Delsin Holland At Juno Download

Review: Delsin's house imprint reaches number four with Dusseldorf's Andy Vaz at the helm for "Don't Lose Your Mind", complete with vocal contributions from Niko Marks. The Soul vocal mix does exactly what it says on the tin, with a track that sounds like it came straight out of a 30 year old time capsule, with a deep bassline and smoky saxophone solo, whilst the House dub mix adds glittering keys to the mix and holds back on the vocal but loses none of the charm.

Review: Bleak has put out a series of EPs for DJ Deep's Deeply Rooted House label, and now turns his attention to Dutch institution Delsin. 'Subject Target' is the more understated of the two tracks on offer, with a dense, drummy groove underscored by skipping beats and a dreamy, somewhat lethargic chord sequence. There's a radically different approach on "Sixteen Crude"; Bleak sets course with an acid line and clicky percussion that spirals and builds, powered on by resonating, steely drums and a dramatic, sweeping synth. Like his work for DJ Deep, Chaos marks out Bleak as one of contemporary techno's most promising new producers.

Review: It would be easy and unforgivably lazy to lump Claro's work in with the great unwashed of deep/dub techno. While Reform Club does sparkle and shimmer with epic strings, ghostly reversed chords and dreamy synths, it's the interplay between these elements and Stewart's unpredictable rhythmic dalliances that make his third album so rewarding. "Reformed" is a case in point: glassy percussion and sensuous string passages suggest an adept take on classic Detroit techno, but the underlying, resonating bass depicts an artist highlighting flaws and imperfections. In a similar vein is "It's Getting Late", where evocative chords unfold over a quirky bassline and the raw, Aardvarck-esque beats and breathy melodies of "Scriptease". But it's the tracks where Stewart appears to be sharing his own personal experiences that have the greatest impact. The atmospheric, chiming synths of "Still Here" has the same underlying sadness that Stewart articulated so beautifully on Metanarrative and the whistling sounds and serene ambience of "Quiet Life" elevate Stewart to the same level as great musical storytellers like Mark Hollis and Ian Curtis. The fact that be can bare his soul and document deeply personal topics without resorting to words makes his voice all the more powerful.

Review: Jeff Mills said nearly a decade ago that techno is being made for an aging audience. Regardless of whether this is true or not, what happens when the artists themselves start to get older - can they maintain their relevance? In the case of Mark 'Claro Intelecto' Stewart, the answer to this conundrum is simple; go back to your roots. The Manchester producer may have settled down, but creatively, Second Blood shows that he's as dynamic as ever. "Heart" marks a return to the first Claro Intelecto album, Neurofibro or the more understated sections of its successor, Metanarrative, with an atmospheric, ambient soundtrack gently unfolding, populated by muffled, half-heard vocals. The title track sees Stewart pick up the pace, but although the underlying bassline has a dark, resonating edge to it, the tempo is sluggish and the chords flutter about in a way that suggests the producer is seeking to tease out new directions for his sub-heavy techno. "Voyeurism" has no such ambitions, but sounds all the better for it; like the best tracks from the Warehouse Sessions series, its bass plays the central role, a fathomic, all-encompassing series of tones that steers the plaintive melodies on an irresistibly evocative path. Sometimes to stay ahead of the curve, you first need to take a few steps back.

Review: At a time when classic-sounding techno is at a premium, Boris Bunnik aka Conforce is one of its main proponents, right? Wrong. It would be too easy and simplistic to dismiss the Dutch producer as merely revisiting the sounds that were current during the mid-90s, and Escapism, like his other releases for Clone, Rush Hour and Delsin, does much to dispel any pre-conceived notions about him. One of the common themes and sources of inspiration on the album is Bunnik's love of swirling, ambient textures. Spacey melodies unfold all the way through "Aquinas Control" as a dubby, rippling bass takes hold, while on the title track, glassy percussion and shuffling 808s provide the electro backing to Bunnik's atmospheric chords. There are times too when it sounds like Conforce has completely immersed himself in electronic music's reflective, esoteric side and the evoactive, shimmering synths of "Timelapse" could have been part of a long lost sci-fi soundtrack. On other occasions, Escapism sounds earthy, grainy and twitchy, especially on the detuned textures of "Diversion" or "Revolt DX", which sees Bunnik drop a gained, jarring rhythm track. However, the real highlights occur when Bunnik occupies a place where all of these sounds meet, like the ghostly pads and forceful bass of "Elude" or the hushed tones and uplifting synths of "Ominous". It's also where you'll find this year's most eloquent articulation of techno escapism.

Review: Scientists recently discovered that Boris Bunnik can function on just one hours sleep a day, which goes a great deal to explaining how the Dutch producer is so damn prolific! He returns to the Delsin label under his widely regarded Conforce moniker for the four track Time Dilation EP, with the label describing it as "designed for deeper dancefloors". One listen and you'll agree as Bunnik seemingly plunges further down the dub techno wormhole for a more cerebral experience than his lauded Clone Basement 12" last year. There is room for a banger however, with "Last Anthem" combining ethereal ambience alongside prickly staccato stabs and an insistent kick drum that could almost be described as ghetto house-inspired.

Review: Despite still being in his 20s, Niels Luinenberg has already released a string of acclaimed EPs and has showcased his impressive DJing skills through gigs around Europe and a series of excellent online mixes, as well as this year's Inertia compilation. Can he now take the next step and translate his skills to the album format? "Frozen Land" starts the album in contemplative mode as austere synths unravel over slow-paced, shuffling drums. It's followed by "Enter", where robotic vocals and seared acid lines underpin a slow-motion, ominous bass. Together, these tracks make for an atmospheric opening. Traces then shifts from the esoteric to the visceral, as "Redemption" rides heavy claps and rough acid lines; "Target" unfolds to cavernous drums and heavy tribal beats, while "And If You Know" features scatter-gun percussion and a "Losing Control"-style pitched down vocal sample. The parting shot, "On A Distant Journey" is perhaps the album's finest moment. It sees Luinenberg draw inspiration again from the classic techno and electro sounds that feature in his sets. Delta Funktionen may not have Forward Strategy Group's experimental edge or Shifted's unique sound design, but on Traces he proves himself to be one of the few to thrive in this most adverse setting for techno producers.

Review: Originally issued almost a decade ago, Delsin have the foresight to re-release this excellent record from Israeli producer Yoav B. The title track is peerless late night techno, as eerie synths gather over a pulsing rhythm, and are then ushered in by steely drums. Yoav augments the trippy feeling with a series of outer space whirrs, clicks and the disjointed vocalists who says 'I celebrate myself and sing myself'. 'Gemini" sees Yoav opt for a less polished approach; the beats are raw and off-centre, the bassline gnarly and disjointed and the way the arrangement spews out globules of acid reminds this listener of Redshape on downers.

Review: For those of you that remember "Energize," Yoav's underground anthem from five years back, then news of his revival will be a source of great pleasure to your soul. Many have been perplexed by his disappearance during the past few years, left only with his seminal track's appearance on compilations from Ame, Carl Craig and Delsin II. But now, the Israeli producer makes a welcomed return with his fifth full length single, the Love Dubs EP.

Opening with "Higher State," Yoav gets off to a hazy start. Dramatic synth lines topple over lazy house beats as the track winds itself along, gaining momentum as it goes. 80s influenced synths flash across the track to add yet more drama in this rolling workout. "Lovedub" takes the listener on more of a freestyle jam, as a simple filtered bassline moves along as disjointed beats shuffle forward. The real fun and intrigue however, lies in the spacey keys that cascade over the track beneath. "Soul Surrender" finishes things off in a grittier, more driving tone. With the beat cranked up and the driving, deep bass set to work this is more of a heads down number that gets moving. A simple melody breaks the drama of the track, leaving the listener locked in the groove instead. Top stuff, and yes, it was worth the wait.

Review: Having firmly found his groove with UK labels such as 2nd Drop and Fourth Wave, Gerry Read's latest EP sees that further notch in his ascendancy as he gets snapped up by Dutch institution Delsin to kick off their new house-orientated series. Stylistically, the four tracks on this new EP continue the mission statement Read has already laid out; there's a claustrophobic quality to lead track "Yeh Come Dance", that finds a cacophony of wooden percussion and angular vocal loops sweating all over each other while the hi-hats leer on drunkenly. As something of a contrast, the beat in "Crawlspace" is decidedly straight by these standards, letting the sequencing of the drum machine call more of the shots before too much wayward sample placing can send the rhythm askew. It doesn't take much to see the jazzy quality in Read's music, but "Bozza" perhaps marks the first instance where this quality has been capitalised on and fully realised. In that sense it marks something of a progression for the young beatsmith, as the complex arrangement of brushed drums, piano and other sonic debris aim for a place other than that usual seedy corner of the dancefloor. "Crooked" rounds off the EP with by distilling all these feelings into one track of strung out strangeness, where the groove is borrowed from garage and then robbed of its innocence, with an underlying bed of mean-spirited audio fragments. As with all the GR output it's evocative stuff, and reminds you that this EP marks not just consistency but also progress for the plucky producer.

Review: Much like their geographical near neighbours Rush Hour, Clone and Creme, the point where we run out of superlatives to adorn the releases from Delsin Records is most definitely on the horizon. The label seems to retain an uncanny knack for covering each release in excellence, regardless of whether the artist responsible is well known or hitherto unheralded. Their latest definitely falls under the latter, with Hazylujah coming correct on Too Many Ghosts, a debut four track EP that reveals the fledgling Italian producer to already possess an enviable mastery of murked out, smudgy techno. The title track is an undeniable highlight, shifting into focus through the mists of grey noise and dragging your senses through the deepest recesses of detuned analogue textures and hollowed out rhythms across eight haunting minutes that sound like Actress doing dub techno. The three other tracks are just as idiosyncratically good and this is yet another Delsin release that deserves your full attention.

Review: Launching late last year with Seawash at the helm, Delsin's dedicated Electronica series gathers pace with their second release What I Feel, a label debut for Herva. The Italian producer, Herve Atse Corti, has already established himself as somewhat of a talent for crafting soundscapes informed by house, techno tropes with what was once called IDM on last year's Meanwhile In Madland album for the Bosconi label. The four tracks here sees Herva develop that approach further; lead track "Paranoid Thinking" displays a dizzying mastery of layering heavily textured sounds in a rhythmic manner that replaces the necessity of standard beats. "Crocodile Tears" pairs crackling samples with clicking, squelchy percussion and reconstituted piano sounds, whilst "Gorilla's Machine" is lopsided approach at Border Community techno, caked in tape dirt. There's echoes of Actress's techno deviations in final track "Snow & Clouds" which pleasingly shifts the direction of it's rhythmic momentum throughout.

Review: An interesting pair of remixes on this release, which sees two big producers reinterpreting seminal material from legendary ambient techno producer John Beltran. Kassem Mosse & Mip Mup collaborate on a rework of "Brilliant Flood", adding deep bass and a bumping drum machine workout over the top whilst maintaining the hazy, hypnotic quality of the original. It adds a rough, lo-fi quality that is sure to appeal to fans of Mosse's other productions. Sven Weisemann's remix is a completely different prospect, turning in a nine-minute reworking of several different Beltran productions, which is pitched somewhere between ambient and techno, and even displays a leaning towards modern classical. Not one for the dancefloor necessarily, but sublime listening nonetheless.

Review: Rough and busy beats dominate the Free Pyjamas EP, a new release from rising Parisian producer Low Jack who made quite the impression with his debut EP, Slow Dance on Get The Curse. Although distinctly techno, both the title track and "LJ's Jam" feature vocals, even if they are disorientated and short lived. Thwacking wood block percussion and militaristic snare rolls add a frenetic pace to "Free Pyjamas", seemingly cut from a similar cloth as Gerry Read's Yeah Come Dance EP. The bleepy opening passage of "LJ's Jams" allows a bar of space between each kick before dropping into a rugged four-four groove littered with scuttling percussion and overdriven hi-hats. "The White Towel" remains on the EPs crunchy tip, but Low Jack employs some lighter chords and other musicality to the mix, allowing for a less visceral third track to run out the EP.

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: Delsin has been on top of its game for over a decade now. The Dutch label never puts a foot wrong, something that is due to owner Marsel's unparalleled A&Ring skills. This latest release is a reissue, but it provides an insight into the music that inspires and informs Delsin's selections. On one side there's the timeless deep house of Marc 'MK' Kinchen's "Mkappella". This twenty-year-old track sees Kinchen bring together sensuous flute-playing that's not too dissimilar to Bobby Konders and the kind of wide-eyed piano keys that featured on some of Chez Damier's releases for KMS from this period. Add to this robust dubby beats and the sound of the dawn chorus warbling away in the background and the inspiration for Newworldaquarium's own textured house or his Ross 154 ambient project is audible. Up next, Delsin has licensed a track from Luke Slater. "Lost" originally appeared on the UK producer's seminal album The 4 Cornered Room , which he recorded as 7th Plain. Here too there are bird samples, but they are high-picthed tweets rather than mellow warbles and accompany lithe, fast-paced breakbeats. The real attraction for Delsin fans though are Slater's synths; ghostly and swirling, they have a truly otherworldly feeling and have clearly had an impact on Aroy Dee, Conforce and Dimension 5. It's an invaluable insight into why Delsin hits the target with such frequency.

Review: Berghain resident Marcel Dettmann has a formidable reputation as a remixer, but this writer feared that he had bitten off more than he could chew with his latest project. After all, he was tasked with reworking one of the standout cuts from this year's best techno album, and these doubts only intensified when the original with its menacing bass swagger, layered, reverberating noises and chilling vocal were replayed on this remix package. Thankfully, Dettmann has risen to the occasion; "Definition 1" doesn't stray too far from the original, with a swinging bass and a focus on Middle eastern horn riffs prevailing. It's on "Definition 2" that he really deserves kudos: upping the tempo and combining layered, Basic Channel dub chords with the plaintive vocal, it's a near perfect mix of techno and electronic torch song soul.

Review: On What Have We Learned, Lebanese producer Rabih Beaini is presented with the same dilemma that every other electronic music artist with lofty intentions faces - namely how his music can make the successful transition to a long-player format. Unlike most of his peers however, Beaini manages to imbue What Have We Learned with a common narrative, despite flirting with a range of tempos and arrangements. That unifying bond is a sombre, atmospheric mood. It's tempting to posit that Beaini was influenced by his residency in Venice - but many of his previous releases have also had a similarly somnambulant quality. Irrespective of its origins, this gloominess is audible on the opener, "Silent Screamer", where a resonating bassline underpins an arrangement that skirts loosely around the edges of conventional house music. It also plays a central role on "Too Far". Featuring freaked out Gothic vocals and tumbling keys, its grungy, primal rhythm makes the connection between modern techno grime and industrial gloom. Yet What Have We Learned isn't a depressing or demanding listen and although his music is pitched at the outer limits of dancefloor centric electronic music, its ethereal tendencies will draw listeners in rather than repelling them.

Review: Detroit producer Terrence Dixon hadn't released any material in years and withing the space of the past few months he has issued put out a new album and a brace of Eps. Strictly speaking however, Hours isn't new material, and dates back to the mid-90s. The release's provenance is audible on the title track, where a slamming rhythm and moody bass provide a home chattering, relentless percussion. On "Two Sides to Every Story", the hats are looser and more hissing, the drums shuffle and the arrangement has a stomping rawness that is all to absent nowadays. It may be a cliche, but they don't make them like they used to.