Dallas-based Gavin Guthrie, better known as TX Connect, is a DJ and Producer that is one of the finest the North American underground has to offer. He features on Jack Dept’s first release. The “Farewell To Arps” EP contains absolutely smoldering, jacking, acid-tinged rippers. This is dance floor material through and through, burning stuff. The Jack Dept label is born from the monthly party run out of Brooklyn by Volvox and John Barera.
Kondi Records gives you the first glimpse into the mind of the mysterious artist, Vessel in Distress. A full spectrum minialbum to suit robots and humanoids alike with it’s remarkable twist of classic electro vibes blending the dry and the evocative, going both backward and forward in time.
Komarken Electronics makes his debut on Brokntoys with Expanded Consciousness. He serves up shimmering neo electro with Early Mornings following up with the fidgety Bubble Theory. On the flip, the title track runs deep into ether before Delta Funktionen steps up with a heavy remix of Early Mornings to close proceedings.
‘Elocution’, the third Figure EP from portuguese producer Lewis Fautzi, again displays a high degree of versatility but still comes cleary cut for the club. Employing a rich yet spacious sound design, Fautzi creates cinematic scapes that are at once both brimming with the hums of colossal interstellar machinery yet at the same time leave enough room for a range of carefully sculpted elements to do their work. Whether it be the twisted acid arpeggio on opener Shizophrenia, the imposing drones underscoring the mighty Mirror or the propulsive percussion of centerpiece 37B. Testament to Fautzi’s talent of engaging arrangement, never do the tracks here feel hurried nor do they become stagnant – but rather given just the right time to ripe into their full captivating potential.
Decoder Recordings is back with its second release. Swedish DJ and producer Mattias Fridell delivers strong driving techno on the EP called The Tasker. It contains four tracks, and the title track immediately discloses what’s the deal with this EP: quality loop based techno with Fridell’s signature clearly present. Current World Ecclesiarchy is the second track and on the same level as The Tasker, while 33 Endocytosis is a bit more funky. A pounding remix of that last track is delivered by The Binary Mind.
The return of The Hague’s black magician. It has been 13 years since The Parallax Corporation / Conservatives projects together with I-f and now Intergalactic Gary is back. I-G hooked up with a new musical partner, the lovely and talented Pasiphae from Greece and together they deliver four very well-crafted tracks of contemporary machine-driven techno romance, with the ecstatic title track ‘Made of glass’ being the floor burner that will unite dancefloors worldwide. With the ‘Made Of Glass’ EP Bio Rhythm proudly presents the absolute creme de la creme of the current Dutch West Coast ‘noir’ scene.
Dark minimal elektronix by Russian based LVRIN on Broken Dreams, the white label series of Pinkman Records.
Aqua Matrix from Portugal delivering strong deep techno that nods to mid 90s Detroit techno like Carl Craig, Kenny Larkin, Reese etc.
Compilation of remastered tracks from the defunct Scorp label, operated from 2000 to 2004 by Steve Rachmad. Includes one unreleased track from the same period. Steve Rachmad’s extensive collection of projects over the years has provided a wealth of inspiration in its many forms. Although much of Rachmad’s music has been influential on the development of Token from the beginning, there is one body of work in particular that encapsulates the essence of the label, in a classic and inimitable form. Scorp was a self-contained label project operating between 2000 and 2004. Although not the best known of Rachmad’s many aliases, its importance was not overlooked by discerning tastemakers at the forefront of the techno movement at the time. Token 66 contains nine tracks in total selected from these releases, plus one track previously unreleased from the same period. All of the music has been remastered and will be available digitally for the first time as well as on a 3LP vinyl compilation. These ten tracks clearly demonstrate Token’s alignment with this classic sound, exhibiting Rachmad’s mathematical precision in employing bare-bones percussion to captivate, doing away with the formality of a lengthy introduction and urging a hypnotic state with immediate effect.
Relax your eyelids Focus on the darkness This is your time to relax You don’t need to think about anything Except being right here, right in this moment With me. Don’t think about tomorrow, or yesterday, Just be here In your body. Sportiv is a dexterous white label operation that brings you heavy-weight rhythmic performances from the world of techno athletics.
The A-side gets remix treatments by Ambivalent and Silent Servant as well as an extended version of the original. Ambivalent takes a more jackin approach while Silent Servant brings his EBM & Wave informed techno mixes.
DJ Nephil steps up with the third self release on his Gravitational Waves label, featuring new artists from across the Atlantic as well as one experienced American producer. Dark jacking hypnotic 707 wavey techno tracks by Chris Mitchell, Dj Nephil, Vault & Retrograde Youth.
The Holy Fix stands for the solo project of Camil Dumitrescu, co-founder of Future Nuggets and the Delusion Men project together with Ion D (Utopus). With this second release of the Future Nuggets’ clubloving child, the fresh imprint P-BALANS, The Holy Fix delivers a highly personal bass-driven, dub-flavoured and psyched out blend of electronic sounds in a solid attempt to define the labels edgy technodelic profile. Tunes for depth divers and tormented dancers.
Antonio from Italy, Pescara, now living in Frankfurt Germany, is doing the 4th EP on Deeptrax. Heavy hitting ‘tape techno’ tracks, some with pace, others with that charming Italian passion into it. Harsh groovin’ but deep basement tracks for these wrenching, pumped up, club nights in abandoned warehouses. Raw Chicago house and Detroit techno on a twist.
The third from Farbwechsel and the first one from Route 8 is back on vinyl. ‘Mental Murder’ EP is a lo-fi jack gem with four original tracks and a remix from the Houston-based house wizard Miguel Flaco. ‘Mental Murder’ is a fateful stab wound with a blunt, rusty knife straight to your brain, which causes a kind of lobotomy happiness.
The Hipodrome Of Music 