Back in stock: Techno (All)

Review: Four big, booming , bass heavy tracks from Swiss production and DJ duo Atrice that stand astride several genre definitions from dubstep to techno and electro. The pair pride themselves on their sound design and it certainly lends a subtle but perceptible air to the hair raising frequencies flying around on the likes of 'Backrooms' and 'Pipe Dreams', the two most obvious contenders for the dubstep tag. 'Chamber Of Mazarbul' and the more electronica-slanted 'Nulspace' are less conventional - at least by general standards if not the wonderfully wayward 'rules' of the eternally renegade Ilian Tape label - but equally thunderous and well executed.

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: The only bad thing about Aril Brikha is that he doesn't release much music. But when he does, he amazes everyone.

Review: Dashiell has been road testing these two tunes in his sets for a while, and they have always done a job. They finally arrive on wax courtesy of Foul Play and are sure to get dropped all over the place this summer. 'dfuse all the tension' is the right mix of driving tech but wonky minimal. The bassline is drunk and all over the place while the lead synth has a retro video game feel, and some crisp melodies and refracted vocals finish it well. On the flip, 'da nastiest' is faster and more direct with some turbocharged and bass-driven tech house characterised by another sleazy vocal and phased synth lines that bring a playful twist.

Review: Munich's techno powerhouse Ilian Tape is back with a new EP which, as usual, features a quarter of direct and unmistakably functional tracks but the designs are top-notch. Fireground - a male/female duo - first offer us the big, bouncy, percussive banger 'Glare', before 'Stand' keeps it just as tribal and percussive and straight up. 'Spin' brings a little playfulness with some sleek machine soul sounds adding warmth and a bit of Detroit colour to the clattering drums before 'Red Night' shuts down with jazzy blend of smeared Rhodes chords and yet more bold drums and hits.

Review: Forest Drive West makes the most intricate sounds in techno if you ask us. There is a meticulous craft in everything he does, but never at the expense of an underlying groove and alluring mood. Masking is his latest EP and the title cut opens with dirty, swampy bass and percolating drum funk. 'Ziggurat' slows down but has real creepiness in the gurgling low end and insistent loops up top. 'Ruins' is a steppy broken beat with more ghoulish sounds swarming around the mix and 'Mobius' shuts down with deft loops that float above sustained chords and keep you on edge.

Review: DJ Nobu's avant-garde Bitta label looks to fellow Japanese great in Osaka-based Erik Luebs for its next trick. As always with this fine imprint, the sounds are about balancing transcendental synths with deep tech rhythms. They are masterclasses in economical arrangement and on the surface don't do much, but when you tune in properly, they are mind-melting trips, starting with the mystery of 'Granite Monolith'. 'Irradiated Body' has loopy synth sequences unfolding at great pace with pristine accuracy and 'Coming Up For Air' gets a little more extroverted with dubby kicks and the sound of overloaded AI machines getting ever more frenzied. 'Facing The Horizon' is a flickering, optimistic and mildly euphoric sound for dropping when the sun peaks through the blinds and you celebrate getting through another night of darkness.

Review: Rich Jones is the man behind Operator and he's been making increasingly potent waves with his own label Gnosis Records as well as outings on Singular Records. This outing on Munich's Ilian Tape is a great example of his sound: 'Mall To Beach '80' is vamping chords and hammering hits over hunched up drums, 'Deliberate' cuts more loose but is still a brilliantly loopy workout and 'Wanderer' brings thrilling, high-speed tech that skates on daddy drums and is wired up with electricity. 'Sector Seven' shuts down with more airy and floating rhythms. Sublime.

Review: Optic Nerve's - or Keith Tucker's if you prefer - Fragments EP is the last of the year from the Puzzlebox label and is a lush and futuristic techno offering that lands on limited white vinyl. 'Linear Motion' is powered by a sleek and propulsive deep techno bassline with solid stabs and majestic arp sequences. 'Echoes' is just as dreamy in its melody but then becomes a hefty techno stomper and 'Metallics' brings rich bell sounds, peak time drums and real class to any DJ set. 'Sequence in Time' is the closer with its hyper speed, icy melodies and twisted synths all making for a scintillating sound.

Review: UK rave pioneers Orbital are revisiting their early 'Brown Album' EPs with the launch of a new and ongoing Orbital LEDs ('Limited Edition Drops') series. These 12"s are being re-issued with newly commissioned artwork by Intro. This one was originally released in September 1992 and is one of the group's most famous because it contains their most iconic track 'Halcyon' which blurs ethereal vocals with hypnotic breaks that define 90s dance music and still get huge reactions to this day. The EP also includes 'The Naked and the Dead' which is a darker techno track, plus 'Sunday' and the previously unreleased dub version of 'The Naked and The Dub.' Essential.

Review: Priori's 'Pareidolia' EP proved a big hit so it makes sense that the Midgar label now drops a selection of remixes of it. The hi-fidelity master Forest Drive West delivers two remixes, including one mesmerising half-time twist up of 'Hazard' and a more slow, wonderfully murky techno workout. Montreal's Maara transforms 'Memory Palace' into a dub techno delight that will have you floating above the floor while Notte Infinita adds a seductive drum & bass vibe to the title track. Last but not least, Amsterdam's Upsammy brings a typically innovative and playful touch that makes 'Glass Shards' a lively rhythmic workout.

Review: Having set our world alight with his third Ilian Tape 12", 2012, back in the spring, Munich man Skee Mask delivers another essential collection of loose-limbed, broken techno workouts. Typically, he's on point from the word go, enveloping swinging, off-kilter techno breakbeats with swirling chords and cascading melodies on brilliant opener "Inti". His love of African-influenced polyrhythms is explored further on the ghostly, percussion-rich club cut "Kappelberg Chant" (which, incidentally, makes great use of choral chants), while "Routine" is a warm, loved-up and evocative tribute to rave-era British breakbeat-house. His debt to British dance music's formative years also comes to the fore on killer proto-jungle jam "Skreet Lvl Dub".

Review: The inimitable Skee Mask on the peerless Ilian label is one of dance music's best pairings if you ask us. Here the techno and breakbeat astro is in scintillating form across four blistering new cuts. 'A14 Vs CB' opens up at a high speed, with flashes of synth and distorted bass twisting and turning under high speed breaks. 'Stoat' is a panel beater that will boggle the brain with its edgy and ravey loops and then 'Type beat 6' is another melange of busted loops, pinging kicks and frosted synth work from a dystopian future. 'Wiz' closes in high impact fashion.

Review: Soft Traffic is an alias for a well-known digi-dub producer who recently turned heads with an outing on Made Mecum. Now they land on the mighty Sushitech with a super limited, hand-stamped 12" featuring Prince Morella. It opens up with the silky smooth 'Meltem I', a liquid dub techno roller with chords rippling out to an infinite horizon as vocal muttering up top heighten the immersive trip. Part II is more icy and underwater, with rhythmic synth undulations and smooth-as-silk drum rotations locking you into a meditative state. Last of all is part III, an ambient sounds scape with subtly suggestive rhythms as you float in an underwater cavern. Classy stuff.

Review: Greek producer Stelios Vassiloudid has been making techno moves since the turn of the millennium under a range of different aliases. Here he appears as himself with four supercharged dub techno cuts for Dubwax. 'Lie In Wait' is a really tight, taught affair with pinging kicks and icy hi-hat ringlets. 'MIA' is more warm and vibes with a soulful core and underlapping bass waves. There is a more minimal and abstract sound to the curious dub bumps of 'Reverse Engineer' that encourage you to be at your most fluid. 'Grains' shuts down with grainy lo-fi pads, vinyl crackle and sparse kick that soundtrack an underwater jaunt. There is plenty of subtle variation to these rhythms which makes it a dead handy dub EP.

Review: Munich's pride The Zenker Brothers throw down a 'focused daily positivity practice' for Hidden Shelter, the latest release on their Ilian Tape imprint. The result is four tracks that read like a self-help manual: get motivated by the industrial strength breaks of 'Enjoy Reality', followed by the dubbed-out, greyscale stomp of 'Look Precisely' and find your vision. Turn over to side B and clarity awaits, albeit beyond the dense fog of the cavernous and glacial 'Focus On Positivity' and closing it out is the steely power of 'Practice Daily' which is rather typical of the duo's renown style and sure to inspire the potential in others.

Review: Dario Zenker is back on his own brilliant Ilian Tape with four of the exotic sort of tunes that define its output. They are functional and muscular but never lacking in character with 'Wuando' kicking off with sparkling arps over hurried, punchy and dusty house kicks sweeping you up. 'Simple Days' is a broken beat loop with prickly percussive patterns and filtered synths dropped in throughout to bring the energy. There is more warehouse darkness and late night menace to the tense rhythm and frosty texture of 'Vitalizer' while 'The Edit' shuts down with percussive perfection.