Back in stock: Techno (All)

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: 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: Copenhagen's finest duo deliver deep, hypnotic dub techno, straight from the source. 'Wind' strikes us zephyrously with tizzy stabs and harder grooves, whilst 'Stylus' impresses with a relatively minimal flick of the pen, making for a quick and effective intra-vention. 'Viper' and 'Garth' run with this sense of freedom, unburdening themselves with gaseous headrooms, ample spaces in which to let the reverse hits and tonal whacks breathe. A worthy debut for the French fabulists over at Syncrophone, though Merv are hardly new to the game.

Review: Haworthia Records is a new sub-label of Luzerna that kicks off with Nomad Soul, an artist from Marseille who has been making beats for a decade. He likes to tap into dreamy 'scapes but keep the feet moving, and here he also colours his sounds with some 80s and 90s nostalgia on the 'Transpace' EP. 'Dropped' has a raw drum groove that stands you upright, 'Soul Hacker' has warped and psychedelic pads and hallucinogenic vocals, and 'Equal' is a thudding trance-techno pumper. 'Dub Spaced' shuts down with plenty of deep space eeriness, weird sounds and a throbbing, dubby low end.

Review: "Yeah, as I gaze upon you, I am overwhelmed by the fact that beauty is an insufficient phrase to describe you. You are the definition of pure perfection, and though many have tried and failed to get close to you, I run that walk into the flame." Echoing the seductive vocal soliloquies heard overlaid in much deep Chicago house - the work of the late Paul Johnson springs to mind - K' Alexi Shelby marks a terrific introduction to this new V/A from Cod3 QR. The label was long the subject of much speculative chinstroking; only in recent years was it revealed to be the brainchild of Laurent Garnier and Oliver Way. Here on this latest output from the label, we hear a mix of technical and tribal moods traverse across a mostly slow-burner sensibility, pinnacling on DJ Bone's bosomy chord viber 'DD'.