Amelie Lens

Review: Following her breakthrough year in 2017, Amelie Lens has been surprisingly quiet on the production front. In fact, this is the Belgian's first solo EP of 2018. It is jam-packed with high-grade dancefloor material, beginning with the mind-altering techno-jack of A-side "Never The Same", where intense acid lines and matter-or-fact spoken word snippets ride a thunderous groove. Lens keeps up the pressure on side B, where the functional techno slammer "Energize" - a rhythmic beast full of ricocheting vocal samples and drum machine handclap fills - is followed by the rave-friendly angular techno-funk of "Basiel".

Review: Drumcode dropped its first A-Sides compilation five years ago. The series has been such a success that they're already up to volume six. The first part of the vinyl edition (there are four in total) naturally features some notable contributions. We're particularly enjoying the full-throttle acid techno assault that is Amelie Lens' brain-melting "In Silence", though Dense & Pika's similarly intense, noise-laden slammer "Just a Beat" pushes it close. Elsewhere, Marco Faraone impresses with the slightly deeper and more intoxicating "Desert Crash" - think cascading late night synth melodies and bassbin-bothering bottom end - while Ambivalent's "Portmanteau" brilliantly wraps early psychedelic trance and ambient techno electronics around a bombastic rhythm track.