Review: This is the first in a series of Five Eps from label co-owner Laurent Garnier, and this release gets off to a great start with "Sake Stars Fever". Redolent of classic material like "Sound of the Big Babou" and "Crispy Bacon", the track revolves around an epic, all-encompassing bass that seethes with tension. Garnier builds brittle percussion and a jittery rhythm around this core element to give it the necessary dance floor clout. In contrast, "Let The People Faire La Fete" is a deeper track that builds gradually, using doubled up claps and insistent stabs to reach a seductive crescendo. As always with Garnier, satisfaction is always guaranteed.
Review: No less a personage than dance music historian extraordinaire Bill Brewster is the man wearing the 'selecter' hat for this five-track V/A offering from Stretford-based Sprechen. Andy Buchan's 'Reasons' is a reworking of Ian Dury classic 'Reasons To Be Cheerful', Yum Yum Club's 'An Acid Love Feel Track' bites Donna Summer and Yootis's 'Preach' takes liberties with the Peech Boys' 'Don't Make Me Wait'; that suggests the other two cuts may also be re-edits, though if that's true we couldn't tell you what of! All the same, these are five reliable workouts that'll get contemporary disco floors shimmying for sure.
Review: Mask-sporting techno titan Redshape (real name Sebastian Kramer) can usually be relied upon to deliver the goods, particularly when it comes to the warmly nostalgic, timeless-sounding outings he delivers on Running Back. There's a definite "back-to-the-future" feel to 'Release Me (Base Mix)', a jacking slab of acid house/techno fusion piled high with psychedelic TB-303 lines, booming bass and creepy, held-note chords. He explores the track's vintage Chicago House influences further on the more stomping, acid-fired 'Windy Mix', before opting for a warmer and bouncier techno sound on 'Bonuz Me' (check the melodious, looped riffs and synth-strings). Closing cut 'Second Ten', meanwhile, sounds like vintage Mr Fingers updated for the Berlin techno generation.
Review: For the fifteenth release on KNTXT, owner Charlotte de Witte takes the helm. "Satori" is somewhat different to the sound that de Witte is known for; while still commanding the dance floor, the chanting samples and accompanying acid blips stand out from typical big room techno tracks. Similarly, "Kali" draws on the legacy of 90s dance, with de Witte mining the Goa sound to create a buzzing slice of tech-trance. The Belgian producer continues in this vein on "Universal Consciousness", where breathy vocals are fused with squelchy 303, while "Ahimsa" sees de Witte draw on ebm influences to deliver an acid-heavy banger.
Review: La Collectionneuse is David Lieske aka Carsten Jost's third artist album on his Dial imprint, and it sees him continue to map out an understated but distinctive vision. All ten tracks are numbered and named after the release, with "La Collectionneuse 1" and "4" both led by stripped back grooves, and "2" and "3" venturing into deeper, US style house thanks to their shuffling drums and reflective textures. Jost's long-documented affinity with techno's more esoteric side is also audible here - "7" is a slow-building affair punctuated by subtle claps and shimmering melodies - while showing his flexible production skills, on "9", the German producer brings atmospheric sounds to bear on a warbling electro rhythm.
Review: Following releases on Senso and her own Spannung, Lilly Palmer debuts on Drumcode. The title track features the kind of searing, ominous bass you'd associate with Adam Beyer's label, but Palmer's own production signatures also shine through, with lithe break beats and crafty builds programmed into the arrangement. "Resistance" is a lean workout, featuring a smart combination of pulverising bass with eerie synth lines and rave sirens, while on "Plasma", Palmer goes down a percussive route, accompanied by a visceral low end. Rounding off a hugely impressive first outing on Drumcode, Palmer drops the titan weight tribal drums and brooding chords of "Don't Look Back".
Review: CircoLoco Records is a new record label forged in partnership with the iconic video game creators Rockstar Games. After four editions of colour coded releases, we now have the entire collection of 20 tracks compiled here in one package. From the Black edition there's the tunneling techno of Adam Beyer's powerful "Break It Up", from the Violet edition you have Margaret Dygas' majestic broken beat journey "Wishing Well", TINI with the neon-lit disco of "What If, Then What?" featuring Amiture (Green) and Sama Abdulhadi with the steely and hypnotic techno of "Reverie" taken from the Blue series - plus many more.
Review: A Sagittariun has made it his mission to release distinctive dance music, and he continues that journey with Strange Brew. Opening track "The Mind Blanks At The Glare" is a wonderfully woozy break beat track, smothered in warbling acid and featuring evocative keys. "Don't Look In The Freezer" sees the UK producer venturing once again down an unexplored path - rave samples and dubbed out chords are combined with trippy 303s to create a mesmerising track. Rounding off this release is the aptly named "Cosmic Trigger": more dance floor-focused than the other tracks, its tingling melodies and growling bass mark it out as another idiosyncratic A Sagittariun jam.
Review: Wehbba returns to Drumcode after his 2020 album for the label. With a focus on the dance floor, the title track is a real standout, thanks to the use of gurgling acid lines and a Marlon Brando vocal sample playing out against a relentless, driving rhythm. Wehbba deploys a similar approach on "Ataraxia" - based on tight drums and percussion, the arrangement unfolds to the sound of wave upon wave of soaring synths, eventually reaching a dramatic crescendo, It's no coincidence that Wehbba says that the track was inspired by spiritual enlightenment. In contrast, "Strange Dreamz" is a stripped back workout, with frazzled riffs and a wired vocal sample building and flowing over a raw groove.
Feel The Rhythm (Marco Faraone remix) - (6:25) 135 BPM
Phantom - (4:25) 134 BPM
Moon Bird - (5:02) 135 BPM
Review: Techno powerhouse Alan Fitzpatrick teams up with Reset Robot to deliver a varied, impactful release. "Feel The Rhythm" is a tough track, with the duo layering a repetitive vocal over pounding kicks and rasping hi hats. In contrast, "Phantom" sees the pair go deeper, with melancholic hooks unfolding over a similarly weighted rhythm track, while on "Moon Bird", rickety percussion is fused with lush synths without the signature Fitzpatrick drums losing their dance floor lustre. Label owner Marco Faraone also delivers a remix of "Rhythm", which sees him toughen up the drums and add a layer of driving percussion to the original arrangement.
Review: Efdemin's 2008 mix CD on Curle, Carry On - Pretend We're Not In The Room showed that he was as adept and inventive behind the decks as he was in the studio. A decade later, the same holds true for the follow-up mix, Naif, but this time the boundaries are more blurred. Consisting of 29 unreleased tracks - 10 from the German producer himself and 19 from like-minded artists - the selection runs the gamut, from the hazy, abstract tones of WaWuWe's "Beams" and DIN's noisy "Glide", into hypnotic dance floor techno such as "Laveline", Efdemin's bleep-y collaboration with Konrad Springer, the glorious mid-tempo minimal roller "Watte" - recorded as Sollmann & Gurtler and then 'versioned' by Efdemin and expansive dub tracks from Pom Pom and Marco Shuttle.
Review: WSNWG showcases collaborations between label chief Rodhad and a variety of like-minded artists, all recorded in the warm creative environment of his Berlin studio. This release sees him team up with modular synth extraordinaire JakoJako for a full-length titled In Vere. Whether it"s the dreamy IDM of "Helonias" or the evocative ambient soundscape of Orchis, this release is largely experimental much unlike the label"s previous output. However, the duo make room for some dancefloor oriented material, such as the pummelling main room cut "Lilium" or the deep and linear minimal techno of "Passeri" (Floor mix).
Review: It's over 25 years since Baby Ford decamped to the studio with, alternately, Mark Broom and the late Ian 'Eon' Loveday to re-examine the depths and possibilities of collaborative underground techno. The result, as we now know, was a giant step forward into a new sound, with a new label, Ifach, that would go on to define the blueprint for a more minimal sound it would take others a decade emulate. Monolense, four bittersweet, emotional, stripped bare explorations of techno has long been sought-after, commanding high prices on the secondhand market, and is finally getting a re-release. This is not just a moment in time, but a bookmark in UK techno history.
Review: Stay Out All Night is Radio Slave's 2020 musical paean to the pleasures of raving back in the day, so who better to rework it than Carl Cox. In a rare remix outing, the dance music veteran stays close to the original, but adds in hypnotic horn stabs, repetitive vocal samples and rolling break beats. Interspersed with vinyl spin-backs, Cox's version is sure to have cross-generational appeal, including the ravers who grew up with his DJ sets, right through to those who have just been introduced to him thanks to this remix. There's also a fine, rolling drum'n'bass reshape included from Metalheadz legend Commix.
