Back catalogue: Techno (All)

Review: Marie Davidson's sixth studio album finds her collaborating with Belgium bossmen Soulwax - previously responsible for the massive rework of her 'Work It' track - and Pierre Guerineau. It follows her fiery single 'Y.A.A.M. (Your Asses Are Mine)' and the intense club track 'Contrarian' and marks a return to the dance floor but reimagined with the artist's signature sense of evolution. Blending the techno punch and spoken-word edge of Working Class Woman with the melodic pop structures of Renegade Breakdown, City of Clowns delivers a striking sonic fusion that is inspired by her pre-pandemic roots yet shaped by fresh antagonism, all while Davidson confronts a new foe: Big Tech.

Review: Some 24 years into his career, we know exactly what to expect from Scott Monteith AKA Deadbeat - namely trippy, off-kilter techno heavily informed by dub, underpinned by rhythms that frequently eschew the obvious. Inspired dually by the "five stages of grief" and "the act of speaking one's thoughts aloud alone by oneself", Kubler-Ross Soliloquies - his first solo set in five years - has a defined structure and purpose, within which Monteith giddily goes in all manner of different but loosely connected directions. Compare and contrast, for example, the moody, twisted steppers-techno of 'With Grand Trepidation (Acceptance I)', the hypnotic, spoken word-sporting deep dub techno of 'Huey Lewis Voters Dub (Negotiation)', the skittish headiness of 'Tough Love (Anger I)', and the polyrhythmic, Livity Sound-esque 'The Double Bong Cloud (Denial I)'.

Review: As usual, prolific dub techno producer Rod Modell has spent much of the last year collaborating with long-term studio buddy Stephen Hitchell under the Echospace alias. Even so, he's still somehow found time to ready another solo album for Soma (his fifth in total for the esteemed Glasgow imprint). This CD version is presented as a continuous audio journey, with tracks seamlessly segueing into each other to create a hazy and hypnotic sound soup. As you'd expect, it's a hugely atmospheric and attractive affair that dozily drifts between meditative ambience and texture-laden dub techno. Pleasingly, much of the material is more melodious and positive in feel than some of Modell's work, which can often tend towards the dense and claustrophobic.

Review: Functional Designs is the newest album from Detroit-based Deepchord, who has long been a mainstay of Scottish techno label Soma. It is full of late-night sounds and the artist's signature designs and is a fine return to the label after five years since his last album. Each track pays out like a nighttime walk through his urban local with field recordings, holographic synth tones, cosmic sounds and the hiss of electric wires all colouring the grooves. This rich, lush techno with an electroacoustic aesthetic that makes it glisten a bit brighter. Add in heavy bass and beats and you have a modern classic.

Review: Swiss-born Deetron (aka Sam Geiser) unveils his debut album 'Twisted' on Belgium's esteemed Music Man imprint. As proven by his constantly expanding catalogue of productions, Deetron is capable of creating tracks that sit happily within the context of a DJ set (something he understands very well), whilst avoiding landing in the often throwaway category of 'DJ tools'. As with many of the more dynamic turntablist-styled techno and house DJs, Deetron took his early cues from hip-hop, before being won-over by the early sounds of Chicago and Detroit. His DJing - then still in its infancy - followed this influence, steering his 'career' in a more 4/4 direction - eventually landing him a resident spot at reputed Zurich club, Trax. Deetron's production career developed in tandem, as is often the case. Early work for labels such as Phont and Intec through the late nineties and 2000, saw Deetron finding his audience (including a string of International club jocks) and developing his own sound. In the last few years, Sam's production touch has graced labels including Cosmic (as Karakter), Ongaku (the 'Lorraine EP'), SLS and the classic Detroit styled 'Miss Suave' on Intec which has become a dancefloor anthem all over the world. Born in Bern, Switzerland, music was a constant in the Geiser family home. Sam's father's activities as a jazz musician ensured that he was surrounded by music from a very early age, sewing the seeds of his own musical interests. But it was hip-hop that encouraged this to flourish into an active involvement in music, during his teens. Sam soaked-up the music of Gangstarr, A Tribe Called Quest and Prince Paul like a sponge and was quick to realise the role of the turntable within this context, taking up DJing in 1992. Early hip-house producers, such as Todd Terry, also captured his attention and Sam began to make the transition to more 4/4 orientated sounds - picking up on the now classic output of Chicago and Detroit based electronic musicians and introducing this into the sets he was, by now, playing around his home town, and further a field in Switzerland. A meeting with Stefan Riesen, head of the fledgling Phont music, led to the release of Deetron's first single - as Soulmate, in 1997 but possibly the most fruitful partnership of his career so far is that with Belgium's Music Man label. Beginning with the 'Dolls For a Diva' 12" in 2001, and including several more 12"s and a superb mix CD that acts as ample testament to Sam's skills behind the turntables, Deetron now releases his first artist full length album. Combining Sam's love of house, classic techno, electro, Latin and jazz influences, 'Twisted' is a beautiful journey through an electronic landscape littered with orchestral sweeps, delicate pads, sublime Robert Owens-esque vocals, dancefloor beats and heart tugging strings. Featuring guest appearances from Subject Detroit's DJ Bone, LA based singer Ovasoul 7, vocalist and guitarist Justin Chapman, who is also one-half of the Atlanta-based DJ/production duo KemeticJust and the one and only Paris The Black Fu from the Detroit Grand Pubahs 'Twisted' is a dancefloor journey from beginning to end. From the opening bass rumble of 'Twisted Memories' to the old school Chicago vox stylings of 'Life Soundtrack' and the Drexciyan wiggle of 'Isotope' to the demented refrains of 'The Afterlife', Deetron shows us that techno can still conjure moments of beauty whilst still keeping us on the dancefloor.

Review: Celebrating 25 years of Der Dritte Raum, pioneering producer Andreas Kruger presents 25 EINS, a collection of classics and hits, all reconstructed (except "Plasmatica," 1992). This release marks the first in a series of anniversary albums, set to continue with ZWEI. Released on Sven Vath's iconic Harthouse label, 25 EINS captures Kruger's signature blend of techno, trance, electro and house. With timeless tracks and modern productions like "Polarized Echoes," Kruger's distinctive sound continues to captivate generations of ravers worldwide.

Review: Back in the autumn of 2023, Bedrock co-founder John Digweed delivered Futuro, a four-disc mix made up entirely of new and unreleased music. On this two-disc sequel, 20 of those tunes get the remix treatment, with Digweed presenting them via a pair of typically smooth, evolving journey style DJ mixes. It's typical Digweed/Bedrock fare all told - think deep, immersive and gently melodic blends of 21st century progressive house, tech-house, deep house and (whisper it quietly) colourful neo-trance. There are some surprises though, such as the dub-flecked, tops-off techno hyonotism of Digweed and Nick Muir's rework of David Morales' 'Diridim', Spencer Brown's gorgeous and tactile revision of 'Alraegadir' by Rodriguez Jr, and Loz Goddard's progressive breaks re-build of Digweed and Muir's 'Futurascent'.