Balance Recordings latest release welcomes City 2 City in it’s exclusive family. The producer behind City 2 City is Frank Heinzmann, a southern Frenchman with of over 25 years of house & techno experience that gave him a unique sound and sensitivity.
“North 6th” sees Peter Van Hoesen opt for a somewhat different tact: eerie sound effects introduce a more laid-back, shuffling groove that crackles with intricate percussive licks and subtle drops. However, it’s the building chords that showcase a deeper side to Peter’s production skills that will turn heads and feet. “Desay Duty” deliver razor-sharp percussive shards and an insistent, throbbing groove provide the backdrop for the kind of predatory bass licks.
Objekt drops the tempo and ups the Techno element for a killer second release on his/her eponymous imprint. Each side is demarcated by what might be a title in the run-out groove. A-side ‘I See Sound’ feeds us through a passage of cold, ricocheting delays and skittering dub stabs before precipitating Hood-esque hi-hats and propulsive kicks shackled to haughty snares. With adroit EQ’ing the track continues to wink and tease until a fully fledged final Chicago jack-out. B-side, ‘Where I See Numbers’ swings in that teched-out Untold style, but with a more wide-open Berlin atmosphere.
Romanian producer Cosmin TRG’s next release is a follow up to the superb “Separat/Izolat” 12″ on 50 Weapons imprint. “Fizic/De Dans” seems to explore a similar sonic terrain, namely off-kilter techno imbued with droning low frequencies.
Ostgut Ton present the first remix packaged for Steffi’s album “Yours & Mine”. Remixes are delivered by Lone, The Analog Cops and Staffan Lindberg.
Second part of Damian’s limited double 12” release gets off to a glittering start with Portable AKA Bodycode’s metallic framework of effervescing glitchy FX, futuristic beats for the body and wisps of melody for the soul. This is ultra deep rolling tech funk at its finest. Next up Lazarus introduces hot new San Fran based talent Deal Seal. His rework of ‘Different Now’ is a rumbling journey of built up tension and release with a delicately tribal drive that pulses with percussive energy and sci-fi synths over the menacing bassline.
Mathew Jonson presents “Learning To Fly”, his second release on Minus, following 2004’s “Decompression” EP. “Learning To Fly” is a 12 minute sci-fi exploration that achieves that mark of classic electronic music production, working just as thrillingly for personal listening as it does when experienced as part of Jonson’s transcendent live performances.
The A side is a powerful techno machine with Zooloft’s trademark, a compound of solid and precise rhythms driven by a dangerous deep bass. It digs a mindblowing path with contribution from drones and effects. B1 is from Milton Bradley, who delivers a dark techno track in his own pure style. Sinister echoes move forward and backward into a tunnel, trying to escape from claustrophobic beats and surreal atmosphere. The EP is closed by a Zooloft remix of Milton Bradley’s track.
Cassegrain stands for a concave mirror and a secondary convex mirror. But on Prologue, Cassegrain stands for the new excellent duo (Huseyin Evirgen, Alex Tsiridis) with the clear direction to fulfill Prologue´s modern sound architecture in best form. Brilliant techno tracks with deepest dub feelings and enriched synth structures build a phantastic world of liquid sound relives.
Donato Dozzy and Neel present their first teamwork on Prologue, under the name Voices From The Lake. As the name suggests, the project is dedicated to a lake in Italy. Their first release consists of 4 tracks experimental minimalistic techno and drone.
Johannes Volk’s second release on his own label Exploration. “Energy Field” is a powerful peak time bomb, growing with each passing second! The title track “Across the Emptiness” comes with a wall shaking sub-bass, stormy chords and a retro-futuristic sound design. On the b side we have “Isolation”, a dub infected piece of music with complex organic textures. And finally “Devoted to Microgravity” with it’s heavy drums, toms and cowbells.
