Schwarzgerat EP vinyl

There's some crafty wonkiness afoot on the second offering from Gauss on their self-titled imprint. While it's not at the expense of ear-snagging melodic licks and decisive propulsion, "Schwarzgerat" maximises on offbeat hat and snare placement to make a head-turning groove that should appeal to all off-kilter techno spinners. "F(X)" has its own curious kink in the drums, taking a slower route peppered with snappy square wave ripples and a mystical ambience draped around the sharp beat, before "Quadratic Forms" finishes the EP off with a broad-sweeping, grain-spattered drone piece with nostalgic 80s orchestrations and expressive filter sweeps to get ambient heads quivering with excitement.

Owen Jay, Brian James, Ethyl, Ernie (Minuendo Recordings), Dave Miller, Rai Scott (Inner Shift Music), Mark Graham (Contrast-Wax), Per Bojsen-Moller, Cromie, Agnostic Rhythm, Natan H, Brad P/Inner Shift/Common Dreams, Joe Montana, Jordan, DJP (Soul Print Rec)