Review: Japanese artist Go Hiyama was responsible for some of 2012's finest techno through his work for Token - and this new missive for Warm Up maintains his consistent record. "Dull Acuity" contains all the typical Go Hiyama trademarks - complex rhythms, subtle but effective filters and most importantly a slamming, upfront approach. "Common Blank" is even more impressive, with its nagging groove augmented by slivers of metallic percussion. Taking a different approach, Hiyama uses what sounds like an indie guitar riff on a loop for "First Refusal", wrapping it around a more understated electronic groove. Oscar Mulero delivers two takes on "Blank"; the '2nd Edit' is a muscular, robotic affair, but the first version, with its nickel-plated drums and driving bass, impresses the most.
Review: Having recently graced the Zenker brothers label Illian Tape with some ambient material, Jonas Kopp returns to his more familiar floor focused approach with this release for Oscar Mulero's Warm Up label. It's the Spanish label's first 2014 drop but maintains the pace set on last year's clutch of tracks from Developer, Svreca, Go Hiyama and Mulero himself with lead cut "Westphalia" dominated by the corrugated feeling of the flanged sequence that pummels proceedings forward in cahoots with some haywire 909 hats. The accompanying mix from Mulero is more stripped down but retains the dirty feeling of Kopp's original whilst "Circinus" is sci-fi techno at its finest.
Review: Kwartz aka Mario Campos is the latest in a long line of Spanish techno producers to emerge over the past decade and his tough sound is at home on Warm Up. At times, it feels like Spain's techno sound has been caught frozen in time, in a place where the more hypnotic end of the loop sound has been left to coalesce with stepping, broken beats. Rite is very much in keeping with this approach. From the dense, heavy beats and wild stabs on the title track to the demented, Lost-style panel beater that is "Black Horse" and Mulero's own rumbling, rolling take on "Rite", this is heads-down, peak-time material in the finest Spanish tradition.
Review: Having been producing and DJing in his native Spain for over 20 years, Oscar Mulero is one of the lynchpins of the country's techno scene. Barely a year from his last long-player, and Mulero arrives with Black Propaganda, his most impressive statement to date. Following the delicate, bit crushed ambience of "The Dirt", the album travels through a number of dark, minimalistic techno structures, from the cavernous echo of "Instant Widespread of the Dirt" (which sounds like what you'd imagine Villalobos and Mills would sound like together), through the hypnotic emissions of "Intentionally False" and the insistent pulse of "False Statement", before winding up with the title track, a crystalline piece of razor sharp sound design. Highly recommended.
Review: Oscar Mulero revisits last year's Black Propaganda with some help from some of contemporary techno's biggest names on this essential remix EP. "To Convince For The Untruth" sees Stroboscopic Artefacts boss Lucy take the original's cavernous surroundings and sharpen them up with bitcrushed hi-hats and subtly a rumbling noise floor, while Developer's take on "Disinformation" straightens out the original's breakbeat acid tendencies by soaking its furious synth lines in reverb and hooking everything together with a rolling 4/4 kick. Finally, Shifted's take on "Intentionally False" keeps the measured pace of the original but transplants its thick, bulging frame for a threadbare structure littered with subtle detail.
Review: Garduno is the DJ/producer behind the Illegal Alien label, and after a series of releases for other imprints now makes his debut on Warm Up. Unfair Decisions is everything that fans of Oscar Mulero's label have come to love; there's the tough rhythms and hypnotizing textures of "Hard Decisions", and the peak time industrial kicks and rivet gun percussive bursts on "No Hay Seres Omnipotentes". Even when Garduno strays into more reflective mode as he does on "Alteraciones De Amor", there is still a hint of menace in the air, while on "Start Over", the Mexican artist delivers a driving, cyber-punk interpretation of dub techno.
Review: There's usually something a little creepy about Roger Semsroth's work under the Sleeparchive alias, an aesthetic that both of his previous 2015 12" singles, And In His Eyes I Saw Death and Senza Titolo, gleefully embraced. He's at it again on this outing for Warm Up Spain. Opener "Window-057" sets the tone, lacing uneasy, off-key electronic loops over a decidedly unsettling techno groove. "Window-092" is similarly horror-inclined, albeit with twisted sirens and fizzing textures over a booming kick-drum led rhythm. Warm Up owner Oscar Mulero provides remixes of both, shuffling around the parts whilst retaining Semsroth's typically forthright approach.
Review: Vault Series boss Subjected proves again why he's one of Europe's most respected producers. "Shift" is typical of his sound, with pummelling beats and sharp hi-hats underpinning high-pitched acid shrieks and squeals. "Rest One" is less predictable; slower than usual for Subjected, its beats are dense and heavy but also blurred like boulders wrapped in cotton wool. Propelled by high pitched percussive licks and underpinned by a rumbling bass, the overall effect feels like daggers being shot through a swamp. Label owner Oscar Mulero also impresses with his version of "Shift". Instead of his usual broken beat sound, this time the remix is linear and pulsing, combining the visceral power of Robert Hood's minimalism with Phuture's acid thunder.
Review: Having released on Semantica, Mulero returns the favour by remixing Svreca's "AvergAng". There are three versions to choose from; the first is a pulsing, tunnelling groove which grows in intensity as it builds. The other two versions, Mulero's "digital edits", are more intense, with pumping rhythms and niggling percussion prevailing. But Svreca's original material impresses most here. "Disorder" is a foreboding, slice of cavernous techno, while the title track is even more impressive. "AvergAng" dispels the myth that the Semantica boss is a DJ first and foremost, its bleak, stepping rhythm and singular, relentless approach rivalling the Warm Up boss man's own productions.
