LUIS FLORES 黑胶唱片和CD

Review: Luis Flores is an American producer who makes hard-hitting, off-the-wall techno music, simple as that. The man has appeared on a number of quality imprints over the years - his EP for Chris Liebing's CLR is certainly one to bang your head to - but his finest moments have all come for the LA-based Droid Recordings. Flores returns to the label with two bombshells: "Negative Pressure" takes a steady 4/4 kick drum which proceeds to unleash an artillery of hypnotic, bouncing atmospherics that feel like they're about to explode, whereas "Surface Tension" is more in your face, less subdued by the ambience and totally not shy of making itself known with its harsh percussion and banging groove. Killah!

Review: Current heroes of the industrial techno sound here tend to focus on the industrial side of things for The Cast Project: a vinyl affair from Los Angeles based on the collective sounds from a faction of artists. They are said to gather a few artists; each of them providing several unique audio samples, clips and/or field recordings that best define their sound. They then collect the samples from each artist and redistribute them to the artists as a master pack, at which point they create a unique track. First up fellow Los Angeleno Luis Flores delivers the grinding and guttural first offering, while 138 then delivers some impressive Autechre styled IDM on his/her effort. On the flip, Dutch terroriser Bas Mooy delivers a furious and powerful warehouse techno stormer that blows the doors off as always. Finally Serbian duo Ontal deliver some more of their typically contorted takes on techno.

Review: Audio Injection's David Flores dons his Truncate mantle to teas up with fellow Droid Recordings stalwart Luis Flores. Compared to their other works, the Ratio EP is rather timid...well minimal. An ultra-light and clacky "Ratio 1" sets the tone for the EP, as does the following "Ratio 2" which is cut from the same cloth and builds in strength like a boxer that's moved from lightweight to middle-weight. On the smudgy stamped reversed-side of the white-label, Luis Flores adds sprockets of alarmed synths and ghoulish chords to his remix of "Ratio 3"; a production desperate to be heard at Berghain. Like the others, "Ratio 3" pulsates with minimal force, as percussion walks up and down its arrangement like a drunk cabassa player falling in and out of time. Proper minimal techno.