Bestsellers This Week

Review: Toronto based Stuart Li, better known as Basic Soul Unit, returns to the Creme Organisation with a new four track EP of dirty, acid house. His releases over the last year, including his remix of Arnold Jarvis' classic house track, "Take Some Time Out" have proven his ability as a producer. This rep is only going to be further enhanced by the raw edged, Detroit influenced techno of "Tuff Luv".

Review: Detroit techno favourite Robert Hood is set to release an intriguing concept album this summer. As a precursor to the release, his own M Plant imprint are releasing two of its tracks as a taster of the full length.

The forthcoming Omega is a concept album based on the 1971 classic science fiction film, The Omega Man starring Charlton Heston. The film itself derived from Richard Matheson's 1954 novel I Am Legend which incidentally has also seen a Hollywood film adaptation spring from it. Hood's Omega however, is not meant to be an exact soundtrack that runs alongside the 1971 film. Instead, it is Hood's musical take on the film. He watched the film growing up and now draws inspiration from the lessons that it teaches.

"Alpha" and "Omega (End Times)" hint at what we can expect from this summer's release. "Alpha" is a thick wad of driving techno. It is relentless to the last, with an epic feel created by sustained synthesisers and some stabbing basslines. Cranking breaks and quick percussion patterns add momentum and power to this breathless piece of classic Robert Hood techno. Next up is "Omega (End Times)" which assumes a darker, more ominous quality. Still one for the clubs, this track contains more of a moody and sinister atmosphere. The crunching basslines are still there and when the beat comes in it is as steady and as powerful as the A side. Its tempo shifts are more subtle too, making this an all together much more brooding affair.

From knowing the pretence of the forthcoming full length and by only hearing these two tracks, the wait for Omega will seem unbearable now. A tight release meant to wet our appetites has gone and done exactly what it was meant to.

Review: The always-impressive Argy delivers his second full-length - the first under his familiar moniker - and it's arguably his most impressive body of work yet. The fact that it's on Ibadan gives a clue to its contents; from start to finish, Fundamentals is an album that reverberates to the grooves of 1990s New York (and specifically the trademark sounds of the Shelter and TWILO clubs). There are early Tenaglia-ish organ dubs, string-drenched piano jams, heady vocal excursions, a Kerri Chandler tribute (the wonderful "Dinner At Kerri's") and a very Ibadan-ish piano piece ("Absent Friends") - all accompanied by Argy's trademark high quality production.

Review: One of the cheekiest cuts from their rip-roaring Monkeytown LP, Modeselektor draft in their old buddy Otto Von Schirach for some nasty electroid bass action. Appearing here in dub form, the edits of "Evil Twin" come thick and crafty, while the rave-ready sensibilities remain intact, pirouetting around an insistent yet ever mutating bassline. "German Clap" however sees the boys tackling a more UK Funky led approach, offset by monolithic crescendos of synths. With a mid-section break reminiscent of Altered Natives' "Rass Out", you can't really go wrong can you? Once again Modeselektor prove that you can straddle depth and chaos in dance music and make it work.

Review: For an act that had only a few releases to its credit so far, Dadub sound strangely familiar. That's because the Italian duo behind the project, Daniele Antezza and Giovanni Conti, have been responsible for the mastering, production and engineering on the Stroboscopic Artefacts label. So even if their names don't have household status in techno, their work does, and they have played a huge role in contributing to the label's mixture of dub, broken beat and bassy techno. It is also worth noting that they have worked on the Dadub project for four years, and rather than rushing out music so as to gain recognition, they have taken their time to develop the project's output to a fully-formed level. Both of these factors, as well as their love of Lee 'Scratch' Perry, are audible on Moksha. Cavernous textures loom in the foreground on "Perseverance" and "Moksha", but instead of sounding like they are trapped 20,000 fathoms below sea level, the skittish off beats and wiry rhythms lend them some dance floor resonance. Despite this, it would be hard to find a peak-time club that would champion "Beyond the Veil" or "Temptation of Maya". Both evolve gradually and teasingly, with layer upon layer of sounds and textures flowing over twisted, mid-paced rhythms. Like a more reflective version of the Monad series, Way to Moksha is horizontal techno at its finest.

Review: Token never does things the conventional way and this release by Ctrls is testament to the Belgian label's championing of unorthodox techno. While "Socket" is a peak time affair, powered by a rhythm that is lean and functional, cavernous soundscapes threaten to submerge it. On "Social Vector", a pacey funk bassline is in the foreground, but whirring and clicking away in the left field are shards of glitchy percussion and unexpected stops and starts. "Encrypted Sex" completes the package and here too Ctrls don't forsake experimentation, with a sawing bass supporting subtle percussive elements and a series of drops.

Review: After the conceptual nature of Escapism, the recent Delsin album from the perma-brilliant Conforce, Mr Bunnik returns to the Clone Basement Series with the totally essential 24 EP. Recently the focus of a must read feature on the new breed of Dutch techno via our sister site Juno Plus, this release finds Conforce in deadly form approaching the art of the genre from different, equally sharp angles with precision results. Opening with "Grain" Bunnik pounds spectrally charged vocal groans with unrelenting layers of percussive intent and the increasing gurgle of analogue malfunction, whilst "Be There At Night" is looser in feeling, as jacking rhythms threaten to slip out of time amidst the intermittent granite thick rave stabs. On the flip recent Moustache Techno signee Gesloten Cirkel remixes the title track "24" shifting the dubby wormhole shuffle down a gear or two and introducing some delightful string plucked sensuousness.

Review: For those with no concept of the studio intricacies that go into producing music, there are certain artists whose traits ensure their productions constantly fascinate. Mr kick drum Blawan certainly falls into that category. The London based Barnsley lad has enjoyed what some people might call a rip roaring 2011, scoring success after success on whatever label is lucky enough to house his music as well as starting his own label initiative with Pariah in the shape of Works The Long Nights. Given the increasingly bezerk techno nature of Blawan's material, it seems natural that one of this year's most consistent imprints in Clone would seek him out for some magic. And Peaches is up there with Blawan's finest work, smartly following Untold's debut on the Basement Series with four track based variations on the fruit every bit as devastating as the Hemlock boss's 12". Those trademark burrowing rhythms and indescribable drums sounds are present throughout each track and you get the feeling Blawan has as much fun making this sort of music as we do listening to it.

Review: Hemlock boss Untold surfaces on the evergreen Clone imprint with this absolutely blinding EP for their Basement Series. Much like Trago and Bok Bok collaborating, the sight of one of the UK's premier producers on one of our favourite Dutch label makes for exciting times. "Little Things Like That" is resolutely booming techno music, effortlessly stepping up the gears of dancefloor menace towards a subway sized juggernaut of rasping, finely sculpted pressure. Up next, "Bachelors Delight" merges the bassier excesses of Untold's background with a 4/4 flex, dipping the expertly syncopated drums in a sub bass swamp lifted from the harsher end of 2step. This is music that was made for the Basement Series and naturally gets a BIG TIP from us!

Review: Inigo Kennedy discards with the deepness shown on recent EPs for some thoroughly dirty techno on his latest EP for Token. Heavily road tested on his worldwide DJ travels, "Revenge" and "Scatter" operate on different levels, with the former building layers of dubby rhythms over the foundation worrying drums. It's peak time business which contrasts with "Revenge", a dystopian trawl through skittering percussion, IDM soundscapes and bass that sounds fit to burst. Remix duties are undertaken by perma busy Blawan, commissioned to tweak "Revenge" after Kennedy realized the two had a mutual appreciation. As with the recent productions from the SoYo hero, this is brutal techno dominated by those unique drum sounds.

Review: Clone and Conforce seem like such a perfect fit and the latter's debut on the former's Basement Series does not disappoint, delivering some of his darkest sweatbox rattlers to date! "Spoiled" drips with jerky acid menace, with heavy strains of synthesized horror filling the spaces between dizzying bouts of percussive rain. It's this staccato approach to rhythmic execution that proves utterly thrilling. "Vulcan" twists itself inside out, beginning in stripped down fashion with rasping hi-hats providing the rhythmic thrust which is gradually strangled by the death grip of the raw emotive machine funk narcosis that steadily rises to the fore. Finally XDB comes through with two variants on "Spoiled" with the relentless percussive shower of the first remix a nice contrast with the more guttural acid poise of the second.