Modwerks Vinyl & CDs

Review: A 12" of singles from the London-born Phase's latest album 'Before This', featuring the talents of fellow UK producer Setaoc Mass on a remix of 'Intensity Fluctuations'. The remix sees the song completely transformed into a hyper futuristic, forward-thinking piece of techno with subtle producing elements sprinkled throughout giving the track an entirely new breath of air. This record also features 'Underwater Acoustics from the album, a spacious and cerebral piece of progressive techno that evokes the work of Dopplereffekt, Aphex Twin and Susumo Yakota in its use of negative space to tell a story. On the tail end of Side A, a previously unreleased track 'Night Terrors' is introduced, a thumping techno dancefloor track that is more evocative of Setaoc Mass's previously nightmare-themed releases than Phase's more cosmic ruminations.

Review: Ashley Burchett aka O [Phase] is a producer, mastering engineer and techno talent who launched his Modwerks imprint with a 12-track album that got picked up far and wide. He follows it up with another fine offering, in the form of Human Error RMX which places focus on entrancing leads. The title track is deep, dynamic techno with a hall of mirrors reflecting the watery melodies all around the stereo field. 'PorteNoir' is a heavier tune with kicks leaning into a stiff breeze and sheet metal snares peeling off the groove. 'Modwerka' is the deepest and most cavernous of the lot for those 5 am sessions.

Review: For more than 20 years Ashley Burchett has been pushing the envelope of no-nonsense techno as O [Phase] and he's been sounding more inspired than ever since launching his own Modwerks label back in 2021. Following up on some sterling releases from Saag and Tora Katsuta, now Burchett takes the reins himself for four steadfast building blocks in your game of techno Jenga. 'Merchant' is tightly wound, razor-sharp and looped-up to perfection, while 'Edge Runner' locks into some hi-octane machine funk. 'Plot Twist' keeps just a touch of swing in the mix and capitalises on hand claps and acid tweaks before 'Guess Work' ratchets down a lead-heavy low-end groove that could move mountains.

Review: Modwerks hear producer Saag deliver a second spicy round of floorshakers, all four of which are tangentially inspired by Brazilian music. Don't get confused, though, as the rhythms on this one remain starkly rooted in techno through and through. 'Puxa' and 'Void Searching' lead the charge by way of two unchanging techno stasises; unrepentant walls of fidgeting sound, which reach a head at the hard-claps and blurting chords heard at the second track's end. 'Orie' and 'Reverie' flesh out the textures moreover, with the latter track especially going especially filter-happy on the fidget lead.