Perc is one of modern electronic music’s reference points: an internationally touring DJ and live act, founder of the scene leading Perc Trax label and one of the most respected producers in techno today.
As a performer Perc has taken his sound across the world to such seminal clubs as Berghain, Fabric, Tresor, Fuse, Space Ibiza, Concrete, Unit in Tokyo and to festivals including Awakenings, Glastonbury, DGTL Unpolished, Mayday, Unsound, Verknipt, Dour, Soenda, 10 Days Off, Extrema and many more.
His podcast for Resident Advisor’s scene-leading mix series, his four Boiler Room performances and his 2023 HÖR Berlin set showcase Perc at his very best. Each is a perfect example of his fusion of bleeding edge techno and classic noise and experimental influences.
2024 will be a pivotal year in Perc's career with his new album 'The Cut Off' (his first since 2017) set for release in March. A more dance floor focused album than his previous full length releases 'The Cut Off' will be accompanied by an extensive world tour of live and DJ performances, while his seminal Perc Trax imprint will reach two milestones; it's twentieth year anniversary and it's one hundredth vinyl release.
Review: Seven years after Bitter Music, Perc returns with his fourth studio album. The Cut Off is bookended with the gentle ambience of "Can You Imagine" and the droning "Calcify"- and includes other divergences like the jittery electronic soundtrack on "Heartbeat Popper". "Milk Snatchers Return" also presents another unexpected turn as Perc fuses atmospheric synths with dense tribal drums. But his focus soon turns to this signature sound. The sharp percussive shapes of "Static", which features Sissel Wincent on vocals, is an industrial techno anthem in waiting. And the intense acid of "Cold Snap" and the pounding kicks and heads-down rhythm on "Full Goblin" are reminders that few producers do forward-looking, impactful techno as well as Perc.
Review: Perc teams up with KBK boss Sissel Wincent for one of this year's most memorable techno releases so far. The title track features Perc's typical steel-edged drums and relentless percussion. But what really sets the track apart are Wincent's vocals. Repetitive and hypnotic, they have a nihilistic quality that make "Static" nothing short of compelling. There is an alternate dub version. As its title suggests the main vocal is stripped out. However, Perc retains a fragment of the original vocal and lets it unravel over grainy drums and a pounding, driving rhythm. Even the most purist techno fans are sure to be won over by this release.
Review: For its twelfth release, the revered Analogue imprint drops a split EP. Sounding like a who's who of hard techno, it gets off to an intense start with the distorted, jarring riffs and pummelling kicks of Perc's "Skinner". It's a hard act to follow, but Remco Beekwilder rises to the occasion, with the Dutch DJ delivering the harsh metal drum-led "Dominance". Uvb's "Gun and Run" isn't as intense, but it does resound to an ominously powerful bass that hits hard. Rounding out this fine release is Jerm with "Flesh Hoover". With a focus on high-paced kicks and a swung rhythm, it's as funky as it is intense.
Review: Striking a balance between label regulars and new artists, the third instalment of the Forever series provides a great snapshot of the hard techno landscape. On "Junkyard Shift", label debutant Somniac One delivers a coruscating, rave riff-infused take on peak time club music. Exos, who is also releasing material for the first time on Perc Trax, inhabits a similar space with the rolling, abrasive "Warlion". Perc's own contribution, "Rotopod", a collaboration with Million, is an intense affair, with the pair dropping dense kicks and intense percussive builds. Meanwhile EAS, who has put out music before on the label, drops an acid-seared banger that's powered by robust break beats.
Review: Following on from 2020's Fire In Negative EP, Perc delivers another storming release. The title track is a peak-time juggernaut, with pummelling kicks underpinning looped vocals, bursts of white noise and shredded percussive bursts. "Resistor" also deploys the human voice, but this time it's a shrieking human voice set to intense alarm bell riffs, with Perc providing a relentless rhythm as the backing. "240 Volts" is less intense, but only by a slight degree; it sees the UK techno producer fuse chilling synth stabs with the kind of intense, pounding kicks that were last heard on Jeff Mills' X-101 release.
Review: Perc's Tracks Of... has become the unofficial annual state of the hard techno nation synopsis, and 2020 is no different. It features label favourites such as AnD, Manni Dee and Scalameriya, who contribute linear, driving tracks (Dee's "The Wolves" and "Exploit Me, I'm Yours"), crunchy industrial bangers ( Scalameriya's intense "Plothole") and searing acid workouts (AnD's "Morning Sesh").
But this year's edition also welcomes newer names to the stable such as Ghost in the Machine and Tymon, who impress with the visceral "Breaking the Seal" and the broken beat "Woodman" respectively. The compilation also collects tracks that veteran producer The Advent's released this year on the label, with the lean rhythm of "Scorched" and the jacking "Planting Seeds" - a follow-up to the 1997 track "House Seed" - really standing out.
Perc - "Look What Your Love Has Done To Me" (I Hate Models Primitive remix) - (8:28) 142 BPM
Review: The eighth series in Perc Trax's remix series sees some of techno's biggest names rework the label's back catalogue. It opens with Amelie Lens delivering a thumping, big-room take on Perc's own "Look What Your Love Has Done To Me". DJ Boss goes down a linear but visceral route for his Schranz take on RVDE's "90s Hammer", while Ghost In The Machine turns Perc & Truss' "Leather & Lace" into a juggernaut banger, led by screeching riffs, looped vocal samples and a pounding kick. For a more streamlined take on peak-time techno, take a listen to Perc's own VIP take on "Look What Your Love Has Done To Me" ,while for those lovers of layered, noisy bangers, look no further than Ansome's remix of Manni Dee's "London Isn't England".
Review: Featuring vocals from UK electronic artist Gazelle Twin, Perc's ''Look What Your Love Has Done To Me" has gone from a vocal experiment to a certified classic and the biggest selling track in the history of his label. Originally released as part of the Bitish artist's 'Bitter Music' LP in 2017, the track has grown in support organically, allowing it time to take on a life of its own. Now in 2019 the track lives on with these killer reworks by some of the scene's biggest names. Ascendant Belgian Amelie Lens delivers a barrelling peak time perspective that lunges straight for the jugular, label regular I Hate Models delivers a typically frantic and hyperware rework sure to throw you against the wall and the man himself Perc reloads the track directly off the factory floor in pitch black and austere fashion.
Review: The latest release from the excellent Public Information sees them return to the works of early electronic pioneer F.C. Judd with a selection of remixes from some well chosen contemporary artists. Originally the subject of a retrospective release from Public Information early in 2012 entitled Electronics Without Tears, F.C. Judd was an under-appreciated figure of early electronic music who experimented with oscillators, filters and amplifiers, alongside his own self-built electro-mechanical drum machine and experimental synthesiser, primarily during the 1950s and 60s. Interpretations On F.C. Judd is the result of the label haven given all artists involved access to Judd's entire archive of sounds, tone experiments, field recordings and lectures, and left them to "produce an audio artefact befitting of Judd himself". RVNG artist Holly Herndon, techno veteran Perc, Bandshell, Karen Gwyer, Ekoplekz and Throbbing Gristle's Chris Carter all contribute to an engaging collection of works.
Review: As the man behind the long-running Perc Trax label, Ali Wells has had a considerable part to play in shaping the landscape of UK techno. His debut album Wicker & Steel, released in 2011, was only his first full-length in a decade of producing, but the influence both it and the curation of his label had was wide ranging, prefiguring the revival for a harder, more industrial aesthetic in techno which emerged in the following years. The Power & The Glory is Wells' second album, and is a significantly more ambitious statement than its predecessor, combining his obvious appreciation of the experimental noise sound coming from the US underground with the pounding floor-focused rave bangers he's well known for. Quite simply, Wells has raised the techno bar once again.
We use cookies to personalise content and ads, to provide social media features and to analyse our traffic. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners who may combine it with other information that you've provided to them or that they've collected from your use of their services.