Time To Express Belgium At Juno Download

Review: Dario Zenker is one of the most talented producers operating at the borders of house and techno, and "Cat Stance" is further proof of his abilities. The title track is a rolling, moody affair, its evocative, dark riffs crashing in over the sound of thundering claps. There is some light during the second part of the arrangement as Zenker makes a nod to his past and introduces a trancey segue. But in the main this is an effortlessly moody release and label owner Peter Van Hoesen's remix is testament to the overall tone. The Belgian producer's take is all about the bassline, a malevolent, pumping low end that combines the most menacing elements of late 90s jungle and sets them to a huge, shuffling techno groove.

Review: After a relatively quiet two-year period, Peter Van Hoesen returns with a new long-player - but will he fall victim to the 'difficult second album syndrome' that plagues so many artists? The Belgian producer's last EP was called Transitional State, and the title sums up the approach on Perceiver and the general direction that Van Hoesen has been heading in for the past few years. Listen to even his recent dance floor-based releases on Komisch, Ostgut and Time To Express and you'll hear glitchy slivers of percussion amid the punishing, merciless basslines. Van Hoesen has emphasised this abstract side to his sound on Perceiver. "Objects from the Past" and "To Alter A Vector" unfold in slow motion, with textured sounds floating over lurching rhythms, breaking occasionally to allow the dubby beats come to the fore. In between balancing the functional and the abstract, the album also presents a third way, and it results in the most impressive track on the album; "Nefertiti Always Beyond" boasts nickel-plated drums and Peter's trademark sub-bass, but there is something looser about the arrangement. What it may lack in precision it compensates with a sense of punky energy, its rhythm spasming like a Magazine song trapped in the body of a relentless techno arrangement. It's the centre piece in a perception altering album.

Review: Anyone who had Peter Van Hoesen down as having a one-track mind will be surprised and impressed by State. The Belgian producer does his usual techno sound on "19 Continued", but the bass is more epic and reminiscent of 90s Detroit techno than post-noughties European music. "Admonition" is a nod to his solo and Sendai abstract work as infectious bleeps and tones unfold over a complex mid-tempo groove, while "Transitional State 2" is like a halfway house for his abstract and techno experiments with a recoiling bass and a robotic interpretation of UK funky's shuffle acting as the adjudicator. On "Transitional State 1" he regains his usual techno poise. The rhythm is fractured and less linear than usual - but the bass is as murderous as ever.

Review: Label owner Peter Van Hoesen and Yves De Mey's collaborative project finally reaches the album format. Geotope provides an outlet for both producers to give full vent to the abstract tendencies that make their techno releases so distinctive. This approach is audible on "Terminal Silver Box", where a droning bass and pitch-bent, glitchy percussion dominate, or on the grandly named " Refusal To Celebrate A Statistical Probability", which features the kind of rolling bass and washes of percussive interference that have won Van Hoesen's warehouse techno releases so much acclaim, minus the DJ-friendly beats. There are some nods towards the dance floor, particularly on the understated builds of "Following the Constant", but in the main this fascinating work focuses on the experimental.