Back catalogue: Techno (All)

Review: The sixth album from Radioactive Man aka former Weatherall collaborator Keith Tenniswood, written amid a whirlwind of international touring,. 'Under The Counter' sets the tone with its soft, gleaming textures and deep bass. From there, the album dives into a vibrant mix of styles, from the slap bass funk of 'See Above' to the dense techno of 'Colourful Language'. But there's more than bangers. 'Sinkhole', for example, a collaboration with Suade Bergemann featuring vocals from Ali Love and Chloe Raunet, provides a poignant counterpoint with its melancholic melody. This triple 12" package, released on Tenniswood's own label, is a journey through UK rave, breakbeat and Detroit techno, all filtered through the lens of a master electro craftsman.

Review: The Dalmata Daniel label welcomes Rapha for Midnight Dancer, a bold new album of journey electro and electronics. 'U Win I Win' gets things underway with glistening and innocent melodies over steely analogue drums. The CT Kidobo remix) makes it more raw and elsewhere the artist plays with slower tempos for chugging cuts like 'Midnight Dancer' that still shine with bright, pixel-thin pads. Add in gems like 'Lost Star' and 'Galactico' and you have a tastefully intergalactic trip from which you won't want to return.

Review: Mind Express boss Refracted, AKA Berlin's Alex Moya, emerges from the depths of some murky, oily, opaque lake. A place unsettling and unnerving - the site of some unknown tension - but also wonderfully inimitable and hard to countenance. Powerful stuff, just not really in a way that immediately presents itself as such. Nevertheless, before you know it these tones have enveloped and ensnared. Call it ambient techno, call it ambient, call it pure futurism - parts here almost feel like the ambient noises of familiar things that haven't been invented yet. If that makes sense? A moody precog of a record, it whirs and drones, echoes and dissipates. There are moments when structure become more defined, like the mystery of 'Initiation', but for the most part these are aural infinity loops.

Review: Rivet's newest album for Editions Mego blends optimism and negation, emerging sanguinely from a period of personal tragedy and disillusionment undergone by the artist. Mika Hallback, a key figure in the Swedish underground, first gained attention with industrial techno as Grovskopa before shifting to experimental work, including On Feather and Wire (2020). After the loss of fellow musician Peter Rehberg and his dog Lilo, Hallback created the somber L+P-2 (2023), and now Peck Glamour marks his return, coming reinfused with hope and exploration. Drawing on punk, industrial, techno, and trauma, the album combines synthetic and organic elements, with 'Orbiting Empty Cocoon', with its tugging, metal ballistic sound-rooms sounding like an Au-technic, cybernetic ritual, a dance anthem 'Patitur Butcher' and 'We Left Before We Came' concluding on comparatively layered zoonotic notes; posthuman synthesis backed by birdsong.

Review: Dublin-based artist Rustal is Peter Sweeney and he has a deep sound that he now brings to New York's renowned BlackCat label. Three of these originals are recorded in one-take performances at BlackCat HQ in the summer of 2024 and one is a dub reggae jam made in collaboration with label boss Jack Russell and Sonuga. 'Angel Of Light' is a widescreen dub techno opener with fuzzy, fizzy synths ripping out to infinity over dynamic drums. 'Flower Brick' is more intense with the oversized hi-hat ringlets and 'Ukiyo' is minimal and sparse in its drums and pads but soon locks you in. 'Burn Down Babylon' is a late-night stoner soundtrack for full mental immersion.