Back catalogue: Techno

Review: Florin Buchel's work as Contra Communem Opinionem has bridged the gap between seemingly disparate labels like Lux Rec, Mathematics, Drumpoet Community and Photic Fields without missing a beat. More recently, he's funnelled the CCO output through his own label Silum to bring us some EPs of dazzling hardware tech house with ample melodic content to keep the dark clouds at bay. 'Atmospheric Inversion' toys with jazzy discord, but the vibe is primarily soulful and synth-driven, while 'Atmospheric Extinction' heads wholeheartedly towards uplifting chord sequences to get your hair standing on end. 'Atmospheric Pressure' takes a snappier, techier approach but the tools and signal chains are the same, so the pervading warmth of the tracks maintains. This is house music which instinctively connects back to the gritty strain of machine soul pioneered in Detroit - if you're always searching for that quality in your club tracks you won't want to overlook this one.

Review: Bonzai Classics is back with another uncompromising selection of old school and hard hitting house classics across two slabs of back and white vinyl. The originals are the work of Cherrymoon Tax with 'The House Of House' being a big, fizzing, distortion filled slammer which gets remixes by the likes of Oliver Lieb into something more techno, Jam El Mar into a more percussive groove and Mike Push into something trance tinged. There are two further remixes as well as raved up originals 'Conflictation' and 'Let There Be House' both of which bring some old school energy to the floor.

Review: If you like your techno murky and subterranean then Node has got another doozy of a 12" for you. It is a six track various artists EP that comes on silver marbled vinyl and opens with the sleazy underworld sounds of 'Selva Oscura' from Conceptual. Orbe's 'Thorax' then goes down a deep, dark late night techno tunnel in mind melting fashion and Sciahri's deft loops on 'No Fear' leave you feeling utterly in the moment. The hypnosis continues on the flip with darker drum rumbles from Farceb, constant suspense from 'Dario Duegra' and magnificently weighty minimalism from Uun.

Review: The already well-travelled 'I Am a Dancer' cut that was originally produced by Marc Romboy and C.A.R. and debuted on Kompakt's acclaimed Total 21 album now undergoes some vibrant transformations with three new mixes. Marc Romboy & Sinisa Tamamovic goes first and make it into a steamy, weighty but deep and pulsing track that drips with sweat and lust. The Skatman remix is much more for the big room with its grinding low ends and epic breakdowns and Dense & Pika then bring some unstoppable and rolling waves of techno power to their version. Cheers.

Review: Pioneering psychedelic trance label Platipus is going all-out to celebrate its 30th birthday, with no less than 12 compilation style EPs scheduled for release this year. This is the second and, like its predecessor, sounds pleasingly current thanks to the trend towards harder and more psychedelic music. Len Faki kicks things off via a pleasingly weighty, hypnotic, chant-sporting rework of Union Jack's 'Cactus', before Chab channels the spirit and sound of dawn at a turn-of-the-millennium free party ('Sunrise'). Over on the reverse, Simon Berry and Luke Brancaccio deliver a deep, progressive house-influenced tech-trance interpretation of Martin Merkel's 'Little Wonder', while Star impresses with the driving, peak-time hedonism of 'Rock Rose'.

Review: Domenic Cappello is a long time legend of the scene who has been in the form of his life of late. As such he finally drops a much anticipated and long awaited debut album 'Basement Philosophy on Alien Communications that comes 20 years after he started making beats. Cappello's sound permeates the whole record as it traverses diverse sonic landscapes with captivating potency. Opening with 'Mushroom Waltz', dreamy pads and lively chords set the tone, leading into the soulful depths of 'Midnight with T'. 'Early Flight' builds cerebral atmospheres with characteristic snapping drums. 'Acid Rain' evokes nostalgia, while '3am Jamaica Street' pulsates with peak-time energy. 'Moon Jump' offers languid melodies reminiscent of classic Underground Resistance and electro-inspired 'Burning Past' and 'Not for Instagram DJs' conclude ta high class record in style.

Review: Jeroen and Natasja aka The Connection Machine are cultured techno explorers who put out a fine array of sounds in the 90s on the mighty U-Trax as well as on Carl Craig's Planet E. New music came sporadically after that and included an album on Tabernacle, Presentiment. BlackHole+ was their highly anticipated second release following their sublime debut The Dream Techno Album and here it has been remastered for this welcome reissue. It features most of the tracks on the original as well as five tracks taken from ensuing EPs as well as a fine remix from Legowelt, all presented on limited black and white wax.

Review: Container is a long-running project from Ren Schofield but he has hasn't released anything since back in 2021 when he delighted techno heads with his Creamer EP. His manic sound has recently taken him to some sold out shows around the world and now comes Tacker, a new album that fuses rock with electronic stylings on Alter. Nirvana's 'Oh, The Guilt', Mindflayer's album 'It's Always 1999', and the Rah Bras song 'Sooop Toe Pump Girls' have all been given as points of inspiration for this most brain-fizzing, hardcore collision of worlds.