Techno News

Die in Polen geborene und in London lebende Produzentin VTSS veröffentlicht am 22.04.2022 ihre neue ‘Projections’ EP auf dem Ninja Tune-Sublabel Technicolour!

„Projections“ ist, wie sie sagt, ein „neues Kapitel“, das gleichzeitig eine neue Richtung und eine Rückkehr zu ihren experimentellen Wurzeln darstellt. Diese Stilmischung findet sich auf der Leadsingle der EP, „Trust me“, einem 110-BPM-Crawler mit Toms für Fäuste, der auch ein Ohr für feinkörnige Details widerspiegelt. Unterstützung kam von RA, die sagten: „Trust Me“ hinterlässt einen weitaus größeren Eindruck, als seine Länge von unter zwei Minuten vermuten lässt... Es klingt alles irgendwie verrückt und verschwindet gerade dann, wenn man es verstanden hat - aber das macht den Track als Ganzes und jeden einzelnen seiner schwer behandelten Sounds nur noch verlockender.“. Weiteres Lob gab es von DJ Mag, The Quietus und Mixmag, die den Track in ihre Liste der besten Tracks des Jahres 2021 aufnahmen und meinten, er sei „bis zum Rand gefüllt mit rasselnder Percussion, unheimlich pulsierendem Rauschen und befriedigenden Schlägen auf die Bassdrum, der Track ist eine verlockende Einladung, um zu sehen, was als Nächstes kommt.“ Andernorts auf der EP hören wir einen Spiegelsaaleffekt auf dem Opener, „The Need To Avoid“, und mit den bellenden Gabbersounds von „Propaganda Of Success“ erinnert die EP an das Erbe des Vintage Drill & Bass, während sie gleichzeitig den diesem Stil innewohnenden Sinn für Humor ehrt und VTSS' eigene unbändige Persönlichkeit widerspiegelt. Die zu gleichen Teilen launischen und ausgeflippten Tempi der EP und die laserartigen Drum-Patterns sind ein einfallsreicher Abzug für VTSS' fleißige Four-to-the-Floor-Kracher und eine Fortsetzung der Ideen, die sie in ihrem Track „Woah“ einbrachte (von der letzten EP, „Borderline Tenderness“ auf VEYL, die die Club-Hymne, „Goin Nuts“ enthielt, eine Zusammenarbeit mit LSDXOXO). Im Jahr 2021 lieferte VTSS außerdem einen herausragenden BBC Essential Mix, zierte im November das Cover von Mixmag und brachte in Zusammenarbeit mit dem alternativen Bekleidungslabel „A Better Mistake“ ihre eigene auffällige Capsule-Modelinie heraus.

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Buckle in for Steel City Dance Discs Vol. 26 with KETTAMA! The G-Town heavyweight ticks all the boxes with this 5-track barrage of head-thumping House and Techno.

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Identified Patient drops another calamitous record on Pinkman - 4 dungenous slowbeat cuts, brimming with energy, emotion and attitude. The EP kicks off with Geen Syndroom where jaded, murky melodies go in tandem with sexy bass lines and an obliterating broken drum beat. Thereafter, Nog Steeds High Van De Lak progressively evokes feelings of desolation and melancholia, while carrying an aggressive punch and irresistible groove. Do the flip to find two more ferocious productions in Ver Verwijderd Van Vermoeid and Haar Glans Altijd Strak. The former grips you firmly with bubbling acid and machine gun snares on the backdrop of violent kicks. The latter ends the voyage entrancingly with hypnotic synth lines, whiplash-snares and rattlesnake-hats.

2022 Repress

Unreleased tracks from the vaults of Finlands' finest!

Black Vinyl Repress

For the third release on De:tuned we proudly present The Kosmik Kommando AKA Mike Dred. Mike hardly needs an introduction; considered as one of the masters of the Roland TB-303 Mike has been releasing records under various aliases since the early 90s. He has recorded for high profile labels such as R&S and Rephlex as well as his own Machine Codes label. Together, with Aphex Twin, Mike was behind the Universal Indicator releases which are among the most collectible and sought after records in techno history.

De:tuned has worked closely with Mike to develop an 8 track project that gives props to the American Psychologist Timothy Leary and his proposed theory of 'The Eight-Circuit Model of Consciousness'. This model describes 8 circuits of information that operate within the human nervous system. Each circuit refers to a different sphere of activity, enhanced by experimentation with a particular substance. Each circuit also represents a higher stage of evolution than the one before it and the higher the circuit, the fewer the people have activated it as the higher four circuits exist for those who migrate to outer space and live extraterrestrially.

The 8 Models are applied to the track titles that present a varied collection integrating acid house, techno, electro and rave culture.

3 of the tracks on offer here were written exclusively for Mike's live performance at the De:tuned 'Meeting of Minds' event in June 2012, which was Mike's first full live show in 3 years.

This 8 track project will be available on limited 180 gr white double vinyl with label and sleeve artwork by Mike himself. Stay Tuned!

Thomas P. Heckmann's 30th Anniversary Special Edition ! LTD Splatter Repress !

Out of a mood and while repairing one of his 303 basslines, Heckmann just recorded two Acid-House tracks on the fly and live in his studio !! The result is now presented on Vinyl AFUXTRA release !!!

4 weighty trax from the big & bad SE London based produced, Holloway.
Mastered and cut by Jason @ Transition.

Mystic Techno Electro bangers by N-Gynn on EYA Records sister label Lonewolf. Not to be missed.

Second release of Mokotron on Electro Records after Tatau O Te Po for the Ezzential Electro project. Pure electro music from New Zealand!.

Poltergeist has that strange power of attraction that these personalities with their icy, mysterious aura hold. As soon as Ari Girard (aka Poltergeist) appears, something happens, he catches the light and strikes the spirits.

Kämpfer LP is a ghost story where Poltergeist invites Joy Division, New Order, Talking Heads, The Cure, Can, Kraftwerk, Nine Inch Nails or Jeff Mills for its first album. At the Poltergeist banquet, the crows of cold wave and the barbarians of krautrock, the metallers of indus rock and the freaks of techno meet.

The epicentre is Berlin, the Wall, Lou Reed's Gotham, the Bowie/Eno trilogy and the toxic nights of underground clubs...

Kämpfer LP, Poltergeist's first album, reveals its dark and disturbing universe. Marked by a heavy, deep and majestic atmosphere, this project evokes, without ever saying it openly, the climatic urgency, the ineluctable destiny, the human obsession to be first, to leave a trace of its passage and the nightmares which agitate the nocturnal spirits.

Between frenetic synths, bewitching waves and marked foot, this implacable album marks the beginning of the Poltergeist era.

Scratching synths, a dark and heavy universe: we can understand Vitalic's crush, who decided to sign the project at the first listening on his label Clivage Music.

Second release on the new RAWAX EAST COAST EDITION comes again from The Arabian Prince And The Sheiks!
It's the 1986 hit "Situation Hot". The re-mastered black vinyl edition will be out in June 2021. Highly recommemded!

After releasing an impro-album by Maarja Nuut & Sun Araw in 2020, the newborn Tallinn based label MIDA is back on the racks with a swirly three-tracker 12” by the city's musical units Ajukaja & Ats.

The “signal” referred to in the title is delivered thru a sturdy sequencer built by Andrevski – a true unsung hero of Estonia's underground. It does look a bit like a cash register, but who cares if the outcome sings on the A side like a boozed up stork family flying south in autumn. Following the signal is a ravey synth line that stays put while Ajukaja shakes the drum machines & Ats controls the bleeping bloops & fx-pedals for sweet imperfections.

The B side explores a path of its own: ”Swim” drifts deep in a one-take splashy drum rhythm while silky synths lurk around the edges. “Lock” ties it neatly together with minimal effort, it's a kick-free number that will make you look up at the sky. Yup, the storks are long gone.

Debut release for Ats by the way. Bye & enjoy!

On July 22nd Mutant Joe unveils his debut release for Evar, 'Wrong Way Out', an EP that twists rap, electro and breaks out of shape with cool malice.

Since his arrival on the scene with a pair of 2019 releases for UK-based label Natural Sciences, the Brisbane-based producer's output has spanned underground trap,gabber, electro, jungle,breaks and various global club mutations, repackaged and delivered with a unique sense of impending threat and unhinged delight.

Mutant Joe repurposes mechanical SFX, stock horror movie samples, feedbacking hardware and crunching percussion to create a dark and theatrical soundworld. Building on his earlier work with underground trap artists like Freddie Dredd and TRiPPJONES, opener 'Bangin On' sees Joe revisit his love for dirty-south-indebted electro hybrids, combining fizzing bass and steely beats, plus rhymes courtesy of a close friend, Atlanta rapper Apoc Krysis. 'Static Effect' deploys similar Drexciyan influences, its overheating 808s colliding with aquatic machinery and disembodied vocal chops.

'Eyes Without a Face' presents a unique take on some classical rave combinations, with rolling, metallic jungle breaks, footwork-esque kicks and tightly layered, redlining hardware. The pace eases off on the ominous and aptly-named 'The Living Dead', a low slung, off-kilter breakbeat weapon. The EP closes with a pair of remixes: a twisted dungeon-rave tool by Ukrainian D&B specialist Limewax, and a tightly wound, detailed broken techno workout by EVAR regular Wheez-ie.

'Wrong Way Out' offers six wildly different approaches, united by Joe's mastery of gothic-horror sound design and unique ear for soundtracking end-of-night deviance. It's a cross-section of the sound Mutant Joe has so quickly made his own: unclassifiable, unrelenting and darkly euphoric.

The two original cuts on the B side from Jheal Bashta are exploited as raw material by Aiken and Exium to create two outstanding remixes, which are a faithful and genuine reflection of a bygone era. We’re thrilled to welcome Aiken and Exium to Traces Records.

The four Spaniards ready their hydraulic hammers to shake the ground with four cuts of classic 90s techno, melancholic electro and touches of IDM.

Next to this ore body, there is a digi-only track with a suffocating atmosphere and coal-ripping bass line, called “Seismicity”.

* Following their appearance on Dimensions Recordings' debut release, the three part compilation 'An Introduction', with the twisted 'Crosstalk', London Modular Alliance step up to the plate with their first full EP for the label.

* The 'Hands & Brains EP' further demonstrates the skills that the London based trio are becoming renowned for. As the minds behind the fantastic London Modular store in London specialising in modular equipment, often supplied to a host of well known musicians, it's unsurprising to hear that the guys are serious gear heads, what is surprising is the quality and consistency of their growing output!

* Across four tracks the London Modular Alliance team demonstrate their complete mastery of the electro form with four varied cuts. From the breaky, bubbling, modern acid of lead track, 'Hands & Brains' to the Drexciyan underwater inspirations of the closing track, 'Forbidden' and the brooding machine drone of 'I Settled for Her Leftovers', it's clear that the future of the genre belongs to London Modular Alliance and it's in very safe hands...

* London Modular Alliance are taking their impressive live set up to Dimensions Festival this year to unleash their mastery at the Croatian fortress site.

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From Our Garden To Yours, Doof Deep

DGTL Records - the official label arm of Dutch festival giant DGTL - marks its fifth anniversary in style with brand new album ‘5YRS of DGTL Records’. The 14-track long player is released on April 29th as a 4x 12” vinyl set and drops digitally across 4 separate EP releases between February 18 and April 1.

5YRS of DGTL Records is a perfect reflection of not just of the label itself but also its global event patron: headliners sitting equally alongside local talent and up-and-coming acts.. Holding a great variety of forward-thinking house and techno, the label stays true to the same formula of the festival shows. Over the past five years, DGTL Records has grown into its own as a fully-fledged musical arm of the overall DGTL musical experience, introducing new sounds and acts to an international audience.

For promising Dutch DJ/producers Coloray, Tjade, Nicky Elisabeth and Lucky Done Gone, this will be their first release on DGTL Records, while the likes of Deniro and JP Enfant are already familiar names to label fans, having previously released EPs on the label. All are linked to promising rising international talent such as Jimi Jules, Kino Todo and Terr and to DGTL 'veterans' such as Adriatique, Dax J, Roman Flugel and Frank Wiedemann & Trikk, who have been part of the DGTL family for years.

Once the digital EPs are fully released, '5YRS of DGTL Records' will be available as a very special commemorative 4x12" vinyl release. Presented in a tri-fold cover, the LP will feature artwork by Eric Smilde, who has incorporated the distinctive elements of DGTL festival at the NDSM Docklands into a 3D design. Known for its sustainable ambitions, DGTL continues along that path with this vinyl release, choosing to work with Deepgrooves, the world’s greenest vinyl pressing plant thanks to their innovative and leading working method. The vinyl will be ready on the weekend of DGTL AMS 2022 at the NDSM Docklands and will be available there for the first time.

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Switching within digital binaries, analogue flux, and all forms of degradation in between, a creature is kickstarted to life, as if awoken with locomotion's full might. Helena Hauff delivers a mix for Tresor's Kern series, lashing together a sound world with a potent barrage of industrial dance music.
Scorched-earth missives attract metals and mining chemicals, leaving little in its wake but aggravated and chaotic experiments of lateral hypotheses in acid brine. Like a hyperloop through this labyrinth, this high-velocity future is both beautiful and evil, glinting embers through low-bit fogged-out clusters. 100 metre-high aluminium pylons vibrate, each captivated by their electrified foundations. There is no place for dust to settle on the floor. Where a loose TB-tribalism knocks switches and pounds upward synaptic shocks, life down there is too rapid. Not to be taken lying down, this is the viable path forward without the shackles of turgid passivity. The eect is no less thrilling than crucial, as it presents an essential DJ of our times.
Settling into swift 150bpm groove, Hauff ploughs through shepherd-tone electro, ghetto bumps, and grizzled techno. A new collaborative track with Morah plays a rough game of meter, with Hauff's signature sound clear as ever ripping apart new dimensions with a brutal disorder over deceptive bass synths. The visceral crunch of the present is no more clear than at the halfway point, a threshold in which the breakneck electro falls apart, with the rabid foam of Nasenbluten's ballsy gabber anthem "Intellectual Killer". Slowly more room to breathe comes into view, the pace drawn down revealing a strange sense of resolution, with expansive synths hinting at a beckoning euphoria. At this moment, Helena Hauff is clearly in full stride, uniquely melding fragile machinations against anarchic human interventions.
Helena Hauff and Morah, Umwelt, Machino, Galaxian and L.F.T. all contribute with five previously unreleased tracks, exclusive to the compilation. Rare titles are also featured, such as the late Curley Schoop’s “Mayhem” under the name Esoterik, “City Of Boom” by DJ Godfather & DJ Starski, Nasenbluten’s “Intellectual Killer“ and "After Dark” produced collaboratively by Andrea Parker and David Morley.