Back in stock: Techno (All)

Review: One of the genre's funkiest groups, continuing where Cybotron, Model 500 and Drexciya left off and heading to a style all of their own, Aux 88 aka Tom Tom (Tommy Hamilton) and Keith Tucker (DJ name DJ K1) give two tracks from their classic 2009 album Mad Scientist an inaugural outing on vinyl, getting electro fans everywhere dribbling with instant Pavlovian desire in the process, no doubt. 'Voice Modulation' is slower, heavier and steadier, built around a shuddering b-line that anyone with a pulse will find hard to resist. 'Mad Scientist' the track, meanwhile, is faster and, with its vocoder-ed vocal delivery from Tucker, gives a good flavour of what makes the Michigan pair a vital live act as well as a legendary studio prospect.

Review: Earlier this week the label found a box of Aux 88's 2009 set Mad Scientist in a dusty corner of their warehouse. This was a stroke of luck because, quite simply, it's brilliant. At the time of recording, it was the legendary Detroit electro act's sixth studio set and marked their comeback from a four-year hiatus. Rugged, robust, sci-fi seeped and unashamedly Afro-futurist, the set combines occasional ambient interludes and funk-fuelled numbers with the kind of hard, aggressive, acid-fired electro hedonism that the Motor City outfit has always done so well. As a result, it should be considered one of their strongest albums, as well as an essential collection of throbbing, strobe-lit dancefloor cuts.

Review: Detroit duo Aux88 always danced to a different drum than their Motor City peers, developing a ludicrously weighty trademark sound that put massive, mind-mangling analogue bass and gut-punching electro beats at the heart of the action. "Direct Drive", a 1995 release that has long been hard to find (hence this much-needed reissue), is one of the best examples of their distinctive sound. The title track (side A on this edition) is little more than a raw, thrusting bassline, snappy machine beats, spacey pads and occasional Kraftwerk samples, but it's brilliantly floor-friendly and brilliantly executed - Detroit body music for those who like their club cuts sub-heavy. Elsewhere, "Aux Express (DJ K1 Mix)" is a bouncy electro jam and the short "Bytes" tracks are wonky vocal samples for creative DJs.

Review: DJ K-1's (Keith Tucker - AUX88) re-release for modern electro heads on the Direct Beat Classics label (including unreleased track from 95).

Review: Set your radars to the cosmos and prepare for intergalactic take-off at the hands of this new one from K1 and Marty Bonds on Puzzlebox. It's timeless and cinematic electro from the off, with 'Cosmic Flight' (K-1 Navigational mix) layering up neck-snapping drums and bass and squelchy acid lines for you to ride on. Add in some smart spoken words and you have dance floor fire of the highest order. The track also comes as a bass-paella on the flip, while 'To Fly' (Marty Bonds Interdimensional mix) is a more minimal electro cut with lush digital synthesis and smeared astral melodies.

Review: Luigi Tozzi is a revered techno artist who has a pretty special live show. The way he crafts that informs how he records in the studio which means his music always feels lived-in and impromptu - you never quite know how it is going to unfold. This new outing on Hypnos backs that up - it's full of lithe rhythms and dubby undertones, with ever-evolving synth lines up top taking on various aquatic, alien or more organic forms. 'Sentient' sets the scene then 'Amphibia' further trances you out and 'Uterus' rolls ever deeper. 'Reptilian' is a more textured and dark closer.

Review: After putting it on hiatus three years ago, Detroit electro legend Keith Tucker has decided to bring back the Puzzlebox label he launched with Anthony 'Shake' Shakir way back in 1995. He's at the controls for this comeback release, which astonishingly is also the sometime Aux88 member's first solo single since 2015. He kicks things off with "Modular World", a creepy but funk-fuelled slab of intergalactic electro that boasts whispered vocals, spacey sounds and the same up-tempo energy levels as Aux88's 1990s output. Over on the flip it's all about "Schematixs", a bleeping and unearthly affair that sits somewhere between Kraftwerk and Egyptian Lover.