Tags: Experimental Techno

Review: RBCHMBRS pushes his MPC - if that is the tool he used for this - to the max with a heavy mix of ramshackle loops, samples, busted drums and wonky rhythms on this great new EP for 1432 R US. It is steeped in hip-hop style for the way the grooves are so loosely assembled, but with a more rooted four-four house vibe. 'OD' is a deep and dusty opener for the back room, 'Eloise' brings hi tek funk and intense soul with Motor City overtones and 'Toe The Line' is a humid deep house cut that Theo Parrish or Moodymann might admire. 'Take Me' rounds out with twanging bass riffs and smeared chords that ooze heartfelt warmth.

Review: When a label calls itself Bring Dat Ass you can bet your bottom dollar that it's going to release proper sleazy electro. Enter Toribio with a superb four track EP of just that to get this new imprint underway. 'No Pare' is a firing cut the kick off with - synths dart about with their own mind, the tested bassline never lets up and the analogue drums jack for days. 'Work Dat Shit' is a little slower and bumpier with some bright acid prickles and 'Cimarron Palace' then unfolds with the same swing of a UK funky track. 'Anti Narcoleptic' is the best of the bunch - a weird and wonderful wonky out with clattering percussion and jumbled drum madness.

Review: Kompakt's Total 24 compilation is the nest episode in the label's amazing series. This cd version opens with Hamburg's Ada remixing Heiko Voss, followed by Jurgen Paape's vibrant 'Chee-Caruso.' Newcomer Deer Jade delivers the frolicsome house track 'Jukurpa,' while Jonathan Kaspar's 'Are You' captures the euphoria of his DJ sets. Hardt Antoine impresses with his dynamic style, and Sascha Funke pays homage to German showbiz with 'The Heck.' Tee Mango joins with his unique sound, and Joyce Muniz teams up with Sara Blum for the uplifting 'Beats & Lines.' Gui Boratto collaborates with Darren Emerson on the captivating 'The Shell,' and Rex The Dog offers the heartfelt 'Laika.' Raxon's 'Beskar' showcases his Star Wars inspiration, and David Hasert and Nicone's 'Wasting My Time With You' is a highlight. Reinhard Voigt's quirky 'Der, der mit dem Gummiball sang (Orange)' features various animals, while Argia's 'Love Keeps You Running' blends groove and pop. Wassermann's track concludes the compilation with a touch of Arabian Nights magic. Total 24 is a diverse and engaging collection that exemplifies Kompakt's ability to curate exceptional electronic music.

Review: Akua Grant's outings as Lady Blacktronika are always worth checking, and her first full outing on Peggy Gou's Gudu label is no different. 'Baby I Got It' is full-on aural madness - a bombastic blend of beefy, redlined house drums, ghostly chords, pitched-up vocal samples and discordant minor key melodies - while 'Sing The Blues' is a deliciously drowsy chunk of wayward, dub-flecked deep house that's as beautiful as it is trippy. Best of all though is the locked-in deep house hypnotism of 'Hold My Hand', which features some superbly soulful vocal samples, metronomic bass and spacey electronic textures. Octa Octa provides a fine remix of that cut, too, re-imaging it as a stomping slab of lo-fi, funk-fuelled breakbeat house headiness.

Review: Detroit house hero Kyle Hall returns with his biggest project in some time in the form of Transmissions, a new double album on his own well-regarded Forget The Clock. All six tracks have enigmatic, functional titles and the music is as idiosyncratic as ever. Each one veers more towards techno than is Hall's usual style, with pulsating synth lines and tight, dusty drum tracks making for stripped-to-the-bones grooves. Later on, things grow ever more abstract with twisted acid lines screwing their way through the increasingly ragged and roughshod drums. These are perfectly imperfect jams from a master of the form.

Review: Make Your Own Meaning continues to convey its unique techno message with a new statement of intent from label head Lurka. The artist has been busy of late and continues to be on a roll with another fascinating four tracker that genuinely serves up some original sounds and rhythms. 'Trip' gets things underway with organic percussive patterns stacked up over drilling bass to make for a prickly groove. 'Airlock' is similar but darker and heavier and 'Sick Flips' keeps the nimble feel going with dancing perc, rigid synths and scratchy sound effects all coalescing over broken drum patterns. Last of all is another dense, busy and multi-layered melange of tiny percussive sounds, synths and clipped rhythms that will make any floor move.

Review: This is the thirrd release by the amazing Italian producer Ivan Iacobucci for the Perlon label. The previous two were so well received, this next one was destined to come out sooner than later. Perlon fans know what to expect from their label of choice and Ivan delivers the goods. Those addictively quirky and fonky jackin' minimal techno jams. The title track is that and then some! We especially like the sexy jam 'Waiting For My Love'. Expect the unexpected when you flip over the record as 'Close the Door' is a full-on acid banger that combines high energy techno into what sounds like a video game soundtrack theme song! Closing things out is the wild sounding 'Fear & Madness in the Desert'. We are smiling at the thought of someone playing out these corkers to audience. Expect to see WTF typefaces everywhere!

Review: Back in 2008, noted experimentalist Alva Noto began a sporadic series of albums that were far more focused on dancefloor-inspired rhythms than his usual eccentric and inspiring fare. Unieqav is the third and, we're told, final part of the series. The album is apparently meant to be a sonic representation of an underwater dive, a conceptual theme which manifests itself through the storied producer's use of deep and atmospheric chords, fluid and occasionally glistening electronics, and rhythms that evoke images of ever-deeper dives into the dark, cold depths. Rhytmically, there are nods to electro, IDM, dub techno and Autechre, though the mood remains laidback and intoxicated throughout.

Review: It is widely known for being a label that deals in mature techno and tech with top class melodies, but Kompakt has also put out its fare share of leftfield yet crowd pleasing curveballs. We get the sense that this is one of them from Andreas Dorau, particularly the Wassermann Tubass mix of 'Unsichtbare Tanzer' which is off balance tech with curious vocals. The Sog mix is like a colourful adult lullaby and the original has big prog guitar licks and 80s synth flourishes. Finally, the Wassermann Rausch mix is a meandering tech cut with plodding drums and bass.

Review: Everything about this new marbled vinyl 12" is unknown - the artist, the label, and even the track titles. It is the purest way to put out music and avoid the cult of personality and in-built bias that comes when hearing an artist's name or seeing the label they release on. Thankfully the music has plenty to say as it traverses myriad different club-ready styles from lithe minimal bass music to icy electro that makes the heart flutter via more slow, twisted, dubby rhythms for late night back rooms, while the crushing breakbeats of 'Track 5' also stand out for their sheer forcefulness.

Review: Inimeg Records label boss and general underground don Joey Anderson has always operated on the fringes of the deepest house and techno sounds. The New Jersey mainstay returns now with the Vanish EP on Obia Records while owner Wendel Sield also pops up with one tune. Anderson's trio ranges from the dusty, smoky basement dub of 'Vanish' to the ticking and glitchy minimal menace of 'Masked Ones' via the intense synth dystopia of 'Escape'. Sield's 'Cultivate' is a smeared, spacious cut with meandering pads and prickly percussion that zones you out for days.

Review: If new talent is your thing, Shall Not Fade has long been a label to watch. While the Bristol-based imprint does sign material from established artists, it consistently promotes music from new or early career producers too. Daughters of Frank, a pair of sisters from London, are the latest rising stars to make their bow on the label. Their debut EP is genuinely impressive, too, delivering a mix of hallucinatory, spaced-out liquid drum and bass ('A Club Serenade'), stripped-back and fiendishly sub-heavy workouts seemingly informed by the skeletal construction and dub-wise weight of bleep techno (EP highlight 'Tracksuit'), giddily saucer-eyed, early morning anthems-in-waiting (the sunrise special that is 'Velvet'), and deep, spaced-out two-step garage (the heady and intoxicating 'Lust 2 Luv').

Review: DJ Sotofett returns with a double 12" packed with eight hard-hitting, underground techno tracks. Featuring frequent collaborators LNS, L.A. 2000, Ronny Nyheim, and Zarate_Fix, this release is a direct nod to the no-nonsense techno nights at Berlin's iconic Tresor club, where Sotofett holds residency. Each track is crafted with pure dancefloor energy in mind, moving through dub-driven techno, acidic overtones, and percussive basslines, all delivered with a raw, uncompromising edge. WANIA mk1 is a masterclass in DJ-ready versatility, perfect for those who love their techno stripped back and potent. Standout cuts include the bombastic, percussion-heavy Preparation and the 909-vocoder-fuelled My Spirit Is In Techno Music, both of which exemplify the release's dedication to the underground essence of the genre. With alternative mixes from WANIA mk2 making an appearance, the album offers both continuity and innovation, keeping true techno fans hooked from start to finish. Sotofett's attention to detail in programming, mixing, and mastering is evident throughout, making this a must-have for DJs and clubbers who live and breathe the core of real, unfiltered techno music. WANIA mk1 isn't just an album; it's a statement for those who value authenticity in their club experience.

Review: TV Hill Records starts things off rough and curiosity-rousing, with a technical itch from OG AG (Andrew Grant) in collaboration with fellow producer Dimneonsum. A mid-paced deep techno calculator, 'What's Up Everybody' pares back any semblance of emotion for pure robotic urgency, with every sound moving in juddering clockwork lockstep in an abstracted world of pure, preservative mathematic topology. Opener 'San Fran' pits nervous FM loops against an equally anxious Shepard-tonal riser, while calmer moments such as the beatless 'Drakey' still disquiet with their eerie glassiness. One for the bleepy heads, the only humanistic element is the revelatory vocal sample on 'Found Out'.

Review: CWPT's founder Palms Trax is next to coax some left of centre house goodness from the studio of Wallace following fine outings on the likes of Mule Musiq, Studio Barnhus and Rhythm Section. They usually come on his own label Tartan but have increasingly been heard all over the shop and we're glad about that because the more the merrier. 'Willow' is the sort of airy and uplifting melodic hose sound that will make whole crowds float on a cloud. 'Breathe' has the same levitating effect while 'Masada' is a slower sound with more patent chords and sinewy synths. 'River Dancers' is a steamy jungle roller with bird calls, whimsical melodies and a typical feel.

Review: Mother Tongue's 'Yellow Jackets' series is wilfully eclectic, meaning second-guessing what will be on the next release is nigh-on impossible, but undeniably essential. Put simply, each EP in the series so far has been nigh on essential. Happily, volume five is superb too. On side A, Detroit scene stalwart Marcellus Pittman does a superb job of reworking a cult classic - Belgian outfit Arbeit Adelt's 1983 post-punk masterpiece 'Death Disco'. His resultant re-edit emphasises the track's weighty, low-slung groove, mind-mangling electronics and weirdo noises, extending the intro and outro to allow DJs to ride the mix. Over on side B, Chicagoan genius Jamal Moss dons the Hieroglyphic Being guise and offers up a sublime slab of intergalactic excellence, peppering a deep, shuffling, distorted rhythm track with spacey electronics and shimmering, star-gazing melodies.

Review: Spiritual endurance tester Joaquin "Joe" Claussell returns for another topup for the Yellow Jackets series. Volume Eight is yet another heliotropic hummer, with the two ingenious progressive, naturalisti-house cuts found thereon (two new versions of 'Erratic Telepathy' and 'Who Do You Love', the latter by Josh Honeycomb) bringing much tweezy and brain-furthering motif to the two-side mix form. The first track is especially impressive for the counterpoint set up between the right-panned marimba and the left-panned filter-synth, the latter of which dances like a magic firefly against the former's lemni-spatial mallet-bed. The B-sider is much more soulful, bringing interspersive vocals and subtle hat layering to a an all-out funky freakout.

Review: With such a collaboration heavy project in the "Yet Another Kito Jempere Album" announced it is no surprise that this following remixes pack comes laden with familiar friends'n'family, plus additional support.

Taking the ambient meets acappella paene Your Ghost In Me and creating one of his on-point dance floor dramas, Lipelis (Animals Dancing / LIES), utilising Hard Ton's classic 'US House' vocal delivery to create a perfect "big room" anthem.

Next up Born Free boss, Samo DJ (Public Possession / Trilogy Tapes) pumps A King Of Comets with Mood II Swing punch meets Ballistic Brothers riddim'n'culture for some hip-breaks-dancehall swing.

Cable Toy (Low Budget Family) presents the label favourite with his bouncing, yearning remix of album stand out, Time Traveller. Countered with a perfect touch of summer vibrations and melancholia this up and coming St Petersburg resident has to be watched.

Finally, Linja (Avidiya / Malka Tuti) offers a deep, shuffling version of Untitled Ritual. Arpeggios throb, percussion snaps, tempos shift, planets realign, vocals by Noteless call...wait believing, just we have seen it, God is waiting, nothing can bleeding.

Only friends. Only family. This is Kito's emotional response.

Review: The Abstract Eye often works live and crafts tunes in one take, and that MO is the idea behind this new collection. It features plenty of hard-to-define sounds from over the last ten years, many of them with a cosmic synth outlook and raw analogue drums. 'Skyfather' is a real eye opener with its sense of mystic cosmic wonder, 'Real Myths' fizzes bring as burning phosphorus and 'A Yearning Feeling' is more paired back and introspective with jittery drums and electro rhythms all soothed by the melancholic synth work.