JONATHAN KASPAR Vinilo y CD

Review: Jonathan Kaspar returns to Damien Lazarus' Crosstown Rebels for another round of captivating and melodic techno by way of his latest EP 'We Come'. Already having graced the discographic annals of Cocoon and Kompakt, Kaspar's sound is now well established; his pushes and pulls adeptly between big room, dubby trance and broken-down electro and house, never quite placeable in the intermediary spaces between them. One could call it progressive house, but that would be underselling it; 'Flash Point' is the highlight here and the case in point, making masterful use of ducking and distortion to really flesh out the central syncopated stab as a focal point of the track. Nor should Paul Brenning's version of 'Transposed Sky' be missed for a second.

Review: Fresh experimental dance cuttage from Jonathan Kaspar for Kompakt, clearly at the label's absolute vanguard for what constitutes boundary-pushing in 2023. A resident at the Gewolbe club in Cologne, Kaspar has surely flexed enough muscles to have worked out what makes the less easy-to-please dance-goer tick - and we think he's cracked it on 'Speicher 127', two tracks indulging weirdo drum-flams and crazy-emotive filter-sweeps respectively. Recalling the work of Barnt, but with perhaps an even more patient approach, the likes of 'Topper' and 'FEZ' are not to be trifled with.