One of the founding fathers of Chicago house, himself a grandson to a DJ and frequently alongside other greats such as Ron Hardy on the decks, Gene Hunt summons a 3-tracker for the Midnight Shift label. True house and techno direct from the source and in his own words, a rather ‘jungly’ take of it due to the tracks’ chaotic percussion.
Identified Patient debuts on Pinkman with a brimming 12” with claustrophobia and paranoia. Acrid acid lines have been boiled down and smeared across cranking percussion. Sired in a soup of static, a blackened groove stalks the entire EP. Dusty beats are rinsed in smelting liquor, a smouldering EBM undercurrent surfacing as the noose tightens to a close.
Alessandro Adriani weaves a nightmarish scenario as the Mannequin man returns to Pinkman’s Broken Dreams with four hardened works. Beats are shaven into rigid points as EBM echoes are speared with contemporary contempt. Throughout the quartet are moments of exotic abstraction, psychological stresses and visceral disorders. Music for sleepless nights and addled minds.
The Aula Magna team presents the label’s tenth release, Rom by Seph, featuring Cosmin TRG as remixer. A modern and energetic EP that showcases the artist’s unique techno sound: deep, robust & daring. Lead track Rom kicks off the record in breakbeat manner, an epic cut that twists its sounds progressively through distorted percussive and melodic riffs. This is followed by Cosmin TRG’s tribal take on the title track, a mind-dazzling and hypnotic reinterpretation. Two techno highlights from Seph’s latest live sets thrust the B side even further into the dance floor. Inner warps its solid rhythmic core through swirling dub noise mayhem and P+1 ends the record with a steady synth chord that evolves throughout the track on top of a powerful, stripped down beat.
Analogical Force drops the third and last part in the voiceless series taking no prisoners. For this EP AF mastermind Pervert has teamed up with incendiary friends to deliver a must for the collectors of the label. Heavy line up that includes the Hamburg’s well respected Helena Hauff, Zurich’s acid lover CCO (50% of Savage Grounds), the legendary UK techno imprint B12, Canada’s Suction Records co-funder Lowfish and Utrecht based Endfest. Stunning 5-track record with loads of acid-drenched techno, super wide basslines, melancholic pads, slamming 808’s…enough to fill brains as well as floors. This release is dedicated to Rhys Celeste.
Lunar Disko presents… Time marches on with two Various Artist EPs to celebrate the 20th release on Lunar Disko Records. Eight tracks encompassing the modus operandi of the label since the beginnings. Part 2 features another selection of Lunar Disko favourites, with the return of DJ Overdose and Raiders of the Lost ARP, while two of Ireland’s finest in Tr One and Automatic Tasty complete this stellar line-up. ..and time is still marching on
The prolific Jason Letkiewicz returns to his Steve Summers alias for a suite of post-apocalyptic jack tracks. Across labels like L.I.E.S., Future Times, Echovolt, Nation and Clone, Letkiewicz spent the last decade exploring dimensional rifts between techno, house, noise, ambient and more. After occupying nearly as many cities as monikers he’s landed in Chicago and on local outpost Clear.
D’Marc Cantu’s second release on Drone is an introspective, emotive piece of electro. With it’s deep pads, ‘Omega Red’ provides the soundtrack to a trek through the snowy wastes, never letting up and calling through the night. In contrast, under his Rival alias Cantu delivers ‘Sustain’ a ferocious track with monotonous drum lines that slowly takes you into the night.
‘Artful Rifle’ is a new record label dedicated to ‘non-serious techno music’ founded by Berlin based producer Pablo Mateo. The first release “Tentlover” EP comes up with 4 atmospherical, psychedelic techno trips – paying an homage to Octavia E. Butlers ‘Xenogenesis’ trilogy.
Fresh from contributing from The Glowing compilation Vertical67 AKA Thomas Pahl is back on brokntoys with Morphed Reality. BT18 shows his versatility as a producer switching between gnarly, acid flecked electro to more introspective, IDM influenced brooding techno.
MLK presents Soul Storm (MLK1) by Mystic Letter K (aka Cari Lekebusch), the first release in the new MLK series. The EPVcontain 2 extraordinary electro sonic experiments that will continue the story of a mystery in sound architecture science.
The Dutch label Balans Records returns with it’s twenty-first instalment to the series. This time Darko Esser’s imprint presents a collaboration between Z.I.P.P.O and Kalean, under their 3KZ moniker. ‘Not From Here’ opens the EP with its flowing grooves & eerie pads to create a beautiful techno track followed by ‘Nature Of Motion’ that offers an astral like immersion to the listener with its haunting melodic rhythms. On the flipside ‘Circles’ & ‘Times’ switch up the vibe in a more intense & playful mood, resulting in a finely balanced EP of atmospheric driving techno.
Dekmantel has wheeled out the big guns for this third volume in their 10th anniversary vinyl series. Mr Consistency himself, Leon Vincent, kicks things off with “UK Spring Vibes”, a pleasingly deep and softly spoken shuffler piled high with attention-grabbing analogue bass, stretched-out chords and twinkling piano flourishes. Legowelt excels himself (as usual) on the darting, synth-heavy intergalactic fun of “Blue Astral Techno”, while Joey Anderson is an ultra-positive mood on the melodious, slightly melancholy, synth-heavy deep house of “Opened Gate”. Central’s “Six Five Two”, a wavy and Balearic-minded trip though gentle, sun-kissed sounds and bubbling electronic rhythms, draws a fine EP to a close with an intoxicating flourish.
DMTR DSTNT & LVRIN join forces for a killer slice of dark techno and wave on Crimes Of The Future with the Blasphemy EP. Side A kicks off with a slice of heavy Russian techno mayhem with driving acid, synth and heavy percussion. Over on side B we have two different moods starring with more heavy duty acid on B1 and completing the side with some peak time dark wave action on achromatic.
Alex took his first musical steps by studying piano and guitar at the young age of 6. His fascination for the more outlandish, experimental side of each instrument corrupted his lessons and sent him down a modular synths and tape loop composition wormhole. Years later Alex resurfaced, got himself clean and, through connections made while spending time as a vocal audience member (and sometimes uninvited participant) at Lyman Woodard, Phil Ranelin, and other Tribe- and Motown-linked gigs in Cass Corridor during the mid-1970s, spent time as a session musician for Earth Wind and Fire, Chic, and Prince. It was only toward the mid-90s he found himself enthralled by the techno and house sounds of Detroit and Chicago so he went into the woodshed and came out firing electronic salvos.
The eccentric producer and resident dj of the Phormix parties in Athens, Morah, after his releases on Return To Disorder, Berceuse Heroique and Lux Rec, returns with a fourtracker Ep on Vanila, delivering the sixth release of the label.
Berlin-based New Yorker Phase Fatale debuts on Unterton after strong releases with respected labels Jealous God and aufnahme + wiedergabe. Originally coming from a Post Punk / Cold Wave band background Hayden Payne stated in a recent interview: “Techno resulted from a development of Wave and EBM genres and its movements. Punk and Techno share the same mindset, this connection has always been there for me.”
Mint Condition’s latest trip into vintage house territory comes from Mystic Bill, the Chicago-based Floridian whose produced some of the finest Windy City house of the late 1990s. Classics From The Vault Vol. 1 first appeared on Relief Records back in 1997, and has recently become something of a sought-after 12″. Naturally, it’s stood the test of time rather well. “Mind Ride” is a thumping blend of Ghetto-house drums, relentless electronic tweakery and psychedelic intent, while “The Struggle” tiptoes the fine line between jacking hypnotism and trippy, late night eccentricity. Flip for the loopy, proto-boompty warmth of “Jazz In Space”, where synth horns tumble down over and snappy drum machine groove, and the rolling deep house exoticism of “Late Night At The Music Box”.
The Hipodrome Of Music 