Bestsellers last 8 weeks

Review: Juno Plus credited Avian as one of 2012's stand out labels and its final release of the year, now available digitally came from mysterious outfit Shxcxchcxsh. It's the third EP from unpronounceable producer(s) and it opens with the equally unpronounceable "RJRJRFFRJRJ", a thundershower of acid loops, squelchy atmospherics and sub bass. A surging bass line replaces the need for drums in "MMMXXQQQWWW" resulting in a sparse and drunken groove. "ZZNNZNZNNZN" is another dancefloor cut replete with what sounds like field recorded clunks and Mills inspired blips while "NNNCCCCRRHH" is upfront techno tailored for the concrete hungry.

Review: The only common theme that emerges on this release is its sense of unpredictability. The first version of "N1", by Recubierto, is a stomping, tracky affair, its dense pounding drums and a wall of spiky percussion giving way, almost inexplicably, to deep house flutes and a more understated, skipping rhythm. It's a similar story on the Despejado version, even though the approach is less intense; the same jazzy flutes come in over dense, albeit more understated drums, but then the arrangement breaks down into bird song and feather light ambient sounds. The final track, "Aguja" offers merely a snippet of white noise.

Review: The One Eyed Jacks label remains the go to primer for current Portuguese artists making waves, welcoming Portimao duo Roundhouse Kick into the fold with Arm1x, their debut release backed with a double dose of Auntie Flo remixes! Formed of an analogue gear hoarding couple, Roundhouse Kick live up to their name on both the title track and accompaniment "Industrial Dream" characterised by some vicious, at times jagged usage of drum machines. Crucially however, they are also augmented by an enviable dose of emotive melody and compositional understanding, with the latter track a wonderfully vivid spiral of upward analogue motion. Auntie Flo seems a perfect fit for the One Eyed Jacks label and his remix and dub version lend some trademark Hi-Life to "Arm1x".

Review: Sometimes a straightforward approach is the best and the Kamikaze Space Programme version of "Ray's House" shows that this is true. Based around a jacking rhythm and a repetitive vocal sample, these two elements are more effective than a truck full of 'advanced sound design' techno. The Unbalance version is also straightforward; opting for a stepping rhythm, its shaking percussion and reflective vocal samples make for an accomplished deeper take. At the other end of the spectrum is Mattias Fridell's version of "Section Zero". Remaining true to his production form, he unleashes a thumping, rolling groove littered with spaced out chords. Finally, the Ness take on "Vaporized" uses chiming bells and a pulsing bass to create a Sandwell-esque experience.

Review: Ishii made his name with esoteric Detroit-influenced techno during the 90s, but "Buddah's Ear" is a different proposition. It sounds inspired by the harder strain of European techno that has emerged over the past few years. This is audible on the title track, where spacey riffs ricochet off heavy, metallic drums and scratchy percussion. 'Original Mix 2' is more stripped back with Ishii focusing on the rolling drums and a bassline that is so tearing it will endanger any sound system that it comes into contact with. The dub version sees snares roll in over a heavy sub-bass, while Ben Sims' take juxtaposes slamming beats with eerie, echoing chords.

Review: It's always difficult to strike a balance when remixing a pioneer like Carl Craig. Change the original material to make it sound radically different and you get accused of messing with their genius; make only subtle alterations and you get criticised for taking the money in exchange for little effort. Thankfully, these versions of Craig's 69 project manage the difficult feat of making the original sound good without stealing its magic. Prolific Dutch artist Rod turns "Poi et Pas" into a pumping, hissing percussion stomper, its intense chords building and dropping continuously. There is also an 'unreleased' version, which trawls through broken beats and emotive electronic riffs to create an abstract yet emotive track.

Review: The Versatile main man and one half of Chateau Flight doesn't drop as many singles these days as he used to, but at least when he holds off he can come correct with some firepower for the floor. Sizzling hats and a solid disco beat set the tone for "Transpiration" while the meat of the track comes in the form of a nasty old-skool rave stab. It's a monster tune that should get sweat pouring from anything in a five-mile radius. The title track is a pacey, Italo flavoured cut that seems to intentionally challenge the demonic moniker, while "Jah Menta" opts for a deeper shade of disco. Highly recommended.

Review: In the lead up to Dadub's debut album You Are Eternity, Stroboscopic Artefacts have commissioned remixes from Lakker and Rrose - their first contributions to the label - as well as Kanding Ray and label boss Lucy. All were given the chance to remix their favourite track from the forthcoming album and Lucy chose "Death", a pleasant surprise in its functionality - not commonly associated with the Italian. Lakker's remix to "Path" delivers some spaciousness and industrialism to Dadub's often busy and syncopated arrangements, while Rrose's remix of "Life" could well be touted as one of the year's best reworks with a long and drawn out build and big room drop. Kanding Ray counterbalances Rrose's mix with subtle melodies and water drop percussion in his remix to "Existence".

Review: This selection of remixes focuses on the peak-time, but there is enough variety on offer to ensure it doesn't sound samey. Subfractal's take on "Morfic" unleashes waves of droning textures over low-flying claps, while Hi-Shock ramps up the intensity a few more notches with the buzzing acid of the remixed "Bishop". Acid is absent from Mark Morris & Logotech's take on "Cmd + Alt + Esc", but the grainy beats and muffled beats make it sound like an unfortunate soul being tortured in a dungeon. Justin Berkovi offers some let-up with his dub version of "Morfic", its tonal bleeps and humming bass seducing by stealth rather than force, but it's only a brief reprieve from the heavier, 303-soaked versions he proffers of the same track.

Review: Soul:R boss and all round drum and bass legend Marcus Intalex's Trevino moniker has been used previously by Kaye on a split release with Instra:mental for Martyn's 3024 label, but the two tracks on this purple ten inch are much more in line with Al Bleek's material for [Naked Lunch], adopting a rhythmic poise and sound palette that leans heavily on the mid 90s bass heavy techno sound of LFO. "Buried" is the deeper of the two, building nicely from sparse percussive beginnings into a fully formed procession of warm, kaleidoscopic chords and bubbling analogue undercurrents. Those craving something darker will revel in the heady jacking brilliance of "Derelict" which betrays his D&B history via the deviant bassline twist.

Review: Featuring artwork that mocks the Hollywood logo, and presumably the superficial, air-kissing culture that goes with it, Crackboy is striving to create something out of the ordinary on Crackwood. "Apes" featuring Claude Violante starts off with a relatively standard, jacking house groove, but then he adds a filtered bassline and a sexy vocal that claims "I don't know what I'm doing". "User" sees the producer opt for a darker approach, with its hissing percussion, fuzzy bass and rolling drums underscoring a narrative about a man describing his experiences smoking 'purple haze'. High times indeed. Finally, "Kiddo" sees Crackboy return with a more standard house sound, its rolling kettle drums and evil bass providing the basis for a robotic vocal to intone the single word 'jack' throughout.

Review: Oscar Mulero revisits last year's Black Propaganda with some help from some of contemporary techno's biggest names on this essential remix EP. "To Convince For The Untruth" sees Stroboscopic Artefacts boss Lucy take the original's cavernous surroundings and sharpen them up with bitcrushed hi-hats and subtly a rumbling noise floor, while Developer's take on "Disinformation" straightens out the original's breakbeat acid tendencies by soaking its furious synth lines in reverb and hooking everything together with a rolling 4/4 kick. Finally, Shifted's take on "Intentionally False" keeps the measured pace of the original but transplants its thick, bulging frame for a threadbare structure littered with subtle detail.

Review: In its original form, Killekill was a party that embraced all sorts of electronic music, and the label has opted for the same approach. It doesn't seem to bother Nico who runs Killekill - he previously worked for Shitkatapult - that the imprint's first steps have displayed an almost schizophrenic disregard for the kind of micro-genres that defines electronic music. In fact, like Svreca from Semantica and Micky who runs [Naked Lunch], he seems far more interested in what constitutes a great tune, irrespective if its tempo is 100bpm or 160bpm and regardless of whether it was fashioned in downtown Detroit or a windswept Dublin suburb. Following the wild techno of Alex Cortex's Raw, comes Megahits, a three-installment vinyl release that sums up this approach. It begins almost innocuously, with Bill Youngman's "The 2", a downtempo, jazzy piece that suddenly veers into rude boy half-paced jungle bass. Despite being a Berlin label, UK culture is represented again with the curious blend of ragga vocalsand twitchy acid lines on Affie Yussuf's "Onna Roll", while Radioactive Man serves up his typically party-friendly electro, replete with tonal bass licks on "Addict" and Neil Landstrumm returns to techno territory - albeit a less distorted, noisy one - on the dark, ravey bass of "On The Pussers". There are also nods to contemporary European techno - the most notable being the grainy, dense rhythms and searing acid of Cassegrain and Tin Man'scollaboration - US producers are represented with the murky jack of JTC's "Crush Arbor" and the frightening synths, predatory bass - which has echoes of Suburban Knight - and hyperactive rhythms of DJ Stingray's "Ego Assault". Killekill also proves itself again to be home to the outsider, featuring the punishing beats and menacing synths of Lakker's Autechre-eqsue "Darcdub" and the spectacularly depraved "Furfriend", a stripped back groove powered by a bombastic bassline and featuring a deadpan pervert talking about taking drugs and how he likes to come on people's faces with his "fat cock". Electronic music may have become a smaller place thanks to technology,but as Megahits shows, Killekill's world remains as colourful and occasionally disturbing as an LSD-drenched peek through a kaleidoscope.

Review: Clearly hitting his stride with the 4/4 focus of his Trevino alias, Marcus Intalex dishes out his third single under the moniker on his own Revolve:R label, and the quality hasn't dipped even slightly. "Discovery" works a solid tech-house pattern, letting snippets of moody chord flirt with more abrasive scrapes in a mechanical funk. "Lag" is more rough as it works a nasty bass guitar lick to deadly effect while the synth flourishes come in dramatically. "Tweakonomics" gets dirtier still as the 303 gets pulled out and twisted to a more broken kind of house template, leaving it to "Shorty" to really scrape the barrel with guttural sub, snappy claps and a hat-less garage flex that sounds set to explode at any given second.

Review: Arriving back in late 2011, A Sagittarium brandished a fully formed blend of house and techno and a cloak of mystery, and both elements have remained intact across the smattering of material that has surfaced in the subsequent period. A Transparent Mind is a fine return for A Sagittarium pairing two original productions against remixes from Marco Bernardi and Aubrey. "Eye Against Eye" demonstrates just why so many people lap up these Elastic Dreams releases, arising from cinematic beginnings into a unique sounding array of deep pads, cavernous bass stabs and slowed down but still eminently rolling jungle breaks. Mr Bernardi switches the mood from dream laden to nightmarish on his crunchy lo fi remix which will appeal to adoptees of the Jamal Moss school of thinking. The wonderfully named "Funky Archer" meanwhile is pure intergalactic bliss, with crisp 808 programming rising delightfully over a bed of interplanetary gurgles and streamlined synths. Again the source is flipped on its head in superlative fashion, as Aubrey transforms the track into a reverberant, clanking, yet still very funky techno track.

Review: Marcel Dettmann returns with yet another EP full of dusty atmospherics and brooding minimalism. The dark synth line of "Range" wallows around sketchy percussion and filtered pulsations while the density of "Islo" ups the energy in a hectic mess of Dadub-esque drum patterns. Machine gun snares strafe the Berghain-y kicks of "Push" as otherworldly vocals breath pitched down variations of the track's title. "Allies" is Dettmann's take on party techno, but tailored entirely for flinty concretions and sturdy pylons - an absolute Berghain classic.

Review: Carl Craig's Planet E unleash three intriguing yet danceable remixes of "Glob," taken from Kenny Larkin's Keys, Strings and Tambourines LP from two years ago. Claude Von Stroke is first up and delivers a killer effort, with a rework is rooted firmly in heads down territory, fully embracing the moodiness of motor city for this excellent remix. Berghain resident Ben Klock delves into some off key, tech-house with scuffed snares and deep bassline whilst Larkin's own remix concentrates on jacking lead rhythms.

Review: Jon Convex returns to 3024 with a lead track that twists the trend of modern electro smartly with a smooth vocal turn from DBridge. The beat and synths growl and prowl in a thoroughly sinister fashion, keeping things simple and deadly, while the vocal lifts the taut atmosphere without ever cheapening it. "Zero" takes things down a house route with a punchy beat and muted synth deployment, making a functional beast that exists in the same world of urban dread that characterises "Lied To Be Loved". "Stay" is the outsiders choice here with a softer complexion in its 4/4 bone structure and more application of synths to bring a glow to the cheeks.

Review: If you were to find yourself late one Sunday afternoon jostling for position in a reconditioned power station, surrounded by ubermensch males, it's likely you're in Deep Heet. Techno music doesn't get much more self explanatory than this. "Voltan" is the most club-indulgent of the four track EP. A wall of undulating PAS noise shifts in and around a thrumming bassline. and the only audible deviation of instrumentation comes via pattering snares. Pent tensions encircle "Pygar" which gradually cools, as Slater reduces the track back to its original framework. "Turn" sheds the low end and fizzle of the aforementioned tracks, focusing on hypnotic and bleeping loops and disturbing Hitchcock-like insignia, while Slater reintroduces his fearsome hiss on "Flat Tire" with gargantuan war horns.

Review: This compilation shows that there is more than a direct link between Detroit's soul past and its house and techno present. In fact, In The Dark suggests that producers like Amp Fiddler and Rick Wilhite offer a continuation of the sound developed by Motown. In Amp Fiddler's case this is audible on his reshape of Courtney Jackson's "Every Body". There, a rippling double bass and gloriously spacey synths provide the backing for her soulful tones. Wilhite meanwhile, contributes two tracks - the first is the playful seduction of "City Bar Reopen Live Dancing", while "Cosmic Jungle", a collaboration with Sherard Ingram's Urban Tribe project, sees lush strings unfolding over an eerie, brooding bassline.

Review: With numerous vinyl, CD and cassette releases over the past 20 years, Orphx are true techno veterans; Boundary Conditions marks their third release for Adam X's Sonic Groove label, and sees them continue to blur the lines between techno, industrial and noise music with stellar results. "Outcast" begins with a tunnelling bass pulse, slowly giving way to savagely distorted synth blasts, gradually building to a frenzy of broken noise. "Vanishing Point" is similarly beautiful in its abrasiveness, coating its simple beat with distorted drum rolls and delicate tones, while "Periphery" takes a gentler approach letting its textures and rhythms unfold and breathe in more cavernous surroundings. Once again the duo prove why they are one of techno's most enduring outfits.

Review: Being from Chicago, it's perhaps unsurprising that Dance Mania legend DJ Deeon has been inspired by the sounds of footwork. This EP for the party-hearty chaps at Booty Call doffs a cap to the footwork phenomenon, offering sped-up 808 jams with a variety of cheeky, X-rated hip-hop vocal samples (see "Get Buk", "I Heard" and "Drop Pop Shake It"). There's also a foray into the world of B-more (with, of course, plenty of cheap-sounding juke synth stabs) in the shape of "I Told You So", and a curious 4/4 electro/jackin' house jam, "Lightspeed". Curiously, it's probably the strongest cut on an EP full of tried-and-tested party bangers.

Review: Eomac is otherwise known as Ian McDonnell - one half of the Irish duo Lakker. In 2011 the duo debuted on Killekill with the Spider Silk EP, and now McDonnell dons his Eomac guise for the Berlin imprint. The Spoock EP was originally slated as Killekill's first release, but label boss DJ Flush held back the EP for three years, waiting for the day Killekill had grown in enough stature to give Eomac and his music a deserving platform. Stroboscopic Artefacts boss Lucy remixes the titles track, weighing in on Eomac's original kooky-creepy synths, but adds a fizzing wall of low end to his version. Exquisitely cut up vocals in "No Name" creating a haunting atmosphere for thocking wood block percussion and heavy broken beats to cut through, while a hollow "Stylised & Desensitised" unfurls into a procession of rocky drums and clicks unconnected to earthly matters.

Review: With his Modularz label becoming a firm bastion of unfiltered techno machinations, Developer sets about bombarding our senses with his productions and curations across this eight track release. His own track "Heated" rattles through an industrial landscape devoid of colour, instead populated by reverb decays and distant clangs of metal, while "Dirty Drive" sees him stretching to work a melody into his machinery, coming out with a metallic dub chord drowning in its own echo, and "Dirty Drive 2" adds some complexity to the musicality and creates an utterly engrossing hook in the process. Shifted's remix meanwhile keeps a careful distance between the clean beat and the murky textures of the dubby elements. Handing over to Truncate, "Diffraction" flips the script with a central melodic hook and a thoroughly austere beat, while Jonas Kopp's remix beefs up that same theme by doubling up the phrase and edging towards a peak time monster, and Markus Suckut takes things deeper and into a more house compatible realm. For a real lesson in refined techno composition however, head straight to Stanislav Tokachev's "Building Peaks". Simplicity doesn't come more captivating than that synth line.

Review: Toby Leeming aka The Third Man provides a taster of what we can expect from his album Beyond The Heliosphere, due out in May, with the Double Dawn EP on the EPM label. Leeming's production style is somewhat reminiscent of classic Dan Curtin in prioritising melodies but also has a rough and ready touch, yet Leeming is far more linear in his approach, as characterised on the title track. The grandiose swaggering way Leeming utilises his melody lines over the noisy, acid blotted bassline ensure your attentions remain elsewhere though! EPM excel themselves in procuring remixes from the superb John Heckle and Claro Intelecto, with the former's typically intensity complemented by the latter's spiky metallic rhythms.

Review: It could be said that the proliferation of retrospective releases has some bearing on the tendency towards classic sounds and styles in modern house and techno productions, but this is hardly the case in this instance. Indeed, it is hard to imagine any contemporary producer successfully capturing the essence of this 2002 collaboration between System 7 and Derrick May. Its strength lies in an equal division of labour and this is most evident on the title track, where System 7's tribal drums cosy up to May's dreamy strings and moody bass pulses, or on the Mayday remix of "Big City Sky", a fusion of the Detroit producer's rasping metallic drums and melodic pads and Steve Hillage's ponderous fretwork. There are instances where one party prevails: May takes the lead on the Mayday remix of "Altitude", with a slamming, jerky rhythm dominating the ambient landscape and the Montage remix of "Icon" is still all about that unforgettable melody line, while Hillage's spacey guitar riffs take ownership of the evocative "Prototype 1 (Electron mix)". However, "Traveller" is a relationship of equals, and when Hillage and May's contributions are of the same weight, like on the widescreen techno meets Pink Floyd riffing of "Fractal Liasion", this has all the hallmarks of an experiment that'll prove impossible to emulate.

Review: It sounds like UK duo AnD are making good on their promise to focus on making progressively heavier and heavier techno. "Making Circles" sets a high watermark, its heavy drums jarring and the abrasive rhythm supporting a churning filter and the kind of rattling, relentless bassline that Luke Slater might contemplate if he was in particularly bad form. Despite its title, "Deep Consciousness" is even more extreme. The drums are pushed far into the red, ending up distorted and gnarly as the rhythm hurtles towards an inevitable, high-paced climax. But there's a flipside to every intense track; Svreca's take on "Circles" is all spiky percussion and subtle off-beats, while "Lost without G" is a sublime, deep electronic offering.