Drumcode Sweden Vinyl & CDs

Review: Mighty European powerhouse Drumcode rolls out more of its techno tsunamis here with part one of the 12th volume of its A Sides collection. The boss himself, Adam Beyer, offers up one of the biggest cuts - 'Heading South' is a surging, straight-up techno weapon rippled with deft synths that ever forever on the move. Danny Avila's 'My Crew' (feat Flowdan) is built on a foundation of earth-shattering kicks and rolling bass with hellish stabs and vocal fragments making for an intense atmosphere, and Simina Grigoriu's 'Flight Tracker' is the sort of quick-moving techno sound to lock you into a trance. Add in LAAT's 'The Age Of Juno' (oi oi!) and you have a very useful and high impact EP of contemporary techno.

Review: Think of this as a Christmas bonus for Drumcode fans (and there are plenty of them around). It's a single-sided salvo that sees a back catalogue cut from label main man Adam Beyer being remixed by Kompakt Extra regular Kolsch. The track in question is "What You Need", a "Stone Flower EP" favourite that's amongst the most melodious and emotion-rich cuts in Beyer's armoury. Kolsch's version is wonderfully positive, with waves of melodic riffs (similar to the original, but seemingly played on a different synthesizer), glassy-eyed chords and spine-tingling (synthesized) string stabs soaring above a softer touch rhythm track. It effectively turns a fine record into a future peak-time anthem. In our world at least, that's a very good thing indeed.

Review: Drumcode titan Adam Beyer is back in business with some of that monolithic sound he's made such a prominent force in global techno. 'Dirty Lagoon' is a slamming monster of a track with daggering rave stabs and hefty kicks to fill any stadium you care to think of. 'Code Is The Code' has a slightly deeper tint, but it's no slouch on the full-fat production all the same. 'Dub Embassy' takes things towards a trancey kind of sound, all swirling synth lines and pinging sound FX, but never too far from that core Drumcode sound we all love so dearly.

Review: You have to respect Adam Beyer for still being a real techno overlord these days. He has been on the scene almost since day one, as has his trusty Drumcode label, and they are both still winning over new generations of fans with their direct to dancefloor style. This latest missive is another monster starting with the hard and heavy drums of 'Robotic Arms' which comes with just enough detail from the sic-fi vocals and synths to get you locked, then the anthemic 'No Hate' is sure to become a big one for Beyer with its rolling drum funk and repeatable vocals. A Trippy Mix is a more wild and frankly better version.

Review: Two right legends of techno unite here for the latest release on Drumcode. Label chief Adam Beyer presents 'Restore My Soul' featuring Chicago hard techno veteran DJ Rush, their relationship stretching back nearly three decades from when they both started out in the' 90s. The title track is aimed squarely at the main room dancefloor; a seething, mental groove featuring Rush's stern vocal delivery atop, before taking the energy levels into the peak time on the adrenalised thrasher 'Control'. Over on the flip, you are treated to a rework of the title track by DJ Rush himself in his typically stomping and orotund style.

Review: Next up from the leading label in the world of so-called Business Techno are a couple of contemporary remixes of some Adam Beyer classics. His Restore My Soul EP was written with DJ Rush and now gets reworked by modern day greats ANNA and HI-LO. The latter, a regular on the likes of Filth on Acid, goes first and flips the title track into a bruising and panel beaten techno roller with coarse drums and peak time intent. Brazilian talent ANNA then offers a more subversive and slow boring take on 'Control' that has twitchy synths and firmly rooted techno drums.

Review: The big room techno don that is Adam Beyer is back with more potent techno weaponry on his own Drumcode label, this time with part two of the 12th volume of his A-Sides series. His 'Take Me There' is first up in remix form and Carl Cox flips it into a surging peak time roller. Matt Guy's 'Give Me What I Want' is an emotive banger with big synth energy and reverberating vocals while ADHS's '2STEP' hits hard with its flaming drums and trance-y synths. Kaiserdisco then brings dark, stomping warehouse energy to their raved-ready 'Get On The Dancefloor.'