OUTLIER Vinilo y CD

Review: Naturally, o.utlier is a maverick and a little bit of enigma, but we wouldn't expect anything less from an artist with such a name. Shady is good in our books, it keeps us guessing in a world dominated by information overload. We've seen him appear on Fred P's Soul People Music but, that was over two years ago, and we're glad to see his resurrection on the fast-growing Appian Sounds label out of east London. "Along The Gleaming", the lead track, is a misty, shape-shifting techno affair with a gloriously deep and ethereal framework that places it in the deeper end of the category alongside the likes of Donato Dozzy. The tune features Taro, who comes in for a 'reprise mix' that scraps the beats and leaves us with a gentle, beatless sway of airy harmonics. The B-side restores the meditative techno business with the impressive "Superoperator", a coiled groove of pseudo techno, followed by echoing beat pulses of "Requies", a fresh and compelling framework that uses its few elements to create maximum impact. A tipped and recommended 12" - but, don't sleep, these'll be gone soon!

Review: Fred P's ever strengthening Boards sublabel continues to showcase fresh talent from hidden corners of the contemporary deep techno scene. O.utlier has made one previous outing on a split Naif release with Tobias, and here gets to spread comfortably out over a whole twelve with a range of sounds. "Ecstasy of the Center" is utterly strung out in its hazy application of hypnotic rhythm, distant pads and reverbed vocal touches, while "Weavers Dawn" opts for an equally mysterious approach laden with staggered percussion and the most hushed of dub techno pulses. "Raise" goes even further out to sea with a serene concoction made up of the softest touches of warming melody and delayed percussion.

Review: Having broken their run of multi-artist EPs earlier this year via a fine debut album from Lost Epcot, Appian Sounds reverts to type with another compilation style 12" featuring four formidable cuts. Outlier sets the tone via the off-kilter audio haziness of "Adrift", an atmospheric ambient cut full of gentle melodies, distant jazz drums and field recordings, while Bas Dobblelaer delivers the melancholic, emotion-rich shuffle of "Coincidence", which sits somewhere between hypnotic minimal techno and early 90s IDM. On the flip Tarik Hensen ups the tempo and intensity on the locked-in deep space techno hypnotism of "Dimma Lyset", before Kloor offers up a slightly bouncier and even more intergalactic interpretation of rolling techno bliss.

Review: Mega-cleanliness is lent to drum n' bass on this V/A release from Resonance, bringing together select names from the newest class of the self-selecting underground scene. Just as the unrelent of each of these tunes suggests, drum & bass truly is do or die: for example, Nookie's remix of Government Fun's 'Lost Soul' channels a Darwinian psychopathy in its mechanistic breaks and industrial reeses, while Outlier's 'Northern Lights' is but a sample of this inner menace, expressed outwardly. Killer-clean tunes, like the moves of a murderer's cleanup crew.

Review: ***B-STOCK: Creasing to corners of outer sleeve but otherwise in excellent working condition***


Verdant's tenth release is another meandering and mystic trip through ambient electronic sounds that leaves you a million miles away from wherever you started. All four artists here excel with electro producer Reedale Ris kicking off in languid, far-sighted fashion with their mournful synths and distant cosmic designs. Out.Lier's 'Track 2' is another one cast adrift on deepest space with smeared pads and floating aural details suspending you in mid air. Jo Johnson's cascading synth motifs are pure and innocent and cathartic and Romanticise The World's 'Track 4' is mellifluous and hopeful.

Review: Verdant's tenth release is another meandering and mystic trip through ambient electronic sounds that leaves you a million miles away from wherever you started. All four artists here excel with electro producer Reedale Ris kicking off in languid, far-sighted fashion with their mournful synths and distant cosmic designs. Out.Lier's 'Track 2' is another one cast adrift on deepest space with smeared pads and floating aural details suspending you in mid air. Jo Johnson's cascading synth motifs are pure and innocent and cathartic and Romanticise The World's 'Track 4' is mellifluous and hopeful.