Back catalogue: Techno (All)

Review: Some serious peak time weapons for the main room on offer here, from the ever reliable Swedish label Drumcode. Usual heroes of the label such as Luigi Madonna, Sam Paganini and Joseph Capriati step aside for some other equally reliable staples. On the A, side label boss Adam Beyer teams up with Enrico Sangiuliano on the evocative and life affirming "Preset Heaven" which takes its cues from early trance with its amazing chord progression. It is something more typical of the label next, on the pummelling warehouse stomp of "Muzik" by Bulgaria's Timmo. On the flip, there's more trance nostalgia on offer again - this time from legends Pig & Dan on the hypnotic/melodic bliss of "La Bruja" which we could imagine melting the minds of festival crowds well into the new year. Finally they save the best for last with French peak time specialist Julian Jeweil, serving up the furious, tunneling and strobe-lit ultraviolence of "Nasa" which will have your adrenaline going from the first beat. It has been a stellar year for the powerhouse label, with great releases by Moby, Dubfire and newcomer Layton Giordani.

Review: Adam Beyer's ever reliable Drumcode imprint returns with the eleventh edition in its trusty A Side series. On this one, we've got Aussie Juliet Fox with some pure peak time energy on "Evolution Of Thinking" followed on the A side by Thomas Hoffknecht's "Break Free" - an absolutely euphoric main room affair featuring classic trance motifs. Over on the flip, the reins are handed over to Timmo who wastes no time getting down to business on the steely heads-down number "Community Tool", followed by the pummelling warehouse techno epic by Andres Campo - "Cyclops". Serious!

Review: First cropping up in 2012, the mammoth A-Sides series from the titanic Swedish techno label Drumcode charges ahead into its 11th installment (can you believe it?) while also managing to split said installment alone across seven slices of vinyl. This is the fourth record of seven in part eleven. Only gigantic-room techno could justify this waxen audacity; the music is braggadocious to boot, with contributions from Nicolas Taboada, BEC, Avision and Cosmic Boys. The tracks here are as dreamy as they are goosebump-inducing, easily seguing between massive transitions and drops to cathartic reesebound trances.

Review: Adam Beyer's Drumcode remains out in front of the pack when it comes to big room techno. Whether going to new school artists or old school legends the results are always the same - epic and explosive. This time out we get both on one EP with Teenage Mutants going first with 'Dark Clouds (feat Heerhorst & Peter Pahn). It has synths fired from a hadron collider as they shoot over the face of the acid and bass-laced drums. On the flip side is the mighty Slovakian Umek with 'Footmachine,' a dark and heavy banger with flat-footed drums and all sorts of cosmic synth turbulence. Potent stuff for sure.

Review: Pretty much all Drumcode releases are colossal and anthem-like - it's the imprint's niche, after all - but this two-tracker from Stockholm stalwart Tiger Stripes is particularly sizeable. A-side 'Nocturne', for example, is as driving, mind-altering and breathless as they come, with Hardfloor style acid motifs, twinkling piano breakdowns, trancey riffs and enveloping aural textures rising above a blisteringly tough and intense beat. The pulsating tech-trance vibe is further explored on 'Renegade', a track whose elongated, slowly rising breakdown - which comes complete with glassy-eyed vocal samples, does a brilliant job in stirring the senses and raising the pressure out on the dancefloor.

Review: The all powerful Drumcode label still does a fine line in big room techno after countless years and even more releases of the stuff. This third part of the A Sides collection brings together a towering selection of names from that scene including Tiger Stripes with the smooth cruise that is 'Altar'. Veterans Pig & Dan vs Gregor Tresher get more intense with frosty loops and dubby hits building a vibe and Wehbba ups the ante with acid daubs and fizzing drums on 'The Next Step.' Nicole Moudaber's 'Come To My Beat' (feat Romina) then hammer home a hefty techno groove.