Mike Dehnert At Juno Download

Review: The producers' names on this EP suggest that listeners should prepare themselves for wave upon wave of unflinching techno, but in Wurzbacher's case, the opposite is true. "Julischkaa" is a deep, dubby groove, full of the kind of gentle chords and spacey synths that one might hear on a D5 production for Delsin rather than a new school German techno record. Having said that, Dehnert fans won't be disappointed with "Mischkaa". Although more restrained than his usual fare, its moody chords and percussive licks get steadily more intense as the arrangement progresses and his rolling snares bring it to an irresistibly menacing climax.

Review: Mike Dehnert and his Fachwerk and MD2 labels have been at the forefront of 90s-inspired techno for the past few years - but will his consistently high strike rate translate to a long player? Thankfully, Dehnert sticks to what he knows best, resisting the ill-advised urge to position himself as a versatile all-rounder. Apart from the brief, abstract "Intro", the dreamy ambience of "Kontextfrei" and the hissing static noise of "Outro", the album centres on the dancefloor, but manages to avoid repetition. And while the dubby bass, scuffled beats and clanging percussion of "Infix" is indicative of the Berlin producer's abeyance to the Basic Channel/Chain Reaction axis, Framework widens his scope; "Beatmatching" is an uplifting vocal-sample heavy groove and this new-found playfulness is also audible on the rave riff sampling "Teilfolge" and the purring bassline and synth melodies of "Quattro". Dehnert may be operating in a new format, but Framework proves that when it comes to techno functionalism, he is peerless.

Review: Making a return to Delsin with his first full release for the label after the excellent Framework LP from last year, the uber-prolific Mike Dehnert delivers an EP which is something of a departure from his usual sound, but no less essential for it. "Andruck" sees Redshape-style synths cast adrift over a pulsating bass, loose cowbell with a distinct lack of 4/4 present, while "Tracer" goes for the jugular with its combination of Millsian bleeps and subtle but gravelly dub chords. "Refillable" will go down well with fans of Skudge and Shed, combining a relentless rolling rhythm, fluid, twisting, filtered stabs and indistinct vocals, while closer "Umgangston" is built around a ravey chord sequence which fluctuates in and out of intensity with a freeform manner. Dehnert must be one of techno's most dependable producers, and he's come up trumps once again.

Review: Mike Dehnert arrives on the Echochord Colour series in the midst of a purple patch, having sported various takes on the glowering techno world he occupies, as anyone who has checked recent drops on his own Fachwerk and Clone Basement will testify! The EP opens in fine style with the guttural vocal intonations of "RGS2" cascading in sync with the gloopy bass hits, dragging you down a k-hole of despair until the rasping hi-hat procession arrives and a sense of industrial chaos grows. Flipside, "Bar2" operates around minute rhythmic deviations from the thick set groove - just wait for the sprawling synth line to coax more metallic hi-hat brilliance into action. Fellow Fachwerker Roman Lindau remixes "RGS2" into a growling, scratchy, heads down techno bump.

Review: Mike Dehnert is no stranger to Danish label Echocord, having released the thumping Breso EP on the label back in 2011, so this Roulement EP makes for a welcome and long overdue return offering further examples of his nuanced approach. "Limite" shows the prolific Dehnert at his most contrasting, pairing the subtleties of some delicate house stabs with teeth-gnashing textures and thumping four to the floor beat, while "Retransmission" is him at his most mind-bending, looping gritty, rumbling drums and a metronomic cowbell disturbingly treated vocal samples. Fellow Fachwerk producer Sascha Rydell's take on "Limite" offers yet more contrast, as every element is submerged in a heady dub cloud.

Review: Mike Dehnert is a firm fixture amongst the tougher realms of Berlin techno, not least for his Fachwerk label. This time around, the menacing lunge of EP opener "Montage" plumps straight for the awesome industrial, melodically-bled kind of techno that rattles Berghain on a weekend. "Isolateur" sparks even more interest with its housey refrain pinned down by a steady set of notes that seem positively musical in comparison. "Picon" is a surprise of ambient techno, with not a whiff of mixability about it. It's a pleasant reminder that, when he feels like it, Dehnert is capable of trying something different. An excellent and well rounded EP.

Review: Berlin producer Mike Dehnert's second artist album in as many years will probably not win any awards for its imaginative title, but once the needle drops, there is no end of surprises. The most remarkable aspect of Fachwerk 25 is that it sounds unlike anything else he has released. This is especially surprising given that he had come close to perfecting the art of creating grungy, Chain Reaction-influenced techno, but it is crucial that he did so as his releases had started to sound samey. Indeed, the greatest strength of this long player is that it sounds like many things, but the one thing that it only occasionally sounds like is a Fachwerk record. There are austere but brief codas on "Intro" (another great name!) and "STH", while Dehnert proves himself to be an unlikely fan of Italo and minimal wave with the pulsing grooves and eerie synths of "Fraction" and "Modulat". He also gets on board the acid train on "Resize" and "Slim" but thankfully doesn't attempt to recreate jack tracks, instead favouring a dalliance through rough rhythms. Speaking of underground techno, he shows his appreciation for the noisy, distorted end of minimalism once practised so effortlessly by Landstrum and Vogel on the wonky rhythm and analogue yelps of "Grundform", rather than the spacious dub rhythms of Basic Channel. But while Fachwerk 25 celebrates electronic music's past, it also sees Dehnert escape from his own musical inhibitions, and as the evocative ambient textures of "Courant" demonstrate, it is at times a painfully beautiful parting of ways.

Review: Having signalled his return to pounding techno on a rowdy Echochord release recently, Mike Dehnert ensures that rattling sensation in our eardrums remains with Placide, a four fingered assault on your senses through home stable Fachwerk. Apparently inspired by some spam email entitled "Give It To Me Raw!" Dehnert elected to record opening track "Drehimpuls" live in Paris for extra rawness, with suitable results; the track literally barrels through a thick wall of corrugated sonics. The remaining three tracks sound slightly cleaner in comparison, though the sheer sound design at play ensures the unpredictable serrated synth of "Charger" or booming warehouse groove of "Eigenzeit" prove just as memorable. Final track "Isolant" is undeniably funky too, trapping some lost female vocal deep beneath the mangled kicks and smacked out whistles.

Review: In the lead up to Fachwerk's quarter century milestone - an album from Mike Dehnert - the label's main players again share the release duties. Sascha Rydell's contribution is by far the most crossover, centred on a discoy loop and offering a housey version of Fachwerk's sound. Elsewhere, it's business as usual; Roman Lindau's "Plavix" is everything one would expect from the Berlin label, a stripped back techno groove, slightly stepping and swathed in razor-sharp metallic percussion. Dehnert meanwhile, drops the clunky drums and visceral hats of "Avec", which provide the backdrop for a typical chord build. But just as Rydell surprised, so does the label owner and "Traces Of" provides an unlikely mixture of distorted beats and a sassy double bass.

Review: Germany's Fachwerk stable drops a second collaborative EP from label heads Mike Dehnert, Roman Lindau and Sascha Rydell. Entitled, quite simply, Fachwerk EP 2, it follows last year's Fachwerk EP which included tracks from each of the three producers at the centre of the label's quite singular techno vision, which combines crunchy, swung mechanical rhythms with warm, rolling, dubby tones. It's one of several releases which will culminate in the release of the label's 25th release, which we imagine will be something quite special indeed. The EP is as brilliant as you'd expect, with the muscularity of Dehnert's "M10? augmented with vocals that sound like snatches of Arthur Russell, the metallic strings of Lindau's "Grow" and the manic piano groove of Rydell's "When You Play It" all offering solid entries into the label's formidable catalogue. This label is simply on fire at the moment - don't sleep.

Review: Fachwerk signs off on an excellent year in the best way possible - presenting this collection of all new material from label bosses Dehnert, Lindau and Rydell. Roman calls shotgun with the brain matter scraping, gutter punch rhythms of "Hurt" that masterfully crafts the relentless motion from indecipherable vocal fractures. As finely poised as the track is, the A-Side is dominated by the subsequent collaboration between Lindau and Dehnert. "Sophia" is perhaps the most dementedly brilliant production to surface from the Fachwerk studios yet, with the dense swamp of bass and singular drum kicks in the opening bars not really giving prior warning to the thrilling rhythmic mess of saturated acid and panning vocals. Dehnert is in more familiar foundation-pummelling form on the flip with the caustic and unrelenting "Blattwerk" which explodes with colourful textures midway through, whilst Sascha Rydell has the last laugh with the pressurised percussive presence of "It Happened". Big tip!