Amir Alexander - "The Scent Of My Desire" - (6:57) 123 BPM
Aubrey - "African Song" - (5:50) 125 BPM
Review: Parisian label Popcorn has pulled out all the stops on this latest release, roping in an impressive cast-list of established artists for a compilation style throw down. DJ Gregory steps up first, donning the now familiar Point G alias for an impeccably dusty, delay-laden trip into locked-in, late night deep house territory, before fellow veteran D'Julz subtly references is early 2000s releases on 20:20 Vision via the rolling, bass-heavy tech-house/deep house fusion of "About Time". Amir Alexander's contribution, "The Scent of My Desire", is alternately fuzzy, blissfully melodious and rush inducing, while British techno legend Aubrey serves up a spot of percussion-heavy deep house in the shape of EP highlight "African Song".
Amir Alexander - "The Scent Of My Desire" - (6:57) 123 BPM
Aubrey - "African Song" - (5:50) 125 BPM
Review: Parisian label Popcorn has pulled out all the stops on this latest release, roping in an impressive cast-list of established artists for a compilation style throw down. DJ Gregory steps up first, donning the now familiar Point G alias for an impeccably dusty, delay-laden trip into locked-in, late night deep house territory, before fellow veteran D'Julz subtly references is early 2000s releases on 20:20 Vision via the rolling, bass-heavy tech-house/deep house fusion of "About Time". Amir Alexander's contribution, "The Scent of My Desire", is alternately fuzzy, blissfully melodious and rush inducing, while British techno legend Aubrey serves up a spot of percussion-heavy deep house in the shape of EP highlight "African Song".
Review: Re-mastered for a new generation, Revisited brings together some of UK veteran Aubrey's finest moments. The release starts with the frenetic "Inner Passions Out", a fast-paced metallic rhythm that jerks and jacks in the finest Detroit tradition. "Rapid Fix" is next, with Aubrey dropping the tempo and delivering layered, hypnotic bleeps and menacing drones, while "Behind The Mirror" sees the UK producer match jazzy keys with an off-centre, stepping rhythm - a good decade before this approach became fashionable. The final track shows that Aubrey was ahead of his time in other ways, and "Strange Life" is a driving, toolish affair with mad alarm bells going off.
Review: Gynoid Audio has become a recognised name in techno largely down to the sheer output of music the label delivers on a regular basis. This week Gynoid reach their 100th release milestone which they've turned into a compilation featuring a trusted collection of emerging and well-established names. Starting with the former, Mary Velo, Lee Holman, 88uw and Wata Igarashi, each provide a deep, reverb-laden club track, with Holman providing the most colour with the acid spurting "Operative". Schooled support comes from Synwave boss Damon Wild and the dark control room bleeps he brings with "Lost Base", while Aubrey delivers the funkiest production of the compilation, "Trigger 45". But before any of this takes place, it's Advance Human, aka Gynoid's CEO, Simon Hi-Shock, that begins proceedings with the dubby "Reincarnation".
Review: Two of UK techno's most experienced producers go head to head on this new release on Sims' label. Allen Saei aka Aubrey has been making dance floor friendly yet esoteric techno for nearly twenty years, but "Centrifuge Azul" marks a shift in his approach. Screeching riffs and gritty beats are combined for one of Saei's most visceral tracks to date. There's a similar approach on "Neurosis", but on that occasion, wild acid lines and dark, noisy percussive bursts are combined over insistent filters. "Double Image" is heavy duty material too, with thunder claps and a buzzsaw bass dominating the arrangement. Try as he might, the heavy drums and insistent filtering on Sims' version of "Double Image" can't quite match this intensity.
