Tresor Germany 黑胶唱片和CD

Review: Cybotron are best known as the early purveyors of electro as we know it, responsible for the genre's more mechanised incarnations from as early as the mid-1980s. Now, though, they "re-emerge in our contemporary cybercultural age when artifactual futures begin a transition into a new era of "Meta'", with two new tracks on Tresor, 'Maintain' and 'The Golden Ratio'. While this sentence might take some decoding, we're fain to speculate that it has something to do with the current mass-mediated zeitgeist centring on virtual reality and its implications for metaphysics, both of which right up Cybotron's street as concepts go. Something about the perturbed spirit of 2023 has awoken Juan Atkins and Laurens von Oswald from their decades-long slumber to produce this vocoded, deep-waving, technocult opus. We must figure out what!

Review: The definition of a seminal work, Drexciya's Harnessed The Storm gets a re-release from the one and only Tresor. Part of their special editions series offering re-releases of the illustrious Detroit duo's entire catalogue, this album is jam-packed full of Drexciya favourites from 'Digital Tsunami' to 'Under Sea Disturbances'. Individually and as a catalogue, these releases represent key moments within Tresor's long and influential history. And the mythic soundworld of Drexciya is undoubtedly at the height of their iconic output, inspiring generations of artists in its wake.

Review: Argentina's Oscean land on Tresor with their latest effort 'Chromium Radiance', a quartet of sonorous, slowly orbiting tracks for the outer reaches. The EP feels deeply at home on Tresor, whose back catalogue it effortlessly channels while navigating the newer more elastic pathways in techno laid by artists such as Mark Fell & Gabor Lazar. The first track is a pensive, nervous sketch for the more introspective hours of the morning, with reese-like pads hanging heavy over skittering grooves, while the second, 'Neon Harmonies' is a perfect accompaniment to watching rain cascade down neon-lit panes, with heartstring-plucking pads and propulsive, SVN-esque subs. 'Blaster Imploder' throws it back with a spell of ruthless hydraulic electro jakk, before 'Echoes Of Chaos' closes things out with a twitchy, haywire big room techno energy calling to mind Regis' early slammers. Seriously versatile and entertaining EP!

Review: Given the reissue wave of Drexciya-related material has been trucking for more than 10 years now, it's quite remarkable this masterpiece from the late James Stinson has waited so long to be reissued. Originally carried on Tresor in 2002 as one of the final releases he put out in his lifetime, the one-off Shifted Phases project feels loaded with context not least with the album framed as 'Cosmic Memoirs'. This is unmistakably Stinson's work, veering from rubbery machine funk freakery to the melancholic, back room electro mood of The Other People Place, all presented with due care across three discs by the Tresor faithful and including two outstanding tracks which were previously only available on the CD edition.

Notes: The Drexciyan Empire presents A Drexicyan Duo Story (Featuring The Brothers Bounce) - 'Mayhem in Mu!!'

New Drexciya comic from AbuQadim Haqq

Please note: this is a comic rather than a graphic novel

Review: Tresor is a titanic techno brand that has very much had a large say in how the genre has sounded over the last few decades. The German club and label now welcomes Parisian artist UFO95 into the fold with his Backward Improvement EP which draws on elements of all the genre's many niches from London to Detroit to Berlin. 'Cogitor' is thumping and wried up with warped lines, 'Sexual Tension' has a more seductive sound with a rubbery and funky bassline and 'Fragment' then brings panel-beating loops for peak time showdowns. There is pure sci-fi atmosphere to the bells and the sonorous synths of 'Solar' and 'Gargk' closes down with a glitchy and ambient-laced breakbeat monster. Great variation makes this a useful EP.

Review: Mortiz Von Oswald continues to apply his considerable legacy to intriguing new ideas as he explores the differences and similarities between humans and machines on Silencio. For this new project, the Basic Channel pioneer has teamed up with Vocalconsort Berlin. The original framework of the album was composed and recorded on an array of synths and then transcribed to sheet music to be performed by Vocalconsort in a Kreuzberg church. By merging the source material and the resulting new recordings, Von Oswald and his collaborators present us with a compelling reflection on the tension between organic and electronic, cast in his distinctive style of hypnotic minimalism.

Review: Waajeed's Memoirs Of Hi-Tech Jazz came out on Tresor in late 2022 as a definitive statement from a true Detroit original. Following the Motor City Madness remixes 12" which accompanied the album drop, here comes a follow up single shining fresh light on the project via a whole new set of remixes. There's no need to introduce a legend like Mark Broom - a stalwart of UK techno who brings his decades of experience to 'Right Now' as he remains in an enduring purple patch. Staying in the UK but coming from a whole different angle, Yazzus brings her upfront flair to one of the most compelling, emotionally charged pieces on the album, 'The Ballad Of Richard O'Bryant'. Then it's left to Jensen Interceptor and Assembler Code to link up for a remix of 'Memoirs Of Hi-Tech Jazz', complete with some of Black Nix's original poetic flow over the top.