Search dance music

Review: Voices From The Lake is the pairing of Italian techno craftsmen and sound sculptors Donato Dozzy and Neel. They came together to do a live show at the famed Labyrinth festival in Japan and that's what gave rise to this new now seminal album. It's a deeply meditative and dubbed-out world of delicate synths and rolling drums that change only slightly and slowly but manage to keep you utterly locked in for the duration. It's pure techno that has been remastered for this new edition across eight sides of wax. An absolute modern classic for sure.

Review: Talk about an opening statement of intent - Habitat Recordings are making the fiercest of first moves into the techno world by presenting this triple-vinyl compilation with some serious talent on board. Just check the opening round of tense, emotionally charged tech from Mind Against & Sideral, 'Criseide' and you'll get a feel for the vibe of the whole release. While there's a big-room appeal to these tracks, the emphasis is on melancholic, introspective moods such as the heartfelt piano sneaking into Dyzen's 'Talk To Me' or the intriguing re-framing of the house diva vocal in sad-eyed chords on Ivory's 'There Would Come A Day'. Sensitive souls take heed, this is the techno compilation for you.

Review: The Mutual Rytm label has been providing serious techno heads with irresistible ammunition for several years, and now comes a chance to own a huge chunk of the catalogue on this limited edition and bumper five record set. It features many of the label's key names past, present and future and deals in the sort of serious sounds that are for connoisseurs only. Standouts come thick and fast but the likes of Roll Dann's rolling and funky pumper 'That Will Never Happen', Alarico's urgent cosmic techno on 'Push To Select' and Selective Response's menacing and sawtooth bass sounds on 'Reality Unfolds' really epitomise what good techno is all about.

Review: ***B-STOCK: Box damaged, product in perfect working order***


You can always rely on the Cocoon compilations to bring you a high level of quality control and an authoritative overview of the state of techno around the time of release. This mammoth six-LP set will give you a lot of music to work with, and it's featuring a dizzying cast of high-end operators starting with the mighty Stephen Brown. Each track gets a side of vinyl to itself, serving as a kind of statement for how much faith the label put in each of these 12 tracks. Amongst the best on this top-drawer comp are Daniel Avery's metallic, spellbinding 'Your Future Looks Different In The Light' and Carl Finlow's lithe electro workout 'Surface Control', but as you might well expect each track is one you'll turn to again and again to give your mix some spice.

Review: Juan Mendez took his Silent Servant project to another level when he released Negative Fascination on Hospital Productions in 2012. His EBM-informed, brooding slant on techno had already made its mark on Sandwell District and other such influential labels, but his debut album afforded the space to really shape out his seductive sonic dystopia. More than ten years on, it stands tall as a masterpiece in the space it occupies, seething with hard-boiled urban malaise but equally adept at using subtlety alongside intensity. This expanded edition incorporates the Extended Mixes 12" as well as additional demo versions for those who like the tracks a little rawer.

Review: Feed-Forward was the first and last studio album from techno titans Sandwell District. It arrived some 13 years ago and this is the first time it has been reissued - it is also being made digitally available for the first time, too. The collective made up of Regis, Function, Female and Silent Servant have also shared a new and unheard track 'Surrender To The Unknown', which makes it onto this reissued version of the original album. It sits well with the rest of the cuts which bring together dub, industrial and techno in all new ways. The group is also back for a new series of live shows this year.

Review: London Records has announced a deluxe reissue of Orbital's iconic debut album, affectionately known as the Green Album. Originally released in 1991, it straddled the line between rave and ambient techno, featuring timeless tracks like 'Chime', 'Belfast,' and the Butthole Surfers-sampling 'Satan.' Now, those tracks are considered cornerstones of the early UK techno movement. This 4 disc CD set offers the most comprehensive experience, with the original album on disc one and a treasure trove of Green Album-era B-sides, remixes, and alternative versions on discs two and three. Disc four treats fans to two live sets from 1991/92, sourced from the band's soundboard recordings. Wrapped in a 12" box, the deluxe edition includes reprinted flyers from the era and a lavish 60-page hardback book chronicling the Green Album's story, complete with new notes and a track-by-track analysis by Phil and Paul Hartnoll. This reissue is a must-have for Orbital fans and electronic music aficionados alike, offering a comprehensive exploration of a seminal album's legacy.

Review: Some 30 years later, Flashback, the legendary game by Paul Cuisset, is back with a new addition to the franchise. A classic game for the players, the newly reissued version of Flaschback 2 gets a facelift on its 30th Anniversary, in "2.5D" - following his victory over the Master Brain in the first episode, Conrad and his allies are once again confronted with Morphs, whose modus operandi is to crush all civilization. The new OST was produced by Raphael Gesqua; with about one hundred original soundtracks created for video games or cinema since the beginning of the 90s, Gesqua reunites here with the one who got him started in the world of video games: Paul Cuisset, on Flashback: The Quest For Identity. Cuts from both versions of the game (Commodore and Amiga) appear as part of a rich soundtrack, swerving between cinematic music, electronics and synthwave ambiances. A must have for all science fiction fans.

Review: 33 Tours Et Puis S'en Vont marks a fine return for this true legend of techno. It has come in all formats and now arrives as limited hand-numbered gatefold coloured vinyl triple 12" box set plus CD, digital download, poster and sticker sheet making it the ultimate collector's edition. Contained within is Garnier's first solo long player in some eight years. It is one that focuses squarely on the dance floor with plenty of his fizzing, synth-heavy techno. Next to those bombs are plenty of lush vocal cuts that take their inspiration from hip-hop and broken beat, while 'Sado Miso' even finds him laying down some fresh thinking drum & bass.

Review: The Force Dimension was formed in the mid-1980s by Rene Van Dijck and Tycho De Groot. After some upstart demos and appearances on compilations, the band signed a contract with the Belgian label KK Records, on which their self-titled debut was released in 1989, curiously on two different versions; one produced by Luc Van Acker (Revolting Cocks) and the other co-produced by Dirk Ivens (Klinik, Dive). The duo continued developing their sound, which mixed EBM, industrial and ever-various electronic influences. In 1990 they finished what is considered their definitive work, Deus Ex Machina, followed by the mega club-hit 'Algorythm'; they released another single next year, 'New Funk', but after a couple of compilations stopped working together in 1997. It wasn't until 2013 that the project was resurrected by Van Dijck; such a resurrection certainly won't go unrewarded now that this whopping new compilation of early recordings from their earliest days now surfaces. Here, the pair unearth their best, most impressive incipient gothic disco-janks; cold, eclectic-DJ-set-mixable experiments for the genre historicist.

Review: Now in its second reissues round, 'The B Sides' are a cornucopia of vintage techno gems from the Belgian techno maestro Frank De Wulf. Each track on this glistening record could be classed as an oldie but goldie, having graced the iconic Belgian label Music Man Records in 1990 - which evidently is still going strong. Recall delectably crude space jams and hardware ham-fists.

Review: ***B-STOCK: Slight box damage, otherwise in perfect condition***


Now in its second reissues round, 'The B Sides' are a cornucopia of vintage techno gems from the Belgian techno maestro Frank De Wulf. Each track on this glistening record could be classed as an oldie but goldie, having graced the iconic Belgian label Music Man Records in 1990 - which evidently is still going strong. Recall delectably crude space jams and hardware ham-fists.