Soma 黑胶唱片和CD

Review: Titanic Scottish techno label Soma continues to be one of Europe's consistent outlets with a new EP from Portuguese talent Lewis Fautzi that takes no prisoners. 'Density' kicks off with hammering drums and the sort of brain-frying synths that are so sharp and textured they make your eyes water. 'Severity' then sets off at a canter with hulking great kick drums and more intense synth waves. 'Malleability' is slithery more rubbery and hypnotic, with rubbing synths and quickened kicks rocking you into a meditative mind state and 'Tension' closing down with a dark late night mood.

Review: Deepchord serves us the second taster of his upcoming full-length, 'Functional Extraits', out later this year, piling on yet newer layers of texture to his trademark dub techno sound. On this sneak preview EP, 'Glyphs' pulsates through a bed of rattlesnake shakes, swirling ambience, and thunderous knocks, as though it's documenting some bioorganic brain's inner workings. 'Orbitals' entrances us further, inviting us into a melancholic garage rave submerged in a gas giant, while 'Leafiness' barely utters a kick through its emulsive pulses.

Review: A welcome return from Deepchord, who shows the newset of dub techno players how, exactly, it is done. After 5 years, he returns to Soma Records with 'Functional Extraits 1' here, charting shuffly and subtle trips through echoic hallways ('Mapping') and rain-pattered biomech rainforests ('Shale'), and scanning the post-Earth wasteland for any semblance of a real reggae chord. With the final track almost entirely consisting of texture and bass, we can happily declare this to be next-level dub techno.