Back catalogue: Techno

Review: Perel's sophomore album Jesus Was An Alien continues in some ways from the themes she brought to her debut, 2018's Hermetica on DFA. The tracks are rich, lush in design and multi-layered with plenty of emotional uplift. While inspired by a raft of the best indie hitmakers she has her own sound which is perfect for the dance floor but also suited to listing away from the club. "Jesus Was An Alien is a discourse about whether Jesus was an actual alien" she explains, amusingly. When the debate sounds this good, no one cares about the answers.

Review: As PG Sounds, Philip Gelberg and Sven Reigler have delivered some of the most eccentric, interesting and off-kilter music on the SUED catalogue. On this much anticipated debut album, the pair continues in a similar vein, flitting between curious ambient experiments, sparse and ultra-dusty deep house, blunted instrumental hip-hop beats, mind-altering acid electronica, squelchy beat-scapes, rubbery techno wonkiness, deep space jack-tracks, twisted and brain-melting club stompers, and the kind of blink-and-you-miss-them interludes that will make you instantly rewind the vinyl to try and work out what's going on. It's the kind of set that defies easy categorization but is all the better for that. Recommended.

Review: Back in 2021 Adam Pits heralded the start of the On Rotation label with his own debut album, A Recurring Nature. Now he's back with a follow-up which finds him stretching out as an artist ever more - a fact which is absolutely evident from the gorgeous ambient swathes of opening track 'Lost In The Ether'. Even when the drums kick in on 'Sleepless', they're more tilted towards fragmented patterns and organic tones rather than rote drum machine sounds. There's space for peppier electronica and steppy heads-down gear, but throughout Pits imbues his sound with the richest synthesis imaginable. In that sense, you can track the path of development from his earlier work while enjoying the adventurous new terrain he's exploring as an artist.

Review: Mario Piu is a tried and tested techno workhorse who has been at this since almost day once. He started in the golden days of the 90s and still keeps on turning out the jams today. This new coloured album on ZYX brings together some of his best bits from over those years. Some are originals, some are remixes, all of them are detuned to remind you of his great contribution to the scene as well as light up clubs all over again. Of course, his most successful tune was a real club classic, the 1999 single 'Communication', which is included here.

Review: Pixel82 hails from Portugal and has been making music for the last 20 years. Early on they made punk/industrial and were then in a metal band but now they deal in powerful techno. Infinity is a concept album about "the continuum of life, of a constant loop that evolves over time. It is a discovery of myself musically, a rediscovery of the past to find the future." It is also full of club cuts designed to drive a crowd into overdrive. These are emotive tunes laden with synths that bring rushes of euphoria and plenty of psychedelic colours. It's a widescreen and rewarding listen.

Review: Plant43 is the alias of Emile Facey, one of electro's most tireless innovators. He has a vast discography that never fails to prove he can speak through his machines more ably than just about anyone in the game, and certainly within the genre. Luminous Machines comes on his own label and is an album, his eighth in all, of cinematic and futuristic jams written before a gig at Tresor in April this year. 'Haunting The Depths' has an icy minimalism to it, with crisp drums and snappy hits all underpinned by textured bass. The title cut is a restless affair that pings about the stereo field with squiggling lines and loopy breaks and 'Fixed Point Rotation' has a more dark and menacing feel. These are just some of the highlights of another standout collection.

Review: A truly landmark album in the history of techno, Richie Hawtin set the bar very high for himself and his Plastikman alias with this record. Sheet One is fabled in many ways, from the notorious blotter-sheet sleeve to the inscription about drug consumption on the run-out groove, but its the music itself which has stood the test of time. Wringing layers of emotion from a 303 beyond what most thought was possible, Hawtin created an exciting new extrapolation of the Detroit techno he took his lead from, foreshadowing the increased minimalism which was yet to come. Some 30 years old and still a dazzling masterpiece of modern electronic music, it's sounding better than ever on this special edition reissue via Novamute.

Review: Plastikman is in the glory years of his career, and the recognition of this of late has come in the form of various reissues and deluxe editions. One move we didn't expect Mr. Hawtin to take, however, was approving an entire 'semi-classical' reimagining of his original album 'Consumed', first released in 1998. 'Consumed In Key' is a new collaborative version made between Hawtin and pianist/producer Chilly Gonzales; every track found on the original 'Consumed' now features piano flourishings and other instruments peppered over each moody techno jam, fleshing out the pangs we could only previously imagine on first listen.

Review: Ernestas Sadau, Rapha and PRZ are the Pluto Junkies and they are now back on Pinkmanwith a new seven-track mini album that follows their 2021 debut on Minder. It's an electro excursion to the farthest reaches of our universe with swirling synths and cosmic melodies all underpinned by hefty, thumping rhythms from analogue drum machines. Some are twitchy and paranoid cuts like the unsettling 'Space Ghost', others like 'Black Eye' are full body workouts and 'Astronaut Dolphin Detective' is a deep jacker for 5 am wig outs. A muscular and robust album for serious shape shifting, then. .

Review: The highly anticipated secnd full length album from Polar Inertia is here. It makes absolute sense that 'Environment Control' makes its way to the Swedish label Northern Electronics. For those that know the label and this artist, it seems like the perfect pairing. Formed in 2010, Polar Inertia has been one of the leading new producers of darker techno. The title track is opener and a sign of things to come. Futuristic techno of the upmost. These tracks engulf you with their power and depth. Some tracks are sinister and foreboding while others are atmospheric and cavernous. 'Artic Horizon' shows the deft touch of his producing ability. Sinister techno beats shrouded in a deep haze of ambience give off the impression that you are almost outside a club listening to the techno inside. For fans of techno and ambient, you are hard pressed to find a producer who does it better. These copies are sure to go fast so pick one up as quick as you can.

Review: The enigmatic Pom Pom appears for the first time outside of their eponymous imprint to deliver this ever curious collection of tracks for A-Ton: the offshoot of Berlin's Ostgut Ton for archive, ambient and art-related releases. There have been many rumours as to who may be behind the music, but they've done a pretty good job of keeping under wraps all this time - we must say. Much like moments in their extensive back catalogue, it's a fairly diverse affair covering everything from ambient ("Untitled 6 & 13"), bass music reductions ("Untitled 7"), early '80s style synth-punk ("Untitled 10") and even a bit of classic bleep techno as heard on "Untitled 12".

Review: Terrence Dixon's announcement of plans to retire from techno with immediate effect earlier this year have typically gone without any further explanation, though it's been heartening to see his final round of projects surface over the course of 2014. Having already committed a killer Population One 12" to Metroplex, Dixon delivers another fitting parting shot in this LP for Rush Hour, who took their name from his classic Pop One production "Rush Hour". Theater Of A Confused Mind is a powerful statement from Dixon, expanding on the sci-fi themes of previous Population One material and posing several cryptic questions. Dixon's own voice introduces the album on "Out Of Control" and as matters progress those trademark queasy lines of melody begin to take control - "Inner City Circus" being a stand out of this set.

Review: The Porter Ricks pair has specialised in subaquatic dub techno since the mid-90s. They have put out a wealth of seminal EPs and eps in that time but Same was one that never quite got the attentions of some of the others. Now it gets re-floated having been fully remastered for the occasion. It is packed with rolling dub techno and deft synth craft as you might expect. Some are our mind music, deep rollers to lock you into a trance and see you there, and others like 'Scuba Lounge' are empty ambient pieces that suspend you in space, while the rathe outlying 'Spoil' is a random filter house tune that sounds good but is a weird fit.

Review: Powell's work has been described as 'jerky electro' by some critics, which isn't to suggest he's a jerk. Instead, it's because things often sound, and feel, unpredictable. Rhythmic patterns aren't quite what they seem, if they even really exist, time signatures can jump around without warning and production rules are, generally, given short thrift. Nevertheless, his work is always pleasing to hear.

Flash Across The Intervals takes that mantra and reduces it to the bare minimum, and yet there's nothing restful about the tracks. In fact, as the staccato distortions and whirs of the opener shows, there's actually a lot happening. 'Performance To A Harsh Critic' is perhaps the most track-y track, in terms of construct, but even this is really about experimenting with textures of noise, with highly sensory results.

Review: Pretty Sneaky is an anonymous project about which nobody knows much of anything at all, though it has become synonymous with an image of a banana peel logo and self-released white label 12" EPs. We get more here, this time on Marionette. Marseille's Norman Levy aka Koldd has been enlisted as a collaborator on this one (the third time this has happened following his work on a couple of previous tunes) and it is a seductive mix of soothing sounds, laid-back atmospherics and gentle bird calls. This is slow-motion music for meditative periods of reflection and we love it.

Review: The third album on the Rezpektiva label is a superb album compilation across four sides of vinyl by the "nutty French sonic wizard" by the name of Professor Oz. The eight tracks are devastatingly futuristic even now despite the fact they were all written 1986 and 1995. They are considered to be lost experiments, hence the album title, and have been remastered from the original DAT tapes. They bottle up dusty breakbeats and proto-techno grooves with tribal drumming and trance tinged synth overtones, proggy progressions and acid basslines that will never go out of fashion.

Review: Chicago trio Purelink prove themselves to be sonic alchemists once more as they serve up a bewitching brew that pulls apart the essence of ambient, dub tech and electronica to rebuild all new musical forms. Ever since forming first in 2020, Tommy Paslaski (aka Concave Reflection), Ben Paulson (aka Kindtree), and Akeem Asani (aka Millia) have regularly got together in a studio workshop to explore "the endless possibilities of a laptop" armed with banks of samples. Now they distill those sessions into music that is beautifully delicate yet captivating - slow and subtle rhythms, deft chords and icy minimalism all unfurl into a richly immersive soundscape here.

Review: Milan's Radko first appeared a few years back on Enfant Terrible with the Cherno PPP / Brutalista ?(7') and finally resurfaces with this full-length for sublabel Gooiland Elektro titled The Dirt On Caligula. Described as darker, harsher and more daring, the album takes you deeper into their industrial sound. Opener 'Hip Dork' is a contorted kind of techno derivative that lunges straight for the jugular, while the paranoid and dystopian atmosphere created on 'Manfria' sets the scene in dark ambient style before unleashing a barrage of electro beats. Over on the flip, the gloomy vocal cut 'Leper Colony' takes influences from darkwave, ending with the punishing and abrasive grind of 'Volga' which is pitch black.

Review: Ravey flavours! Sport returns with two lovely late night, very UK-influenced, vibes courtesy of Raise. 'Enter Gavia' kicks things off with a whole multitude of samples and references. Watch out for the loon bird call and a gutsy vocal every card-carrying head will recognise. 'Leaving Navaro' hits with a bumping 4x4 UKG tone. Heads down, sweet and shuffling - just how we like it.

Review: We are honored to release 'A Boy Alone', a double LP set from Manchester electronic music pioneer Eric Random. Best known for his early recordings for New Hormones and Les Disques du Crepuscule and collaborations with Pete Shelley (Buzzcocks), Cabaret Voltaire and Nico. As an original member of The Tiller Boys with Shelley, Random injected a healthy dose of Krautrock into the dour Manchester post-punk scene in 1978/79 before going solo the following year. Random's first 7" "Subliminal"/"23 Skidoo" was released in 1981 via Les Disques du Crepuscule and explored ominous sonic surrounds. That same year also saw the release of a second 7" single on New Hormones, "Dow Chemical Company"/ "Skin Deep". Both tracks offered bubbling, rhythmic sound patterns, and were the first to feature other musicians that would become know as The Bedlamites. Consisting of Lynn Walton on vocals, Ian Runacres and Andy Diagram of Dislocation Dance, and bassist Wayne Worm, aka Wayne Sedgeman. Their debut 12" single "Subliminal Seduction"/"Bedlam-a-Go-Go" was released in 1982 through Plurex, mixing arid funk textures and sparse melodies. That same year the group contributed proto chill-out track "6.55" to Plurex compilation 'Hours' and the highly filmic track "In Cassette Conference" to the Touch cassette package 'Feature Mist'. In 1983, Random spent several months in the Himalayas with a group of musicians from the Kulu Valley and studied non-Western instruments such as tabla. On returning to Manchester, Random convened a new group of Belamites including Walton, Sedgeman and drummer Graham Dowdall aka Dids of Ludus. They released the 12" single "Mad As Mankind"/"Dream Web Of Maya" in 1984 on Cabaret Voltaire's Doublevision, embracing electronic, industrial and dub styles. In 1985 they contributed the soothing "Pure Power" to Food Records' "Imminent Episode One" compilation. Our reissue also includes 4 unreleased bonus tracks from Eric's archives recorded between 1981-1984. The whole set adds up to 115 minutes of sinister, somnambulant Random music. All songs have been remastered by George Horn at Fantasy Studios. Each copy is housed in a gatefold jacket designed by Eloise Leigh featuring a spread of ephemera, photos with liner notes by James Nice of LTM.

Review: RBI's biggest claim to underground stardom yet is her new experimental jungle-techno-ish album Disseminate. It's said that earlier cuts like 'Proximity' did some justice to her sound, but it's artists like her who really require a lot more time per vinyl side to really demonstrate their own talents. On this LP, strangely garbled classical instruments are heard interspersed with filtered junglism and no less odd breakwork, with airy and roomy cuts like 'Vault Ultra' and '100o10o1hz' proving RBI as one of experimental dance music's foremost greats - unafraid neither of rhythm-driven bangers nor curiously weird skits.

Review:  Mental Groove offshoot Music Pour La Danse knows a thing or two about tieless techno. And they don't come much more vital than the self titled 1994 debut album from Jonah Sharp (aka Spacetime Continuum) and David Moufang (aka Move D). It never quite got the props it deserved back then and has been an underrated gem ever since but this reissue should put paid to that. It is a holy meeting of lush ambient design, cavernous dub spaces, hints of glistening IDM melody and deeper than deep techno drums that leave you feeling cleansed inside and out.

Review: Ten year anniversary? Has it really already been ten years since Recondite's sophomore album 'Hinterland' came out?! Recondite almost single-handedly was responsible in many peoples eyes for the resurgence in techno during the early 2010s. After beating down the doors of Ghostly International for many years, the fans finally get their wish in the shape a new, shiny reissue. Coming on smokey black vinyl this time, nobody has a reason to not have this record in their collection. Included are legendary tracks like 'Stems', 'Clouded' and 'Leafs'. Many think that not only is this the best Recondite album but one of the best techno albums of the year 2013.

Review: Red Axes have always operated in their own little niche within underground electronic music. The Israeli duo has plenty of genuine guitar-playing skills which they bring to a fine grasp of synth work and a love of acid, wonky grooves and psychedelic colours on labels like Disco Halal and K7. Now they step up to fabric with a new album that also post-punk and new wave flourishes to tracks recorded as live jams in their home studio. It's packed with energy and mischief and is another superbly singular offering from the duo.

Review: Following a string of well-received EPs on Planet Rhythm - five in total since 2021 - Red Rooms returns to the storied Dutch imprint with his hotly anticipated debut album. What's on offer is, by and large, full-throttle peak-time techno, where clandestine aural textures and short melodic motifs ride weighty, locked-in basslines and breathless, kick-drum-driven grooves. It's a formula that the Berlin-based producer has not only mastered magnificently, but also excels at delivering. Highlights include the rave stab-sporting big room panic of 'No Turning Back', the alien drum-funk of 'Transcendency', the ghostly and intoxicating allure of 'Unidentofied Objects' and the slipped Robert Hood-style minimalism of 'Cypher'.

Review: To celebrate the 20th anniversary of Regis's soot black slab of deadly techno aka his Penetration LP, the whole thing has been remastered by Simon Shreeve and cut at The Exchange. This new limited edition repress comes with all new artwork, too. The album is pretty definitive of the loopy, hard edged techno of the time and it was another 20 years until Regis offered a follow up after plenty of time as part of British Murder Boys and Sandwell District. Each of these tracks still kicks with serious force, from the bulky sound of 'Get On Your Knees' to the backlit glow of 'Penetration.'