Back catalogue: Techno (All)

Review: Techno talents don't come much more proven than Speedy J and Surgeon. Both are veterans of the game but artists who have remained at the sharp end and their Multiples collaborative project is in part responsible for that. Now it births a full-length album of tweaked experiments that take techno into new realms. The whole thing was recorded in just two days at J's STOOR lab in Rotterdam on an array of hardware machines. Each tune is a raw, one-take affair which means they are perfectly imperfect and feel utterly alive. Techno and elector collide with beatless moments, pummelling low ends and plenty of club heft.

Review: Now resident artists on Point Of Departure, the techno collective Sandwell District present their latest blooping contradiction in transparent blue vinyl form. Drawing on the well-defined Birmingham techno idiom that made them, the elusive revolving-door trio also here welcome temporary stopovers from fellow floor functionaries Function, Regis, Monic and Rivet on each track, treading roads 'Less Travelled' with a 'Restless' intent. From the synaptic promo forerunner 'Hidden' to the tartly corrosive 'Citrinitas Acid', an unsurprising variety of new techno hurlers follows 2023's Feed Forward reissue, augmenting the free-partisan's immune system by hooking it up to a kind of patchwork electric lattice. Controlled chaos ensues.

Review: Aftere their unexpected reformation - apparently after key member Karl O'Connor was persuaded by none other than grunge king Mark Lanegan to end their decade-long hiartus - comes an even less expected new album from the cult Birmingham (or Black Country, to be more precise) techno gods. The album is a tribute to the late Juan Mendez, a key member of Sandwell District who passed away in early 2024. Mendez's unfinished artwork, originally intended for the album cover, serves as a poignant memorial to his contribution to their legacy. It's anything but functional techno, thouhg, with plenty of skittering, sidewinding beats and pared back rather than utterly banging rhythms. See the cinematic techno and dancefloor energy that blends Drexciya's innovative approach for reference, but also Autechre and more esoteric electro across the eight cuts. Plenty of sonic rebellion and meticulously crafted rhythm with a dark energy, not to mention edgy atmopsheres that will leave a lasting mark.

Review: Tresor Records is celebrating the legacy of Detroit techno pioneers Scan 7 with the reissue of their debut album, Dark Territory. Originally released in 1996, this influential LP has been remastered from the original DAT files by Mike Grinser, with select tracks like 'Unusual Channel' mixed by techno legend Blake Baxter. The reissue features updated artwork and comes in a double vinyl format, preserving the raw energy and forward-thinking sound that defines the album. Dark Territory is a masterclass in techno minimalism, characterised by tough, groovy rhythms and a deep, restrained atmosphere. Tracks like 'Planet Energy' showcase Scan 7's ability to build tension with precision, holding back before unleashing powerful basslines that electrify the dancefloor. The group's leader, Trackmaster Lou, conveyed his vision of techno's future with each track, blending Detroit's signature machine-funk with a darker, moodier edge. Scan 7's debut was ahead of its time. Even nearly 30 years later, it still feels fresh, reaffirming their place in techno's pantheon. The remastered release allows a new generation to experience the depth and innovation of Dark Territory in a new package.

Review: For two decades Buenos Aires-based electronic music producer Sebastian Galante aka Seph has been honing his craft in the Latin American underground with his label Aula Magna Records, which in turn gave rise to releases on Echocord, Insurgentes and many more. Recently he's been dropping bangers on Tresor as one half of Oscean, alongside Andres Zacco, and now arrives on Lapsus Records with Septimo Sentido. Here he brings his expert sound design to the fore, channelling classic mid-'90s electronica ala Aphex Twin, Skam, Reload, and/or u-Ziq, except Galante's approach is a lot more digital-esque than those artists' otherwise largely analogue stances. Opener 'OBI' recalls the daydreamy pad-n-stuttery neo-IDM of Lanark Artefax or Quirke; this mood is maintained for quite a while until the first whiff of acid is smelt on the A3 'Felina'. The record gets better and better, airier and airier, in fact; 'Skyways Shuriken' is especially sharp and recondite, and 'Dragonscale' blows us instantly away with its D&D-soundscape-worthy finesse. An aetheric release, one that wouldn't sound out of place as the next Mirror's Edge soundtrack.

Review: I'm Really From Detroit by Sheefy McFly - who is a new name on us, we must admit - is a bold, raw homage to Detroit's famous sound. Blending ghettotech with various other potent rhythmical styles, McFly delivers an authentic and powerful sound full of smart artistry and self-released to showcase his independence. It features standout tracks like 'Eddie's Revenge' and 'I'm Out Here (Ghettotech Remix)' with guests Twisted and McFly himself getting feature credits. McFly's deep roots in Detroit shine through these cuts which offer an unfiltered look into his creative vision.

Review: Swedish duo SHXCXCHCXSH distort club music by using a refined, idiosyncratic palette that challenges functionality. As logophiles, they twist language into fragmented, barely recognisable sequences, reflecting their experimental process. Their new album marks their debut for Northern Electronics and showcases a broader exploration of sound. Spanning 15 tracks in style, it combines drone elements, shredded vocals and chaotic melodies to make for a dark, intense atmosphere. Interspersed with brooding yet effervescent breaks, ......t is their most focused and comprehensive work to date and it also pushes their sound into new territories.

Review: The next level beat maker and sound designer that is Skee Mask returns to long-time home label Ilian Tape with another bold and brilliant album, Resort. It's an album that expands on the artist's usual sound with fusions of celestial ambient, IDM sound design and lithe, rhythmic techno drums. There are breakbeats on 'Reminiscrmx' backlit by heavenly pads, 'Schneiders Paradox' is marbled with zippy pads and raw drum hits, 'BB Care' glistens with a futuristic glow and 'Holzl Was A Dancer' slips into a shuffling, UKG tinged dub house pumper. It's a wild, wonderful ride that reaches all new levels for this already accomplished producer.

Review: Sound Synthesis is the alias of a Maltese producer with a brilliantly evocative and rich take on electro. He proves that beyond doubt with this new album of accomplished sound design across four sides of vinyl. Right from the off this one sucks you into its own singular world. 'Finding Balance' pairs a pensive melody with slick rhythms and from there the goodness never stops coming. 'DRG Branch' is a double-speed workout, 'Realm Of Human Understanding' is ambient for star gazing and 'The Cosmic Highway' is a lush brain dance.

Review: Celebrating 25 years of Zodiak Commune Records, this thrilling journey through acid techno and trance is not for the faint of heart. This three record set features 15 dancefloor-ready tracks that capture the essence of acid with mind-bending lines and pulsating beats. Highlights include the hard-hitting acid trance of 'Delta Waves', the ancient alien vibes of 'Utopic Future' and the minimal acid monster 'Gate To Nowhere'. 'Explore' whips up an acid frenzy, while 'Chronos' offers a march of high-energy, classic techno. A daring exploration of the genre, designed for the headstrong and adventurous

Review: Space Drum Meditation is back with a reissue of Four Tusks, a 12-track odyssey of dreaded sonics and trepidatious treks through augmented wildernesses. Their debut album and seventh reissue on the eponymous label, the duo of Eddie Ness and Liem were once fixtures of the house musical landscape at large, yet only with SDM did they turn their hands to demurer experimental soundscapes, informed by the "tribal" gloom and etherics of an electro-auxed rainforest. Throughout Four Tusks, we hear the sleeker, pantherine side of their catalogue, with ritualistic drumming heard well-melded into many a grim, cowled and rattling texture, all glued by the faint but here still oppressive sound of rain, not to mention vapour steaming off the megaphylls.

Review: Psychonauts, brace yourselves... A reissue of the classic track by artist Spacetime Continuum and ethnobotanist Terrence McKenna is upon us. The six-track EP 'Alien Dreamtime' was first released on Astralwerks in 1993, and came as the first ever release by Jonah Sharp, who played an instrumental hand in pioneering the sample-use of spiritually-enhancing spoken word segments as preludes to magnanimous, ambient electronica tracks. McKenna himself is credited as a collaborator; this EP documents the moment Sharp teamed up with the entheogenic pundit, alongside fellow didgeridoo player Stephen Kent, for an hour-long spoken word rave live in the psycho-breaks capital, San Francisco. "For your edification", McKenna intones and then continues, "the psilocybin mushroom is the catalyst of human evolution and language..." as the wildest possible atmospheric forms of take shape on the highlight dance-scapes 'Transient Generator' and McKenna's glossolalic 'Speaking In Tongues'.

Review: With A Real Piece Of Work, Stillhead helps Brightest Dark Place reach into the "hazy, blurred overlap between techno and ambient", throwing a suspension chord between two bluffs over a vast sonic chasm, and letting terse rhythms monkey-swing across it, letting reverb bellow from below. This is an equally dynamic but intense listening experience, proving that vast, chasmic sound design need not chafe against dynamic buoyancy: the two can coexist. Keeping to about 170BPM, the Edinburgh DJ marks his sixth release here, and it is an impressive logical extension from 2022's comparable mission statement Restraint And Reverb: 'The Red Ball' suspends a sampled 'Funky Drummer' over an atoll of sub compulsions, while 'A Light Thump On The Head' stretches a classic future garage rhythm over a telegraphic void, with dispersive, long-decaying results.

Review: Andy Stott excels at exploring the spaces between electronic genres and has gone for many years now, He is known for crafting a unique, ever-evolving sound and after experimenting with minimal techno and dub early on, he defined his style in 2011's Passed Me By, a world of grey tones, static and experimental rhythms. In 2012's Luxury Problems, Alison Skidmore's haunting vocals added a human touch to his artificial landscapes then with the now ten-year-old Faith in Strangers, Stott fused his signature sound with influences like trap and minimalism. Over 54 minutes, the album builds in intensity and is still unmatched in its originality and impact.

Review: Born and raised in Bern, Switzerland, Michael Antener spent most of the 1980s concerned with interpreting the subconsciously and overtly apocalyptic discourse of that time through the medium of industrial-edged, dark feeling music. "I found a niche where I could express myself, along with other people who were not afraid of dark themes," he's quoted as saying in retrospect, before going on to explain that singing about love would have been more difficult than using "cries of pain taken from horror movies". This triple vinyl collector's item celebrates that fertile, if angry and dystopian period in Antener's life. Bringing together work from two of his formative projects, The Stranger of the Swamp and Bande Berne Crematoire, what's here is captivating. Electroclash with groove, distressed collages of noise, a certain sense of sonic expressionism - all brooding shadows, menacing arrangements and deeply unsettling moods.

Review: Wolfgang Voigt's Studio 1 and Freiland are landmark examples of 1990s minimalist concept techno. Studio 1 defined a stripped-down, hypnotic approach, while Freiland explored a more experimental, textured sound. This release features two discs with each of those differing approaches served up, but the second compiles the best of Freiland into a continuous set. Both showcase Voigt's pioneering vision and knack for marrying great precision with an absorbing atmosphere in a way that remains influential today. Essential listening for techno-purists and fans of the avant-garde.

Review: UK-based producer Yuri Suzuki goes hard as nails on his latest effort, landing on Detroit Underground with an unfettered collection of pounding techno cuts. Having previously released on labels including Sketches, Accidental, and Super Rhythm Trax, including notable collaborations with Ed DMX, this long-player is among his most unflinching. From the aptly titled 'Violent Acid Stuff' to the no-less descriptive 'Raver', the tempo maintains a furious pace throughout, with pounding drums, jarring synths, and, of course, searing 303 lines very much the order of the day. Simply put, if you're a fan of acid techno, you'd be strongly advised to buy this one on sight.

Review: mindSET is the ninth album from elusive producer SW. and it comes after his well-received myDEFINITIONS Vol II release. In mindSET, the producer explores the more abstract, leftfield elements of electronic music and departs somewhat from traditional techno and IDM sounds. The album draws inspiration from the off-kilter house and broken beats that briefly emerged in the early to mid-90s and are made using classic analogue equipment to capture the essence of that style. The eight tracks take in de-tuned techno synths, syncopated drums and warped harmonics to create an eerie, otherworldly atmosphere. mindSET is a tribute to the oddball moments on the dancefloor and we love it.