RICHARD BROPHY
richardbrophy@gmail.com
QUICKIES Chicago Skyway
Heavens & Angels EP MOS Deep 7.5
Label owner Aroy Dee drops a superb reshape with his edit focusing on lively cowbells and a fat, acid-soaked bass. The highlight, though, is Chicago Skyway’s own extended version.
Low Jack
Free Pyjamas EP Delsin 7.5
The latest new artist to get Delsin’s seal of approval is Low Jack. The title track is somewhere between techno and bass, with a stepping rhythm underpinning a noisy filter. ‘LJ’s Jam’ and ‘The White Towel’ offer a more conventional jacking approach.
Chevel Sawlin
Eviment Ann Aimee 7.0
Diverse release from Sawlin which touches on understated minimalism on the title track and pushes into tougher, acid- fuelled techno on ‘Kretze’. Best of all, though, is the moody bass and eerie Middle Eastern motifs on ‘Sour Tear’.
Various Artists
Agenda 2021 Eevo Lute 8.0
Stefan Robbers’s long- running label represents the new wave of deep electronic music, with a string-fuelled track by Ian O’Donovan, Colin McNeill’s pulsing techno and IBM’s sleek, metallic house.
Hearing EP Non Series 7.0
Non Series is one of the best new school techno labels, and Chevel upholds its reputation on ‘Hearing’. The title track is all firing percussion and slamming beats, but Chevel lets in some musicality in the chord- driven breakdown. ‘Fringe’ is more stripped back, consisting solely of grainy beats, bursts of sheet metal percussion and a stuttering filtered loop, while ‘Plough’ sees Chevel focus on searing acid lines. The only weak link is the drab minimal of ‘Human’.
DJ Skirt
Bitten By The Black Dog Horizontal Ground 8.5
New schooler Skirt teams up with old guard group The Black Dog for one of Horizontal Ground’s most daring releases. Skirt’s ‘Miismo’ is in keeping with the label’s overall tone, with insistent drums and droning sounds prevailing, while ‘Beatless Collision’ is in a similar vein to the previous HG release by Samuel Kerridge, offering up a chilling ambient soundtrack. But the overall highlight is ‘Bitten By The Black Dog’, wherein the Sheffield act drop an old school, acid-soaked bassline that’s encircled by steely percussion and off-centre beats — retro and futuristic rolled into one.
Jacob Stoy
Redenswart EP Uncanny Valley
BEN SIMS THEORY
01. CARL TAYLOR ‘Debbie’s Groove (Robert Hood Remix)’ EPM Music “The most addictive vocal loop in ages, I’ve been caning this all over and it’s
permanently playing in my head now!”
02. MARQUIS HAWKES ‘Sealion Woman’ Dixon Avenue Basement Jams “More vocal action, this time a Nina Simone cover with straight-up old school
Chicago jacking beats, I’ll be dropping this for ages.”
03. YAN COOK ‘2x2’ Ann Aimee “Forthcoming on Delsin’s sub label, a menacing Berlin-esque techno roller
that grooves along til the clap ups the energy.”
04. SERGE & TYRELL ‘Pump-O-Matic’ Clone Jack For Daze “Old school vibes on the ever-great Clone label — think Chicago-meets-
golden era Todd Terry and you’re there.”
05. MIKE DEHNERT ‘Refillable’ Delsin “Great new material from Mike, taken from the ‘Umgangston EP’.”
06. AUBREY ‘Centrifuge Azul’ Theory “Forthcoming on my label, UK techno veteran gets down, dirty and nasty
with this sinister workout, will be on a vs Sims EP.”
07. BEN SIMS ‘Something (Truncate Remix)’ Theory “More forthcoming action, this time one of my fave current producers on the
remix. Jacking, grooving and funking in all the right places.”
08. PLANETARY ASSAULT SYSTEMS ‘Turn’ Mote Evolver “The ever-reliable Luke Slater drops his ‘Deep Heat Vol.3’, and this is my pick,
heady ‘proper’ minimal techno for all.”
09. BAMBOUNOU ‘Splaz’ 50 Weapons “Raw Detroit-styled jacker from one of the genre-crossing artists, who’s
definitely a fave of mine right now.”
10. BEN SIMS ‘Rocket Science’ Drumcode LTD “Coming soon on a vinyl-only release, a tough, dubbed-up groover from
myself that’s been in the sets for a while.”
8.5 German label Uncanny Valley has been one of the most consistent labels in recent years, thanks to its knack of attracting new talent — and Stoy’s debut is no exception. ‘Redensart’ is a tracky affair, its surging bassline underpinning a warm synth, making for expertly crafted deep house. UV clearly likes to keep its listeners guessing; ‘Hauswart’ is a sensuous ambient composition featuring kids singing in the background, and best of all ‘Start’ features a swinging groove and woozy chord changes that intoxicate deeper with every listen.
Mick Finesse The Disaster Began During A
Systems Test Perc Trax 7.5
‘Hatch A29’ and ‘Jettison’ contain all the elements one would expect from contemporary techno — stripped, metallic rhythms, gradually building metal riffs, reverberating claps and menacing bass licks. If you’re looking for something functional, then both
Legowelt The Paranormal Soul
Sampler Clone
9.0
are ideal, and yet Finesse is capable of so much better. ‘Evacuation Route’ features murderous, distorted kicks and a sense of muted aggression, while the wispy textures and dead-paced beats on ‘Meltdown’ show that Finesse is at his most powerful when seducing with subtlety rather than force.
October & John Osborn
Tanstaafl 03 Tanstaafl 8.0
A shared love of dub techno and seismic bass inspired Bristol’s October and Berliner Osborn to form the Tanstaafl label — and on its third installment, this passion is audible. ‘Programmable Blood’ features dubby chords and drums overlaid with reverb, with the addition of the nagging acid line sounding almost like an afterthought. ‘Transcending Biology’ is more unusual, with shaking percussion and eerie chords providing the backdrop for the duo to drop a predatory bassline that’s equal parts Suburban Knight and Basic Channel.
Sawlin
Vault Series 12.0 Vault Series 7.5
The mysterious Sawlin delivers a modern interpretation of classic techno sounds. ‘Mandeltone’ is a spiky minimal groove housing a pitched-down vocal loop, like an update of classic Dan Bell. By contrast, ‘Ambos’ is a drummy tool that veers into a gaping chasm populated by eerie synths, and the stepping rhythms of ‘Rebirth’
A taster for Danny Wolfers’s excellent new album, this EP is worth snapping up because it features two extra tracks. Both ‘Creation 5’ and ‘Extra Downeys Day 3’ sees the Dutch producer at his most musical and ethereal, with wispy melodies and warbling synths disappearing and re-appearing again from a loose backdrop of warm acid lines and tripped- out rhythms. Meanwhile, ‘Rave Till Dawn’ sees Wolfers revisiting techno’s past with ‘Red’-style stabs married to lithe breakbeats and crystalline synths.
feature eerie rave riffs screeching in overhead. ‘Between Machines’ sees Sawlin in more reflective mode, with hissing, rasping percussion complementing the accompanying warm chord sequence.
SHXCXCHCXSH
ZZNNZNZNNZN EP Avian 8.0
It looks like the latest artist on Shifted’s label has scant respect for vowels. As this release makes clear, the author is also keen to shatter the notion of polite contemporary techno. ‘RJRJRFFRJRJ’ is fashioned from storming beats and grinding industrial riffs, while ‘OOOVVVDDDDD’ is just as intense, with a dense jackhammer rhythm and grainy drums leading to an inevitably furious climax. The artist takes a break on the dubbed-out ‘MDDDSSLLKRR’, but is back banging the box with the murky bass and squelchy acid of ‘ZZNNZNZNNZN’.
djmag.com 047
technoREVIEWS
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