Back catalogue: Techno

Review: Sure Thing presents Well of Sand, its second compilation. Six tracks from the label's friends and favourites, each new to the roster, offer bold, untempered explorations of tempo and weight, a concise yet expansive collection recalling the deliberate cadence of rippling sand and the sheen of shimmering oases. From Command D's subtly groundswelling, but snappy 'Half Blue (Violet Mix)', to Foreign Material's alarmingly alien 'The Living Planet' and Third Space's supremely stereoized, lowercase opus 'Push (Part 2)', this is a release for that large intersection of audiophiles and techno-philes.

Review: DJ Hyperactive's now-defunct Contact was the label that first put out this cult cut from 1996. Some 25 years later it now gets a welcome reissue on Truncate's own self-titled label and features a remix from the techno titan himself. 'Reptilian Tank' gets a breath of new life and a refreshing new remix by label boss Truncate. First up is the original - a head-wrecking, panel-beating techno rave-up with wispy pads and pulsating bass that is full of pent-up energy. The remix is a speedy, stripped-back version that races ahead with all the urgency of a shooting star.

Review: The now ten year old 'Acid Test 09' sees a special tenth Anniversary Edition repress with a new vocal mix of the track 'Test 3'. The original EP, released in 2014, saw acid nomad Tin Man team up with techno dreamweaver Donato Dozzy for three slices of deep acid and dubby, bleepy ambient; this special anniversary version adds a surprise new vocal mix on the A2, with either Dozzy or Tin Man himself gracing the beats with a set of carefree, moony phonic impressions, lyrically concerning the object of his affections looking oh so good on the dancefloor. We already know and love the rest; it's up to you to put the new addition to the test.

Review: Merman is a brand-new label from Spain bringing some searing techno heat. This debut 12" is a fierce four-track with different arts taking care of each aural assault, starting with Elektrabel. 'Sernafet' is a manic mix of loopy snares and pulsing synths, metallic drum sounds and sweeping filters. SPIDJ brings a little more heavyweight techno funk to 'Fuerza Analogica' and Akenaton then gets raw, dark and dirty with the industrial menace of 'Cambio De Actitud.' The Zenobit3 shuts down with some spritely electro-tinged techno on 'Milikis Suffering'.

Review: Nation of Jak offshoot Dirty Blends was established by label chief Melvin Oliphant as a vehicle for "interpretations" and "homages" - in plain-speak hush-hush reworks, tribute tracks and those that sample liberally. The label's latest release is a compilation of sorts, featuring as it does cuts from a trio of artists. The Falcon steps up first with title track 'Sound The Alarm', a raw, jacking, bouncy and positive mind-melding blend of lo-fi synth stabs, sweat-soaked beats, fire alarm noises and restless drum machine fills. Over on side B, Grizzly Knuckles' 'Mad Bell' - a breathless, house tempo techno workout built around a nagging synth-bell loop - is followed by label regular The Jak's 'Aftermath', which sits somewhere between jacking lo-fi techno, UK funky and stab-happy Soca-house.

Review: The second release from Alex Egan's Utter sub label Quoth finds a link-up between Pearl River Sound and The Horn - two outlier operators with plenty to say when their machines collide. Pearl River Sound has been scattering outstanding releases on Further, Seagrave and Further Electronix amongst others, while The Horn comes from serious Devon techno heritage having cut his teeth on Evolution back in t'day. This is all about upfront material though, with a tendency towards microtonal braindance that veers from the self-explanatory collaboration 'Modular Grime' to solo forays into off-kilter, acidic electro funk. Nowhere near as derivative as a lot of current braindance, this is real freaked-out electronics for those with discerning taste.

Review: Six months after their first collaborative outing 'Die Zeit' in May - also on thyme Systematic label - two bonafide German techno titans have been busy in the studio once more. This time they offer up 'Der Rhythmus' on limited edition splattered vinyl and it is another timeless, terrific and peak time cut. The drums and snares are snappy as you like with distorted bass down low and suspensory arps keeping you on edge as a libidinous female vocal adds the final touches. UK duo Dense & Pika remix with a more stripped-back but not less slamming sound.

Review: The correctly titled All Killer No Filler series from the Memphis/Monevideo label is back with a second instalment to back up the fine first outing. This effective various artists release kicks off with Elias Sternin's 'Loop Hole' which is a warm, fleshy techno kicker backed up by Stonem's more lithe and broken beat workout, 'Festichola', which brings some retro 90s synth sounds and plenty of colour. Alfalfa's 'Rising Down' is the flipside opener and is a turbocharged retro-future tech sound with cyborg energy. Last of all is a deeper, slower, heavier sound from Two Phase U with the pensive 'You Are'.

Review: Columbus, Ohio DJ, producer and scene instigator Teakup aka Lauri Reponen is back with another EP that follows in the footsteps of local forefathers such as Titonton Duvante, Archetype and Todd Sines. His music blends perfectly the sounds of UKG, breaks, minimal and techno both past and present. 'Signal 23' is a quick-stepping dub tech cut with clipped and funky drum programming while 'Valve' is more rhythmically loose and playful in its elastic approach. 'Felopzd' has tightly wound melodic motifs and clattering percussion over a glitchy but swinging beat and 'Pad Thai Mystic' (feat Foi Oi Oi) closes out with some tense late-night minimalism.

Review: 2023 was a knockout year for Portuguese artist Temudo, taking in techno totems like Blueprint, Klockworks and Hayes in pursuit of his driving, sharply-focused sound. Now he lands on Italian label Sublunar with more of that refined, precision engineered gear for the wormhole crew. 'U Where My Second Choice' is a taut, edgy workout with a nagging synth hook, but 'Asset 2' ratchets down to a pure, heady locomotion which will take you tunnelling deep into the night. '2029' has a restrained funk which will work the body good and proper, and 'Affection' simmers down to a minimal palette peppered with pointed blips moving in expertly sequenced formations - smart techno at its finest.

Review: Tensal's take on techno is a perfect blend of heady soundscapes and potent drum programming. He brings that to Arts collective to kick off his 2024 in typically excellent fashion. He opens his account on this one with the pulsing basslines and zippy synth textures of 'Virgo' before 'Molecular Base' heads down a darker rabbit hole full of late night allure. There is more of driving and linear feel to 'Black Annis' which locks you into a meditative state and ready to gaze on at the passing synth loops and last of all 'Chromatic Aberration' ups the ante with more frosty synths and cosmic synth tension as busted techno drums loops below.

Review: Following his impressive debut on Submersive's VA Osmotic Particles in 2021, Toki Fuko returns with his inaugural solo release on the label. His Hues of Movement EP comprises three original tracks and remixes by Anthony Linell and Artefakt, all of which embody Submersive's ethos of deep, hypnotic techno. Fuko impresses as always with his well crafted soundscapes blending electrical pulses with catchy drum sequences. Linell's Train remix fuses his style with Fuko's to make for a dub-influenced journey while Artefakt's 'Warble' remix takes things into darker worlds filled with unrelenting tension.

Review: Toupaz is a new name on our radar but he'll stay firmly on it after this release on forward-thinking London label, Well Street. The EP kick-starts with a fusion of techno, bass and club rhythms spliced with brilliantly bubbly toms & synths that fall down the face of broken beats. The flip side explores a new take on UK funky with whirring machines and fractured vocals, whilst the closer 'Maudlin Lakitu' features the most experimental and skeletal rhythms of the project.

Review: Back in 2021 Italian hard techno producer Mattia Trani released his standout Scenery LP on his own label, Pushmaster Discs. Two years on, he's amassed a frankly staggering cast of remixers to cast their spells over his original tracks, compiled on two separate volumes. After the likes of Hood, Ishii, Slater and Dettmann performed their rites on part one, now it's the turn of some breakthrough names you'll be wanting to take note of. Indira Paganotto brings an eerie, trance-flecked atmosphere to 'No Future', Paul Ritch opts for a cavernous kind of dub techno pressure and Luigi Madonna tweaks out some acid styles on 'Inner Hardships'. Meanwhile the B-side opens up with Alignment's jackhammer workout on 'End Of Days', and Lee Ann Roberts closes the circle with her rave-ready, 303-toting version of 'Biologic Horror'.

Review: Dynamic Reflection keeps up its impeccable run of form with a tasteful various artists EP featuring some innovative talents. Troy is first out of the blocks with the stripped-back and dubby techno energy of 'Yann' which locks you in with its loopy melodic riffs. Svarog & Ma-Gooch offers the much deeper and heady 'Spaces' with its groaning loops and super smooth linear drums. Luigi Tozzi follows a similarly economical path with the seductive bass and synth loops of the undulating and transcendental 'Haboob' which leaves Jonas Korbl to close out with 'Primal Grade.' Though still steeped in hi-fidelity sound design, this one hits harder with a more bulky low end and swinging bass.

Review: Global Underground is one of the longest-running DJ mix series and it has always been one of the best. Plenty of big-names over the years have made their mark, often more than once, and now it is the turn of the famously long-playing New York titan Danny Tenaglia to show us what he's made of. He brings his signature grooves and a hint of Latin flavour to proceedings on this, a third and final installment of his trilogy for the series. It is mostly contemporary names serving up new school sounds but all delivered with Danny's cultured and old school DJ mentality.

Review: When you look back at the first PlayStation several landmark releases spring to mind - Resident Evil, Tekken 2, Crash Bandicoot - the list could go on much longer and should definitely include Wipeout and Wipeout 2097. Both were renowned for combining high pace, futuristic visuals with contemporary electronic club music from some of the biggest producers and acts at the time. Less remembered, in Europe at least, is the Ape Escape series, an intense party-platform title which arguably has the greatest dance music game score of all time. Comprising six tracks from that saga, this compilation of Soichi Terada's soundtracks emphasises that bold point. Opening on the crisp, punchy techno drive of 'Specters Factory', we find ourselves in suitably spooky jungle ('Haunted House'), rumbling dnb ('Spectors Castle') and roughneck hardcore bass ('Coasters'), among other made up genres. A collection which resembles Terada's amazing 1996 album, Sumo Jungle and makes a case for the Japanese enigma as one of dance music's most underrated geniuses.

Review: The creative partnership between Tiga & Hudson Mohawke expresses a mutual love of "hardcore romance," a liminal state where the bounds between euphoria, melancholy and the raw power of friendship disintegrate completely. Recorded in Los Angeles from 2019-2023, these commonalities ebbed and flowed through various recording sessions, culminating in their debut album - L'Ecstacy - the sounds in which "all come from the same place, the same musical universe," in Hudson Mohawke's own words. Referencing the album's locus of bouncy elasticity and cinematic gloss - "we're building a particular kind of zone where it all fits together. A place lost in time." With guest appearances by luminaries like Abra, Channel Tres, and Jesse Boykins III, as well as album artwork by Wolfgang Tillmans, the result is delivered with "no apology, no cynicism, no irony, no winking."

Review: Marseille's IOT Records is the home for Azu Tiwaline's latest dubbed out and dreamy pads and manipulated field recordings. It's her second album and is another one that stands up to her reputation for being a true innovator. Following on from Draw Me a silence in 2020, Teh Fifth Dream is an hour long session that veers from reverberating and bass heavy steppers to next level synth-scapes. Field recordings made in the desert of her native El Djerid, in South Tunisia, feature heavily as do tombak drums and modular synths from Franco-Persian spar Cinna Peyghamy.

Review: Tobias Freund has become one of the most well-respected techno artists in the last 15 years, releasing on a successiom of important labels like Ostgut Ton, Logistic, Mule Musiq and Wagon Repair, to name but a few. His newest release is a full length called Das Neue Elektronische Volkslied and is released on the very hot Danza Tribale, offering an array of strong underground tracks that explore various styles under the techno umbrella. There are hard, dramatic percussion stormers like 'Rated-R' or 'Nuclear Device'. There are powerful and intense builders like 'Perceiver' or ' Rise Of The Robots'. Then you have mysteriously eerie and dark minimal tracks like 'The Continent Of Reason' or 'A Wise Precaution'. Overall, the record is full of commanding high powered darker techno that demands your attention.

Review: Shanghai-based, Malaysian-born artist Tzusing offers us a future-facing and experimental techno record that also serves as a meditation on "China's complicated history of patriarchal heteronormativity, and how these archaic double standards continue to dominate the culture in pervasive, often invisible ways." It is packed with dancefloor highlights after a deep-thinking cultural monologue to start with. Hard and funky drums, twisted sonics, manic uptempo bangers and wheezing voices and downtempo rhythms all combine into something utterly unique.