The man with the mask has the ability to maneuver between true school techno, malicious house, break beat bombs and Motor City romanticism – all ornamented with Redshape’s very own mark. For Running Back, he delivers something like a cross sum of his work. “On Da Floor” is subterranean haunted house with a broken heart, while Goom features a take-your-shirt-off Reese-bass-line.
The debut Ep from mysterious Parisian techno duo, Kartei, starts off with the Renaissance style “Lichtgarten”. In its unreleased state, the 15th century style arpeggio and driving beat already turned heads with appearances on some legendary Legowelt dj mixes. The record continues on with a modern track reminiscent of “hot on the heels of love,” and the heavy kicked aquatic space styled “Transponder”. And that is just the A side. The B side is big room Convextion/Basic Channel style techno and a gentle come down ambient track.
John Beltran presents 3 new ambient electronica tracks on Styrax Records. Beautifully produced, generously melodic work of one of techno’s unsung heroes.
Knotweed Records is a new label launched by Belgian DJ and producer Philippe Petit. As Philippe is composing music mainly when the weather grounds him at home, the dark atmosphere of the steep-sided mountain environment can be felt in all tracks of this release. The sound is techno at its best, Detroit influenced, hypnotic, dubby, but always with a funk element incorporated in the tracks.
Lee Holman delivers the second Kawl release, featuring some stripped back techno. Firing percussion and insistent, rolling drums provide the basis for a searing acid line and eerie strings lead it to a dramatic climax. On remix duties we hind Elliott Dodge and Russ Gabriel.
Classic Detroit techno tracks by Terrence Dixon. Unpolished and raw tracks ‘The Return Of The Speaker People’ comes in the original version and a good remix by Kausto.
Detroit techno from Erik Cronin as Codine. A dubbed out journey with intricate rhythms & mood. Alex Israel’s mix is a a more soulful approach while Derrick Plaslaiko brings a nice basement style mix
Orlando Voorn`s Original of “Unpredictable Love” is an great melodic and soulful Detroit techno track. The remix on the flip is the interpretation of The Analog Roland Orchestra, who impressed us again with his remarkable musicianship and soundwork.
It remains only to say: Deep, Soulful and Timeless.
Decabaret, “Detroit Cabaret”, is a new French label rooted in Detroit techno. ‘First Heading EP’ is the debut release, Analog Chronicles deliver two massive tracks of epic proportions with bombastic strings and heavy driving basslines.
This 4 track EP begins with Erell’s original version of ‘Everything Needs to Be Clear’. Its combination of gentle chords with electro beats is the foundation of the musical ideas explored throughout this release. The second track, ‘So strange to explain’, is deeper and an adventurous fusion of dark, intense tones, swirling beats and insistent percussion. On the flipside, Canadian Rennie Foster remixes the title track, and delivers a fine piece of modern dancefloor techno which respects the key elements of title track. Erell’s ‘Sandcastle’ closes the EP, and its sophisticated yet punchy bassline and fragile synths recall some classic early ‘90s productions.
A new free to download release from Mezerik. This is the 7th ep and is available in AIFF and 320kbps mp3 formats.
The exceptional music mechanic Robert Hood is firmly back in business for 2011, kick-starting the new decade with more M-Plant excellence. James Ruskin takes a break from an impressive release offensive on his own Blueprint label to remix ‘Alpha’, the first single that was taken from ‘Omega’, Robert Hood’s concept album of last year. The remix adds a touch of Ruskin magic to this A-side. While maintaining the essence of Hood’s initial track, James provides a fresh outlook that is sure to be as well received as the original. Over on the B-side Hood delivers a brand new track called ‘The Family’. This is classic Robert Hood with its unrelenting rhythm, powerful bassline and a good dose of the funk. While most of us struggle through the cold, this will be firing up dancefloors the world over.
Aril Brikha will release “Deeparture In Time – Revisited” in celebration of the 10 year anniversary of his 1999/2000 released Album on Transmat. This also kicks off his own label “Art Of Vengeance”. Next to the remastered originals of “Deeparture In Time”, the release features a 2nd CD with 10 previously unreleased tracks that were created between 1995 and 1999. All of them take us on a time travel to the 90ies, with a sound still prevalent in modern productions, as pure as can be. This one’s for the lovers of the early Detroit Techno with that unique Aril Brikha twist, and all those who’d like to discover it: One Chord To Rule Them All.
The third installment to “The Good Robot” series from Jeff Mills. This record focuses on the ways humans interact with machines to create anything, even something as simple as a drum pattern – machines can be precise on their own, or altered in the way humans can program and utilize their functions.
The Analog Roland Orchestra now join the Polymorph family. Raw analog Detroit techno with the dark atmosphere is what these chaps do and they do it well! The original favors a slowly evolving powerful hybrid of Techno, while on the flipside the Reshape mix of “Timespaceroom” is much more on the tougher side of things with a bold bassline, spooky voices and tough chords.
The Hipodrome Of Music 