Framework vinyl

Mike Dehnert and his Fachwerk and MD2 labels have been at the forefront of 90s-inspired techno for the past few years - but will his consistently high strike rate translate to a long player? Thankfully, Dehnert sticks to what he knows best, resisting the ill-advised urge to position himself as a versatile all-rounder. Apart from the brief, abstract "Intro", the dreamy ambience of "Kontextfrei" and the hissing static noise of "Outro", the album centres on the dancefloor, but manages to avoid repetition. And while the dubby bass, scuffled beats and clanging percussion of "Infix" is indicative of the Berlin producer's abeyance to the Basic Channel/Chain Reaction axis, Framework widens his scope; "Beatmatching" is an uplifting vocal-sample heavy groove and this new-found playfulness is also audible on the rave riff sampling "Teilfolge" and the purring bassline and synth melodies of "Quattro". Dehnert may be operating in a new format, but Framework proves that when it comes to techno functionalism, he is peerless.