Population One serving it up cold and reduced… another totally heavy offering from Terrence Dixon, on his own imprint.
techno
The Persuader – Fusion Of Thoughts [STHLMLTD029]
The Persuader also well known as Jesper Dahlback. Fully loaded analog techno bombs. Including a Per Grindvik remix.
Vernon Felicity – Non Harmonic [C#SOS05]
Valanx – Ejecta Remixes [19DIAM]
The second album by Valanx called Ejecta gets the remix treatment. Four artists, each with their own unqiue sound, have reworked their favorite track of the album and gave the music their own twist and sound. The Exaltics turns Beyond doubt into a dark brooding metallic industrial beast with a strong and dominant sub bass line that will damage your speakers. CRC, one half of the finnish electro masters Morphology creates a trippy psychedelic techno epic on his take of the track Chasm and showcases a masterpiece of drum programming and creation of atmosphere. On the flip, Trail of Conjuration gets the remix treatment by ADMX-71 aka Adam X. His version takes the tribal aspects of the original and turns it into a dark industrial techno drenched track that immediately lets you think of an old abandoned warehouse drowned in strobe light and fog and a massive rave taking place. Last but not at all least it is Louis Haimans turn and he creates a wonderful deep dub techno track out of Legion v2. The sub bass and deep chords are whirling and will hypnotize the listener with endless echoes and reverbs.
DJ 3000 – Besa [MTCD009]
DJ 3000 releases his fourth artist album ‘Besa’ on his own Motech label. Born and raised in the Detroit enclave of Hamtramck, DJ 3000 (aka Franki Juncaj) was inundated with both the sights and sounds of his neighborhood, a highly ethnic area of Detroit, as well as with the influence of the music of his parent’s native Albania. This diverse collection of influence has molded the current make-up of both DJ 3000 and the vision and direction of the sound that he is producing. ‘Besa’ expands his sound even further with a depth of electronic styles that collage to make his most cohesive work to date.Juncaj discovered the rich history of Detroit techno by going straight to the source.
Nihad Tule & Bauri – 882 [SLBD8479003]
DJ Spider – Northern Abyss EP [NORD004]
Great pumping NY techno tracks with that psychedelic twist coming from DJ Spider on Nord Records.
VA – Detroit Beatdown Vol 2 The Final EP [3EEP201403]
Third Ear’s Detroit Beatdown series was instrumental in redefining the perception of Detroit electronic music abroad. Now we come to the final Detroit Beatdown release. Four Detroit artists giving us as good an ep as any of the releases in the series. The tracks by Mike Clark and Rick Wade rank amongst their best, for sure. DJ-T1000, a Detroit producer and DJ known for some of the city’s hardest Techno, surprises with a stripped-back groove that is pure electronic Funk. Wrapping up the ep is Scott Ferguson’s A Groove, a heavy skanking groove with that classic Beatdown rawness.
Legowelt – Crystal Cult 2080 [CRCD010]
New album by the irrepressible Dutchman… The ‘2080’ part of the album title is taken from the Roland JV2080, a legendary digital synthesizer from the nineties that was used a lot in the making of the album. Bought second-hand in Tokyo for a couple of hundred dollars, it lends the record a very dewy eyed soul, whilst the ‘Crystal’ part of the title stands for the self-made ‘DIY germanium crystal compressor’ Legowelt used throughout the writing process. The album itself features ten new tracks of pure Legowelt music mainly recorded in De Hague in the past year, but also on the road during tours of LA, the Californian desert, Tokyo (which spawned ‘Crystal Cult 2080’) and Tejada Gran Canaria (where ‘The Future of Myself’ was written.) Where his last album The Paranormal Soul was an organic trip into misty forests, this one seems more concerned with medieval spirits; it’s deeper, darker and the whole thing is tied together by a more coherent sense of ancient alchemy. Given the use of a DIY germanium crystal compressor during production, it’s no wonder everything feels warm, fuzzy and mystic in a way that draws your attention in like that fabled philosopher’s stone… glare too long and you might just turn to stone. Right from the opening track the mood is so encapsulating you are drawn right into Danny Wolfers’ mysterious electronic world. From there various different tempos are explored and plenty of famed synthesiser work comes to the fore, wrapping grooves in trippy themes, impish spirits and plenty of organic lushness.
BLM – Easy Knocking [SAS009]
Achterbahn D’amour – Odd Movements [ATLP003]
The debut full-length by Achterbahn D’amour (Johannes “Iron Curtis” Paluka and Jurgen “Jool” Albert), captures two artists coaxing the most emotional sounds to date out of classic Roland boxes. The album is the natural extension of the duo’s live-rooted sound, further defining the oblique dance moves contained on their three Acid Test EPs. They demonstrate a true reverence for the 303 and 606. On “Odd Movements”, lush pads and abrupt toms create a literal pedestal for the bassline machine. The duo have hit on a sound well-suited for dark rooms and towering sound systems.
Villa Abo – A Ruff Swing Below [RHYTHM008]
Bio Rhythm seems to be spiraling deeper & deeper into the rabbit hole… Six brand new tracks by Villa Abo (a Frak side project) and his first release since the 1997 Borft releases. Fix yourself the full-length audio package and get lost on the other side through these six little Scandinavian fairy tales full of desolate techno mysticizm, pressed on 2×12” for maximum dj delight.
Myriadd – Time Will Tell [CR1267]
Myriadd is Craig Stainton, a producer that has also released as Acid Phreex and Mantra on labels such as Pinkman, Signals and Creme Organization, to where he returns now with a new four track EP that explores plenty of mystic house and techno territory. Kicking off the release is Time Will Tell, which is a nicely frayed, rough round the edges bit of house music with a deep and lashing bassline as well as some rich and rounded melodic hooks. Forever Yours kicks that bit harder and more insistently but bares the same sense of misty melodic lushness. Various lines fly about like spirits in the night and bring a haunting sense of melancholy to proceedings before B1 Gold Section hiccups and stutters pleasingly. Like everything here, its a fairly rich, dense track that layers everything on top of each other with little break for breath. Final track At One is backed with the sort of serene pads that have you day dreaming about the future as jacked up beats kick below and all manner of synths whip around in the foreground. House music never sounded as magical as when in the hands of the talented Myriadd.
Willie Burns – Tab Of Acid EP [TTT016]
Willie Burns returns on the great Trilogy Tapes. The title track is akin to traveling in a time machine to 4am on a Saturday night in Den Haag circa 1994 – real grotty basement acid techno! Providing contrast in a way Burnett does so well, the B-side offers two tracks of a more immersive nature, with “She Left In Spring” an exercise in dubby techno as pensive as the title would suggest.
VA – The Early Sounds Collective Vol.II [EAS004]
Ron Morelli – Backpages [HOS406]
Ron Morelli returns to stare down the ‘floor with four pieces written during the stress-busting sessions for ‘Spit’. The muggy, droning welt of ‘Public Consumption’ kicks off with the sound of New York techno shot from the hip, while ‘Another Hit’ vents a vintage era-Regis style built on skull-chipping snares and effluent acid modulation. The album’s writhing batacuda banger, ‘Crack Microbes’ reappears here as an extra-ferric extended Version, sustaining the hypnotic intensity for nine minutes of panic attack acid and febrile cowbells, while ‘’Rushing Again’ escorts us to a close with triplet techno shook down by railgun snares and a grotty synthline.
VA – The Power Of Hydrogen EP [SUBV001]
The Power of Hydrogen EP collects three of Subspec’s finest Acid tracks as the label’s debut vinyl release, including a Hardfloor remix.
TX Connect – You Too [ASW001]
The first release on the Adelaide Soundworks label comes from producer TX Connect. He delivers 3 diverse lo-fi techno jams; lovely oldschool vive on the A side while the tracks on the flip are a bit more fierce
Exploit – Event Horizon LP [MUXLP001]
First full length album by Exploit combines punchy techno grooves and mature melodic electronic passages. You are taken on a real deep space journey: from strict techno in Utopia and UFO, through dubby chords of Time Slowdown and Visual Distorion, to electronic works like Shifted Reality and No Escape.
Yør – Shtum 003 [SHTUM003]
Shtum continues its trip through dark and gritty territories with its third record by Yor. And what he delivers is pure Techno-bliss. “Nachtwache” starts things off rather groovy with its Tom-heavy beats and rising synths. Following up, “Ritus” is driven by a hypnotic chord delay and makes an advanced Techno-track you can’t resist on the dance floor. On the flipside it gets even more bewitching. “Agony” develops a never ending suction over its 8 minute length. Finally, “Under The Influence” is no less mesmerizing but more playful Techno. It’s a track that feels like a storm is coming.
The Hipodrome Of Music 