The best new singles this week
Top vinyl tips from our writers

SINGLE OF THE WEEK
Boo Williams / Eric Johnson / Reggie Dokes – Music In Motion (Upstairs Asylum)
It seems extraordinary that Norm Talley’s Upstairs Asylum label is barely two years old. The quality of the music, the relatively prolific output, and the calibre of the artists involved have all contributed to the imprint’s rapid elevation to buy-on-sight status, providing, as it does, an uncompromising platform for some of the movement’s most inspired creators to work their machine magic.
This particular various artist EP landed among a triad of hard-hitting released from the camp, and, in fairness, each release would have been worthy of attention here. Assembling a trio of deep house mavericks, Tulley does a fine job curating the ‘Music In Motion EP’, with Boo Williams and Reggie Dokes joined by Eric Johnson to serve four suitably nuanced dance floor grooves. First, Chicago don Boo Williams does what only he can do on ‘Tickin Clock’.
Demonstrating his incomparable ability to weave harmonic motifs into hyper-evocative soundscapes, he once again composes something simultaneously driving and beautiful, with delicate synth work blissfully combined over raw house rhythms. Eric Johnson hasn’t released too many records, but his effort here suggests he’s endowed with more than adequate studio prowess. ‘Melodic Gruv’ sees dusty chords cascade over shuffling drums as distant vocals echo and melodic bursts echo over the stripped heads-down cut.
On the reverse, Atlanta-based bad man Reggie Dokes steps in with a pair of typically effective jams, the Psychostasia boss arriving with the production flair he’s shown throughout his storied career. ‘Mother’s Child’ sees heartfelt piano chords gliding over an unending hook, with freeform horn solos drifting in to enhance the mood as sturdy bass and loose rhythms drive the groove. A touch more psychedelic in tone, ‘End Of Time’ features spacey synth chords floating over propulsive machine drums as astrally-charged synths and poignant flute melodies gorgeously combine. Raw but evocative, his contributions cap a thoroughly enjoyable set and another outstanding addition to the ever-growing UA catalogue.
PC

Yushh – Siro Silo EP (Well Street)
It took some time for Yushh to gift us with some fully-fledged releases of her own, but now hot on the heels of the knockout debut for Wisdom Teeth comes this follow-up for Well Street. From her position as the Pressure Dome boss to these two label link ups, her area of focus as an artist seems clear. Such affiliations aren’t especially restrictive, but you might at least be able to divine the Yushh sound orbiting the shapeshifting, soundsystem techno sphere that continues to incubate fresh approaches to sound design and rhythm while holding true to a certain dubby sensibility.
There’s plenty of dubbing going on with ‘Kara Arriba’, a taut, low tempo workout pivoting around minimalist bleeps and bass, where pitch-bending delay trails come as standard and functionality for the dance doesn’t mean dialling down the freaky sonics. It’s notable that Yushh isn’t restricting herself to straight-up club tracks on these first EPs, as ‘Siro Silo’ tips towards a dreamy electronica draped in elegant melodics. There’s plenty of energy in the track, and even some occasional bass growls which nod to d&b, but it’s positively calibrated towards backroom bean bag reveries rather than anything remotely peak time.
‘Dough’ is similarly mellow in its execution, bathed in cosy pads with a Jan Jelinek tint to them. The drums have a sprightly edge to them, with space to burst into flurries of intricate action, but the overall effect is still closer to smokers delights than strobe light fantasies. ‘OXI Ambigan’ confirms this idea even more explicitly, chiming with half time dub rhythms and aqueous textures shot through with enough detail to align this kind of semi-ambient with the output from the 3XL crew.
Neatly aligned with her prior EP without repeating any tricks, Siro Silo EP comes on with confidence and clarity, but above all else it’s simply a joy to melt into. The production shimmers with care and attention, offering up reams of pulses and pings to marvel at, whether blissing out with your best mates at an ungodly hour or vibing out of your own body on the daily commute.
JIJ

Roy Of The Ravers – 2 Late 4 Love (2023 Edition) (Acid Waxa)
Franchise star player Roy Of The Ravers has scored plenty of scorchers across his meteoric career in rave’s top flight, and here some of his finest moments are relived via a special 2023 edition of his ‘2 Late For Love’ EP. Though his highlights have been many, few, if any, of his man-of-the-match performances are likely to live as long in the memory as his breakthrough track, ‘Emotinium’, which appears here in all its acid-charmed glory.
Approaching seven long years since its original release, the timeless cut still sounds as fresh as it did when it first echoed from the speakers, having seen the light of day via cassette tape before Emotional Rescue gladly committed the music to wax. Raw, melodic, atmospheric and powerfully propulsive, the undulating acid lead sings out a gloriously memorable refrain as emotive pads hang in the ether and crisp rhythms drive the groove.
It was and still is a magnificent piece of electronic music, hence the lofty price of copies of the 2016 vinyl release. ‘Late 4 Love’ is no shrinking violet, either, again boasting a heartfelt lead melody that darts over a sparse bed of distorted drums and modulating acid. ’Cwejman Acid (Part 2)’ featured on the original cassette but didn’t make it onto wax the first time around, so its incision here is especially pleasing, its brooding acid bass and laser bleeps are thoroughly deserving of their place among the grooves.
Stripping things back even further, the grubby acid licks and fuzzed-up drums of ‘Melchester Acid (Part 1)’ make an appearance too, with only the second part of the title having arrived on the earliest copies. ‘Track 5’ is effectively an Emotinium reprise, and, while the maniacal 8-bit video-game-theme-meets-gabba of ‘Track 6’ might grate on me, I’m sure there are lots of hardened clubbers who’ll find great pleasure in its absurdity.
PC

Chontane – TANE001 (Tane Germany)
Chontane may have only been making music since 2017, but that hasn’t deterred him from seizing the skin in the game that can only be recognised as rightfully his. The breakbeat-electro-techno-ish artist is a verified banger-churner-outer. Said title has earned him many a release on many a local label, plus a residency at the rather infamous Berlin club Griessmuehle.
Credentialisms aside (usually this writer doesn’t care for them, although it does help to establish some context), it was the sonic content of this brand new vinyl EP for the artist’s very own new TANE imprint that first caught our ears – and still hasn’t let them go. Chontane describes these bits as “tribal tool techno”, which while being a suitably functional way of referring to them, hardly does them justice. The sense of space and weight on them is colossal, unparalleled. The opener ‘Invisible Guest’, for example, is anything but just tooly, eschewing the usual choice of snare chosen by most techno artists for a giant woodblock-mallet thing. The track pays extra attention even to the harmonics of the surrounding ambiences; listen closely and you’ll hear everything, even the gas and air that encroaches the mix, is in key.
Then, moving forward, we’re suddenly chucked a curveball on the UK-hardcore inspired ‘Turpene’, which rests in an interim space between a whole shopping list of genres. Unless Chontane was here to demonstrate otherwise, we’d have thought these influences were unrealistic to fuse. Then come the riveting ‘Art Of Survival’ and ‘Flux’, both deploying the unbeatable techno trope that is the pitched midrange chord stab to maximum centrifugal, time-dilating effect. If you’re willing to look outwards, too, you’ll find two ambient techno cuts (‘Transcend’ and ‘Memory Flashback’) on the digis, both laying down Chontane’s versatility on the DAW and indulging more of a Brummie-techno deep feel. Thoroughly impressive stuff from the Berliner.
JIJ

Omar S continues his feverish studio output with his latest FXHE instalment, collaborating with a trio of locally-based artists on the typically uncompromising ‘Pain’ EP. The prolific producer always finds something to say with his sound, with each release imbued with abundant personality and unapologetic swagger. Whether recording solo or alongside featured artists, his stylistically adventurous music is always intriguing, and his latest round of collaborative explorations certainly don’t disappoint — with John FM, King Milo and Tayloe each bringing something distinct to the creative pot.
The record begins in especially strong style, with a prime example of the stripped retro-futurism that Omar S does so brilliantly. Built around a mutant boogie bass, ’Tongue Pecker’ sees raw rhythms drive the groove as enigmatic synths, vocal chops and oddball textures drift over the all-too-short arrangement. King Milo returns to the fold after some notable FXHE appearances in recent months, his gravelly flow lacing a hyperactive rhythm on the ghetto-led thrust of title track ‘Pain’, the rough and ready brimming with sleaze as sinister chords add to the emotional discord.
On the other side, we welcome back John FM on ‘I Love Your Girlfriend’, another risqué jam that’s got soul to spare. John FM doesn’t release as much as we’d like, but everything he puts his hands, or in this case, vocal on ends up living long in the memory, and this number resumes a particularly fruitful studio simpatico between the two protagonists. Finally, singer Tayloe rides in with yet more soul-drenched vocal heat, her sensual flow soaring over jagged machine drums as paranoid sweeps burst through the inner city mist. There’s plenty to unpack here, but suffice to say, this is yet more sonic fire from Omar S and his well-assembled band of co-conspirators.
PC

Ewan Jansen – Ciclo Mental EP (Red Ember)
From his spot in Western Australia, Ewan Jansen represents the quintessential techno node far from the hustle and bustle of an inner city scene. Electronic music is littered with these true believers who dedicate themselves to the craft despite their relative isolation from all the big happenings, and Jansen in particular has demonstrated a keen instinct for how to re-engage with the music industry once interest in his 90s output started to pick up. It’s not hard to see why his music became a source of excitement for minimal tech house DJs as the sound palette started to appreciate the warmth of early 90s machine soul in the B12 vein. Jansen’s tracks sport those dreamy pads and intricate patterns, but they also hold down a groove more than the backroom tendencies of many similar artists of the era.
In returning to the fold with ample fresh music to offset the reissues, Jansen’s made himself relevant as a contemporary artist, and that of course is down to the quality of what he’s offering. There is of course a certain solid, dependable characteristic which could also be taken as predictable, but Jansen’s approach isn’t about shocking new styles. It’s about refining a sound and delivering the best version of it – something which is apparent from the first whisper of Detroit strings on ‘Solanoid’ to the last tickle of drum machine on ‘Gecko’
‘Solanoid’ absolutely moves with the right energy shifts to keep a decent sized party happy, but the synth lines themselves are still bursting with character and flair, not to mention plenty of funk. Jansen speaks the language laid out by UR, Juan Atkins et al, not dissimilar to the same intuition displayed by the likes of Stasis back in the day. ‘Caravan’s narrative thread imparts the kind of sci-fi fantasy which is intrinsic to this particular corner of techno.
‘Mistik’ is perhaps the disruptor in the consistent hum of the record, tipping towards a trancey kind of breaks which, while not completely off piste and certainly redolent of the 90s, edges towards a slightly cheesy end result, not least in the opening riff of the track. There’s more than enough production chops elsewhere in the production to keep it from completely derailing proceedings, but that opening lick might well jar anyone comfortably settled into the vibe elsewhere on the EP.
JIJ

Sinethemba Mahlangu – Unorthodox Flows (Third Ear)
Third Ear has always been committed to platforming emergent techno and house talent, maintaining an underground attitude which harks back to the scene the label first emerged in at the turn of the millennium. So it goes with this new release, which introduces South African artist Sinethemba Mahlangu to the world with an EP that is truly noteworthy. Apparently Mahlangu reached out to the label back in 2019 and they’ve been working together on developing what has now become this particular release, made up of four tracks on the wax and five if you seek out the digital.
True to the subtly soulful sound often carried on Third Ear, there’s a lot of warmth and feeling bedded into Mahlangu’s approach, but more than that there’s an obvious instinct for individual expression. The way the tracks are mixed has a certain rough hewn charm that calls to mind Wbeeza’s own outings or indeed the rule-breaking treatment you might hear on an early Moodymann record. The expressive keys on ‘Melancholia’ are just a little too stark in the mix, the brushed drums a little too far back, and these understated ‘flaws’ are in fact what gives the music its magic.
‘Unorthodox Flows’ spells out its intentions very clearly, and yet for all the arrhythmic work spilling around in the track it’s also very easy to sink into. It’s not dissimilar to the way Afrikan Sciences tests Western 4/4 conditioning with his seemingly chaotic beat constructions while providing enough warmth to keep you on board, although there’s certainly a more discernible house pulse carrying these tracks. For all those who value originality in deep house, there’s a lot to get excited about here.
OW

The first EP to grace Laksa and RE:NI’s new imprint nods to Bessel Van Der Kolk’s seminal work on mental health, trauma, and the physical manifestation of emotional and psychological scars in more ways than name checking the title (The Body Keeps The Score). Spoken samples from the psychiatrist’s text are scattered throughout, and relevance doesn’t end there.
Laksa’s role as social worker, DJ and producer has a fair amount to answer for, but in many ways the real genius of this concept is in the music itself. Opener ‘Soulz’ is a high tempo, highly textured percussive onslaught that somehow manages to feel both frantic and deep, nodding to heads down jungle and drum & bass while never committing to much beyond the 140 mark, simultaneously pummelling and healing the listener-dancer.
Final tune ‘Mind’ hits on a similar tip, arguably with even more force, its rapid pace contrasted by hypnotic hooks which, when heard loud, bring a subtle euphoria to the sound. Or they do if you’re used to finding inner joy in noises that feel spooky on first contact. Finally, middle track ‘Bodies’ is perhaps darkest of the lot, but drops the intensity down to realise an almost-meditative quality.
MH

Artefakt – Floodplain (Semantica)
Following the internalised, head-tripping exploits of their Days Bygone LP for Delsin, Artefakt have ably positioned themselves as equal parts ambient and techno, and now this extensive EP (bordering on a mini-album) adds to the narrative. ‘Fugacity’ is a striking drone piece to open with, sporting the kind of foreboding atmosphere and dynamic layering that demands attention rather than slipping into the background. It’s so subtly captivating, it’s almost a shock when it abruptly cuts to the pacey techno meditation of ‘Diorama’.
Working in a similar vein to the likes of Konduku, Artefakt’s approach to techno is as immersive as their ambient, pinging with transcendental textures without ever falling into the trance trap. ‘Natura’ and ‘Delta’ both explore similar modes, eliciting organic-seeming textures and behaviours from their tools but always maintaining a direction for eyes closed, heads down engagement.
With ‘Natant’ the Dutch duo drop the tempo, demonstrating how their sonic stamp transfers very easily to a downtempo setting as well as working so effectively around the 130 bpm mark. As one might expect, the EP closes with another bookend of pure ambience, this time populated with subtle flecks of percussion and other such textures, but never at the cost of the pure delicacy of the overall piece.
OW

Scott Ferguson – Organized Sound (Chateau Chepere)
Scott Ferguson’s latest release arrives on the Chateau Chepere imprint, continuing a strong start by the relatively new label with a typically refined set of moves by the long-serving deep house producer. While the bulk of his work has arrived via his own Ferrispark label, Ferguson has featured on benchmark Detroit labels like Mahogani and Pyschostatia throughout his decades-long career.
Forged in the Motor City fire, his love of house and techno extends as far back as the mid-’90s and all of his seasoned experience is on show on the ‘Organized Sound’ EP. Opening track ‘U Make’ broods along over dusty beats as atmospheric drones and chopped vocals echo of smoke-filled backrooms. ‘Among The Shadows’ sees emotive keys combine with astral synths as crisp drums and murky bass drive the rhythm, the progressive-leaning track overflowing with drama as the arrangement steadily builds.
On the reverse, the tempo drops as we arrive in the heads-down flow of ‘Anthony’s Alright’, with children’s vocals riding over rolling chords and misty pads as languid drums set the tempo. Finally, ‘Cold, All By Myself’ is a contender for strongest of the set, with undulating synths bounding over loose percussion and crunching drums for a gently deviant swan song.
PC
This week’s reviewers: Patrizio Cavliere, Jude Iago James, Oli Wariwck and Martin Hewitt.