Alexander Kowalski At Juno Download

Review: With releases on Kanzleramt, Alexander Kowalski predated the current wave of purist techno emanating from his home country, Germany, by a decade. Now the veteran is back to show the new school how to craft bass-heavy club tracks. "Dricksen" is an epic affair, with chords billowing and blustering and dramatic strings soaring over stomping beats and a tearing bassline. The Cassegrain mix takes the track down a few notches in intensity and sees swirling textures and metallic beats prevailing, while D_Func's 'Hive Wildpitch' mix remains true to the original; with a focus on heavy filters and thunderous claps, it's enough to make all the big names re-appraise their work.

Review: German producer Alexander Kowalski released his debut album, Echoes, ten years ago. Unlike most productions from that time, it has aged exceptionally well. The deep, dubby groove of "Oxygen" comes across like a cleaner, polished interpretation of Modern Love releases, while the ghoulish broken beats of "Patterns Of Hope" gives Blackest Ever Black's output a run for its money. Kowalski was always a master of the bass-heavy techno grooves and there is no shortage here, with the surging chords and dramatic strings of "Ratio" and "Hearing Is Believing" impressing. But it's the evergreen nature of these productions that is most remarkable and the driving "Debut" or the tracky "Sequential" are as powerful as any contemporary techno expression.