Back catalogue: Techno (All)

Review: The debut album from Ukrainian collective Noneside unites musicians and visual artists under the inspiring words of poet Taras Shevchenko, who said 'Make love, o dark-browed ones.' Framed by a painting from contemporary artist Iryna Maksymova, the music explores the trance and tech house that is destined to bring souls together on the dancefloor this summer and beyond. Shjva opens with fresh and mashed bass and sleek trance pads that are subtle but effective. Lostlojic layer sup deep, bubbly techno drums and bass with an angelic vocal tone and Saturated Color's 'Trancia' is a speedy, scuffed-up tech groove for late-night cruising. Peshka and Yevhenii Loi offer two more future-facing trance-techno fusions packed with feels.

Review: Brian Dougans and Garry Cobain, the masterminds behind Future Sound of London, return with The Pulse EP Vol 3, a reissue of their classic work under various aliases on the Jumpin' & Pumpin' label. This highly anticipated 12" features tracks that showcase their 90s techno brilliance. Side-1 opens with Smart Systems' 'Tingler' (Four By Four mix), a dark, sinister track that channels Beltram's 'hover' sound into a hardcore rave anthem. Indo Tribe's 'Owl' (I Can See You mix) follows, hailed by fans as one of the greatest breakbeat hardcore tracks ever made, a retro-classic loaded with chunky, energetic beats and an unforgettable sample. Side-2 kicks off with Indo Tribe's 'Bite The Bullet Baby' (Jacques Reynoix mix), another gem that blends early 90s rave energy with a unique edge. The real highlight, however, is Yage's 'Calcium' (Elementary mix), which first appeared on Future Sound of London's Accelerator album. Even today, it sounds transcendental and timeless, its melodic piano lines and otherworldly ambiance continuing to win over listeners. This EP is a vital piece of underground rave history and an essential listen for fans of early techno and breakbeat hardcore.

Review: One Eye Witness rounds up another four acts for their periodic V/A series, spewing forth four breaks-driven whooshers crossing into progressive techno territory. The Hague duo Young Adults nod to a 1997 Loveparade anthem with 'It's Only Temporary', while breaks and kick implants converge on Christopher Ledger's 'Change That', a track which sounds like the starting firings of an interplanetary expedition pod after years of disuse. Joely brings cosmic chug on the cocooning B1 'Transitional', while the Samesame closer 'Novel End' is just that, traversing a noxious atmosphere with a flexoskeletal electro beat.

Review: Susumu Yokota's venerated 1994 classic Acid Mt. Fuji is reissued in expanded, deluxe fashion, as part of the 30th anniversary celebrations of the label that originally released it. Japan's Musicmine - specifically its electronic subsidiary Sublime - released the album on June 29, 1994, simultaneously with Ken Ishii's Reference To Difference, as their inaugural joint offering. Tantamount to a fusion of ambient acid/rave - then still nascent in Japan - with new age music, Susumo Yokota was likely the best man for the job at the time. With his first album, The Frankfurt-Tokyo Connection, he'd not yet established his electro-pastoralist style, yet it was Acid Mt. Fuji that divined the latter-day emotes of Sakura, a new age so adroitly fused with electronica yet emulable by few. Though the later years of Yokota's life have been couched in a good deal of privacy and mystery, Acid Mt. Fuji certainly betrays a fittingly shrewd and introspective character on the part of the artist, one that served him well. Its long, drawn-out nature soundscapes - tempered by the piquant sounds of modern synths like the TB-303, which animistically, pseudohallucinogenically blend with the animal sounds themselves - recall something like an alpine augur's waking dream.