Duplex / Tuff Sherm – Population Density / Drain Spectre (After Virgo) [MID003]

The A side got fixed by the legendary chaps of Duplex. They’ve been coming along since the first waves of house and techno and gave proof of this with their contribution ‘Population Density’. On the flip we find Tuff Sherm’s 10 min excursion holding beastly percussion and melomanic fatness.

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Duplex / Tuff Sherm – Population Density / Drain Spectre (After Virgo) [MID003]

Terriers – House No9 [MPR002]

Three tracks of pickled, tripped techno-not-techno and crushed house from the Dubliners, backed with a wry remix from Tuff Sherm aka Dro Carey. Mastered by Helmut Erler at D&M, this is a vinyl-only release.

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Terriers – House No9 [MPR002]

VA – Dark Acid [CDR12001]

DUNGEON ACID/RON HARDLY/TORN HAWK/TUFF SHERM/WORKER/PARASITE - Dark Acid

After a catalogue of experimental, industrial and band-related releases, the Clan Destine label moves into techno with Dark Acid. The first release is a five track mini-album opened by the cagey Chicagoan bass and Marcel Duchamp-referencing Detroitisms of Dungeon Acid’s “Nude Descending A Staircase”. Sharing the two-track A-side is the “Subway Antlers” by the unknown cheek of Ron Hardly, featuring some ’90s house percussion and a melody that sounds distinctly like the Doctor Who theme. Torn Hawk introduces some charged gothic techno with his Fast Throne mix of “Black Rain”, while Tuff Sherm opts for a minimal and slow ghetto house approach in “Idle Engines”. Recent One Eyed Jacks remixer Worker/Parasite brings the mini-album its most lieral representation of ‘dark acid’ by drenching the 303 workout that is “Angkar Loeu” in heavy reverb.

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VA – Dark Acid [CDR12001]

Tuff Sherm – Pharmacy EP [TTT006]

Cover art - Tuff Sherm: Pharmacy EP

Dro Carey offers his second release under the dilapidated tech-house moniker Tuff Sherm with this forthcoming 12” on The Trilogy Tapes. Admittedly, the sonics of Tuff Sherm aren’t far from works under DC – the grooves are less broken, the rhythms more hypnotic, but the textures are very much in line with Dro Carey’s dusked, dystopian palette. ‘Pharmacy’ bounces with swirling, nauseated effects, piling hollow percussion atop a thick soundscape heavy-laden with impending grooves. The brief ‘Hydlide’ does a great job of launching into a distorted, earthy loop, before smothering it under a filter to allow for looped melancholic stab to take over. As the initial loop rises to the fore, sandpaper samples rise with it – cavorting with the minimal melody like a maniacal tour guide purposely misleading his group through an abandoned factory. ‘Leg Man’ recalls the playful darkside of Dro Carey’s material, with a thick sub anchoring the track as wickedly off-balance samples peek through the compression, enhancing the swung rhythm of the tune.

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Tuff Sherm – Pharmacy EP [TTT006]