A-Ton Vinyl & CDs

Review: The enigmatic Pom Pom appears for the first time outside of their eponymous imprint to deliver this ever curious collection of tracks for A-Ton: the offshoot of Berlin's Ostgut Ton for archive, ambient and art-related releases. There have been many rumours as to who may be behind the music, but they've done a pretty good job of keeping under wraps all this time - we must say. Much like moments in their extensive back catalogue, it's a fairly diverse affair covering everything from ambient ("Untitled 6 & 13"), bass music reductions ("Untitled 7"), early '80s style synth-punk ("Untitled 10") and even a bit of classic bleep techno as heard on "Untitled 12".

Review: If you're unfamiliar with the name Phillip Sollmann it's important to lay out the land first. This is the real name of Efdemin, one of techno's most respected and revered players who calls Berlin's much-feted Berghain and Panorama Bar home, and the moment you know this the omnipresent rhythms driving this distinctly not-really-dance-music nine-tracker forward make perfect sense. Tracks like 'Rara' will be a joy for more adventurous DJs but also work incredibly well as standalone listening pieces. Wooden percussion mimicking the kind of top ends we associate with bouncy but tough club stuff, sans kick drums and bass. 'Micro', which follows, applies the same principle to layers of chime. Elsewhere, things veer into twisted pseudo-rave - 'U/O''s lengthy refrains and drones create the impact of a 5AM breakdown in some strange otherworld, while 'Mono' closes it out on a huge, smile-inducing high.

Review: If you're unfamiliar with the name Phillip Sollmann it's important to lay out the land first. This is the real name of Efdemin, one of techno's most respected and revered players who calls Berlin's much-feted Berghain and Panorama Bar home, and the moment you know this the omnipresent rhythms driving this distinctly not-really-dance-music nine-tracker forward make perfect sense. Tracks like 'Rara' will be a joy for more adventurous DJs but also work incredibly well as standalone listening pieces. Wooden percussion mimicking the kind of top ends we associate with bouncy but tough club stuff, sans kick drums and bass. 'Micro', which follows, applies the same principle to layers of chime. Elsewhere, things veer into twisted pseudo-rave - 'U/O''s lengthy refrains and drones create the impact of a 5AM breakdown in some strange otherworld, while 'Mono' closes it out on a huge, smile-inducing high.