MARCO BAILEY Vinyl & CDs

Review: Marco Bailey and Sigvard's serve up some certified techno gold here on nice clear red vinyl via the Fundaments label. This collaborative EP opens up with the retro-sounding goodness of 'Faded Game' and its marching bottom end. It's an all-out raver that never quits. 'Live For Yesterday' is deeper, with a more nuanced atmosphere and layers of drums and synth that rise up though the mix. 'Smooth Mind' ups the ante with more loopy and strobe-lit synth energy and 'Out Of The Past' closes with more buffed metal loops and rolling drum machine sounds.

Review: This four-track compilation draws a tight line between warehouse muscle and emotional lift, delivering techno that's as moving as it is functional. Each cut brings a distinct perspective, yet they all share a sense of cinematic build and focused production. Gregor Tresher starts with 'Bonegrinder', a slow-burn builder that creeps forward before erupting into a peak-time workout. The groove is tight, the progression deliberate and when it hits full stride, it lands with impact. 'Cascade Rips', a collaboration between Works Of Intent and Voltaire, brings a different mood entirely. Its rolling bassline sits beneath a futuristic synth lead that feels both suspenseful and strangely touching. There's emotion under the surface and it simmers just right. On the Side-B, Marco Bailey drops 'Arcane', built around raw drum machine sequences and electro pulses. It grooves hard with a throwback vibe, nodding to early rave with metallic melodies and vocodered snippets that recall Kraftwerk without mimicking. The closer, 'Perditae' by Tom Hades and Soren Aalberg, floats into a more euphoric space. Its rising melody and ghostly vocals feel like they're beamed down from the heavens. A smartly curated collection of peak and soul.

Review: Belgium's Materia flaunt a preference for bracing techno angles on the new split release from Christian Varela and Marco Bailey, proving new, crisply produced motor city heat need not indulge banality or sameness. Bailey, the apparent lynchpin of the label, straddles three sides of wax with 'Wraith', 'Freal' and 'Shadowed Path', with neatly rounded and resolved chords interleaving about gutting kick chugs. Varela occupies takes up only a quarter of the groove space with 'Lac Operations', a baseline undercurrent of neural flows and rapid apparatic responses.