant edit.
Audition – Irrational EP [ADT03]
The 3rd release from Audition goes further into the sci-fi sound he is renowned for. “Irrational” invites you into a paranoid trance with its relentless synth line that seems to want to haunt you forever. Next up is “Tense” which, as the title suggests, creates a hard-hitting tension throughout the track supported by heavy syncopated rhythm. The EP ends with “Rumours” a beatless, brooding track that feels like you re entering a never-ending black hole.
STL – Lost In Musik [SOMETHING31]
Something Records lifts off ‘Lost in Musik’ by STL aka Stephan Laubner. On 17 tracks and an extended playing-time, this double vinyl comes in complete album feel, multifarious variations, and in STL’s full tonal trademark fit. STL attends the brains & ears in his magic discrete way with an unstoppable bucket-raining flow of fresh sounds, catching rhythms and aspirating music, like no one else usually does. An album to blow your minds, shake your bodies and touch your souls.
Jeff Mills and Rafael Leafar – The Override Switch [AX104]
The Override Switch combines the talent of two Detroit natives: Jeff Mills and Rafael Leafar. The latter is a multi-instrumentalist with a strong affiliation to jazz music. Through Mike Banks, he was introduced to Jeff Mills, where the idea for “The Override Switch” began to manifest. “The Override Switch” gives control back to the musicians. Unrestrained and unshackled by the semiotics placed by conventional dance music, it looks to a frontier beyond what is conditioned by genre. By infusing the mercurial elements of jazz, it gives electronic instruments the avenue that it always had the potential to travel down; as an unrestrictive genre, exploring the boundless possibilities in which it is capable. It looks to innovation and transcends what has come before; it is a switch in a practical sense, overlooking its past before switching to the future. The album is a homage to artists like John Coltrane, J Dilla, Kraftwerk and those who inspire experimentation with what can be evoked through music.
Connective Zone – Qwerty EP [DSR/X22]
Long awaited reissue of Connective Zone’s Qwerty EP. Originally released in 2002 on Emoticon, the deep electronica sister label of Headspace Recordings. Connective Zone, aka Lincoln-based duo Graham Sims and Simon Button, have been making their unique brand of deep techno for many years. Warm strings, thick chords, multi-layered synth melodies and crisp beats are the order of the day, with influences coming from early Detroit techno and ‘artificial intelligence’ era UK electronics. All four tracks pack a soulful punch, drawing from the past but allowing their individual sound to shine through. Rhythmically they range from straight-up 4/4 beats to more syncopated patterns, and are sure to find favour with more adventurous DJs as well as home listeners.
Thomas Barnett presents Subterfuge – The Foundation Series Volume One [RMCE017]
Rawax welcomes Thomas Barnett to the family. with the “Foundation Series Volume One”. Originally released in 1997 on Visillusion Records (Detroit).
VA – Tresor 30 (30th Anniversary Edition) [TRESOR330]
Since 1991, Tresor has provided a home for artists to germinate their ideas for advanced new sounds and broadcast them to the world. The pioneers that first traversed the Detroit-Berlin connection and were at the forefront of a new cultural movement gave to Tresor its original and continuing mission: community, resistance and reshaping the world to come. The Tresor 30 compilation represents a major land- mark in this continuing history of electronic music. This unique collection of music profiles some of the artists that gave the previous three decades of Tresor its sound and foundation, but it also casts its gaze forward. Writing new postcards from the future, this collection brings new artists who main- tain a connection to that original mission to the fore, charting ways in which this ethos can contin- ue to build bridges and break walls in the next 30 years. Bringing together 52 essential tracks – both clas- sics and exclusive commissions – each of the 12 records in this box-set charts a unique line of flight from those artists that helped define the shape of this new music to those who continue to pattern its landscape further.
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”.
Dustin Zahn – Hand Over Control [BP061]
Dustin Zahn makes his Blueprint Records debut as James Ruskin’s label continues to celebrate 25 years at the forefront of Techno. ‘Hand Over Control’ EP features four new tracks of deep dance floor techno.
Johannes Volk – Mutable Motor Units [EFR008]
Johannes Volk debuts on Eternal Friction Records with a 4 track EP called “Mutable Motor Units”. The result is a powerful EP filled with powerful grooves, smooth leads and uplifting rhythms, that clearly demonstrates Johannes unique and personal approach to techno.
The Hipodrome Of Music 