UFO95 Vinilo y CD

Review: Tresor is a titanic techno brand that has very much had a large say in how the genre has sounded over the last few decades. The German club and label now welcomes Parisian artist UFO95 into the fold with his Backward Improvement EP which draws on elements of all the genre's many niches from London to Detroit to Berlin. 'Cogitor' is thumping and wried up with warped lines, 'Sexual Tension' has a more seductive sound with a rubbery and funky bassline and 'Fragment' then brings panel-beating loops for peak time showdowns. There is pure sci-fi atmosphere to the bells and the sonorous synths of 'Solar' and 'Gargk' closes down with a glitchy and ambient-laced breakbeat monster. Great variation makes this a useful EP.

Review: While the heads continue debating where techno has gone in the last few years, with a new generation of ultra-hard, ultra-fast artists and DJs threatening to break through what remaining walls of sanity were still propping up warehouse parties, Use Your Difference to Make the Difference drops and proves it couldn't give a shit about labels or categories, and nor could those behind the record. Words like 'tough' don't really cut it when it comes to stuff like this. Tracks like 'Gabba Masta' might sell some down the wrong path, though - it's heavy and pounding but stops someway short of gabber itself, actually offering some of the most serene harmonies on the record before exploding into its full throttle, stripped back drum-riff-off. And nothing here really lets you off those kind of hooks. But, in a world of nuances, why should they?