BLUE HOUR Vinyl & CDs

Review: Blue Hour shows a different look with this new outing on Arsenik as he delves into some deep and driving dub techno realms. 'Trekia' opens up and is a kinetic melange of prickly percussion and slamming drums with plenty of smeared and smudged chords and refuel synth leads. 'Osirus' has a sense of menace and unease in the grinding chord work and unsettled hi-hats which are off-grid and edgy. 'Atoll' strips things back with some smooth drums driving onward beneath melodic chords that bring a celestial feel. 'Triton' shuts down with a classic Detroit techno sound that keeps you on your toes.

Review: Blue Hour is very close to a quarter of a century of releases but just ahead of that notable milestone the label daunter and eponymous techno project step up with two bangers on a nice limited 12". 'Dimensions' is a brilliantly unbalanced techno workout with distant church bells bringing some unusual chaos to the high-speed drums and prickly percussion. It's a great one that will cut any floor loose. 'Sun Dogz' on the flip gets even quicker and fires lasers out like bullets. High octane stuff that is pure fire for the club.

Review: Blue Hour have dropped a couple of essential new 12"s this month and here is one of them. It's another of their famous various artist's collections, all with a focus on the deeper end of the techno spectrum. The eponymous Blue Hour kicks off with 'Afterglow' which has wispy neon synth trail and soft, rubbery drum and bass blends that take you into a cosmic sky. Dold's 'Warning' is more textural and raw with its percussion and synth energy and Steffi's 'Volley 5' is driving, dynamic, dubby techno for intimate basements. Newa's 'Seduction' is a psychedelic wonder to close.