Review: Hex celebrates its second anniversary with this exhaustive hard techno compendium. Rebekah sets the tone with the pummelling, ebm-themed "You Be The Leader" and Cleric ramps up the intensity on the deranged jack of "The Puppet Master", before AEIT brings this sound to its logical conclusion with a pounding, visceral banger laced with feedback on the ominously named "12 Gauge",
There are some less intense contributions, with Rommek's "Mezcal Worm" drawing on a niggling electronic groove and sawtooth bass. But in the main, this is a compilation full of high-octane thrills as the dark trance and grainy, concrete weight kicks of AnD's "Fearless" so effectively demonstrate.
Review: Morbeck's label unleashes the seventh instalment of its Golden Circle compilation. Opening the release is VTXODVI's pounding Frankfurt Trax-style "Remembrance of You", while Stefano Morretti keeps the intensity levels up with the rave stabs and insistent percussion of "Lighting Up The Night" and label regular Under Black Helmet also mines the 90s for inspiration with the crystalline hooks and pounding kicks on "Summer Snow". While the focus is on the dance floor throughout, each contributor to Golden Circle brings something different to the compilation, including Nebula's combination of break beats and tripped out synths on "Rezystor" and Morbeck's collaboration with Schwan, the acid-peppered, banging "Same But Different".
Review: Julius Laura?onis aka Under Black Helmet first appeared on the techno radar back in 2015 with Mute. Now Code is Law has commissioned four new remixes of that debut track. First up is label owner M?rbeck, with an interpretation that sees swirling, acrid chords unfold over tough, kicking beats. Fast-rising Dutch producer Remco Beekwilder is next offering up a frenetic, buzz-saw bass and eerie, string-laden reshape of the track. Farrago opts for a more subdued version, stripping the track back to a dubbed out groove featuring hypnotic vocal samples and acid belches. Rounding off this fine remix package is Vril's stepping, electro-funk reshape, which resounds to crisp 808s and powerful snare builds.
Under Black Helmet - "Mutant Beats" - (6:38) 123 BPM
Sawlin - "Sense Of Deepness" - (4:12) 126 BPM
Stefano Moretti - "Let There Be Light" - (5:50) 140 BPM
Review: According to Berlin imprint Code Is Law "every decade a discourse between futuristic movements and retro aesthetics is taking place". And we couldn't think of a more perfect way to describe their meeting of the city's old school versus new school on this brilliant label compilation. Highlights not limited to WYAD's mysterious and arpeggio driven intro "The Lost Tape", the buzzing, broken beat industrial of Marnyc's "Electric Dogs" or the fierce dark side electro of Specta's "Common Talk" (a real highlight). There's some more established names appearing too as we mentioned earlier, such as the Vault Series affiliated Morbeck with the loopy and cyclical "Husky" and Stuttgart legend Janzon with the acid infused peak time stormer "Poetry In Motion". This is fierce!
