Review: Detroit's finest Ataxia return to Seth Troxler's Play It Say It, with their incredible new five-track EP - their third appearance now on Seth Troxler's esteemed label. Ataxia had a huge year in 2018 with EPs also on Visionquest, KMS, Leftroom and Nervous. All the while they have maintained their now ten-year residency at top Detroit venue TV Lounge. These are five off kilter club cuts that bring plenty of new ideas to the table, and with style to spare. There's a dark tunnelling journey aboard the acid express on "6 LFO", a deep down and dirty percolator jack on "Macara" with more 303 shenanigans and some tough rolling tech house for the main room on "The Globe".
Review: Recently Planet E founder Carl Craig joined forces with Studio K7 to launch Detroit Love, a new label that takes its name from the techno veteran's touring party. To kick things off, Craig asked Motor City veteran Stacey Pullen to lay down a mix that encapsulated the Detroit spirit. In practice, that means a Michigan-heavy tracklist, with rolling, futurist techno, deep house and tech-tinged house cuts from the likes of Craig Sherrad, Delano Smith, Burning Bridges, Patrice Scott and Gary Martin being joined by similarly-minded cuts from international artists (see Soulphiction's fine opening track and Marcellus Pittman's legendary remix of Motor City Drum Ensemble's "Raw Cuts"). Pullen plays around with tempo and intensity throughout, but it's the inherent rawness and sci-fi feel of Detroit music that shines through.
Review: Detroit based acid techno & house Producers Ataxia are up next on hometown heroes Visionquest. Eric Ricker and Ted Krisko follow up great releases on label co-head Seth Troxler's Play It Say It, Nervous and Culprit here, with two dynamic tech house cuts. First up is the emotive dub techno influence of "VHS" (original mix) which gets properly, deep, cavernous and glacial much in the same vein of revered Motor City acts like Deepchord and Luke Hess. "Kodak Moment" (original mix) on the other hand is more reminiscent of their usual work: this woozy and cerebral cut features some wobbly acid bass action over some steely yet restrained rhythm patterns. It then receives a nice rework by label head honcho's Shaun Reeves & Ryan Crosson, whose moody and introverted edit takes it deeper into the afterhours on an impressive cut that will no doubt receive a rinsing at The Electric Pickle and The Old Miami (on an ill-fated morning) this Summer.
Review: Ataxia are comprised of Detroit acid techno producers Eric Ricker and Ted Krisko, who made their debut back in 2013 with Canada's Clarian (Footprintz) and vocalist Cari Golden on an EP for Los Angeles based Culprit. They followed that up with a long awaited EP for Seth Troxler's Play It Say It last year and here we go again with the impressive follow up: Rave Oddities EP. From the minimalist and hypnotic spell casting of "Quicksand" which is very Motor City with its sense of funk and vaguely reminiscent of Mathew Jonson. Then, they bring some serious power with the epic rave energy of "Texas Is The Reason" with tunnelling hoover leads, gnarly Reese bassline and steely rhythms hammering the message home.
Review: Seth Troxler's hometown features in the latest release on his label. Like the Play It Say It boss, Ataxia also hail from Detroit. However, their sound has more reference points with UK influences. "Time Original" is a pacy tribal groove, populated by tonal squiggles and frosty chords. It sounds like an update on what Swag Records were releasing back during the late 90s/early 00s (long before tech-house became a dirty term). On the title track, a tripped out vocal and more weird tones weave their way through an acidic underbelly, while Ataxia bring the release to a close with "Villains". More understated than the previous tracks, it possesses a similarly out there feeling thanks to its frozen filters and goofy vocal sample.
Review: This German label may have made its name with melodic trance house releases, but BT5 shows that the mood has darkened somewhat in the interim. Schlepp Geist's "Tura" sets the scene for the release, as a lone vocal, dissected and alienated, floats over a pulsing, throbbing bass. There's a similar feeling on Ataxia's "Visa V", where dramatic woodwind sweeps in over rickety percussion and a malevolent backing track. This menacing approach reaches its zenith on Jon Charnis & Hands Free's "Leviathan", a bass-heavy, sleek and menacing affair with the technical precision and power of a high-end Porsche. The only concession to Connaisseur's more carefree sound is the mellow, tranced out breaks of Moosefly's "The Space Between".
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