Review: Bas Mooy's label brings together an impressive cast of producers for its latest compilation. The ominous bass on Mascon's "Nenner" lends the track an ebm sensibility, while Exium's "Dark Voids" is more in keeping with convention, fuelled by powerful filters and a steely, slamming rhythm. While there are intense contributions - in particular, Antony Doria's "Uprite" is visceral hard techno at its finest - Herdersmat impresses most when contributing artists provide their own interpretations of sub-genres. Takaaki Itoh's "Implement" is a mesmerising piece of hypnotic, droning techno, while on "Hdmt" UVB delivers a compelling version of Downwards' broken beat sound, replete with swirling textures.
Review: The act with techno's most unpronounceable name return to Mord after 2019's Word. The title track here is a dense techno stepper that fuses rough broken beats with repetitive vocal chants and a noisy, analogue riff. It makes for a powerful but distinctive piece of music. "Opp" is straighter and more functional, with the Swedish pair delivering an impactful jack track that resounds to noisy samples and blasts of chain mail percussion. Meanwhile on "Popp", they go down a high tempo route, with dense, doubled up kicks acting as the foundation for screeching riffs and spooky filters. Rounding of this distinctive, peak-time EP are the machine gun kicks of "Vvov".
Review: This is Mord's most ambitious venture to date, with a box set of seven records laying out the Dutch imprint's tough techno agenda. Regulars like UVB and Radial set the tone, with the former dropping brutish kicks and jarring riffs on "Someone Calling Cut" and Radial veering into a pumping direction on "Cru".Label owner Bas Mooy moves the compilation towards a more streamlined approach with the dense, linear Klockworks-like "Owl In Daylight", but Herdersmat also shows that the label has succeeded in attracting some heavyweight international talent; Eomac's "Phisk" is a disorienting rave-flecked stepper and Sleeparchive drops the bleep-heavy bomb that is "Evicted".
Review: K7's DJ Kicks compilation series is given a new makeover with their latest juggernaut from London-based electronic deviant, Actress, who gives one of his rare appearances out of the live format and onto the decks. As expected, the techno shape-shifter puts through a diverse mix of 20-plus tracks spanning old-school Chicago house to more contemporary experimental techno and ambient-filtered dance music. This continuous DJ mix includes vintage Detroit techno from Reel By Real, distorted outsider disco from the Shit & Shine crew, Gherkin Jerk's "Red Planet" and a new cut from the man himself, "Bird Matrix". It's safe to say that this mix is comprehensive of the current state of affairs in the techno world: cuts ranging from the distorted house of Breaker 1 2, golden era electronica from Autechre, TTT's Zennor, Germany's STL and even PPU affiliate Moon B! An essential collection of music from 2015, highly recommended, of course!
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