Review: To coincide with the twenty-fifth anniversary of Berlin club Tresor, Juan Atkins and Moritz Von Oswald have released a second Borderland album together. It begins in ominous mode, with the title track's brooding bass tones casting a long, dark shadow, but the pair soon find a way to break away from the gloom with the mesmerising chords and heavy rhythm of "Lightyears" and the wonderfully spacey Detroit techno of "Riod". Both "Odyssey" and "Merkur" push the tempo back down but keep an emphasis on hypnotic, woozy textures, snappy drums and jazzy tones, while "2600" shows that Van Oswald hasn't lost his ability to craft dub-heavy, dreamy techno.
Review: Detroit godfather Juan Atkins and Berlin techno legend Moritz Von Oswald return as Borderland, one of several collaborations since 1992 and following up their 2016 album for Tresor: the Transport LP which again consolidated both respective artist's solid studio experience, honed over the last 30 years. The funky, slightly bumpin' and absolutely addictive hi-tech soul of "Concave 1" will have you grooving away on a late night dancefloor in Berlin or beyond with its evocative and life affirming vibes. On the flip "Concave 2" further explores their studio refined sequences on this heady and hypnotic journey full of woozy arpeggios, steely rhythms and dubby bass frequencies.
Review: The Sushitech label turned 15 years old in 2020 and to celebrate this milestone Yossi Amoyal has put together the Fluere compilation across four discs, plus this extended fifth part, titled Fatum. Juan Atkins' remix of 'Someone' by Killer Loop takes up residence on the A-side of this three tracker, all swirling, warm pads and spiralling filters, the percussion almost leaning towards disco with its syncopated handclaps, although the overall effect is as shiny and futuristic as you would expect from this Detroit legend. Flip it over for Terry Brookes' 'Breaking Cycles', a calm spoken word narration providing a meditational mantra to accompany the chugging house foundations, full of gentle tease. 'Limits of Likeness' by MSL completes the package with restless electro machinations and shifting clouds of synth floating across its horizon. Sheer bliss all round.
B-STOCK: Split seam on outer sleeve, product unopened and in excellent condition
Killer Loop - "Someone" (Juan Atkins remix)
Terry Brookes - "Breaking Cycles"
MSL - "Limits Of Likeness"
Review: ***B-STOCK: Split seam on outer sleeve, product unopened and in excellent condition***
The Sushitech label turned 15 years old in 2020 and to celebrate this milestone Yossi Amoyal has put together the Fluere compilation across four discs, plus this extended fifth part, titled Fatum. Juan Atkins' remix of 'Someone' by Killer Loop takes up residence on the A-side of this three tracker, all swirling, warm pads and spiralling filters, the percussion almost leaning towards disco with its syncopated handclaps, although the overall effect is as shiny and futuristic as you would expect from this Detroit legend. Flip it over for Terry Brookes' 'Breaking Cycles', a calm spoken word narration providing a meditational mantra to accompany the chugging house foundations, full of gentle tease. 'Limits of Likeness' by MSL completes the package with restless electro machinations and shifting clouds of synth floating across its horizon. Sheer bliss all round.
Review: The last release from legendary Detroit label Metroplex was in 2011, but here it returns in style with a collaboration between label founder Juan Atkins and Basic Channel's Mark Ernestus under the name of Audio Tech. Entitled "Dark Side", the pair's collaborative effort, remixed on the A-side by Metroplex artist Kimyon Huggins, combines Atkins' techno and electro style with Ernestus' dub background into exactly the kind of deep and muggy take on Atkins' sound you'd expect from such a union. Remix duties are handled by another legendary pair, with minimal veteran Ricardo Villalobos and renowned experimentalist Max Loderbauer uniting again under the name Vilod. They transform "Dark Side" into a snaking, dub infused version whose irregular rhythms will please anyone who heard the pair's 2011 Re:ECM album.
Review: As KMS continues its mission to unearth the most sought after gems from its early years, so this gem from Juan Atkins and Kevin Saunderson sees the light of day once more in all its rough-hewn, soulful glory. Derrick May's dub leads the way with its woozy bass synth, placing the uncredited vocal at the front of the mix and letting the beats fall tough but loose. Meanwhile Kevin Saunderson's Reese version fills in the gaps with longer synth lines and a more balanced set of drums, although there's not too much deviation between the two versions. Either way it's a window into the earliest days of Detroit techno, when it hadn't moved too far from its house influences.
Review: Borderland sees the illustrious Juan Atkins & Moritz von Oswald join forces for an album of meditative techno for Tresor. The partnership marks the first time Juan Atkins and Moritz von Oswald have directly collaborated in 20 years, though both have regularly assisted each other's work behind the scenes. Von Oswald played an important role in engineering much of Model 500's R&S catalogue, while Atkins supplied his mixing craft and two edits on Thomas Fehlmann & Moritz von Oswald's early '90s project 3MB. This eponymously titled album is skewed toward club-orientated electronic music blessed with a freedom for organic musical experimentation and expect to sink into a soundscape where melodic and textural motifs float in and out of focus.
Review: The second of three Borderland album samplers features the tracks "Footprints" and "Mars Garden", songs that middle the forthcoming album. "Footprints" delivers exactly what you would expect from a dubby German audiophile and Detroit techno mastermind; rugged, yet finely tuned drums and bleeps that delicately sway in a downtempo ambience of engineered synthesis. On a minimal and trippy tip, "Mars Garden" aligns to a rigid four-four groove, with a funky - and subtly overdriven - bass line, that gives the track a vibrant sign of life, in a pleasantly isolated and jazz-kissed arrangement.
Review: Coming in heavy for the fabled Black Market label, Magic Juan is on a mission across these three tracks, pulling not a punch as hi-octane techno comes barrelling out of every available sound source. The title track is an abrasive affair, packed full discordant melodies and clattering percussive top end, but still shooting for the Detroit brand of hope amidst the madness. "Impulse" sees no let up in the deranged melodics, while the beat stays in a firmer groove, but the real monster is "Ohh La La". Pulling in the right amount of intensity and matching it with a more focused consignment of chords and that rugged electro undercarriage Atkins does so well, it brings a necessary balance to a thoroughly turbulent 12".
Review: Having been quiet since slipping out that rather fine Prime Numbers EP of archive house, Linkwood surfaces on the Firecracker affiliated Shevchenko imprint with some house music that can be best described as effortlessly gliding. A preface to the producer's second album which is set to drop in the early months of 2012, all three tracks here are superb - not least the title track "Secret Value" which sounds naggingly familiar to these ears. Massively vibey, the track begins with an upwards poise and veers in that trajectory throughout augmented by delightfully plump string flourishes that appear in cloud like formation atop the intricate syncopation. "Between Me & You" is essentially the same track twisted inside out, with the vibes deep set beneath the glowering sheen of saturated atmospherics. Those seeking something straighter will find much to admire in "Ignorance Is Bliss" which begins in more prominent fashion, thanks mostly to that burning bass line; though as the track progresses it's flushed with a delightfully smudged warm sensation. Big tip!
Review: Some of the less charitable critics out there referred to Juan Atkins and Mortiz Van Oswald's side-project as 'boredomland'. While the pair's debut album under this name was a largely sedate affair, on the evidence of this single, they will be opting for a more engaging approach for the follow-up. It's not hard to hear both producers' influence on "Riod"; Van Oswald's love of layered textures and hollowed out drums comes up against Atkins's vivid melodies and synths from outer space. On the alternate version they venture even farther down the dreamy route, with hypnotic chords guiding the way.
Review: To coincide with the twenty-fifth anniversary of Berlin club Tresor, Juan Atkins and Moritz Von Oswald have released a second Borderland album together. It begins in ominous mode, with the title track's brooding bass tones casting a long, dark shadow, but the pair soon find a way to break away from the gloom with the mesmerising chords and heavy rhythm of "Lightyears" and the wonderfully spacey Detroit techno of "Riod". Both "Odyssey" and "Merkur" push the tempo back down but keep an emphasis on hypnotic, woozy textures, snappy drums and jazzy tones, while "2600" shows that Van Oswald hasn't lost his ability to craft dub-heavy, dreamy techno.
Review: It's amazing how fresh and forward-thinking much of Juan Atkins' early material still sounds, nearly 30 years after it was first created. Take Cybotron's "Alleys Of Your Mind". Recorded and released in 1981, it's sparse electro beats and wonky electrofunk synths - clearly inspired by Kraftwerk and Conrad Schnitzler - sounds like it was beamed down from another planet, billions of years in the future. You could say the same for much of the material on this reissued Metroplex 20th anniversary set (first issued in 2005); from the far-sighted intergalactic hypnotism of Model 500's "The Future" and "Vessels In Distress", to the clanking proto-techno of Channel One's "Technicolour" and Inifiniti's rush-inducing "Game One", Atkins has consistently stayed ahead of the game.
Review: Originally released on the seminal 10 Records compilation Techno 2: The Next Generation in 1990, these two highly sought-after classics receive a much needed reissue in 2019 courtesy of new imprint Preservation Sound. With a catalogue number like DETROIT001 we can be fairly certain what the label's M.O. will be in the months to come - respect! Two Detroit techno classics from Metroplex Records by Juan Atkins and Martin Bonds are featured. Label boss Atkins dons the Infiniti alias on the infectious sci-fi funk of "Techno Por Favor", delivering it in his idiosyncratic style as always, while on the flip Bonds aka Reel By Real successfully captures the zeitgeist of the burgeoning Motor City sound at the time on the mechanical and futurist groove of "Sundog". Absolutely timeless tracks on offer here.
Die Kosmischen Kuriere (Moritz Von Oswald & Thomas Fehlmann mix) (6:30)
Die Kosmischen Kuriere (5:20)
Jazz Is The Teacher (Magic Juan edit) (9:39)
Jazz Is The Teacher (Moritz Von Oswald + Thomas Fehlmann mix) (7:09)
The 4th Quarter (5:07)
Review: Tresor is celebrating 30 years in the game with a series of special reissue projects. This one really goes way back to almost the start, when Juan Atkins was already defining the early techno sound. For this one he linked up with Moritz von Oswald and Thomas Fehlmann in 1992 for a second iteration of the 3 Men in Berlin project. The monumental results join the dots between Detroit and Berlin across a collection of timeless cuts that meld bassline funk, hypnotic minimalism and soulful machine sounds into propulsive, emotive dance floor joy. The unbridled energy and cosmic elegance of 'Jazz Is The Teacher' might just be the highlight.
Die Kosmischen Kuriere (Moritz Von Oswald & Thomas Fehlmann mix)
Die Kosmischen Kuriere
Jazz Is The Teacher (Magic Juan edit)
Jazz Is The Teacher (Moritz Von Oswald + Thomas Fehlmann mix)
The 4th Quarter
Review: 3MB - short for 'Three Men in Berlin' - was one of the first Trans-Atlantic collaborations between artists from Berlin and Detroit. The project resulted in two albums in 1992: one recorded by Thomas Fehlmanm, Mortiz Von Oswald and Eddie Fowlkes, and another where the German duo joined forces with Juan Atkins. This timely reissue offers up the latter set in remastered form, allowing a new generation to bask in its blend of Motor City futurism, deep techno warmth (the luscious 'Bassmental'), acid-fired squelch (Von Oswlad and Fehlmann's version of 'Die Kosmichen Kuriere'), inspired tech-jazz (two versions of all-time classic 'Jazz is the Teacher') and typical Tresor techno ('The Fourth Quarter').
Reissue on Tresor.
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