UMWELT Vinilo y CD

Review: There is no messing when it comes to the techno served up by Umwelt's essential Rave Or Die. Over the course of 14 previous EPs the label has dropped rib-rattling, brain boggling bangers aimed squarely at the floor. This time out the boss himself steps up with Ancient Methods with each providing one solo track. This one comes on limited 10" picture disc so is an extra special one to add to the collection Ancient Methods's 'Accept Light' is a harshly textured industrial banger and Umwelt's 'Shades of Security' is just as caustic and hard edged.

Review: You can never have too many hand-stamped white label 12"s if you ask us. The latest crew to start up in simple but effective wax fashion is Lap with this hefty four-tracker. It finds Umwelt and Faerber take up one side each. The latest goes first with the muscular but funky and bass-heavy techno of 'Emotional Text Message Service' before 'Undo Can Do' gets more dark, militant and clipped in its loops. This one has frosted synths and drilling bass making sure you move. Umwelt then layers in more emotive, even trancey, synths over busted broken beats on 'Beyond Celestial Limits' while 'Memory Of Light' is another strobe-lit broken beat techno banger for the peak time.

Review: Zodiak Commune reaches right back into the early days of the Dutch acid techno and electro scene, and it remains an essential outlet for tough and gnarly rave gear for darkened souls. This new record is a split between Umwelt and Serge Geyzel, continuing a series of split discs pitting serious underground operators against each other. Umwelt's side kicks off with the blistering acid electro of 'The Wake Of The Anthropocene' and follows up with heavy but melodic pearler 'Cosmic Dancer'. Geyzel's 'Off The Ground' is a nervy slice of acid with sad-hearted undertones, and 'Hostage' completes the set with a moody, percussive throwdown.