Back catalogue: Techno

Review: The highly anticipated secnd full length album from Polar Inertia is here. It makes absolute sense that 'Environment Control' makes its way to the Swedish label Northern Electronics. For those that know the label and this artist, it seems like the perfect pairing. Formed in 2010, Polar Inertia has been one of the leading new producers of darker techno. The title track is opener and a sign of things to come. Futuristic techno of the upmost. These tracks engulf you with their power and depth. Some tracks are sinister and foreboding while others are atmospheric and cavernous. 'Artic Horizon' shows the deft touch of his producing ability. Sinister techno beats shrouded in a deep haze of ambience give off the impression that you are almost outside a club listening to the techno inside. For fans of techno and ambient, you are hard pressed to find a producer who does it better. These copies are sure to go fast so pick one up as quick as you can.

Review: The enigmatic Pom Pom appears for the first time outside of their eponymous imprint to deliver this ever curious collection of tracks for A-Ton: the offshoot of Berlin's Ostgut Ton for archive, ambient and art-related releases. There have been many rumours as to who may be behind the music, but they've done a pretty good job of keeping under wraps all this time - we must say. Much like moments in their extensive back catalogue, it's a fairly diverse affair covering everything from ambient ("Untitled 6 & 13"), bass music reductions ("Untitled 7"), early '80s style synth-punk ("Untitled 10") and even a bit of classic bleep techno as heard on "Untitled 12".

Review: Terrence Dixon's announcement of plans to retire from techno with immediate effect earlier this year have typically gone without any further explanation, though it's been heartening to see his final round of projects surface over the course of 2014. Having already committed a killer Population One 12" to Metroplex, Dixon delivers another fitting parting shot in this LP for Rush Hour, who took their name from his classic Pop One production "Rush Hour". Theater Of A Confused Mind is a powerful statement from Dixon, expanding on the sci-fi themes of previous Population One material and posing several cryptic questions. Dixon's own voice introduces the album on "Out Of Control" and as matters progress those trademark queasy lines of melody begin to take control - "Inner City Circus" being a stand out of this set.

Review: The Porter Ricks pair has specialised in subaquatic dub techno since the mid-90s. They have put out a wealth of seminal EPs and eps in that time but Same was one that never quite got the attentions of some of the others. Now it gets re-floated having been fully remastered for the occasion. It is packed with rolling dub techno and deft synth craft as you might expect. Some are our mind music, deep rollers to lock you into a trance and see you there, and others like 'Scuba Lounge' are empty ambient pieces that suspend you in space, while the rathe outlying 'Spoil' is a random filter house tune that sounds good but is a weird fit.

Review: Powell's work has been described as 'jerky electro' by some critics, which isn't to suggest he's a jerk. Instead, it's because things often sound, and feel, unpredictable. Rhythmic patterns aren't quite what they seem, if they even really exist, time signatures can jump around without warning and production rules are, generally, given short thrift. Nevertheless, his work is always pleasing to hear.

Flash Across The Intervals takes that mantra and reduces it to the bare minimum, and yet there's nothing restful about the tracks. In fact, as the staccato distortions and whirs of the opener shows, there's actually a lot happening. 'Performance To A Harsh Critic' is perhaps the most track-y track, in terms of construct, but even this is really about experimenting with textures of noise, with highly sensory results.

Review: Pretty Sneaky is an anonymous project about which nobody knows much of anything at all, though it has become synonymous with an image of a banana peel logo and self-released white label 12" EPs. We get more here, this time on Marionette. Marseille's Norman Levy aka Koldd has been enlisted as a collaborator on this one (the third time this has happened following his work on a couple of previous tunes) and it is a seductive mix of soothing sounds, laid-back atmospherics and gentle bird calls. This is slow-motion music for meditative periods of reflection and we love it.

Review: The third album on the Rezpektiva label is a superb album compilation across four sides of vinyl by the "nutty French sonic wizard" by the name of Professor Oz. The eight tracks are devastatingly futuristic even now despite the fact they were all written 1986 and 1995. They are considered to be lost experiments, hence the album title, and have been remastered from the original DAT tapes. They bottle up dusty breakbeats and proto-techno grooves with tribal drumming and trance tinged synth overtones, proggy progressions and acid basslines that will never go out of fashion.

Review: Chicago trio Purelink prove themselves to be sonic alchemists once more as they serve up a bewitching brew that pulls apart the essence of ambient, dub tech and electronica to rebuild all new musical forms. Ever since forming first in 2020, Tommy Paslaski (aka Concave Reflection), Ben Paulson (aka Kindtree), and Akeem Asani (aka Millia) have regularly got together in a studio workshop to explore "the endless possibilities of a laptop" armed with banks of samples. Now they distill those sessions into music that is beautifully delicate yet captivating - slow and subtle rhythms, deft chords and icy minimalism all unfurl into a richly immersive soundscape here.

Review: Milan's Radko first appeared a few years back on Enfant Terrible with the Cherno PPP / Brutalista ?(7') and finally resurfaces with this full-length for sublabel Gooiland Elektro titled The Dirt On Caligula. Described as darker, harsher and more daring, the album takes you deeper into their industrial sound. Opener 'Hip Dork' is a contorted kind of techno derivative that lunges straight for the jugular, while the paranoid and dystopian atmosphere created on 'Manfria' sets the scene in dark ambient style before unleashing a barrage of electro beats. Over on the flip, the gloomy vocal cut 'Leper Colony' takes influences from darkwave, ending with the punishing and abrasive grind of 'Volga' which is pitch black.

Review: Ravey flavours! Sport returns with two lovely late night, very UK-influenced, vibes courtesy of Raise. 'Enter Gavia' kicks things off with a whole multitude of samples and references. Watch out for the loon bird call and a gutsy vocal every card-carrying head will recognise. 'Leaving Navaro' hits with a bumping 4x4 UKG tone. Heads down, sweet and shuffling - just how we like it.

Review: We are honored to release 'A Boy Alone', a double LP set from Manchester electronic music pioneer Eric Random. Best known for his early recordings for New Hormones and Les Disques du Crepuscule and collaborations with Pete Shelley (Buzzcocks), Cabaret Voltaire and Nico. As an original member of The Tiller Boys with Shelley, Random injected a healthy dose of Krautrock into the dour Manchester post-punk scene in 1978/79 before going solo the following year. Random's first 7" "Subliminal"/"23 Skidoo" was released in 1981 via Les Disques du Crepuscule and explored ominous sonic surrounds. That same year also saw the release of a second 7" single on New Hormones, "Dow Chemical Company"/ "Skin Deep". Both tracks offered bubbling, rhythmic sound patterns, and were the first to feature other musicians that would become know as The Bedlamites. Consisting of Lynn Walton on vocals, Ian Runacres and Andy Diagram of Dislocation Dance, and bassist Wayne Worm, aka Wayne Sedgeman. Their debut 12" single "Subliminal Seduction"/"Bedlam-a-Go-Go" was released in 1982 through Plurex, mixing arid funk textures and sparse melodies. That same year the group contributed proto chill-out track "6.55" to Plurex compilation 'Hours' and the highly filmic track "In Cassette Conference" to the Touch cassette package 'Feature Mist'. In 1983, Random spent several months in the Himalayas with a group of musicians from the Kulu Valley and studied non-Western instruments such as tabla. On returning to Manchester, Random convened a new group of Belamites including Walton, Sedgeman and drummer Graham Dowdall aka Dids of Ludus. They released the 12" single "Mad As Mankind"/"Dream Web Of Maya" in 1984 on Cabaret Voltaire's Doublevision, embracing electronic, industrial and dub styles. In 1985 they contributed the soothing "Pure Power" to Food Records' "Imminent Episode One" compilation. Our reissue also includes 4 unreleased bonus tracks from Eric's archives recorded between 1981-1984. The whole set adds up to 115 minutes of sinister, somnambulant Random music. All songs have been remastered by George Horn at Fantasy Studios. Each copy is housed in a gatefold jacket designed by Eloise Leigh featuring a spread of ephemera, photos with liner notes by James Nice of LTM.

Review: RBI's biggest claim to underground stardom yet is her new experimental jungle-techno-ish album Disseminate. It's said that earlier cuts like 'Proximity' did some justice to her sound, but it's artists like her who really require a lot more time per vinyl side to really demonstrate their own talents. On this LP, strangely garbled classical instruments are heard interspersed with filtered junglism and no less odd breakwork, with airy and roomy cuts like 'Vault Ultra' and '100o10o1hz' proving RBI as one of experimental dance music's foremost greats - unafraid neither of rhythm-driven bangers nor curiously weird skits.

Review:  Mental Groove offshoot Music Pour La Danse knows a thing or two about tieless techno. And they don't come much more vital than the self titled 1994 debut album from Jonah Sharp (aka Spacetime Continuum) and David Moufang (aka Move D). It never quite got the props it deserved back then and has been an underrated gem ever since but this reissue should put paid to that. It is a holy meeting of lush ambient design, cavernous dub spaces, hints of glistening IDM melody and deeper than deep techno drums that leave you feeling cleansed inside and out.

Review: Ten year anniversary? Has it really already been ten years since Recondite's sophomore album 'Hinterland' came out?! Recondite almost single-handedly was responsible in many peoples eyes for the resurgence in techno during the early 2010s. After beating down the doors of Ghostly International for many years, the fans finally get their wish in the shape a new, shiny reissue. Coming on smokey black vinyl this time, nobody has a reason to not have this record in their collection. Included are legendary tracks like 'Stems', 'Clouded' and 'Leafs'. Many think that not only is this the best Recondite album but one of the best techno albums of the year 2013.

Review: Red Axes have always operated in their own little niche within underground electronic music. The Israeli duo has plenty of genuine guitar-playing skills which they bring to a fine grasp of synth work and a love of acid, wonky grooves and psychedelic colours on labels like Disco Halal and K7. Now they step up to fabric with a new album that also post-punk and new wave flourishes to tracks recorded as live jams in their home studio. It's packed with energy and mischief and is another superbly singular offering from the duo.

Review: Following a string of well-received EPs on Planet Rhythm - five in total since 2021 - Red Rooms returns to the storied Dutch imprint with his hotly anticipated debut album. What's on offer is, by and large, full-throttle peak-time techno, where clandestine aural textures and short melodic motifs ride weighty, locked-in basslines and breathless, kick-drum-driven grooves. It's a formula that the Berlin-based producer has not only mastered magnificently, but also excels at delivering. Highlights include the rave stab-sporting big room panic of 'No Turning Back', the alien drum-funk of 'Transcendency', the ghostly and intoxicating allure of 'Unidentofied Objects' and the slipped Robert Hood-style minimalism of 'Cypher'.

Review: To celebrate the 20th anniversary of Regis's soot black slab of deadly techno aka his Penetration LP, the whole thing has been remastered by Simon Shreeve and cut at The Exchange. This new limited edition repress comes with all new artwork, too. The album is pretty definitive of the loopy, hard edged techno of the time and it was another 20 years until Regis offered a follow up after plenty of time as part of British Murder Boys and Sandwell District. Each of these tracks still kicks with serious force, from the bulky sound of 'Get On Your Knees' to the backlit glow of 'Penetration.'

Review: Blake Reyes is an alias for Italian artist Luca Vertulli and on this release for Jeff Mills' Axis Jazz collection he presents an extended double pack of hi-tech soul of the highest calibre. Recorded between Bologna, Milan and Rome overseen by Mills himself, Vernacular takes us deep into the heart of Reyes' vision, leading with the standout track 'At Night'. Anna Bassy's vocal sits front and centre on the original version of the track, but the B-side offers up alternative versions which let Reyes' assembled players shine through. Sides C and D offer up further excursions into hidden possibilities from the project such as the epic synth symphony of 'Sound Manifesto', mirroring the warm, instrumental charm of Mills' own Millsart releases and recent collaborations with Jean-Phi Dary.

Review: Lukid & Tapes combine their scuzzy sounds once more as Rezzett for this new and sonically fucked up outing on The Trilogy tapes. It's lo-fi music full of perfect imperfections and dusty sound sources, cruddy rhythms and distant cosmic noise that sounds both as if dug up from under many layers of ancient soil but also somehow sent back from the future. It is now a decade since this pair made their first outing but their sound remains fascinatingly original. For loose genre references, imagine breakbeat hardcore, 90s jungle, granular Detroit techno and raw Chicago house all chucked into a blender.

Review: ***B-STOCK: Sleeve damaged but otherwise in excellent condition***


Lukid & Tapes combine their scuzzy sounds once more as Rezzett for this new and sonically fucked up outing on The Trilogy tapes. It's lo-fi music full of perfect imperfections and dusty sound sources, cruddy rhythms and distant cosmic noise that sounds both as if dug up from under many layers of ancient soil but also somehow sent back from the future. It is now a decade since this pair made their first outing but their sound remains fascinatingly original. For loose genre references, imagine breakbeat hardcore, 90s jungle, granular Detroit techno and raw Chicago house all chucked into a blender.

Review: 2020 marks the 30th birthday of Network Records, a label that did arguably more than any other in the early 90s to champion both US and UK techno. As part of their celebrations they'll be reissuing some key singles and albums from their catalogue, starting with this 1991 compilation of key Derrick May productions. Now stretched across two slabs of wax rather than one to guarantee a louder cut, "Innovator" contains a wealth of vital early Motor City techno classics, from the acid-powered insanity of "Nude Photo" and the rushing, piano-heavy rush of "Strings of Life", to the thrilling sci-fi futurism of "Wiggin" and the deep techno warmth of "Hand Over Hand".

Review: Eternally prolific Wighnomy Brother Robag Wruhme is back with another album of his otherworldly, achingly delicate minimal tech house from way out in East Germany. Wruhme's music has always stood to the side of the standardised scene, and so it goes on this new one for Tulpa Ovi which passes through a variety of shades of 4/4 without ever sounding like anything else. Sometimes the composition his fragile and beautiful, elsewhere there's a looming creepiness pitched squarely at the night. Wruhme remains gifted in the art of embedding his music with the richest of feelings and they come through in abundance across these eight new pieces.

Review: Robert Armani is a Chicago-born techno artist who has been an influential figure in the scene since the early 90s. To celebrate his 30-year career, Armani's classic tracks such as 'Ambulance,' 'Hit Hard,' and 'Watch It' have been remastered and compiled in a collector's edition via Traxmen. These tracks defined the hard-hitting and exhausting sound of Chicago's techno, with its unique palette of samples (vocal one-shots, spitty drum machines) conveying as ever the culture of inhumanly capitalist overwork endemic to America's historic cities. Lead track 'Burn It Out' says it all. Chicago is the birthplace of the IWW, while Chicago house and techno is the mirror image of said workers' struggle, reflecting the relentless pulse of burnt-out machinery and debt peony through work. To do this, Armani uses the sounds of whips cracking, kick drum pistons clanging and and conveyor belts chugging, all while urging us to "burn it out".

Review: Robert Armani's legendary Traxmen label is responsible for some of the finest music to have come out of Chicago over the last three decades. He now celebrates that milestone with his 30 Plus Years Remixes Series across all formats. It is a real must have for collectors with his most celebrated cuts remixed, remastered and pressed up to a double vinyl album. There is high octane techno - what else - from UK stalwart Mark Broom, dark and loopy minimal tackle from Spain's Paco Osuna and tripped out icy melodic techno head wreckers from Ken Ishii amongst many more.

Review: Detroitish Italo vibes soundscapes from Marzahn Berlin!!

Review: Peaktime zoneouts from Rodhad and company; Crimson Rubeus is the first compilation on WSNWG to be curated by the techno titan, and hears eight rising bubblers of the scene contribute to a well-rounded octagonal sonic prism in double LP form. All circulating for months in demo form and as fixtures of Rodhad's sets across Europe, every track here - from the snappy synaptics of Nastia Reigel's 'Limit Y' to the non-duped beffudlery of O (phase)'s 'Exiting The Delusion' - drips with an aural crimson rouge; truly a hematophage's dream. Rodhad does the almost impossible here; squeezes blood from the stony style that is hypnotic techno.