Four exceptional tracks, written by Ukrainian producer Vakula, form the Modulation EP — Arma label’s 11th release. Known for his classic and deep house productions, Vakula steps up his techno game and approaches 4×4 zone with insistence and thoroughness his work has been always associated with.
Architectural brings the release number 7 which continues a saga of EPs that are very effective on the dance floor without renouncing to their atmospheric and experimental roots. Presented in an elegant 10” transparent vinyl, its two tracks, 7.1 and 7.2, share the limelight and will both leave the dance floor in ruins.
30drop Records announce the fourth release of its project, under the same name. “History of Gods” is an EP that envelopes us in a rhythmic spiral, taking us straight to the dance floor of the space. Four amazing tracks: three originals and a remix by the historic technomaster Steve Rachmad, as Sterac. The festive opening vibration of “Transversal Sight”, the schizoid cosmic rhythm of “History Of Gods”, from the prism of 30drop or based on the vision of Sterac, and the galactic depth of “Complex Entropy” all define a solid work that takes us to the very depths of sacred geometry.
The second volume of Berlin institution Ostgut Ton’s ten year anniversary release. This particular volume features Berghain resident and label mainstay Marcel Dettmann offering us “Encode II”. Once again this is A grade techno by one of the modern greats. Regular guest at the club and Dial artist Efdemin serves up “Unten Links” a driving and adrenalised groove based around a nice arpeggio, rapid fire woodblocks and evil samples. New addition to the family Kobosil gives us “Saldae” a restrained yet furious stomper with doomy strings and sonar blips.
Raw, rugged & slightly unhinged serpentine delirium from Keita Sano. Equally at home in the warehouse or on the forest floor.
Danny Wolfers drops two cold houz jams on UTTU, perfecting his trademark ”Deep space house trek” sound.
Five track vinyl compilation on Amateur with different tracks from Duyster, Fairmont, Gisberto, Sigward and Mattheis.
Fuelled on late ‘90s Detroit, Berlin and Brummie techno vibes, Seelow aka Shen aka René Pawlowitz turns up the infectious, latinate 909s and stealthy chord build of TFExx4A recalling his earliest aces on the Stronghold or Opulence 12”s, and likewise with the deeper, percolated bounce of TFxx04B for fans of Female, Regis, Claude Young.
The seventh Surgeon album. Anthony Child claims that the inspiration for his seventh artist album came from using hardware to receive transmissions from far-flung galaxies. He then hooked up with astrophysicist Dr Andrew Read – a former collaborator – to work out the bewildering track titles. That’s the concept. The reality is that From Farthest Known Objects is a dense, grainy work. It feels like Child has deconstructed or in some more extreme situations has hacked away at tropes like minimalism, clicks and cuts and dub step to reveal an inner, hidden world. On the first few tracks, this alternate reality resounds to a sluggish pace, amid the crackle and groan of cleaved percussion and tortured subs, but it gradually comes round to stepping, broken beat techno and lunging rhythms. That these also descend into pulverising walls of white noise and nausea-inducing frequency shifts at times also serve as a reminder that Child has tuned into something other or inner-worldly.
Mike Dehnert is back with his 4th release on the Clone Basement Series. Ice cold grooving techno cuts. Machine grooves sounding so cold and so damn sexy at the same time.
Acid, hypnotic and industrial are the three components that close the circle of Anubis EP, an EP that combines the elegance at the old school groove above 130 bpm. Arnaud Le Texier remix is a mix of refined pad, dark and deep sound.
Electronic Body Techno with a touch of cosmic-retroesque Axis atmosphere by Liverpudlian Binny. “Rotate” not only features all the usual hallmarks of the early Purposemaker sound, such as overdriven kick, clattering/rusty high-hats and grinding SH-101 basslines: it even features improvised snare rolls that you’d hear The Wizard himself playing live! “Spirit” matches the icon’s new found love of the 303, but no doubt Binny’s own take on the sound, that’s a given. On the flip “TG-33” sounds like another segment from Live At The Liquid Room complete with DX7 organ stabs and more epic 909 drum rolls. Some pretty epic stuff on here that stands out from the rest of the current tributes.
Italian pair Nico Vascellari and Nicolo Fortuni have only put out a limited amount of output under their Ninos Du Brasil moniker. The A-side’s A Magia Do Rei displays of rolling techno variant kinked with polyrhythmic shuffles, darkside synth strokes and swooping subs, superbly rounded off by Neel’s mastering work. Turn over, and Algo Ou Alguém Entre As Árvores hits a rather different groove accentuating their tribal influences in a roiling, humid swamp of churning bass, scissoring syncopation and layered voices sounding like an extended offcut from the Cannibal Holocaust OST.
Blood is thicker than water and eventually long time friends Bordello A Parigi and Knekelhuis pageant a solid piece of music together. Alessandro Parisi also known as Hesperius Draco from Portenone – Italy – and London based Timothy J Fairplay found themselves in the middle of an ice cold world, opening their wintery project with the “Romance” soundtrack. The warm synth lines will single handedly set Moscow’s frozen red square on fire. The Italian soundtrack synthesisers will touch the trans-siberian world and end with a slow burner named “What Is To Be Done”.
Signs of Decay: Acid Compilation with dirty and hard acid cuts by Ekman, The Exaltics, Helena Hauff, Perseus Traxx, Drvg Cvltvre and a artwork made by Godspill. A powerful collective statement on the desiccation some “hard and dirty acid tracks” can do to a dancefloor. Don’t come here looking for any lofty concepts, this is just five of the best banging their boxes in the name of all that is grotty and lysergic.
A year after his last outing on the label, Gunnar Haslam is back on Delsin with four more tracks of idiosyncratic techno. Opening up this EP with the title track, Haslam cooks up a spangled brew of erratic synths and spinning hi hats and ties them together with a heavy rubber kick drum. Followed by ‘Sarsi’ which is then completely different, it’s a beatless and emotionally forlorn cut that still manages to take you somewhere special. Deep dancefloor business taking over on the b-side. Scurrying alien sounds closed by a frenzied techno trip. Each track here is different from the last, and each track here is a refreshing proposition from one of the most interesting guys around.
The Hipodrome Of Music 