Back catalogue: Techno (All)

Review: This new 12" from Glaswegian producer Harvey McKay sees him reworking Daniel Avery's 'Drone Logic' into a driving, big-room missile i and it absolutely slaps. Upping the tempo and leaning into a more percussive framework, McKay doesn't just touch up the original's swirling psychedelia, he rebuilds it for peak-time pressure. The acid line is still there, twisted and stretched, but now it rides atop galloping drums, shimmering hi-hats and the kind of pneumatic swing that's become McKay's signature. It's a brand new release on Phantasy, pressed in a limited run of 500 and already a fixture in the sets of Avery, McKay and Erol Alkan. The sound is somewhere between soulful techno and heads-down warehouse hypnosis i powerful without being punishing. What's clever is how it stays true to the hazy mood of the source, but flips it into something entirely more immediate. As a one-sided 12" it's a bold statement, but one that's easy to understand: it only needs one track when it hits this hard. Built for high ceilings, smoke machines and stretched-out moments mid-set, this is an edit that earns its hype. A slow-burn classic reborn as a proper dancefloor weapon.

Review: The romping stomping Daniel Avery, is back on Phantasy Sound with a new two-track 12" which doubles up as the label's 50th, and continues the English producer and DJ's path down a streamlined, hard-edge techno path. Unsurprisingly, "Sensation" is a total juggernaut, a heady techno track that slithers its percussion sway amid huge mounds of delays and atmospherics. Over on the flip, "Clear" sticks to a techno formula insofar as its mid-to-fast tempo, but the melodies and chimes emanating from its underbelly are something wilder and altogether more ethereal. Conniving DJ tools!

Review: Phantasy Sound serve up another pair of remixes from Daniel Avery's world-beating Drone Logic LP, and this time they've turned to Roman Flugel and Ricardo Tobar to deliver the goods. Flugel takes on "All I Need" and rustles up a startling peak time burner full of earworm synth shimmers that show the German producer in his most club-ready mode, while keeping a healthy dose of the low-key moody tones of his own recent output humming away in the calmer moments. Ricardo Tobar meanwhile takes "These Nights Never End" into a leftfield headspace full of fractious rhythms, heavy layers of melody and noise, and an all-round rousing atmosphere.

Review: It seemed a logical step for Phantasy Sound to extend the lifespan of Daniel Avery's well regarded debut album Drone Logic with a programme of remix themed 12"s from some of the UK producer's favourite contemporaries. Ahead of a double CD release entitled New Energy that collates these efforts, Phantasy Sound slip out this heavyweight 12" featuring reworks of Avery from Silent Servant, Rodhad, and Volte Face. The rising star of the Berlin techno scene, Rodhad is granted the A Side for a typically lean and deadly rework of "Drone Logic", whilst Silent Servant completely flips the ambience of "Spring 27" into a equally powerful journey through industrial techno. Volte Face may be the lesser known quantity here, but his chiming take on "Platform Zero" is reminiscent of Holden at his most ecstatic.

Review: Some two years on from the release of rave pin-up Daniel Avery's debut album, Drone Logic, tracks from that set get the remix treatment from an all-star cast of dancefloor deviants. Token regular O (Phase) kicks things off, delivering a delightfully off-kilter broken techno rework of "Naive Response" full of dub textures and post-dubstep rhythms. Conforce's distorted, darkroom techno-meets-Phuture remake of "Simulrec" is equally as impressive, though it's Powell's rub of "Water Jump" that stands out. Fuzzy, lo-fi and full of warped machine funk, it sounds like a future experimental house classic. That's assuming you can call it house; we're still not sure quite how to describe it.

Review: With the sounds of Daniel Avery's debut LP Drone Logic still ringing out in our ears, the producer and his label Phantasy Sound commence a series of remix 12"s which apparently feature commissions from some of the perma-glum artist's favourite contemporaries. As you'd expect with a 12" featuring Danny Daze and Perc, the sounds are markedly different with the former's rework of "Naive Response" staying quite true to the original but adding a sense of depth that seems consistent with his own recent output for Ellum Audio. If you've seen Avery or Alkan on a boat party over the summer you've probably danced to this. Much more daring is Perc's viciously industrial take on "Reception" which will probably scare a few Phantasy fans reared on the gentle folkisms of Connan Mockasin!

Review: One of the standout cuts from Daniel Avery's superb Song For Alpha album, "Diminuendo", gets a deserved single release. The title track - an alien-sounding chunk of psychedelic darkroom techno made in collaboration with recent Tresor signing Manni Dee - kicks off the EP, before Avery serves up a trio of previously unheard workouts. The first of these, "Hyper Detail", is a weighty chunk of creepy and intense techno propelled forwards by thunderous beats and wickedly wild TB-303 acid lines, while B-side opener "Light of Falling Rain" is an equally trippy slab of wonky electro/modular techno fusion. Closer "Time Marked Its Irregular Pulse In Her Eyes", meanwhile, is the kind of twisted ambient - all barely decipherable electronic speech and spacey noises - that sounds like it was beamed down from another universe.

Review: A year on from the release of Sensation, Daniel Avery has decided to get the track - and its' original B-side, "Clear" - remixed. Sandwell District and Eaux eccentric Rrose is the artist given the task of transforming "Sensation". She does that well, re-casting Avery's upbeat original as a clanging, clandestine chunk of trippy, feverish, late night techno full of infected electronics, creepy pads, and soft-focus rhythms. Fellow experimentalist Abdulla Rashim picks up the baton on the flip, delivering a version of "Clear" built around dense, pulsating percussion, ghostly electronics, and occasionally confused offbeat kick-drums. It's far bolder and more obviously club-ready than the A-side, but a little less intriguing.

Review: This young DJ /producer is one of 2012's most promising new artists - take one listen to Water Jump and it's clear why he is so hyped. "Reception" uses a mutant, noisy take on Chicago house basslines to brutal effect, while "Drone Logic" also revisits the past to create a new vision for the future. There, heavy drums roll in and an old school progressive house bassline - one that sounds more Guerilla than Digweed - is chewed to pieces by bursts of electronic feedback. But it's "A Quiet Life" that really stands out. Underpinned by a splurging bass, haunting angelic voices breeze in as psychedelic drums that have little bearing to traditional house / techno structures explode through the speakers.

Review: Although there's always been a sense of momentum driving Daniel Avery, those gears have switched up a notch or two this year, possibly linked to his decision to quit recording under the name Stopmakingme. His arrival on Erol Alkan's Phantasy Sound imprint seems so natural it's strange that it's only happened now, and means the Bournemouth lad done good has essentially worked with his two teen idols in Alkan and Weatherall. The Need Electric EP arrives just as Avery has let slip his commission to complete a Fabric Live mix and the four tracks have him working fully with a vocalist for the first time. The title track pays homage to Avery's formative Electroclash years, bringing the attitude of Miss Kittin and The Hacker up to 21st Century scratch as the stripped down groove twists itself ever tighter around the detuned analogue core. "Taste" and "One In The Wave" will mess with peoples expectations (in the best way possible) whilst "The Eagle" shows Avery has learnt plenty since joining Weatherall's Scrutton Street mafia.

Review: Blessed with cloudy, Aphex Twin-esque electronic orchestration and metallic percussion, "Quick Eternity" provided a fitting finale to Daniel Avery's recent album, Song For Alpha. It's little surprise, then, that Phantasy Sound boss Erol Alkan has decided to release it as a single. You'll find Avery's own Club Edit - a slightly more percussive and hypnotic interpretation with a DJ-friendly intro and extended, end-of-night-friendly beat-free outro - on the flipside, but it's Four Tet's headline-grabbing remix that will take the plaudits. It's a mix in two halves, with a stunningly blissful and loved-up first four five minutes (think shoulder-swinging two step beats and rush-inducing synth flourishes) making way for four minutes of percussive, wonky and psychedelic techno intensity. It really is breathlessly good.

Review: Having given keen listeners a healthy preview in his Fabric live mix last year, the artist formerly known as Stopmakingme delivers his full-length album for Erol Alkan's Phantasy Sound. It's a limber brew that channels a strong dose of analogue trickery through smart and snappy beat constructions, all bubbling, aquatic synths and troubled delays propelled by unfussy drum patterns so that the melodies can do the talking. Primarily this is a dancefloor album, moving from peppy breakbeat driven numbers to gently bumping house, but always the playful, ineffably warm synth work sets the tone, from "Naive Response"s robotic charm to "Drone Logic"s soaring grind. It's an album brimming in confidence and nailed with precision, and it's packed full of incredibly usable floor rockers to boot.

Review: While undoubtedly one of dance music's greatest party-starters, Daniel Avery has never been a dance music purist. Over the years, there have been various quirky, downtempo-minded side projects and DJ mixes that show the impressive breadth of his musical knowledge. It's for this reason we're not that surprised to find that Song For Alpha, his first album since 2013, combines deeper and more trippy takes on his club-ready sound (home listening fodder, despite the drums) with escapist, early morning cuts inspired by ambient greats (Brian Eno, John Hassell etc.) and the after-hours electronica of Warp's pioneering Artificial Intelligence series. By mixing things up in this way, Avery has delivered what could well be his strongest body of work to date.

Review: Floppy haired indie techno wizard Daniel Avery has become one of the genre's most notable craftsmen. He has done fine projects with Nine Inch Nails's synth player Alessandro Cortini already recently but now is back with a superb new solo album for his home label Phantasy Sound. The 11-track work is composed entirely of piece he made for his London show Together in Static. It The socially distanced show took place at the recently restored Hackney Church which no doubt influenced the gothic sounds and shadowy drones that define the album.

Review: Having given keen listeners a healthy preview in his Fabric live mix last year, the artist formerly known as Stopmakingme delivers his full-length album for Erol Alkan's Phantasy Sound. It's a limber brew that channels a strong dose of analogue trickery through smart and snappy beat constructions, all bubbling, aquatic synths and troubled delays propelled by unfussy drum patterns so that the melodies can do the talking. Primarily this is a dancefloor album, moving from peppy breakbeat driven numbers to gently bumping house, but always the playful, ineffably warm synth work sets the tone, from "Naive Response"s robotic charm to "Drone Logic"s soaring grind. It's an album brimming in confidence and nailed with precision, and it's packed full of incredibly usable floor rockers to boot.

Review: While Daniel Avery's earlier LPs were deemed by the artist to be dissociative exercises - either working in dance or ambient escapism - his new album 'Ultra Truth' faces up fearlessly to life. Through mega washed out and blurred breaks and, it's the sonic expression of Avery "staring into the fire" of life, however dreamy and indistinct the experience of it may be, and living mindfully, completely in the body he finds himself housed in and controlling. Of course, dance music is embodied music, so we're more than blown away by this representation; Avery pulls it off by going in a direction we've not heard him move in before.

Review: In recent times Daniel Avery has been busy collaborating with the likes of Alessandro Cortini and Roman Flugel (the latter as Noun), so few expected him to drop a new solo album in 2020. Yet Love & Light, his surprise third full-length, could well be his most sonically stunning set to date. Beginning with the gaseous ambient opaqueness of 'London Island', the set sees him blaze a trail through 1990s style Sabres of Paradise/Sabresonic techno, hazy dub techno, beatless soundscapes and intense drone tones, before switching focus to deep, gentle and melodious mutations of breakbeat, IDM and electronica.

Review: Phantasy Sound's main man Daniel Avery has linked up with modular wizard Alessandro Cortini for a debut full length, "Illusion Of Time". It came together over many years, with no real concept or constraints but it has still managed to make a powerful impact despite its spare, lo-fi, ambient vibes. There are heavier, darker tracks like "Inside The Ruins" that are brilliantly bleak, but also thoughtful meditations like the title track, which has some magical piano playing at its core. It's the rays of light amongst the darkness that make this such a beguiling and beautiful listen, and a perfect soundtrack to long lost days at home during lockdown.