Back catalogue: Techno (All)

Review: Canadian DJ and producer Marie Davidson returns with her latest single 'Contrarian', a collaboration with Pierre Guerineau and Soulwax, released via the DEEWEE label. Featuring a fierce blend of raw electronics, 'Contrarian' stands out as one of Davidson's strongest club tracks to date. Earlier this year, Davidson made her debut on the iconic DEEWEE imprint with her track 'Y.A.A.M. (Your Asses Are Mine)', reuniting with Soulwax, who had previously remixed her acclaimed anthem 'Work It'. This release continues to showcase her forward-thinking approach to electronic music production.

Review: Techno doesn't often come on 7" but do not let that put you off this superb new drop from Bump'n'Grind. It features dub techno legend Deadbeat in fine form across two devastating cuts. A-side 'Ark Welders Dub' is a menacing and prowling track with a picked bassline and smeared chords to add real depth and weight. It's one to foster a heads down mood on the dancefloor, while emotional release comes in the form of the flip side. 'This Bitter Dub' is a more sparse sounds with hissing hi-hats skating over the drums while bittersweet synths and an aching blues vocal ring out up top.

Review: Few producers do the dub techno sound better than Rod Modell and on this second Atmospherica instalment, he shows why he is so revered. "Exploring The North" is dense and subdued, the hisses and crackles ebbing and flowing fluidly over a powerful sub-bass. "Pinewood Lodge" is more atmospheric and floaty, its chords flitting about like fireflies over a camp fire on the first night of autumn. Rounding out the release is "Shot Point". Immersive, hypnotic and ghostly, it washes through the speakers like waves crashing on a deserted beach at midnight. This is electronic music that is designed to get lost in.

Review: Soma sub-label Avoidant Records recently put out a fantastic collection fo electro cuts but it was a digital only release. Now some of the standouts from it get pulled together on this fresh new 12"that joins the dots between Europe and Detroit. DJ Godfather kicks off with some rapid fire 313 electro, squirrelling bass and slick claps then 'One Direct Line' from The Exaltics is more cosmic and blissed out with lush ambient synths. On the flip, Flug goes hard with mad digital patterns and Blaktony layers up jacking drums, corrugated bass and dark hits. Great stuff.

Review: Robert Drewek vs Tomie Nevada's 'Time 4 More' EP was originally released on Unleash Records in 2005. Nine years on and Rawax are reissuing it on black wax and the tunes sound as good as ever. 'While He's Away' is a slick blend of garage-infused house drums and warm synth pulses with catchy vocal samples that bring a hint of old school. On the flip is 'Down With the Bass' which flips the script with a stripped back and militant but silky groove, dubby pads and a head's down vibe that really hypnotises.

Review: With over 15 years of history behind it, Detroit's Cryovac label is run by producer Andy Garcia - who also happens, conveniently enough, to be an employee of the local pressing plant, Archer Record Pressing. They've released countless V/A and split 12"s, inevitably of high quality, with this one being no exception. Divided between Drivetrain on Side-1 and a certain A Garcia & M Kretsch on Side-2, it achieves a dynamic equilibrium between foundational Motor City sounds and inventive exploration and innovation. Drivetrain's '3am' is a driving electro-infused track that merges funky rhythms with melodic touches, crafting an atmosphere that is futuristic and engaging. 'Discipline' follows, bringing a raw, classic techno energy that feels timeless, with its steady groove serving as a reminder of the genre's impactful origins. The flip sees Garcia & Kretsch delve into different sonic territories. 'Ai_me' pulses with influences from Detroit and Chicago's late 80s underground, delivering a rhythm that's robust and propulsive. Rounding out the EP is 'Squeaker', a brooding piece that creates an unsettling yet intriguing landscape, blending eerie tones with an alien-like ambiance. Bridging techno's historical essence with forward-thinking creativity, this release's balance of nostalgia and innovation ensures it will resonate with listeners from across eras.

Review: Acquit is a super under-the-radar label that has been making some great moves in recent times. DX 9's 'Incoming Signal' is further proof of that. It's a Detroit-referencing techno outing with the sort of chord work that gets you lost deep in through while the bulky drums lock you into an intergalactic trip. The G-Prod remix brings prickly and kinetic electro beats, while the Taho remix is awash with celestial synth work and cosmic melody. 'Decoded Signal 1' is a final original that has more kick and but still plenty of machine soul. This sweet 10" is limited to 200 copies so move fast.

Review: Soundscape Versions delivers its third edition of the various artists series and offers four effective cuts between subtle house breaks, acid house, electro and atmospheric techno. Featuring Kintaro 89, Faune, Arian Alexander and Douala.

Review: LNS and DJ Sotofett explore a new direction on their latest EP, 'The Reformer,' released on Tresor Records. Moving away from their debut album, the duo fuses digital artifacts, scanner sounds, and vocoder voices with melodic colors that radiate across cold electro landscapes. The opening track, 'Reform,' takes a deep dive into the electro sound, while 'Plexistorm' blends synthesised strings with arpeggiated acidic bleeps. 'Electric Terraforming' uncovers charged energy sources for life on another planet, and '909 The Controller' features washes of dub over a skipping beat, with a slow, rippling melody and percolating synths. The vinyl version includes exclusive locked grooves by DJ Sotofett.

Review: A quick piping of ultrafast space-techno comes as a six-track aural electro-techno drip, courtesy of Berlin's Mechatronica Music. The second in their 'Constellations' series of V/A EPs, this is an exodic exultation, charting top farings from the likes of Umwelt, Ben Pest and Viikatory. Umwelt's opening charge 'Stellar Oscillations' is a warpsped drive back to the retrofuture, with punctured stabs and fractal chord efferents propelling a lengthy trance crissing 'cross the milky way. Pest's 'Shodan' takes a detour, recharging at an interstellar traction substation specialising in sputtery, kilowatted electro. And 'Be Scared Of Clowns' is the titular highlight by Prz & Ori bringing a different spaceship to the same docking bay; it is the comparative Borg cube to the A3's Romulan craft, lessening any residual humanity for a shocking laserdesign B cut.

Review: Marie Davidson's sixth studio album finds her collaborating with Belgium bossmen Soulwax - previously responsible for the massive rework of her 'Work It' track - and Pierre Guerineau. It follows her fiery single 'Y.A.A.M. (Your Asses Are Mine)' and the intense club track 'Contrarian' and marks a return to the dance floor but reimagined with the artist's signature sense of evolution. Blending the techno punch and spoken-word edge of Working Class Woman with the melodic pop structures of Renegade Breakdown, City of Clowns delivers a striking sonic fusion that is inspired by her pre-pandemic roots yet shaped by fresh antagonism, all while Davidson confronts a new foe: Big Tech.

Review: Veteran electrohead and former artist on the Rephlex Records roseter DMX Krew's Ed DMX takes the well-known story by Jorge Luis Borges of The Library of Babel, said to contain all the different languages of the earth. Some deep philosophical thought has gone into the album's concept, but we'll leave that to Ed to explain. Instead, we'll tell you that from beginning to end there's plenty of the kind of trademark 80s synth playfulness in evidence, with a generally more mellow and soundtrack-related rather than frenetic and dancefloor-filling vibe in evidence, even on faster tracks like 'The Combed Thunderclap'. Still, Ed knows what he's doing when it comes to this kind of leftfield electro gear, and it's a rewarding, never boring listen.

Review: To mark the album's 20th birthday, Drexciya's most melodious and perfectly formed full-length has been remastered and reissued. 'Harnessed The Storm' has consistently been cited as one of 'the greatest IDM albums of all time' since its release, and we'd have to agree with that assessment - even if you could argue it's really an electro album. Deep, atmospheric and melodious, it's arguably the perfect distillation of the pair's distinctive sound, style and ethos. Certainly, it contains a swathe of absolute gems, including the robust and otherworldly club electro of 'The Plankton Organization', 'Dr Blowfin's Black Storm Stabilising Spheres', the heart-aching musical melancholy of 'Birth of a New Life' (recorded shortly before Drexciya member James Stinson surprisingly passed away) and the gorgeous 'Digital Tsunami'.