AS ONE Vinilo y CD

Review: Returning with his signature sound drawn from the early UK techno scene he helped pioneer, Kirk Degiorgio's new album lands on De:tuned, a label dedicated to upholding that very sound and the continued creativity of its originators. Of Degiorgio's various aliases, AsOne is the one which has endured, and existing fans will find themselves more than satisfied with the approach taken on this new long player. Of course part of that satisfaction requires a sense of progression, given this has always been music concerned with the future, and Degiorgio manages to keep his sound moving forwards, drawing on ever-richer production and luxurious melodic sensibilities to deliver a mature and immersive kind of techno as suited to armchair escapism as dancefloor immersion.

Review: Kirk Degiorgio's As One project continues to be a beacon of inspiration within the annals of deep, melodic UK techno. As a true pioneer of the sound from the earliest days, it's impressive to see his inspiration maintain, and there's no better home for his work than De:tuned, a label dedicated to preserving the rich expression and invention of that foundational sound. On AsOne2 we're treated to an extended excursion into widescreen machine soul of the highest calibre, where melancholic chord progressions collide with restlessly original drum programming. It's quite simply exquisite, produced with an impeccable ear and loaded with sincere human feeling. This limited pressing of the album comes on red marbled wax too - highly recommended for the collectors out there.

Review: UK techno mainstay Kirk Degiorgio has made a lot of great music over the years, much of it under the machine soul/tech-jazz-inspired As One alias. His latest EP is another typically impeccable slab of Motor City inspired tech-soul brilliance. Lead cut 'The Unveiling' is deep, gently uplifting, gloriously spacey and effortlessly far-sighted, bringing bags of emotion as well as authentically crunchy machine drums, immersive pads and awe-inspiring melodies. He opts for an enveloping, otherworldly ambient techno/IDM sound on 'Descend Module', with discordant notes and hallucinatory acid lines riding high in the mix. The EP also boasts two reworks of previously released cuts. Ian O'Brien goes ultra-deep and gently breakbeat-driven on a superb revision of 'The Ladder', before Luke Slater drops a hypnotic, ultra-deep revision of 'Absorption Spectra' as The 7th Plain.

Review: De:tuned is the perfect home for Kirk Degiorgio's As One project, where his steeped history in deep, emotive techno and affinity for jazz melds into some of the most stunning machine soul out there. If you're familiar with the sound you'll be instantly sold on these tracks - they don't just ape a bygone sound like so many are doing with that early 90s UK techno vibe. These pieces take that approach and elevate it - the production soars and the expression comes through in startling high-definition, and that goes for the stellar remixes from Ian O'Brien and Luke Slater in The 7th Plain mode as well.