Interstellar Funk, Mozhgan & Solar @ Dekmantel Selectors 2023
techno
Dircsen – Helical Structures LP [GTDLP9]
Germany’s Dircsen has a solid track record of 303 infused releases across labels like We’re Going Deep and Soundtravels, but this is his first full-length vinyl outing. Across these two slabs of wax he slips and slides between electro, deep techno, jacking house, and psychedelic live workouts, but throughout the eight tracks the silver boxes work their indefinable magic.
Tom Carruthers – Data Sync [DAT001]
Tom Carruthers on his own Data Sync, sub-label of Non Stop Rhythm. A 6 track EP loaded of stripped back cyborg temperature tracks.
Interviews & FR Fels – The Adventures of Helmut Muten [BT95]
FR Fels and Interviews join forces for a collaborative 12” entitled The Adventures of Helmut Muten. Comprising four tracks, the duo navigate across genres with ease. Opening the EP with the late night bloom of Passage, followed by the rollicking groove of Drift, the scuffed beats of V5000 and, closing procedures, the beatless, brooding 3 Years.
FR Fels – Planet Fear [BT80]
Co-founder of art space and label Ortloff, FR Fels debuts on Brokntoys with Planet Fear. The Leipzig based producer presents five tense, melodic electro tracks drenched in reverb.
Reptant LIVE @ Dekmantel Selectors 2023
VA – Electro Coalition 1 [ZC-ELEC-DIG001]
Zodiak Commune Records presents the first digital Electro Acid compilation with tracks from Serge Geyzel, Johnfaustus, G303, Zodiac Childs, Dima Gastrolër.
Mascarpone – Plasmapheresis [MET001]
New label Meteors Recordings presenting their first release. From that indescribable connection between Science and Electronic Music, France’s Mascarpone oriented this EP towards all the imagery that these themes can generate in our minds. Themes that already catched the attention of techno and electro founders many years ago, showing that this link has been present since the beginning. Unklevon remix included.
Timothy J Fairplay – Rule The Streets [DGMD005]
‘Rule The Streets’ is Timothy “J” Fairplay’s latest album on his label Dungeon Module. After 2021’s ‘A Snowstorm In The Tropics’, 2023 has been a busy year for the label. In February Timothy released ‘Dungeon Module Volume 1’ followed by ‘I Lay Awake At Night Scheming’ in August. This album was recorded in Timothy’s current studio, with his Casio RZ-1 central to the set up. 8 raw jack tracks inspired by the early days of house music, and catches Timothy at his most minimal. The early days of the Chicago and Detroit and how they drew influence from Europe in their stripped back sound is an endless influence on Timothy’s work. The bumpy opener ‘Rule The Streets’ has a vocal refrain which sounds like something from a 70’s gang movie. ‘Insufficient Funds’ is a playful jam based around a junk shop delay unit. ‘Pleasure Beach’ an 8 bit house/funk beat track. ‘Back To The Stone Age’ with its flanger heavy percussion and a booming Adonis style vocal. Side B starts with ‘Instant Replay’ with its rolling 808 toms and white noise intro. ‘Safety Patrol’ has a deeper Mr Fingers feel, followed by the stalker-ish ‘Gang Bass’ with its sampled live bass and strings. Last of all is ‘Livin’ It Up’ made entirely with the sampler on the RZ-1 sounding like a Lil Louie demo.
VA – Amphibious Carbine [SMI-008]
The Sound Migration label takes another trip back in to the CATT articles to explore the proto-trance and early bleep techno sound they were pushing from 1988-1991. Another five essential gems from the modestly sized catalogue get an airing here, kicking off with Confidential’s haunting ‘Amphibious Carbine’ followed by the boxy pressure of Exocet’s ‘Nitrogen’. This is astounding stuff throughout, not least the freak-zone trip of Holy Ghost’s ‘Walking On Air’, which sounds like the common denominator between Ibiza and Goa in their nascent days as party destinations. Don’t sleep on the clattering funk of Exocet’s ‘Overdose’ either, a seriously snappy groover with all kinds of oddball sampling going on.
Marco Bernardi – Shuiler [HCS991]
Electro heavyweight Marco Bernardi is back on Harbour City Sorrow with his first release in four years. Given his considerable history exploring the outer limits of machine funk, you’ll be pleased to know this new single offers another two excursions into parts unknown that shirk the formulaic tendencies of so much contemporary electro.
Zuul – Beam Retreat [XRD015]
Exarde clocks up its 15th outing here with another bit of brilliantly direct to dancefloor techno tackle from Zuul.
Marsman @ Panama Racing Club Mad Wednesday 18.10.2023
Mochtar @ Panama Racing Club Mad Wednesday 18.10.2023
New Scene – Waves LP [MEC080]
New Scene was a project created in the late 80’s by Arno Müller and Markus Barth. They were part of the roaster of the German label BOY Records together with acts like Time Modem, Cybex Factor and “O”. New Scene released in 1989/90 two singles/mega-mixes under the title of “Out of Control”, becoming both classics in the German Techno scene. Their third single “Tonight” also turned to a big success in the clubs and pushed New Scene to release their debut and only full-length album “Waves” in 1992.
Robotron & Autre – Martian Dawn EP [FO2]
Silent Servant – In Memoriam [TRESOR362]
Juan Mendez aka Silent Servant is a figure in techno history that needs little introduction. As a member of the Sandwell District collective and the label’s art director he collaborated on works that were responsible for a global focal shift in the genre as their label adapted and challenged the paradigm of minimal techno, taking influence from other sources such as dub, post-punk, and even classical minimalism. With ‘In Memoriam’, Silent Servant’s latest release on Tresor Records, Mendez writes a deeply personal memoir of a 30-plus year career spent exploring and absorbing the shadowy side of music; a carefully crafted elegy to people, places, and times past and the lasting effect they have on the present.
Rod20 – Piabel EP [ROD2012]
Cyber @ DT CAMP 2023
Jerome Hill – Crude Appraisal EP [SRTX040]
Jerome Hill returns with his 5th full EP on the label to warm you up for winter and it’s maybe stylistically, his widest offering yet. A joyous mash of influences collide and Hill spits them out of the blender with some typically unexpected curveballs. From the strikingly moody break beat acid of The Warning, to the 8 minute long extended Disco workout of ‘Harlseden Shuffle’. Then on the flip side, a reliably gnarly wedge of Technoey Acid House in ‘Combustion Zone’ and the EP culminates with a tip of the hat to mid nineties House with the rumbling bass and catchy percussion of ‘House Thing’.
The Hipodrome Of Music 