Nick Hoppner At Juno Download

Review: Nick Hoppner is one of the key figures in the Ostgut operation, but isn't noted for putting out a lot of music. Clearly favouring quality over an excessive release schedule, the former MyMy member draws on the classic sounds of house and techno for Peck. The title track is the more current sounding, its heavy drum shuffled accompanied by weighty claps, a soft-focus filter and a lost 'aaaah' vocal sample. "She Parked Herself " is a totally different proposition; featuring the kind of emotional strings that featured on classic progressive house records by artists like Jaco and Slam, while its plunging bassline and rattling snares sound like the deep house of 90s producers like Jamie Read. "Swivel Flick" meanwhile is less derivative but also makes a play of that era's propensity for atmospheric pads and resonating bass riffs.

Review: The Ostgut manager Nick Hoppner flexes his production muscles on Seaweed. In its original form, the title track is a chugging affair, its throbbing groove driven by a forceful bassline. The overall sound is dark and foreboding and even the break down is brief, only providing temporary relief from the relentless, heads-down rhythm. Meanwhile, Scott Monteith aka Deadbeat shows why he's one of the finest artists working in the dub-techno sound. His remix of "Seaweed" plunges to even greater depths than the original, its masterful sub-bass underpinning heavy claps, eerie chords and subtle filters that peak and ebb gracefully through the arrangement.

Review: The 72nd installment of Speicher marks the first release by Ostgut boss and Panorama Bar resident Nick Hoppner for the Cologne operation. Thankfully, his contribution has been well worth the wait, and "Ipso Facto" is a heavy, pulsing groove, where spacey synths wash in and heavy claps provide the basis for a series of more subtle bursts of percussion. It's the kind of woozy but robust techno and house that characterise Hoppner's DJ sets. On the flip, Auntie Flo aka Glasgow producer Brian D'Souza drops "Sun Ritual", a loose tribal groove, underscored by seductive, oriental bells and chiming guitar riffs - a more laid back alternative to Hoppner's approach.