Review: Trident is dropping a couple of top EPs this month. One is from Derrek Carr, and one is this double white 12" that finds Deltamaxx and O En One join forces. They take us on a storytelling trip through cosmic techno that varies in mood and tempo. 'Conexxion' rides a nice rubbery, bumpy groove with incidental and wispy synth sounds, then 'Delta Pavonis' seems to soundtrack a beach party up amongst the stars. There are darker, more heady cuts like 'Donnager' and icy electro cinematics on 'Isonoe' to make for a worthy collection of sounds that work on the dancefloor and beyond.
Review: Koenig Cylinders always kept it hella real with their techno. The pair of John Selway and Oliver Chesler were pioneers of the hard stuff first time around and now that it is back en vogue, why not reissue this classic? 'Untitled' opens with a freaky vocal and eerie synth sound before '99.9' brings a wall of white noise and slamming drum patterns. 'Carousel' is an urgent wall-rattler with cantering drums and rave sires that light up the 'floor and 'Choreomania' shuts down with razor-sharp synths and acid flashes that tickle your brain. Arresting tackle of the highest order.
Sanderson Dear - "A Place For Totems" (extended version) (6:10)
Review: Sanderson Dear's Stasis Recordings released the original Time Capsule compilation in 2020 - a 20-track exploration of ten different ambient techno artists exploring two ideas each in compact form for a box set of 7"s. Now the label has revisited some of the project's standout moments and offered a chance to enjoy extended versions gathered on a single 12". From Maps Of Hyperspace shaping out atmospheric halls of synth work on 'Beta' to Glo Phase offering some gorgeous, sparkling grooves on 'Fire Flies', there's plenty of ground covered on this release. Of course the mighty John Beltran is a big drawer too, and his typically stellar 'The Descendent' doesn't disappoint in its full extended version.
Review: Despite the title sounding like an archive collection, 1994 is actually the debut album from OKRAA. It has an emphasis on live performance and makes for a gorgeously immersive and even evolving listen from the aways excellent A Strangely Isolated Place label. All four pieces are over with minutes but they are worthy of their playing time for the way so much unfolds in such engaging fashion. Synths are cold and innocent on 'Ola De Luz' while 'Heartless' is more textural, dark, heavy in its mood. The title track is another heavy and introspective one while 'Plasma' has a more optimistic feel that lifts the spirts.
Review: Minimal Wave has put together a special 18th-anniversary reissue of its first release, namely Oppenheimer Analysis's self-titled EP. It now comes on limited and hand-numbered 180-gram vinyl with a poster and makes just as much of an indelible mark as it did almost two decades ago. It has been rather elusive since then and features the original remastered version of 'The Devil's Dancers', some tracks from the pair's 1982 cassette 'New Mexico' and two previously unreleased tracks that are all presented as a tribute to the late Martin Lloyd, one half of Oppenheimer Analysis, who passed away back in 2013.
Review: In March 2024, Oriental Magnetic Yellow, the legendary techno unit formed by Namco game music composers, celebrated their 30th anniversary by re-releasing six albums. As part of this celebration, their popular track 'RYZEEN' is now available for the first time on 7-inch doughnut vinyl. The release includes the original version and a special B-side recording used as BGM for 'Super Locomotive' on Sega's 2022 reissued Mega Drive Mini 2 console. With members Hiroto Sasaki, Nobuyoshi Sano, Shinji Hosoe and Takayuki Aihara, Oriental Magnetic Yellow pays homage to Yellow Magic Orchestra with a humorous twist. 'RYZEEN' evokes the fun, nostalgic, early video game music and a cover sound of YMO of course. this release is a delightful blend of retro charm and playful innovation, perfect for techno and game music fan alike.
Grasslands (feat Mitchell Yoshida & John FM) (5:41)
Visions Of You (feat Mitchell Yoshida & John FM) (5:56)
Totall Recall (feat Mitchell Yoshida, John FM & Carla Azar) (2:29)
Car Dates (feat Tyesha Blount & Carla Azar) (4:22)
Slide (feat John FM, Mitchell Yoshida & Billy Lotion) (6:18)
Keeping Me (feat Mitchell Yoshida, John FM, Troialexis) (5:41)
Growing Old (feat Mitchell Yoshida, Amir Hasan) (6:02)
Morning Ride (feat Mitchell Yoshida) (5:35)
Selinho Na Calcinha (feat Alexia Bomtempo & Mauro Refosco) (11:53)
Saturn Eats His Young (feat Supercoolwicked) (3:57)
Review: If anything, the hugely prolific Motor City mainstay that is Omar S seems to be getting even more prolific as time goes on. His vast catalogue grows once more here with Fun House, which finds Alister Fawnwoda exploring a wide range of dance music styles alongside guests such as FXHE regular John F.M., plus Mitchell Yoshida, Super Cool Wired, Troi Alexis, Tyesha Blount and more, with all the production, lyrics and mixing taken care of by Omar S himself. The tracks range from seductive deep house to edgy mechanical techno, dubbed out downbeat joints and smooth electronic Detroit soul. It is yet another crucial chapter in the FXHE and Omar S story.
Review: Steve O'Sullivan has been a prolific collaborator around the deep techno and minimal scene for a long time now, and he really hammers that point home with this expansive new project on Sushitech. Across eight tracks, the Mosaic maestro teams up with artists ranging from premier league titans like Ricardo Villalobos and Brawther through to emergent talents such as Soela and Ben Buitendijk. Each guest artist brings their particular slant to their track, but O'Sullivan's overarching deepness is the glue that binds the release together in a swirl of dubby pads. The results are consistently classy, but you knew that already right?
Review: We didn't see this coming but we're very much delighted it has: the peerless dub techno don Steve O'Sullivan with a full length of past triumphs and unreleased gems on Nina Kraviz's always adventurous Trip label is always going to be worth hearing. The Brit stretches his legs and pulls out all the stops here to cover plenty of ground while reaming true to his signature sound design excellence: bouncy, minimal but strobe-lit cuts like 'Kesk', twisted 90s techno sounds like 'Grun', barely-there IDM-adjacent sounds like 'Groente' and ice cold dub cuts like 'Botala'. A real masterclass.
Review: Obscure Shape's Zukunft is a dark, high-tech techno experience that delves deep into the realms of futuristic soundscapes. Released on Planet X Records from Iceland, this album is packed with intense, brooding tracks that keep the energy relentless. Side-1 opens with 'Die Ruckkehr,' setting a powerful tone with its pulsating rhythms, followed by 'Zuruck In Die Zukunft,' which continues the dark, driving atmosphere. 'Children Of Men' closes the side with haunting, cinematic vibes. Side-2 introduces 'Verblendung,' a track that builds tension with its deep, swirling bass, while 'Inception' and 'Der Poet' push the boundaries of techno with intricate, layered beats. Side-3's 'City Of God' and 'Imagination' explore more experimental territory, with 'Genetic Bliss' offering a pulsating conclusion. On the last side. it all comes to conclusion at a high note with 'Easy For Ecstasy' and 'Wandervogel,' both tracks blending intensity and atmospheric depth.
Review: Odopt's Snaker 011, the first release in five years by Snaker and the tenth in their catalogue, marks a compelling full-length debut for the duo. Known for their hypnotic and freaky sound on labels like [Emotional] Especial, Hivern Discs, and Born Free, Odopt delivers a "contemporary library sound" for Snaker Records that defies conventional dancefloor or home listening categorizations. Instead, it offers a unique cinematic soundscape for a fresh auditory experience. Highlights include 'Antimilitarist,' with its experimental broken beat that's subdued yet intriguing. 'Barfold' presents a movie-like quality with a unique groove and production. 'Spakra' features a dark, slow groove with metallic sounds, echo, and a slight EBM influence. 'Mangrove' stands out with its otherworldly, alien sounds. 'Orch Noise' rounds out the album with its atmospheric and distinct character. For those seeking something different and unique, Odopt is here for you.
Review: 'Power Starved/Human Waste' is as scary to hear as it is to read the track title. As far as album openers go, it certainly sets the scene vividly. A dark, dystopian, murky futurism where people - or at least their ears - listen from beneath the boot of oppressive forces, inaudible vocals echoing and expanding, reverberating and dissipating into a distance we can never really hear because of how forceful foregrounded sounds are. Industrial, EBM, noise, elektro-punk. There are many ways to describe what's here but they all point to a 21st Century cloaked in darkness and anxiety. The irony, of course, is that this is a very human expressionism, despite the harsh machines that seem to dominate the soundscapes. The distorted screams and thumping bass drums of 'Safety Net' perfectly summarise the point.
Review: "Hello. My name is Ohama, and I live on a potato farm in Western Canada" went the memorably deadpan opening to "The Drum", Ohama's contribution to Minimal Wave Tapes Vol 2 earlier this year, and it's also the opening track on this full length exploration of the Canadian producer's work from Minimal Wave. What's most striking about The Potato Farm Tapes however is the sense of paranoia and detachment that Ohama clearly felt recording these tracks from his studio basement beneath his parents' potato farm in Rainier, Alberta, during the latter stages of The Cold War. Intriguingly, Ohama's lyrics are heavily focused on technophobia and the subversive power of television and mass media which stands in stark contrast to the techno centric nature - with keyboards, drum machines, vocoders and analogue reel tape all utilised to create complex productions that blended found sounds with audio lifted from TV. Some of Ohama's earliest recordings from his first cassette only release Midnite News form the basis of The Potato Farm Tapes along with rare tracks that previously appeared on compilations. Furthermore, the label have printed a must read interview between Ohama and Brandon Hocura on the inner sleeve that offers some brilliant insight into this collection.
In My City (feat John FM - Rick Wilhite mix) (6:27)
Don't Leave Me Standing Yeaa (5:44)
Mell'like Boom Boom In'dair! (4:28)
Washtenaw County Horn Section (6:03)
You Gotta Beat The Clock (4:24)
Simply (7:16)
Review: There's been plenty of online chatter about the confrontational title of Omar-S's latest full-length outing, and arguably not enough focus on the music itself (or the fact that the guest list contains Rick Wilhite, Norm Talley and OB Ignitt for that matter). This is unfortunate, because as usual Alex 'Omar' Smith has hit the spot. The six untitled tracks are impressively varied, with Smith effortlessly moving between 21st century P-funk (track one), cowbell-powered deep house funk (track 2), sparse and synth-heavy acid house hypnotism (track three), disco-house jack (track four), sub-heavy Detroit-meets-Sheffield minimalism (track five) and sunrise-ready dancefloor dreaminess (track six).
A Toast To Momma Rose (Crowd Claps Jacked By Norm Talley)
That's Lil'Boy (feat Ian Finkelstein)
Second Life (feat John FM)
The Sound Of Neptune
Don't Get In My Way
This Love Is 4 Real
Oops
Hear Me Out (feat John FM)
Ambiance (feat John Cloud & L'Renee)
Coming Home Hum
1993
Review: Those who've been paying close attention will know that Alex 'Omar' Smith has been mixing things up musically of late, veering away from the deep Detroit house he's famed for in order to explore a wider range of influences. New album "You Want" doesn't exactly reverse this trend, but it is far more rooted in his particular brand of seductive, off-kilter deepness and techno-tinged hypnotism than recent singles. That's undeniably a good thing, because nobody does crunchy, machine driven club jams better than the Motor City producer. There are nods towards Italian style piano house, disco, broken beat, jazz funk, Masters at Work and - more surprisingly - industrial techno (see the filthy closing cut) - but the resultant cuts don't sound like anything other than tried-and-tested Omar-S club jams.
Review: Six brand new shakers from Omar S...This is the sh*t! Never confined to one particular genre, Omar is again blending house, techno and even minimal styles into one big pot of deep Detroit underground funk. There's even some Basic Channel / Deep Chord vibes going on there somewhere. Simply killer.
Review: The second part of Omar S' You For Letting Me Be Myself album in vinyl form sees another 8 tracks across four sides of wax; aside from the '80s inflected sounds of the album's title track, the 303 workout of "Ready My Black Asz" finds itself with the dubbed out loops of "Messier Sixty Eight". As a bonus for those who already have the album, this part contains two vinyl exclusive tracks; the soothing deepness of "She's Sah Hero Nik" and the delayed organ weirdness of "Broken Bamalance Horn" - both more than worth the price of admission alone.
Money Hit Da Floor (feat Supercoolwicked & Amir Hassan)
Aaayoooooo (feat Alister Fawnwoda)
Can't Change
Inner Luv (Intrumental mix)
Bend Who (feat Milf Melly & King Milo)
Whale Sex
Multiple Orgasms
Ice Cream (feat Alandra O Smith & Supercoolwicked)
Miss Hunn'nay (feat Mad Mike Banks)
My Momma & 'Nem Said I Don't Have To!!!
Start This Over Again (feat Supercoolwicked)
Jump
Outer Jass Authority (feat Supercoolwicked, De'Sean Jones & Ian Finkelstein)
Review: Omar Alex Smith's development as an artist is such that these days, it's hard to predict what he'll put out next, musically speaking. Can't Change, his first album for two years, is a great example of this. While there are examples of his trademark hypnotic, driving, heavily electronic Motor City house sound (see 'Whale Sex', 'Inner Love' and the acidic 'My Momma and Ned Say You Don't Have To'), these rub shoulders with tracks that more expressly explore his different inspirations, as well as nods to Detroit musical history. The results are predictably impressive, with our picks including the jazzy, soulful and sun-kissed dancefloor pressure of 'Virgil', the mutant R&B/hip-hop of 'Bend Who', revivalist piano house sing-along 'Start This Over Again' and a jaunty workout featuring vocals from UR's 'Mad' Mike Banks ('Miss Hunn'ayy').
Review: Oasis Collaborating is the name of two different double albums that Omar S and Shadow Ray put out under their Oasis alias back in 2005. They are both hugely original and essential works of stripped back Motor City house music perfection. This one is packed with gems like the wispy pads and metallic synths of 'Oasis Fifteen', the low slung rawness of 'Oasis Seventeen' and the brightly, optimistic melodies and twanging chords of 'Oasis Twenty Five'. Each of the tracks sounds like they were recorded live, with two masters of their machines just jamming away, tweaking knobs and cooking up pure house magic.
B-STOCK: Sleeve damaged but otherwise in excellent condition
The Punishment of Luxury (3:27)
Isotype (6:08)
Robot Man (3:00)
What Have We Done (3:44)
Precision & Decay (1:54)
As We Open, So We Close (2:53)
Art Eats Art (3:22)
Kiss Kiss Kiss Bang Bang Bang (2:46)
One More Time (3:06)
La Mitrailleuse (2:04)
Ghost Star (6:06)
The View From Here (2:45)
Review: ***B-STOCK: Sleeve damaged but otherwise in excellent condition***
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD) and their 2017 future classic The Punishment of Luxury, is an album that brilliantly merges biting social commentary with the band's signature synth-driven sound. Now available on blue vinyl, this release not only delivers sonically but also visually, with its vibrant cover art reflecting the album's thematic depth. From the opening title track, OMD sets the tone with an unapologetic critique of consumer culture, driven by Andy McCluskey's impassioned vocals and sharp lyrics. The band's ability to craft music that feels timeless yet relevant is on full display, blending modern production with the nostalgic essence of their '80s work. Tracks like 'What Have We Done' capture the disillusionment of the current era while offering a plea for a better future. Despite the absence of original drummer Malcolm Holmes, the album remains powerful, with Stuart Kershaw stepping in seamlessly and the deluxe edition's packaging, with its striking design and included lyrics booklet, further enhances the experience.
Review: Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD) and their 2017 future classic The Punishment of Luxury, is an album that brilliantly merges biting social commentary with the band's signature synth-driven sound. Now available on blue vinyl, this release not only delivers sonically but also visually, with its vibrant cover art reflecting the album's thematic depth. From the opening title track, OMD sets the tone with an unapologetic critique of consumer culture, driven by Andy McCluskey's impassioned vocals and sharp lyrics. The band's ability to craft music that feels timeless yet relevant is on full display, blending modern production with the nostalgic essence of their '80s work. Tracks like 'What Have We Done' capture the disillusionment of the current era while offering a plea for a better future. Despite the absence of original drummer Malcolm Holmes, the album remains powerful, with Stuart Kershaw stepping in seamlessly and the deluxe edition's packaging, with its striking design and included lyrics booklet, further enhances the experience.
Review: Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark - or OMD - made a magnificent comeback with History of Modern back in 2010, an album released at the peak of a synthpop revival, and this reissue is timely in that it arrives on the crest of another wave of synth-heavy sounds in current music. Known for their lush, romantic 80s electronic music, the Liverpool outfit were at the forefront of the genre, gaining fame with hits in both the UK and the US, and this album is definitely reminiscent of other 80s releases like Junk Culture. Tracks such as 'New Babies; New Toys' and 'The Future, the Past, and Forever After' innovate and are dominated by big beats and catchy choruses. The album shines at OMD's strengths. The second part of the title track, in particular, recaptures their signature slow-dance grandeur. Overall, fans of the band at any point in their career should find something to enjoy here.
Review: Daniel Lopatin is not a new name to clued-in electronic fans at all, the American MIDI magician has been operating under the alias Oneohtrix Point Never for almost a decade and a half at this point. From working the keys for The Weeknd, going back and forth with artistic adoration to Caroline Polachek and having the late Ryuichi Sakamoto's official stamp of approval, OPN is just as impressive in the shadows as he is in the light. Again is the follow-up record to fan favourite Magic and his main focus after serving as executive producer for The Weeknd's 80s synth-wave smash 'Dawn FM'. A pared-back rollout has given way to just one single, album closer 'A Barely Lit Path'. Pretty-as-can-be strings bend the knee to blasts of digitised noise, the two dancing back and forth with one another across the rollercoaster six-minute runtime. Grandiose operatics and revered choir vocals glide over a swelling string section, pinned together with a throbbing electronic rhythm patch before collapsing into emptiness. It is majestic, emotional and nothing less than to be expected from OPN.
Review: Citirax's next outing takes the form of a debut album from Los Angeles-based duo OP-ART. This pair, like so much great music of recent times, is born out of the creative isolation of lockdown and features Andrew Clinco, who you may know for his work with Drab Majesty. The alias they have adopted is an acronym of "Oblique Pleasures Amidst Rough Times" which they say reflected the challenges of their formation. Musically the duo is inspired by the 1960s visual art movement so embraces layered, psychedelic soundscapes with a minimalist approach and takes cues from New Wave artists like John Foxx and early OMD. OP-ART in particular focuses on analogue synthesis and gear like the Arp Odyssey and Moog Rogue while exploring time, romance, and existential themes with real emotional depth.
Review: For this new 2xLP mini-record for Mord, British music producer Rich Jones aka. Operator slips off the surgical gloves and wriggles his way into a set of special occasional, crusaders' gauntlets. Only a pilgrim or knight's hand could wrangle this much grit and hate from the techno production process. As we listen, we digest the accompanying, deathly mysterious poem - "the transmutation of the shadow, an ingress of novelty, under austere skies, the spirits of the city awaken" - and we're left to wonder just what collective spirit Jones may be getting at. 'Running From The Man', 'Evasions', 'Bottom Of The List'... it's almost as if the combo of technocracy, urbanism and austerity is too much for the average person to handle, and that there's a latent rebellion in us all somewhere! But despite the prophetic theme and title, Jones prefers to fight fire with fire: his sound design is barky, scientific and at times trancey ('Watashi No Gyangu' has a particularly amazing drone undercurrent to it), suggesting urban denizens must harness, not run from, the means of its own oppression.
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