Back catalogue: Techno (All)

Review: ***B-STOCK: Case slightly cracked, product in perfect working order***


Past Inside The Present welcomes back accomplished and prolific ambient master zake, this time alongside Oss and Fax who released the original featured track, 'Polymorph' on Module. Here it gets revisited by a top contemporary team after the hazy and absorbing extended mix kicks things off. ASC then goes dark with his mood rework and Zake himself remixes with a more optimistic sense of crepuscular synth lushness. Aural Imbalance layers in some fizzing and malfunctioning electronic sounds, Ossa suspends you amongst his heavenly rays and Influx brings gently broken beats. Fax shuts down this varied offering with a more edgy ambient sound.

Review: Past Inside The Present welcomes back accomplished and prolific ambient master zake, this time alongside Oss and Fax who released the original featured track, 'Polymorph' on Module. Here it gets revisited by a top contemporary team after the hazy and absorbing extended mix kicks things off. ASC then goes dark with his mood rework and Zake himself remixes with a more optimistic sense of crepuscular synth lushness. Aural Imbalance layers in some fizzing and malfunctioning electronic sounds, Ossa suspends you amongst his heavenly rays and Influx brings gently broken beats. Fax shuts down this varied offering with a more edgy ambient sound.

Review: Earlier this year, A Guy Called Gerald (Gerald Simpson) made his Laboratory Instinct debut with a "Drop-Tech Infusion" mix of Dell & Flügel's "Superstructure" that appeared on the duo's "Study For A Skyscraper" EP. Now the British acid house pioneer and drum'n'bass legend issues his own superb full-length on the German imprint, the appropriately-titled "Proto Acid - The Berlin Sessions". Having literally influenced generations of music-makers with an incredible discography that's grown incrementally deeper since the 80s, the Manchester UK native and now Berlin resident executes the infectious 71-minute jam with a masterful meticulousness. Drenching Detroit-styled techno in sparkling electro, the set, recorded live in one session using two laptops and a DJ mixer at Gerald's Diehold Studio on February 11th, 2006, flows with a relaxed ease. With one exception ("Auto Rebuild," the third track, is a remake of 1990's "Automannik"), the album's 24 raw, club-oriented tracks are all new and were created over the last year in Berlin. The collection departs from the style of his last full-length, "To All Things What They Need", in many ways, the most obvious being the absence of singing. Asked why he decided to make "Proto Acid - The Berlin Sessions" wholly instrumental, Simpson doesn't mince words. "On my last two albums, I felt pressured to include vocals," he replies. "Nowadays, I feel singers should be put on a bale of hay with a piece of straw hanging out of their mouths while playing acoustic guitar-keeping it real, if you know what I mean. I want to make music for clubs and sometimes you just have to get down and dirty into the machines and, to take it there, you can't hold anyone's hand. Some things just don't need a vocal. What I'm trying to do is keep myself entertained as well as give the punters something new." Asked to describe the album's sound, Simpson says, "To me it's proto acid; it's how I feel house/techno music would have sounded if the whole rave thing hadn't happened in England. When I was younger, I would go to soul and funk clubs and you could easily mix a techno/house track into your set without spoiling the environment. Could you imagine playing a techno track at an r'n'b club today? Things have splintered and fragmented and floated so far apart that funk seems to have dropped through the cracks. I'm one of those preserved creatures that basically loves to use genres as a palette. So when I say proto acid I'm saying this stuff has direct lineage to Chicago and Detroit in the mid-to-late 80s." Don't think that, for Simpson, acid's definition is limited to something as obvious as the 303 either. "I find it really interesting how the TB303 has come to be fetishised as an acid machine," he says. "For me, acid was all about the tweaking of synths and riding a groove, you know what I mean? Like, before the masses thought the Transistor Bass machine was a special tool for doing acid house music, I was already bored with it and had moved on to tweaking envelopes on other Roland machinery, so I never really possessed that value for the 303 like everybody else did. I feel like I followed my own path and was inspired by what was going on in Detroit and Chicago but always did my own thing. To me, the new album is acid and acid's a part of everything I do." On the disc itself, Simpson doesn't waste a moment but immediately invigorates the set with the pumping tribal groove of "Marching Powder" before moving on to the steely funk-throb of "The Strip." The mix's strutting electro strain makes its first appearance in "Auto Rebuild" and dominates thereafter, though its presence is subtly modulated from one cut to the next, at one moment oozing a house vibe and the next techno. While differences distinguish one track from the next (though Simpson avows that his influences are more machines than particular artists, a seeming Drexciya influence emerges in "Droid" and the dark synth-driven "Feel the Heat" while dub rears its head in "Xray" and "Bass-o-train", there's clearly a unified feel to the album. "Skitzoid" casts a mechano spell, "Night Flight" breezily rocks, and the jacking cut "Voltar" broils feverishly for almost eight minutes. Bringing the mix to a chilled close, "Sweet You" floats in a billowing haze of jazzy pianos and locomotive drum brushes before vaporizing in a cloud of cymbal accents. At this stage in his career, one might assume that Simpson has covered every base imaginable, but apparently that's not so. Referring to the new release, he says, "It's the culmination of a dream I've had since I started making music, and that's to take the studio into the club; this album is snapshot of those possibilities."

Review: When Bristolian man-of-mystery A Sagittariun released his debut album, Dream Ritual, back in 2013, there was a brilliant freshness to his '90s inspired intelligent techno sound. Since then, many others have mined similar inspirations, but few can match the authenticity of his sound. Elasticity, his sophomore set, widens his palette of influences further, via nods to blissful ambient house, trippy interludes (complete with spoken word samples from famous psychedelic thinkers), Drexciyan electro, the guitar-laden atmospherics of Jonny Nash, and, most surprising of all, classic UK garage. It's a fine set, all told, and one that reveals greater details with each successive listen.

Review: Echospace member Rod Modell's latest solo work has been trailed as a "generative-music composition" aimed at sound tracking the shift from waking consciousness to deep sleep. Modell does this by combining his usual dub techno inspired sonic textures, with a battery of barely audible voices that flit in and out of the mix. All of this, fused with additional field recordings and sleepy electronics, results in an extended piece that's both calming and, if you listen to it intently enough (which, to be honest, isn't the idea), really rather odd. As ambient works go, though, it's quietly impressive.

Review: After the well received Cult Copy album, which was released on CD/DVD earlier this year, it was decided to release a limited press of 1000 copies on vinyl, as a lot of requests were received for this format. Most of the Cult Copy related vinyl is deleted or currently out of stock, so this album makes all tracks available on vinyl again. It will be released as a gatefold 2xLP of which 500 units come with the DVD which is also available with the CD. This DVD contains a 25 minute video by video artist Michael Butink which compliments the music perfectly.

Review: Modular synthesizer fetishist Luke Abbott apparently got the inspiration for this sophomore set during time spent as the "musician in residence" at the Wysing Arts Centre in Cambridgeshire back in 2012. Named after a piece of woodland close by, it sees Abbott using live analogue electronics to try and create a "natural life cycle" over the album's nine tracks. Interestingly, it differs from his impressive debut album in a number of ways; while Holkham Drones touched on krautrock, drone and intense ambience, Wysing Forest doffs a cap to spiritual jazz, Terry Riley and ambient explorer Pete Namlook. It's a beguiling set, all told, and one that constantly veers between crunchy bursts of intense IDM and becalmed, breathtaking ambience.

Review: For the uninitiated, Nordstern is arguably Switzerland's most name-checked underground club. This year, the Basel institution turns 15. To celebrate, they've asked Israeli techno titan Shlomi Aber to put together this anniversary mix CD. Happily, the Cocoon, Cadenza and Renaissance regular has done a fine job, laying down a dark, atmospheric, dancefloor-friendly mix that would no doubt go down a treat at Nordstern. There are few surprises, but plenty of murky, evocative, armour-played techno treats, from the angular funk of Wire's "Contrast" and rolling rave stabs of DJ Hyperactive's "Venus" (as remixed by Truncate), to the woozy, glassy-eyed positivity of Entro Senestre's "DOHC".

Review: It took Abstraxion producer Harold Boue almost decade to get around to delivering his 2013 debut album, Break of Lights. This sophomore set, then, just took a mere three years to gestate. It's an impressive follow-up, all told, with the Marseilles man serving up a set that combines swelling, melancholic melodies and bittersweet tunefulness with occasional moments of quiet euphoria, yearning soundscapes, and softly spoken dancefloor rhythms. He occasionally sings, too, though his atmospheric and emotion-rich delivery is perfectly in keeping with the sumptuous late night mood. Nicholas Jaar is a big fan of his work, and it's easy to see why; Boue shares a similar aesthetic and approach to music making.

Review: The Cornish boy wonder Luke Vibert has spread his wings so brightly during the last decade as Kerrier District, Yoseph, Amen Andrews, Spac Hand Luke, Plug and of course Wagon Christ, you'd be forgiven for thinking that he's covered all the ground. Demented filthy disco, killer aquatic blue ambience, drill n' bass, breaking funk, library music, instrumental hip-hop and lethal acid styles. With only a rare promo 12" issued five years ago, the name Ace Of Clubs will probably mean nothing to the even the most obsessive Vibert geeks. Now the next chapter is here in the form of "Benefist".

Review: Franco-Algerian collective Acid Arab has made some of the most inspired, inventive and original music of the last decade, initially by joining the dots between Arabic musical culture and machine-driven dance music, but latterly by incorporating nods to synth-pop, industrial, new beat and more. On 'Trois', their third album, they refocus on the dancefloor - albeit one open to sounds inspired by different sub-genres popular from the mid 1980s onwards - with predictably inspired results. For proof, check dense, hard-wired opener 'Leila (featuring Sofiane Sandi)', the pitch-black, punk-funk influenced techno throb of 'Ya Mahla (featuring Wael Alkak)', the mutant, sub-heavy North African acid-funk of 'Habaytak (featuring Ghizlane Meilh)' and the frankly mind-mangling brilliance of 'Rachid Trip (featuring Rachid Taha)'.

Review: ***B-STOCK: Box damaged, product unused & in perfect condition***

- Creasing/small tear to corner of sleeve

Having previously been responsible for a number of themed compilations for Versatile Records, the Acid Arab crew has finally got round to delivering its' first album of original productions. Naturally, it continues their theme of blending North African and Middle Eastern sounds - be it vocals or instruments - with drum machine rhythms and vintage synthesizer sounds. This, though, is where the similarities to their previous work end. While there are a few house-influenced cuts dotted throughout (see the brilliant "Sayarat 303"), for the most part Musique De France veers further towards off-kilter electronic pop. Along the way, they doff a collective cap to new wave, punk-funk, and hazy indie-pop. While it may lack the crackling energy of their more dancefloor-minded productions, it's still a hugely enjoyable set.

Review: Having previously been responsible for a number of themed compilations for Versatile Records, the Acid Arab crew has finally got round to delivering its' first album of original productions. Naturally, it continues their theme of blending North African and Middle Eastern sounds - be it vocals or instruments - with drum machine rhythms and vintage synthesizer sounds. This, though, is where the similarities to their previous work end. While there are a few house-influenced cuts dotted throughout (see the brilliant "Sayarat 303"), for the most part Musique De France veers further towards off-kilter electronic pop. Along the way, they doff a collective cap to new wave, punk-funk, and hazy indie-pop. While it may lack the crackling energy of their more dancefloor-minded productions, it's still a hugely enjoyable set.

Review: Before Roman Flugel and Jorn Elling Wuttke found fame as Alter Ego, they spent much of the '90s releasing heavyweight club cuts as Acid Jesus. For those who missed their releases first time around (or were simply too young), Flashbacks 1992-1998 does a good job in telling the story. It gathers together the best of their released material with a few previously unheard bits thrown in. As the name suggests, the TB-303 was a regular presence in much of the duo's work at this time and you'll find house and techno jack-tracks throughout. Thrillingly, though, the set also contains cuts that are closer in tone to both Underground Resistance and early UK bleep techno than the wild and aggressive techno jams that Flugel and Wuttke would later become famous for.

Review: In June, Actress delivered an RA mix that was nothing short of surprisingientirely new, unheard material from Darren S. Cunningham himself. Asked if it was an album, he called it "a collage -Braque," leaving interpretation open. This CD edition captures the essence of Actress's sound: fluid, shape-shifting, and unconcerned with traditional definitions. Whether a mixtape or sonic collage, it's unmistakably Actress, offering listeners a raw, evolving soundscape that resists labels and challenges boundaries, making it an essential piece for fans of his ever-innovative style.

Review: "It's like painting with button and sliders... Melting and dripping, seeping yourself liquid into the machinery." So said Darren Cunningham when discussing the creation of R.I.P, his long awaited follow up to Splazsh. It's a compelling image that works in practice too. R.I.P creates microcosmic sound worlds within each track: "Holy Water" for instance tumbles in on itself in a melange of shimmering sine wave droplets, while the pitch shifted waves of "Tree Of Knowledge" seem to inhale and exhale like a living being, crumpling inwards on itself to repeat the same motion ad infinitum. And although it uses much the same, occasionally abrasive sonic building blocks as Cunningham's been developing for many years, the pastoral tones of "Uriel's Black Harp" and the Alva Noto styles of "Jardin" make R.I.P a surprisingly graceful album. It may not be techno as many will know it, but Cunningham has never made techno in the traditional sense anyway - and it's clear on listening to R.I.P that he's only just beginning to realise the musical forms that have been swarming inside his brain for years.

Review: ***B-STOCK: Box damaged, product unused & in perfect condition***

- Creasing to corner of sleeve

"It's like painting with button and sliders... Melting and dripping, seeping yourself liquid into the machinery." So said Darren Cunningham when discussing the creation of R.I.P, his long awaited follow up to Splazsh. It's a compelling image that works in practice too. R.I.P creates microcosmic sound worlds within each track: "Holy Water" for instance tumbles in on itself in a melange of shimmering sine wave droplets, while the pitch shifted waves of "Tree Of Knowledge" seem to inhale and exhale like a living being, crumpling inwards on itself to repeat the same motion ad infinitum. And although it uses much the same, occasionally abrasive sonic building blocks as Cunningham's been developing for many years, the pastoral tones of "Uriel's Black Harp" and the Alva Noto styles of "Jardin" make R.I.P a surprisingly graceful album. It may not be techno as many will know it, but Cunningham has never made techno in the traditional sense anyway - and it's clear on listening to R.I.P that he's only just beginning to realise the musical forms that have been swarming inside his brain for years.

Review: Always one to charge into more interesting corners of the techno world, Adam X is in fine fettle as he drops his latest album for Sonic Groove, the first on his own label since 1998's Audiobiography. The tone is very much stout and stern, from the industrial-tinged drum hits to the cold and eerie synth content, but of course it's in the rhythmic department where X really shines. At every turn there are intriguing grooves to latch onto, from the drunken lope of the title track with its anthemic hip hop vocal rip, to the opening broken techno drama of "Interchanges". There are more stripped down moments such as the restrained cycles of "Catenary", and some piston pumping bangers like "On The Verge Of Decimation", making this an engaging listen as well as a great collection of techno tracks.

Review: .While he's contributed to the label's output before, Vayu The God of Wind marks the first time ADILR (real name Hampus Johan Karlsson Andersson) has served-up a full-length excursion. Given that his brand of deep and dubby techno is arguably tailor-made for the album format - it's all about immersive sound design, slowly shifting electronic motifs, and grooves so deep and hushed that they're practically subterranean - this is something of a surprise. There's no doubt he's delivered, though, serving up a set of largely elongated workouts that sit somewhere between the outer-space explorations of Echospace, the icy soundscapes of fellow Scandinavian producer Biosphere, and the deep techno work of his Greyscale label boss Grad_U.

Review: For their latest foray into the world of the ghostly, intense and unusual, L.I.E.S has turned to fellow New Yorker Adam Mitchell, a man whose career as a techno producer stretches back to the 1990s. Here, though, he's appearing under his lesser-known Admx-71 alias, a pseudonym used for his more experimental endeavours. Sitting somewhere between unsettling ambience, horror-influenced IDM, analogue electro, industrial and out-there experimentation, the album's 11 tracks bristle with bright ideas. While there are undeniably dark and hard-to-handle moments, Mitchell's default setting is more quietly melodious, resulting in a set that impresses with its' alien melodies, spacey electronics and fuzzy, distortion-soaked rhythms.

Review: Three years have passed since Alessandro Adriani impressed with his debut album, an industrial, EBM, techno and neo-trance inspired set that marked the Berlin-based Italian as a producer on the rise. "Morphic Dreams", his belated sequel, may explore some of the same influences, but Adriani's vision seems far more widescreen. Check, for example, the decaying urban ambience of "Casting The Runes", the buzzing and bubbling synth-wave throb of "Raindance", the tactile slo-mo bliss of Simon Crab collab "Dust/Mist" and the grandiose, rising intensity of dystopian soundscape "Crow". There are, of course, a number of muscular, EBM-influenced club cuts, with the Nitzer Ebb-esque "Dissolving Images" and fizzing "Storm Tree" standing out.

Review: Jamal Moss, aka Hieroglyphic Being, returns this time under the alias Africans with Mainframes. With fellow Chicagoan Noleian Reusse they have been releasing music under the name Africans with Mainframes for over 15 years now. The KMT LP is the debut album from the group, a collage of apocalyptic Chicago acid meets industrial and transcendental post-house machine funk. Both intense and unique, the album of forward-thinking, experimental, boundary-pushing Afro-futurist electronic music shows why Hieroglyphic Being is regarded as one of the most serious purveyors of experimental electronic music today.

Review: Barely six weeks after dropping her debut single on River Rapid, Henrietta Smith-Rolla pops up on Skam with a surprise debut album. As first full length excursions go, "Break Before Make" is undeniably impressive. Beginning with the spooky, minor key electronics and angular IDM rhythms of "Day Turner", the 14 track set sees Smith-Rolla successfully turn her hand to bittersweet synth-wave ("And!"), dystopian pitched-down electronica ("Guess What"), spacey electro ("Work It", "Wtfwtfwtf"), clandestine electronic soundscapes (the panicked shuffle of "Blanket Ban") and grandiose sci-fi soundtrack fare ("The Middle Middle"). Throughout, the Manchester-based producer consistently delivers otherworldly musical melancholia with a panache not associated with a producer of her relative inexperience.

Review: After four appearances on Lithuania's Greyscale, Ajnkana delivers his first long player Integers Equations, with more than an hour of "tangibly eerie, atmospheric chords", ambience but not ambient-edged beats and dubby effects either destined for play on deeper dancefloors or comedown soundtracking post-party living room sessions. The titles may be blank as anything, all binary and consisting of 1s and 0s in slightly different orders, but the instrumental, slowly-enveloping tracks have plenty of personality. Fans of Sahko, Chain Reaction and Ilian Tape's more esoteric offerings will love it.

Review: Manchester collective Akkord are one of Houndstooth's most reliable outfits, having previously delivered an album, and a smattering of EPs for the Fabric-owned imprint. HTH035 gathers together material from their last original 12", plus a quartet of remixes, two of which are brand spanking new. As usual, there's much to enjoy, with the Mancunian combo joining the dots between moody techno, dubstep, rave breakbeats and macabre ambience in their usual clinical, architecturally inspired way. The remixes are predictably strong, with the hypnotic, dreamy techno of Vatican Shadow just edging out Fis' impeccable, string-laden ambience (the epitome of Northern paganism) in the "CD highlight" stakes.

Review: Given their obsession with maths, geometry and clandestine soundscapes, you'd expect this debut album from Manchester-based studio boffins Synkro and Indigo to be a murky, otherworldly affair. That it is isn't much of a surprise, though it's hard not to be impressed by the depth of material on offer. This self titled set effortlessly struts between cranky, angular techno ("3dOS", "Hex Ad"), sparse African rhythms ("Smoke Circle"), Skam-ish IDM ("Fooled Edge"), slo-mo industrial drone ("Channel Drift"), and post-dubstep rhythms ("Navigate", the dubwise "Rocendal"). Throughout, there's a claustrophobic air of intense paranoia that's hard to ignore. Impressive stuff.

Review: As the convoluted title suggests, this double CD mix-up from leather jacket-clad Phantasy Sound boss Erol Alkan offers two distinctly different flavours and a welcome update on his classic first Mix CD release for Bugged Out. The first disc, his Bugged In selection, delivers a fuzzy, off-kilter trawl through some of Alkan's current home listening faves. It's typically eclectic, touching on lo-fi rock, psychedelic oddities, Gorky's Zygotic Mynci and soft focus electronica from the likes of Walls and Space Dimension Controller. The second disc, on the other hand, sees Alkan in full-on club mode. Recorded live, it's something of an energetic romp through darkroom disco, Italo, classic techno, balls-out bangers and twisted acid house revivalism. It is, of course, a sweaty treat.

Review: Given his status, it's a little surprising that it's taken Fabric this long to ask Erol Alkan to contribute a mix to their long-running FabricLive series. Pleasingly, the Phantasy Sound-founder is in fine form, laying down a mix heavy on gnarled electronics, ragging acid and strobelight-friendly future anthems. Alongside thrillingly riotous moments - see Tom Rowlands' jacking "Through Me" and Fumes "Jack 2000" - Alkan also finds space for the melodious tech-house of Ghost Culture, the spiralling, synth-laden rush of Daywalker & CF, and, most pleasingly of all, a self-made mash-up that blends his own "A Hold on Love" with Saint Etienne's piano-laden Balearic anthem "Only Love Can Break Your Heart".

Review: Klang Elektronik is happy to re-release Alter Ego's second album "Decoding The Hacker Myth" ten years after its original release. The album was responsible for Roman Flügel and Jörn Elling Wuttke's worldwide breakthrough. The album's title was a hint at the widespread view back then that electronic music/techno was computer music without any soul. Alter Ego disproved this by producing an absolute counter draft to the dominating hard trance and progressive house sound which it dominated.

Review: There is something faintly unsettling about Forest Land, the debut album from Greyscale Mood Series regular Altone. Musically, the ten showcased tracks are rooted in dub techno and feature many musical elements associated with the style - think deep sub-bass, echoing, reggae style piano riffs, ambient electronics, field recordings and incredible sound design. Yet none of these tracks sound like "dub techno by numbers", something we attribute to the producer's frequent use of off-kilter, unorthodox rhythm patters and metallic, almost industrial percussion sounds. In other words, it may be as atmospheric and - at times - meditative as other dub techno releases, but it's also a whole lot creepier too. An album well worth further investigation.

Review: HYbr:ID III marks the third chapter of Alva Noto's (Carsten Nicolai's) HYbr:ID series, initiated in 2021. Building on the scale, intonation and trajectory of its two predecessors, HYbr:ID III crafts a soundscape of meditative and resonant tones, drawing inspiration from Noh, a traditional Japanese musical drama dating back to the 14th century. Noh theatre often features the theme of a supernatural being or entity, temporarily manifesting in human form to complete and carry out the main action of the play. We can just as easily imagine such otherworldly goings-on occurring with the music of HYbr:ID III setting the sonic tone, with the main character's first transition into corporeality evoked through the cavernous sweeping FX of 'Noh Human', not long before the spacious stereo stalactites and widescreen fourth-wall breaks of the likes of 'Script Broken Conversation' and 'Obsessive Behaviour Night' come into play.

Review: Back in 2008, noted experimentalist Alva Noto began a sporadic series of albums that were far more focused on dancefloor-inspired rhythms than his usual eccentric and inspiring fare. Unieqav is the third and, we're told, final part of the series. The album is apparently meant to be a sonic representation of an underwater dive, a conceptual theme which manifests itself through the storied producer's use of deep and atmospheric chords, fluid and occasionally glistening electronics, and rhythms that evoke images of ever-deeper dives into the dark, cold depths. Rhytmically, there are nods to electro, IDM, dub techno and Autechre, though the mood remains laidback and intoxicated throughout.

Review: Black Truffle's tenth-anniversary reissue of Oren Ambarchi's Quixotism brings renewed attention to this monumental 2014 release. Originally recorded with collaborators across Europe, Japan, Australia, and the U.S., Quixotism unfolds as a single, long-form piece split into five sections. Anchored by Thomas Brinkmann's steady, double-time electronic percussion, the piece gradually evolves from orchestral depth and subtle piano motifs (courtesy of John Tilbury) to a striking polyrhythmic shuffle, culminating in the final passages with U-zhaan's masterful tabla. Throughout its journey, Ambarchi weaves guitar textures that shift from clipped, sparse tones to lush, reverberated layers, creating an expansive yet cohesive sonic landscape. The interplay of acoustic and electronic elementsiranging from the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra's grandeur to Crys Cole's intimate contact-mic texturesiguides the listener through an otherworldly audio experience. Influenced by Cologne techno, Eliane Radigue's long-form compositions, and the fluidity of improvisation, Quixotism shifts in subtle, dreamlike transitions. Remastered by Joe Talia, this edition offers a clearer perspective on the album's intricate sound design, reaffirming its relevance while pointing forward to Ambarchi's future works like Hubris and Hence.

Review: "Rave On Snow" is the top winter event for electronic music. This is a combination of the finest electronic music and all it's variations.

Review: Yes! Finally the debut album from Joey Anderson arrives on CD after what seems like forever (if you'll excuse the pun). The vinyl edition of After Forever pulls together nine all new productions from the understated New Jersey-based producer (digital includes two cuts from his 2013 Dekmantel bow) and demonstrates Anderson's dedication to beat his own path, with plenty of mind bending moments to contend with. Highlights come thick and fast, "Space Colors Ideas" is a wondrous cascade of scatty bass synth and celestial sweeps, whilst the suitably named "Sorcery" melds together palpitating, subliminal kicks, a light dusting of hats, some loping Rhodes and complimentary synth notes. After Forever is destined to become one of the mosrt memorable house albums of this generation.

Review: Given the strength and frequency of his releases throughout 2013 and 2014, Joey Anderson has been surprisingly quiet this year. Clearly, he had his head down, working on this second full-length for regular home Dekmantel. Pleasingly, Invisible Switch shows the producer at the top of his game. Clearly influenced - in part, at least - by the spacey sounds of classic Detroit techno, it sees him treading the fine line between hypnotic, late night deep house, and undulating, deep space techno. Along the way, you'll find subtle nods to jazz, early British techno (see the weighty "Reset"), intelligent techno, trippy acid tracks (the early Orbital style fizz of "Amarna") and, on the throbbing "Nabta Playa", crunchy techno-funk.

Review: The past few years have seen Keiran Whitefield develop a rep for hardware-based techno under his Ansome name, with his live sets complemented by a growing 12" discography featuring slamming records for Mord, South London Analogue Material and Mindcut. It was no surprise to see Ansome align with UK daddy Perc Trax last year, a union inaugurated with the no-holds-barred 12" The White Horse. Attempting an album is seen as a right of passage for techno artists, so here comes Ansome with his debut long player for Perc Trax, Stowaway. Ten tracks deep, Ansome's debut LP mixes up the type of 5am wall shakers he is known for with an exploration of more spacious and atmospheric tracks.

Review: Code sees Patrick Graser issue his debut album as Answer Code Request with the twelve track set comfortably ranking among the best long players issued on Ostgut Ton in recent times. Though Graser has been releasing records under his given name since 2008, it's his work as Answer Code Request that has seen the German truly find his sound. First appearing under the moniker in 2011 with the self-released Subway Into EP, Graser has gone on to release with MDR and Ostgut Ton with the Breath EP issued on the latter earlier this year a fine taste for what to expect from Code. ACR's weighty breakbeat driven techno is very much in evidence here, at times it feels like how Hessle lad Joe might sound if he grew up in the outskirts of Berlin ("Field Depth" in particular). At other times Graser's suggestion that Code is influenced by the 90s sounds of UK bastions such as Warp feel very much true and the more you listen the more you feel he's successfully managed to deliver a cohesive and continually compelling techno album.

Review: Berghain resident Patrick Graeser returns as part of the Ostgut Ton family, with his second full length opus. Much like his 2014 debut Code, Graeser has honed a hybrid musical approach that stands out in a world of uniform 4/4 techno - as heard over the years on MDR, Music Man and of course his own Answer Code Request imprint. Gens is a diverse yet cohesive affair, between the more straight-ahead tracks like "Knbn2", "Cicadae" or the particularly seething "Sphera" (which are breakbeat driven, bass-heavy and UK inspired), there are some mentalist IDM journeys ("Ab Intus/Audax") and even breathtaking ambient moments like "Orarum" and "Mora". Brilliant stuff.

Review: Despite becoming a serious force in the contemporary techno scene over the last seven years, Antonin Jeanson has never released an album. He's made plenty of killer 12" singles, but for one reason or another has never applied his trademark style to the long-playing format. It's perhaps a surprise then, that his debut album, "Rising", is a near perfect example of a modern techno album. There are quite a few atmospheric and ear-catching dancefloor workouts - see the bustling beats and creepy electronics of "Perchance To Dream", the dark throb of "Duality of Mind" and the slamming psych-techno of "It Follows" - but also more considered, left-of-centre trips into IDM, ambient techno and otherworldly ambient territory. It's these diversions that make the album such an entertaining and rewarding listen.

Review: Some 25 years after delivering his debut 12", Richard D James hasn't lost the ability to thrill or inspire. By his obtuse standards, the material that makes up the surprise Cheetah EP is actually rather laidback and melodious. "Cheetah2 (LD Spectrum)", for example, sounds like a slow house jam written by robots, while the even deeper "Cheetah7B" shuffles along in a metronomic fashion, seemingly oblivious to the increasingly aggressive World at large. Of course, those trademark skittish IDM rhythms are present and the Cornishman has thrown in a couple of hazy ambient cuts for good measure.

Review: For their first foray into the full-length format as Application, Sheffield producers Martin and Ruchard Dust (sometime partners in The Black Dog with original founder Ken Downie) have decided to stick to a strict set of rules. What these rules are remains frustratingly unclear, though it did involve building tracks from sounds created on custom-built drum and bass racks. The resultant set is typically industrial and bleak in outlook, with only a trio of tracks - the beautiful Ambient B", "Ambient A" and the triumphant "Steve Reich's Ice Cream Van" - breaking free of the duo's self-imposed rhythmic constraints. That said, there's still plenty enjoy elsewhere, from the skuzzy techno of "Siren" and clandestine IDM of "Format", to the steel-clad machine electro of "Swith".

Review: Mille Plateaux, Tetsuya Nakamura's second Arc of Doves album, has long been in demand amongst both ambient and dub techno aficionados. Originally released back in 2010 in limited numbers and subsequently reissued in 2014, Rohs! Records have finally succumbed to pressure and given it a third release, albeit in ultra-limited quantities. Listening for the first time, it's easy to see why the album is held in such high esteem. The ambient tracks are atmospheric, picturesque and enveloping, Nakamura finding a near perfect balance between poignancy and positivity, while the dub techno excursions are far breezier and attractive than the sound design-obsessed fare served up by many within the scene. There are only 100 of these floating around, so grab one while you can.

Review: Over the past decade, Area has successfully carved his own niche within techno, delivering EPs for the likes of Kimochi, Idle Hands and Mindshift Records that combine the spaced-out hypnotism of dub techno and the sparse, locked-in grooves of minimal, with the undulating electronics of Isolee, the immersive escapism of ambient and the buzzing fuzziness of lo-fi house. Where Am I Now, Area's long-promised debut album, further explores this trademark sound, delivering a set that's as icy and impersonal as it is infectious and intoxicating. Highlights come thick and fast throughout, from the intricate programmed percussion and melodies of 'Lag', and the deep space shuffle of 'Moving Away', to the glitchy minimalism of 'Mass Conserved' and the 'Beau Mot Plage'-goes ambient bubbliness of 'Lipod'.

Review: With this impeccably atmospheric, two-disc journey, Art Department becomes the latest outfit to deliver a fitting contribution to Renaissance's legendary Mix Collection. The Canadian duo begins with a dash of hazy ambience, before smoothly shuffling through a selection of superb deep, dub techno explorations from Deepchord, Maurizio and Rhythm & Sound. As the first disc progresses, it slowly becomes more melodious and percussive, via fine cuts from Steve Bug, Luciano and Route 8. Disc two sees them in full on powder house club-mode, mixing up tactile, groovy and floor-friendly cuts from the likes of Borrowed Identity, DJ Sneak, Delano Smith and Jasper Dahlback.

Review: Mexican festival BPM may not be that well known to British music fans, but it's steadily building an impressive reputation. It's perhaps unsurprising, then, that the festival has decided to launch its own tied-in DJ mix series. Crosstown Rebels regulars Art Department are at the helm on this first installment, delivering a smooth blend of wide-eyed tech-house, stripy t-shirt friendly powder house grooves, and the odd dash of heavily percussive pump (see Boris Horel's "Wild Combinations"). It's all well judged, with deeper moments (Ripperton's nicely organic take on Baikal's "Why Don't You?") nestling side by side with humid curiosities and the duo's own tactile take on heads-down house.

Review: Like many at the fringes of electronic music, Kenneth "As If" Werner has spent much of his career self-releasing music, occasionally popping his head above the parapet via established labels such as Rohs! Records and Gterma. For his latest full-length outing, Presence, Werner has made the move to Bine Music. It's a wonderfully atmospheric and evocative set that gently ambles between stargazing ambient, IDM, deep techno, intelligent techno and the kind of slowly unfurling electronica found on the greatest electronic albums. Throughout, there are subtle nods to vintage Detroit electronic music, but for the most part the music has its own distinctive voice.

Review: Borderland sees the illustrious Juan Atkins & Moritz von Oswald join forces for an album of meditative techno for Tresor. The partnership marks the first time Juan Atkins and Moritz von Oswald have directly collaborated in 20 years, though both have regularly assisted each other's work behind the scenes. Von Oswald played an important role in engineering much of Model 500's R&S catalogue, while Atkins supplied his mixing craft and two edits on Thomas Fehlmann & Moritz von Oswald's early '90s project 3MB. This eponymously titled album is skewed toward club-orientated electronic music blessed with a freedom for organic musical experimentation and expect to sink into a soundscape where melodic and textural motifs float in and out of focus.

Review: To coincide with the twenty-fifth anniversary of Berlin club Tresor, Juan Atkins and Moritz Von Oswald have released a second Borderland album together. It begins in ominous mode, with the title track's brooding bass tones casting a long, dark shadow, but the pair soon find a way to break away from the gloom with the mesmerising chords and heavy rhythm of "Lightyears" and the wonderfully spacey Detroit techno of "Riod". Both "Odyssey" and "Merkur" push the tempo back down but keep an emphasis on hypnotic, woozy textures, snappy drums and jazzy tones, while "2600" shows that Van Oswald hasn't lost his ability to craft dub-heavy, dreamy techno.

Review: It's amazing how fresh and forward-thinking much of Juan Atkins' early material still sounds, nearly 30 years after it was first created. Take Cybotron's "Alleys Of Your Mind". Recorded and released in 1981, it's sparse electro beats and wonky electrofunk synths - clearly inspired by Kraftwerk and Conrad Schnitzler - sounds like it was beamed down from another planet, billions of years in the future. You could say the same for much of the material on this reissued Metroplex 20th anniversary set (first issued in 2005); from the far-sighted intergalactic hypnotism of Model 500's "The Future" and "Vessels In Distress", to the clanking proto-techno of Channel One's "Technicolour" and Inifiniti's rush-inducing "Game One", Atkins has consistently stayed ahead of the game.