Anagram returns for their fifth edition, this time from Octual. A pangalactic melodic journey that crosses various spaces, under guidance of throbbing basslines, galloping hi-hats and enthralling pads. Four tracks that showcase depth of sound and mood.
The next release on Chaval Records unites its main producer, Victor Santana with one of the masters of British techno, Mark Broom. How much Helium does the Techno you usually listen to contain? This new offering from Chaval has an extra supply of the chemical compound. The best-known use for this noble gas could be to inflate balloons and airships. A chemical element used to both fly to the sky as well as dive to the depths of our seas. These properties are very similar to the techno we like. If you bind two atoms of oxygen to the sun’s temperature then you create helium, and if you join Mark Broom and Victor Santana, you get Techno. The EP features 2 new tracks by Mark Broom and 2 by Victor Santana.
Delsin release a new EP from Voiski entitled ‘Breaths Written Outside Gloom’ that features four cuts of the Frenchman’s trademark techno. Opener ‘Downhearted Holidays’ is all about a menacing bassline that looms large below jostling metal percussion and frazzled synth lines. It’s spare and absorbing, inhuman and bleak in the most inviting way. ‘Galaxy Call’ is a more energetic affair with squeaking, pixelated and high pitched melodies squealing over a gloomy and gloopy bass line. Militant snares are upright and driven and the result is a track that sounds like the machines are taking over. ‘Mathematical Park’ is about mid tempo drums, paranoid synth drones and desolate urban soundscapes all run through with a sense of dark futurism and finally ‘Answer Silently’ is the slowest and swampiest of the lot. A growing sense of darkness permeates slithering synths, icy hi hats and lazy drums and there is a real air of foreboding through this and all the cuts here that make it perfect night time music.
Killer EP from 1993 from Detroit pioneers Octave One. One of their releases that never got a lot of attention, never was a hit record, but now proven to be one of their timeless records that should be available for the next generation. All 3 wonderful deep tracks firmly steeped in motor city history.
Blue Hour’s self-titled outlet launches a new remix series. Answer Code Request applies the driving hybrid techno-bass approach that has made him one of Berghain’s brightest stars to Blue Hour 002 title cut Axis Motive; Paris-based Tresor resident Marcelus offers an ethereal take that focuses on Blue Hour 003’s Reference 97’s more hypnotic elements; and Ostgut Ton’s Steffi is perfectly matched to the third EP’s Moments, employing her signature sound that similarly offers a timeless anthemic quality to the original…
The first chapter in a series of three EPs to come from Dutch label Field Records is from Swedish producer Staffan Linzatti. Hypnotic techno from the outer edges of our galaxy combined with richly melodic, angelic and heavenly electronics on the deep space affair. Dedicated Millsian productions which are riddled with spaceship communications and distant sonar pushes.
Ben Sims’ Symbolism continues apace with a release from Binny, a Liverpool-based producer DJ otherwise known for some superb output as part of Phantom Planet Outlaws. Comprising three original tracks, the Subtractive Rhythm EP also takes in a remix from long-time Sims collaborator and British techno legend, Paul Mac.
The MNS X series returns for its 4th issue with one from the Spainard mystic: Eduardo De La Calle. Featuring full EPs from the label artists, the MNS X series plays in the field of the analog, acid and techno. For this, Eduardo De La Calle has put forward a tougher stance from his other silky productions, heading into the rough, analogue and raw terrain for Midnight Shift. The result packs a punch, rounded up with a remix by Hodge.
Gary Martin releases his second sequential EP on Motech Records, the ‘This is It’ EP. The Ep features two more exclusive tracks, ‘This is It’ a driving composition accented with piano and synth patterns and subtle funky movement, and ‘Galaxy Style’ a percussive, building composition expertly laced with muted samples and synth progressions.
The original version of Stunned was released on Mark Broom & Dave Hills renowned Pure Plastic label back in 1997. The 97 Mix featured here started as a live mix of the track, which Mark has now tweaked for maximum dancefloor devastation. Its accompanied on the flip side by a brand new composition of equally outstanding quality. Broom is in fine form on Decay with his tight production skills delivering the kind of tough, raw Techno that sits perfectly on M-Plant.
11 years after the release of Exhibitionist, Jeff Mills reveals the follow-up to his innovative film with Exhibitionist 2. Exhibitionist 2 explores DJing as an art form and gives us a peak into how a DJ makes use of current technological means to create seamless mixes and complex transitions to levels that were thought impossible not long ago. In this second volume, Jeff Mills goes deeper and not only shows how he approaches the mixing process but also how he thinks in real time, spontaneously creating, just like a musician playing an acoustic instrument or a soloist thinking of rhythms on-the-fly. The ambitious project captures the DJ over the course of multiple sequences, with closeup and multi-angle shots that allow us to see exactly what a DJ does and how music is programmed and played for the purpose of dancing.
This is Johannes Volk’s second EP for Dolly. Two fierce but club friendly rolling techno tracks featuring an epic Luke Hess remix. With their warm and euphoric chords ‘Hydro Funk’ and ‘Shadow Section’ will take you right back to the golden days of techno. Detroit’s Luke Hess on remix duties takes ‘Hydro Funk’ into even deeper territories. An hypnotic and melancholic, yet very driving detroit techno tool.
Killler techno/electro hybrids by longtime electronic UK warrior Dez Williams, bringing five deep yet merciless pieces of mutant electrofunk and under-the-radar hypno techno. Exceptional dj tool and again a very strong ep on the mighty Shipwrec label.
The return of the Third Side trio to Berlin’s foundational Restoration imprint. The Analogue Cops, Lucretio and Marieu, are back on their old moniker with Panorama Bar resident Steffi, with their loose, dusty house-techno hybrids after over a year of hiatus. “Bearing All Gifts” opens the EP with a penetrating techno pulse surrounded by the group’s familiar bundle of circling industrial electronics; the B-side goes more hypnotic thanks to the excellent groove of “Opening The Jar”, and “Elpis” makes for a fine closing tune thanks to its subtle swirls of 303, mid-tempo kicks and intricate bundles of hardware noise.
For the sixth release on Final Chapter, Sean Dixon provides three tracks of warm and precise electronic sound complimented by a very deep and full remix from Analog Solutions label boss and director of the electronic music documentary “Beatz,” Eduardo de la Calle.
Some more quality techno by Madrid’s Jose Cabrera who is having a mighty good run of releases at the moment, we must say. This inaugurates his new label. It’s bleeping and majestic Jeff Mills style techno that’s the flavour on “Exodus”. “J1” by NX1 though is a tribute to? You guessed it: Robert Hood. This time with cyclical and entrancing synth stabs and claps on the kick, and a fine tribute we must say.
The second installment of 12” EP from “Exhibitionist 2” DVD+CD. All the tracks are created by Jeff Mills during the session in the Studio Mix in the DVD, where the audience can see and learn how Jeff Mills produces tracks.
The Tabernacle imprint continues on its mission to provide dusty and lo-fi excursions through soulful techno. This time courtesy of Turin’s Andrea Di Maggio aka passEnger. “Correlated Motions” is a dark peak time affair of metallic reverberations and sinister atmospherics. “Protong Genetics” captures you in all its deepness complete with otherworldly oscillations and emotive circuitry. On the flip there’s “Epta Waves” which gets on a Drexciyan electro tip, convincingly and brilliantly while final track “Uranus Unknown” features the lushest analogue strings that will absolutely hypnotise and draw you in unlike anything else you’ve heard recently.
The Hipodrome Of Music 