Review: Apart from the odd appearance by like-minded producers like Sterac, M-Plant is primarily a vehicle for Robert Hood's own productions. Therefore, this release by Mark Broom is tacit recognition of the UK veteran's huge contribution to the sound over the years. Fittingly, Stunned is in a similar vein to Hood's own Floorplan style. "Stunned (97 Mix)" is a tough, rolling peak time affair, its heavy drums underpinning insistent, powerful filter sweeps. "Decay" comes across like a more nocturnal version of the Floorplan sound; an acid-soaked organ riff gnaws away incessantly as a sharp riff that sounds like a recycled take on The Bells constantly jabs at the listener's eardrum.
Review: When UK producer Mark Broom went down the party route for his last album, there was undoubtedly a cohort of his fans who were displeased. After all, Broom has a long and proud tradition of putting out defiantly underground techno. Box Set could well be his peace offering to the purists; its deep chords build and build over a rolling Pure Plastic groove, to the point where the dub nuances come close to hitting the red dial. "M28" is fashioned by similar influences, but its backing track is more sedate, with Broom constructing clicking, hissing rhythms, while Advanced Human's take explores a dubby sound and Truncate provides a fine militaristic take, its pulsing groove bolstered by percussive licks and tight claps.
Review: UK techno veteran Broom is one of the most consistent producers in the game and on Neon, he delivers four killer dance floor tracks. Inspired in equal parts by the swirling, dub techno of Chain Reaction and the insistent, loopy techno of mid to late-90s Jeff Mills, the release starts with the steel-plate percussion and churning chord builds of "M19". Broom keeps his focus on that approach for "Energy", where doubled-up claps and clanging chords create an eerie but urgent sensibility, while the title track is a slightly less visceral affair thanks to the inclusion of a sleepy vocal sample amid the churning keys. Finally, "Involver" sees Broom focus his energies elsewhere, its acidic, grimy groove coming across like Steve Bicknell in a bad mood.
Review: Riva Starr's Snatch! celebrate 10 years in the game in 2020, and this collection rounds up the best of their output over the latter half of that first decade. Tuff, chuggy tech-house is, unsurprisingly, the dominant sound here, but it's by no means all that's on offer - Rogue D flirts with 80s boogie on 'Take It Easy', for instance, while Soul Speech loops up Heatwave's 'Boogie Nights' on 'Soul Speech'. With tracks from the heavy-hitting likes of Max Chapman, Darius Syrossian, Steve Bug, Groove Armada, Wade and Denis Cruz, and cheeky reworks of classics like 'My Beat' and 'Pride (A Deeper Love)', there's useful ammunition here for house jocks of many different micro-persuasions.
Review: DJ Hi-Shock compiles the second instalment of his remixes and in so doing shows just how many killer reshapes he has carried out recently. Most of the interpretations follow a roughly similar path, with heavy, dubby beats combined with fathomic chords and rickety percussion. There are of course some smart diversions; his take on Mark Broom's "M28" deploys a stepping rhythm and infectious filtering; the remix he provides of Ad.lib & Silvision's 'Collide' sees acidic lines roll in menacingly over metallic rhythms and the take on MADA and Plankton's "Zath" is an eerie, stripped back groove fuelled by a throbbing bass.
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