Delta Funktionen caused ripples of excitement with his Setup One: Decorum release a few months back, and here we see the Dutch producer return with his second Setup 12″ on Delsin sub-label Ann Aimee, entitled Fusion. It’s tough, raw and unrelenting – in other words everything you’d expect from a release bearing the name of Niels Luinenburg. Once again packaged in sublime artwork, “Devolution” kicks things off with some robust, industrial-strength bass, the result sounding similar to Karl O’Connor’s “Haiku” track on Sandwell District a couple of years back under the Kalon pseudonym. “Evolution” maintains a more linear progression, almost like early 90s Detroit techno recorded at a tempo palatable for 2010 ears, with a thumping, granite hard kick drum underscoring gurgling mechanics and tense snares interspersed by robotic bleeps.

B Side opener “Theatre” offers plenty of thrills, with beatless interludes building swathes of tension before dropping back into a rock solid banging throb, while “Conflict Data” rounds off the 12″ with on a more playful, spacey note, taking its cue from Jeff Mills’ Something In The Sky series and bathing it in a shuffling sunrise groove. He may still a relative newcomer to the production game, but make no mistake, Delta Funktionen deserves to be held up there with the big boys.

Aaron Coultate