Answer Code Request Germany Vinyl & CDs

Review: Adlas has a compelling signature sound - its quick and punchy but also seductive and funk. The opener on this new EP for Answer Code Request certainly fits that bill - Headland' has nice analogue drums and elastic bass down low with rich, smeared synths up top. 'Oscillation' gets deeper and rides on a rolling beat that rocks back and forth with ambient synths up top and a sense of mysticism in the air. 'Bluff' gets back to bumpy beats and dubbed low ends with some static-charged pads and 'Static' is the deepest of the lot - a subaquatic deep techno trip for the heads.

Review: While Answer Code Request may be associated with the big boys of the B; Klock, Dettmann and Fengler, Patrick Graser (aka ACR) has proved in the three releases leading up to this EP, Crack City, that he's willing to take things further from the four-four than what his contemporaries might. It's kind of like combing post-dubstep with German techno - something Klock did once with "Gold Rush", but you can tell Answer Code Request does more than just dabble in this idea. "Peripetia" shimmers and scrapes with syncopated drums similar to Dadub, only less in your face, while "Strange Days" sounds like Burial and a well behaved Aphex Twin collaboration. Shed then adopts his War Made Easy alias for a frequency shifting remix to Graser's grimey title track "Crack City".

Review: Make what you want of the title of Canadian Ryan James Ford's new record; but just do the right thing and let the music do the talking instead. And besides, the track titles themselves nearly err on the side of SHXCXCHCXSH style absurdity anyway! His third release sees Ford step away from the MDR powerhouse and reboot Answer Code Request's label, starting out with the dynamic and emotional journey that is the title track, which soon becomes powered along by a restrained industrial/tribalist beats beneath dreamy and cerebral elements. There's some great IDM experiments elsewhere, such as on the rather Aphex Twin sounding "Astrid Oelzant", fierce yet soulful Berghain ready techno that you'd usually expect such as on 'Kuhlp Korkhu" and some all consuming ambient melancholia like on the wonderful closer "Kuana Colbk".