Bestsellers This Week

Review: As Trus'me steers himself further into techno territory after his emergence as a champion of funk-rooted house music, this latest set of remixes further highlights how the man has impeccable taste to match his production abilities. DVS1 creates a cavernous beast out of "In The Red", as a sumptuous metallic reverb provides the centrepiece for fluttering hats and flat kicks in a masterful exercise in techno restraint. Meanwhile Terrence Dixon proves his worth in the world of leftfield Detroitisms with a mesmerizing melodic hook and an insistent yet restrained bassline as he tackles "Shakea Body".

Review: Microtrauma has a name for making big room neon trance-fuelled tracks and "reflection" won't do this reputation any harm. Over a pulsing rhythm soaked in acid trippiness, he lays down spacey synths that lead to an inevitable but satisfying crescendo. The rest of the release is of a more subdued, at times darker nature: "Blutenstaub" features a rolling rhythm underpinned by heavy kicks and a squelchy bass, while "Nordlicht" goes even further with blasts of visceral low end copperfastened to a malevolent rhythm. There is a reminder of Microtrauma's melodic prowess on the clubby reshape of "Reflection" by Egbert, but in the main this release seethes with a hitherto undocumented menace.

Review: This release proves again that it's the producers operating at the fringes who often make the most rewarding techno. Lakker are Dublin duo Dara Smith and Ian McDonnell, who for years ploughed a furrow that was inspired by Warp and Rephlex and which resulted in releases that embraced noise, high speed break beats and electronica. So when Lakker decided to focus primarily on techno, they brought with them their previous musical experiences. Unsurprisingly, their debut vinyl for Berlin label Killekill won support from Surgeon and Aphex or that James Ruskin signed their second release to Blueprint. Lakker's past is audible on "Evening Lemon" as detuned, manic piano playing and the sound of kids in a playground bubbles to the surface of a glitchy offbeat backing track - only to give way to a beautiful, dreamy synth. What's more interesting is their application of their left of centre thinking to traditional techno structures. "ED" is powered by crunchy, off beats and shards of glitchy percussion but it's the ghostly, filtered synth that lead it from the outer limits to the realms of the dance floor. Likewise "BKRO" starts with echoing, dubbed out drums and kicks low in the mix, as Lakker let the ghostly textures and melodic undercurrents occupy centre stage. Indeed, if there is a recurrent theme on Arc, it's the use of texture and sound design as a means of seduction and nowhere is the recurrent theme on Arc and nowhere is this more evident than on the title track. There, a dense, lumbering nouveau techno backing provides the backdrop for eerie Aphex-style synths that linger in the background, gradually get closer and then eventually dominate the arrangement as the beats lose their intensity and the electronic melodies prevail, arcing upwards the sublime.

Review: Fat City Record's recent Producer#2 compilation was a superlative assimilation of Transatlantic beat makers with established acts like Harmonic 313, Mike Slott and Dabrye next to rising talent such as Mono/Poly and Darkhouse Family. Dbridge's "ZX81" was one of that compilation's highlights, a staggeringly slo mo drum and bass track infused with downtrodden soul with the warmest of white noise basslines. It's no surprise Fat City picked that track for this remix EP with two very special treatments. Berlin's Shed reworks the track into a broody sub bass dub techno monster replete with the most glorious of soaring synth breakdowns. Next up is an equally consummate remix from Ramadanman. The Hessle Audio man gives "ZX81" a shot of energy, a rolling percussive rhythm cloaked in sublime bass drops and screaming keys.

Review: Chris Liebing's label unveils the second release of their 10 Years cycle with a storming techno effort from South American producer Pfirter, an original Function Vs Mr Ibadan, a Jerome Sydenham number and accompanying remix from Liebing himself. With a nod to the techno of old, this release also ploughs its acclaimed cast head-first into the future.

Review: With their output gaining ever more praise through the explosion in interest over Legowelt, Creme Organisation are well placed to showcase the more renegade approaches to gritty, analogue dance music. However, it's highly doubtful that anyone would be ready for their celebration of the F-104 Starfighter jet. When an EP arrives with a construction kit of a military aircraft you know it's serious. The artist behind the vehicular geeking is none other than Rude 66, veteran of Bunker Records style acid and tweaked electro funk, a man with a rich experience in contorting synthesisers into creating paranoid ambience and rock solid grooves. As you might expect he's showcasing a slightly different side to his productions this time around, spreading this strain of his psyche across five chilling cuts of restrained techno. If there's one element which characterises this EP, it's the choral pads that dominate each track. The beats and acid lines, for the most part, drop in a polite and measured manner. The sounds themselves are rough and hissing, but neatly side-stepping unnecessary volume. Instead these disembodied wraith vocals ring out haunted melodies, which creates a consistent atmosphere of other-worldliness. The real skill of a musician is in taking one approach and creating five distinct and utterly engrossing tracks from it. Jagdstaffel 66 has more than proved his worth in that department.