DAN WHITE Vinilo y CD

Review: With founding fathers Sleep D at the helm, Melbourne operation Butter Sessions made an impressive first manoeuvre into the world of record label ownership with The Jackal EP issued last November. Sporting three cuts of raw, unprocessed sounds that wedged themselves in-between house and techno, Sleep D set the tone for what to expect from Butter Sessions and it's nice to see the label expand on this approach with their second release. Taking the form of a various artists split release, Butter Sessions Vol 2 looks and sounds great, with Sleep D themselves calling shotgun and laying down "The Magic Arpet Ride" whose synth based pun doesn't detract from what dovetails between moments of new age bliss and twisted rawness. Sometime Firecracker Booshank adds some tuffness with "Action Satisfaction" whilst "Acre Summit" is perhaps the most frenetic sounding production from Tuff Sherm yet. A deviation into deeper territory is afforded with the excellent "Base 60" from Dan White which closes proceedings.

Review: Australian label Butter Sessions is back with another one of its split releases, this time themed as Sounds From The Suburbs, adding two new faces to the roster in the process. Tina Wantirna drops some techno science on the chilling and dubbed-out "Track 1", while second newcomer Cale Sexton goes for the house approach on the piano-led "Everybody Hz". On the flip, label boss and badboy Sleep D offers a twisted piece of pseudo acid in the form of "Vermondo Vermango" - check his recent guest appearance on NTS Live's Reverie programme for a whole stack of similar new material from the man - and Dan White returns to the label with "Rhythm Works", a piece fit for Axis or any Jeff Mills set. Hotly recommended.

Review: Melbourne-based producer Rory McPike has been busy of late, delivering EPs for Butter Sessions and Normals Welcome under the now familiar Dan White alias. This outing for Brokntoys explores similar territory, with McPike utilizing a range of vintage machines and synthesizers on a quartet of spacey, melodious, intelligent techno influenced cuts. The intergalactic electro of "Buckley's Escape" impresses via shimmering electronics, snappy beats and a spine-tingling extended breakdown, while "Digital Detox" is as melodious, sweet and picturesque as you'd expect. Arguably best of all, though, is "Ghost Train", where fluttering chords and spaced-out melodies ride a swinging, snare-heavy 4/4 groove.

Review: Whether using the ambient Rings Around Saturn guise, or more dancefloor-focused Dan White alias, Rory McPike's influences always tend towards the vintage. Following a one-track contribution to a Butter Sessions 12" last year, the Melbourne-based producer makes his full debut on local label with a trio of cuts that explore the sounds of the early '90s in a number of different ways. This is perhaps most apparent on A-side "The Hammer (Think Mix)", where orgasmic gasps, 808 State chords and Detroit-influenced melodies usher in a pitched-down hardcore-era breakbeat, rave sirens and surging sub-bass. "Just A Beat" doffs a cap to the more psychedelic end of early-90s techno, while the immensely beautiful "Sacoid" joins the dots between ambient house, intelligent techno and the deeper end of Motor City grooves.

Review: Dan White (aka Australian producer Rory McPike) makes a sturdy first appearance on Forbidden Planet here with some ambitious synth exercises that wonderfully channel the fertile times for hardware jams and boundary-less dance music in a flurry of arpeggios. "Death Flutes" leads the EP in the kind of sweeping coldwave melancholia that Steve Moore is so adept at, while "BA2 Fin" takes a more punchy approach thanks to a sizable squarewave bass throb, but there's plenty of room for more fluttering melodics on top. "Agent Cooper" is the first foray into a rougher, stacked-out kind of techno as re-envisioned for a dystopian crowd, and "Human Hologram" drops some equally paranoid electro into the mix for a wonderfully retro-future finish to a sterling EP.

Review: Edmonton-based Normals Welcome Records has been quietly doing its' thing for a decade, consistently delivering interesting and eccentric electronic music in a variety of styles. Here, they offer up a split release featuring two tracks each from Aussie Dan White (AKA Rings of Saturn man Rory McPike), and Canadian producer Dylan Khotin-Foote. McPike handles side A, kicking things off with the intergalactic dub-house dreaminess of "Grey Bishop", before reaching for the wonky electronics and blissful deep house grooves of "No No No". Khotin takes a similar approach on the flip, first with the tuneful electronics, delay-laden analogue beats and subdued acid of "Sorry Sequence", and secondly with the early '90s intelligent techno flex of "AT07".