ZENKER BROTHERS Vinyl & CDs

Review: It's the label heads themselves, Zenker Brothers, who step up for Ilan Tape's 65th EP. As ever they lead from the front with four fierce cuts of inventive, fresh and rhythmic techno that is masterfully arranged and hugely complex but never at the expense of dance floor clout. The opener 'Two Paths' is a physical and prickly blend of tightly programmed kicks and scraping percussion with howling synth winds. 'Power Supply' then rides on a funky drum line with aqueous pads, 'Workhorse' is a big room banger with panel-beaten lops and synths riding over the top and 'Hold On' shuts down with surges of warm, futuristic chords and glitchy filters.

Review: There's an undeniably far-out feel to the Zenker Brothers' second album, Cosmic Transmission, which adds further layers of trippy textures, hallucinatory sounds and smoky intensity to the aural blueprint first explored on their 2015 debut full-length Immersion. There's much to admire throughout, from the mind-bending ambient weirdness of opener 'When Nothing is Safe', and the slipped dub haze of 'Whose In Control', to the drug-addled IDM of 'Natural Connection', and the polyrhythmic techno trip of 'Divided Society'. Most striking of all is the trio of tracks that close the album, all of which are powered forwards not by heavy techno beats (or even their usual crunchy, off-kilter breakbeats) but rather a series of ear-catching, fuzz-soaked synthesizer arpeggio lines.

Review: The rise of Ilian Tape has been piloted by Dario and Marco Zenker with a steady assurance, so it makes perfect sense for the brothers to helm the first long player project from the Munich label. Immersion is a vibrant, atmospheric stroll through their various influences and inspirations with plenty to admire amongst the ten tracks. There is the bustling, leftfield breakbeat techno of "TSV WB" and pounding "High Club" (a no-nonsense dancefloor assault blessed with occasional eyes-closed chords), as well as sublime tech-jazz of "Cornel 21" and pitched-down junglisms of "Innef Runs". Interestingly, there are also a number of crusty, distorted ambient interludes, with "Erbquake" sounding particularly potent.