Back catalogue: Techno (All)

Review: Design Default first emerged back in 2018 with a release on Fragil Musique - the vivid, finely sculpted ambient LP Dawn Chorus. Now they're back with a new album, this time on New York label Club Night Club (who put out the excellent Herron Lowflow EP. The vibe is decidedly different, dealing in punchy electronica workouts with ample sonic manipulation and high production values. 'Lyrids' has enough brute force and deft dynamics to snap your head clean off, in the club or elsewhere, while 'Quarantids' teases between lush ambience and gravelly future-tech beats. 'Geminids' ramps up the industrial strength drum hits and nudges the tempo in kind, but still the artful programming and visceral mixing prowess is on full display - something Significant Other steps up to on their remix too.

Review: ***B-STOCK: Sleeve torn & record has light surface marks/scratches, otherwise in excellent working condition***


Given his chosen moniker for this project, you'd expect the music on Robert Dietz's DJ Discipline records to be stern, aggressive and angry. This particular EP - his second under the name for Osman - is certainly tough, but it's actually far funkier, melodious and considered than you might expect. For proof, check out opener "Hysteria", where busy, bouncy beats come cloacked in starry synths and supersonic synthesizer motifs, before admiring the glacial, deep space shimmer of the analogue-rich, hybrid electro/techno number "Just Some". Dietz flips the script on "Merry Crisis", which cleverly wraps bleeping melodies reminiscent of The Age of Love's "Age of Love" around a loose-limbed electro-breaks beat, whole closing cut "Nu Leaves" is a dashing slab of retro-futurist sci-fi techno rich in chiming melodies and ear-pleasing riffs.

Review: REPRESS ALERT!: Margaret Dygas may be based in Berlin but her unique sound can't be tied down to any one city or scene, as she proves on her latest 12" across three tracks for the consistently exciting Half Baked label. Not that there's anything half done here, of course, with A-side tune 'Butterfly Effect' a prime slice of groovy. resonant techno that's understated and restrained enough to gain comparisons to Jaydee's 'Plastic Dreams' classic. 'CC Is 33' is warmer, with nicely slidy, jazzy organ chords and itchy technofunk rhythms, with the most minimal of the three tracks, the static-infused, atmospheric 'Subliminal 20A7', coming last but by no means least. A great showcase for a great, original talent.