Techno News

Batten down the hatches, Steel City Dance Discs Volume 15 sees storm Nite Fleit circle back around with a second serving of serrated Electro, off-kilter body music and thundering techno pressure.

This angular 4-track offering is the perfect follow-up from her 2018 debut disc – refining everything we love about Nite Fleit’s uncompromising dance floor mechanics.

Blinding New Ep From 3kz On Fides. Diverse, Ingenious, Idm Inspired. Another Timeless Piece Of Music.

Following the release of their critically acclaimed second album, ‘Isles’, Bicep continue to develop their Feel My Bicep imprint with a 12” from a fresh signee, Fasme. The French producer makes his debut on the label with a new 3-track EP ‘Home’.

Fasme is the project of Tom Ferreira, who only dropped his first EP in April last year and quickly caught the attention of Bicep after discovering the track ‘ICI’ on YouTube. Bicep first played these tracks in their FMB Radio show on Apple Music and a Friday Guest Mix for Mary Anne Hobbs on BBC 6 Music.

His melodic sound is created on analog synths, evolving between acid, electro and braindance. Describing himself as “more of a live performer than a studio man”, Fasme will be supporting Bicep in Paris in October to celebrate the EP release.

Sub frictional Hi Tech Soul jams by "Die Orakel" Frankfurt Bass mastermind O-Wells. Lennard Poschmann aka Orson Wells steps up for the next release on Mojuba sub label a.r.t.less bringing you four timeless fresh Techno / Electro pieces that will mesmerize you with Detroit and Midwest inspired sophisticated sci-fi funk.

Welcome to the Parallel Universe, where different minds connect on levels transcending your usual perception of space and time. The first release takes you on a journey which feels like a never ending trance. As we say over at the P.U. headquarters: “Great minds space alike!”

Amish Boy a.k.a. Sküge (not to be confused with Skudge) is Hugues Croibien, a thirty seven year old Belgian who has experimented with electronic music since his teens. With a diet of Seal Phüric, The Prodigy, Autechre and Unit Moebius stoking his primordial fire, Croibien began to align with the rage that exists in the Breakcore genre. Already an addict of reggae and dub at this time, Croibien decided to create some cut-up Raggacore with his brand new Ableton Live 3 software.

Meanwhile with friends, Croibien created 'Break n 'Brol', a non-lucrative association which tried to promote alternative electronic music in Liège where he lived. They premiered some Bassline stars "Kanji Kinetic" and "Squire of Gothos" on the Belgian scene, alongside other alternative electronic composers and musicians like Subjex, Ebola, Mustard Gunn and Herrmutt Lobby. The fellowship decided to create a free net label to release compilations with the BNB party artists.

The rough style techno resurgence over the last few years has precipitated a metamorphosis; Sküge became Amish Boy - more glitchy than techno, more offbeat than acid and more ambivalent than industrial. Although heavily invested for two decades now, 'Laika test Project' on Power Vacuum will be Croibien's first vinyl release, with a follow-up already in the pipeline.

The birth of Mindri, a new Pinkman sublabel run by Afra & Marsman. The first release by Pluto Junkies, a collab project between Ernestas Sadau, Rapha & PRZ goes straight into the alley of mind bending and stomach swirling releases. Drenched in 90's retro-futurist electro spirit, Flying Spaghetti Monstership is what you would call a secret weapon at a rave. Fuelled with ferocity and seasoned with nostalgia, it feels like hedonist nights and forgotten conversations in crammed basements.

Thinktank return to Stepback Records with another colony of underground styles. Hive Mind Mentality further expands on the diverse, unique in your face club tracks that Thinktank have made a signature of their sound.

First up on the A side is Them. Budding entomologists Vinnie and The Leph aka Thinktank have unearthed what some might say as Sci-Fi Classic Techno of The Atomic Age. Underpinned by a Sheffield style Bass crawl coupled with Bleeps that will crush any dancefloor. This is the electronic sound of nature running amok.

Burrowing further on the B side STW serves you Techno in it's most creative form - synth led with a sick groove and huge drum rhythms.

Last but not least - Waaaassps DG is a classic Thinktank track with a sting in it's tail. Snapping, clapping, alive and kicking. You will be buzzing when the break-beat drops.

OCP presents four lysergic equations for the digitized psyche. Simon Moncler and Koga don't play about. Tunes for times when you don't smoke the spliff but it smokes you. When you reminisce about 90s techno, just to realize you can never recognize it as it 'really was'. Any attempt to reflect upon the groove terminates its existence. The future is already over. Linear time is an illusion. Acid is forever.

The next instalment of quickly rising star Binary Digit comes on Seven Hills Records, following two EP’s on the Zeitnot sub-label. The Never Owned a 303 EP ups the ante into stratospheric energy levels. Feel good anthems ‘Acid Racing Head’ and ‘Luring Acid’ work wonders on the floor. While the headier jams ‘Ze7u II’ and ‘Never Owned a 303’ are better suited to deep off-kilter segments in the dance. Positively Drexciyan sounds feature in ‘Virtual Modular 2 Tape’, and a pure adrenaline rush inducing ‘Crazy 4 R’ makes this release a combination of different moods, Binary Digit’s most varied record yet.

Fky Style ! Dancefloor Pumpin tribe Re-issues and Unrealesed tracks from 1997-2001 !

Bearing the torch of a new generation West Coast artists, The Hague based Pasiphae comes through with a haunting four-tracker on Pinkman. Weaving the accents of horror with the ambience of hope, 'Possessed Realms' offers a trip through desolate terrains of restless minds. The haven of the night congregates the wrecked ones and hope tainted with misery turns the grimness into light. The idea of finding comfort and rejuvenation in the dark is liberated, opening broad horizons for creation. While our future might be uncertain, the present is ripe for Pasiphae.

ovely lush emotive dancetracks full of cosmic! vibes In the opening track, a male soothing voice warns us for a gravitational collapse, and he couldn't be more right! Our new family member, INTIMACY, drags you from one musical dimension to another. His outerworld soundscapes and propelling drum rhythms make you doubt whether or not you're still on earth. Enjoy the trip!

After Brexit, we thought it would be a brave attempt to snatch the Queen's interpretational sovereignty over the colour purple. So, we have named our new record just like that. Of course, this is only half the truth, as we named all six other UV050 compilation records after colours as well. The purple one, this one right here, is the second to last, completely with the wonderful artwork by Leipzig's Doppeldenk and four tracks to dance your ass off to. Krakow's Chino shows us how to balance perfectly between straightforward urgency and mystic playfulness. His acidic FORBIDDEN VOICES sports just the right amount of chaos to make you go crazy on the dancefloor. Being a spiritual brother for a long time, it's actually the first time Berliner Johannes Albert releases on Uncanny Valley with his VISION UTOPIA, a subtle House bomb, that pushes just the right buttons to trigger your desire to escape into cosmos. Also from Berlin comes Lake People, who does what he does best with ROAMING THE STREETS: A subtle and razor-sharp track that points out that good dance music can sweeten your life everywhere, not only in the club. Finally, RVDS, one of Hamburg's finest, blesses us with MOON OPERATOR, a deep and masterful dive into sonic sceneries that no one has ever listened to before. Except of course for your expert friends, who claim to have heard even the most obscure dreamy Acid track.

Scanning Backwards, das zweite Soloalbum von Phase Fatale nach seinem 2017er-Debüt auf Hospital Productions, ist Musik über Kontrolle. Mittels der Verbindung von Klang als Waffe und psychologischer Manipulation als konzeptuelles Fundament, erforscht Hayden Payne Wege, auf denen Musik – und besonders Subbassfrequenzen – benutzt werden, das Denken zu beeinflussen als auch Emotionen und Verhalten zu synchronisieren: von Militärtechnologie zu Sound Systems zur Körperlichkeit und Sexualität queerer Technokultur.

Ausgehend von seinem innovativen Post-Punk-Ansatz zu Dance Music – nachzuhören auf seinen EPs für unterton und Ostgut Ton – bezieht sich der Berghain-Resident auf seinen Hintergrund als Gitarrist und Toningenieur. Daraus entstand auf Scanning Backwards eine berauschende Mischung aus gebrochener Rhythmik, Noise- und Shoegaze-beeinflussten Technos, oft mit langsamerer Gangart. Am Ende steht Musik mit Platz und Tempo zur weiteren Ausdehnung, das intensive Brausen von Frequenzen hervorhebend, die sowohl in der sonischen Kriegsführung und funktionaler Dance Music vorherrschen. Im Verlauf der acht Stücke, die eine Kombination aus historischen und fiktionalen Narrativen aus Literatur und Science Fiction im Titel tragen, ergründen Paynes rhythmische Exkursionen unterschiedliche Manifestationen von Klang als Macht – spezifisch im Sinne des Berghains als musikalisches Instrument. Dies reflektiert auch das Artwork des Albums: einem frühen Flyer der Partyreihe SNAX entnommen und offensichtliche Hommage an die Fetischisierung von Machtdynamiken.

In seinen eigenen Worten: „Alle Stücke dieses Albums, gleich welcher Stil, habe ich zugeschnitten, um auf ganz bestimmte Weise im Berghain zu klingen. Im Laufe der vielen Jahre als Tänzer inmitten des Dancefloors und auch während meiner DJ-Sets als Resident bemerkte ich, welche Frequenzen den Körper so richtig penetrieren. Das beinhaltet Sprache, Hochfrequenz- und Hirn-penetrierende Instrumentierung, Sägezahn- und Schlagbohrhammerästhetiken – die hatte ich bis dahin noch nicht so oft benutzt, denke aber, dass sie Einfluss auf das Denken und Gedächtnis haben. Das trifft besonders zu auf einen Ort, der schwule und Fetisch-Geschichte auf unerwartete Weise mit Musik kombiniert, auf fast kultische Art. Eine musikalische und physische Deinstallation und Neuprogrammierung, Psychic Driving und De-patterning, das Löschen und Ersetzen von Erinnerungen.“

Scanning Backwards wacht über die manipulativen Eigenschaften elektronischer Musik (Mantras, Loops, unterschwellige Botschaften) und wie Rhythmus sowohl Bewegung als auch das Denken in Einklang bringt. Ein Puls koordinierter Klang- und Hirnwellen.

Scanning Backwards, Phase Fatale’s second full-length album following his 2017 debut album for Hospital Productions, is music about control. Using the connection between weaponized sound and psychological manipulation as a conceptual foundation, Hayden Payne explores the ways in which music – and sub frequencies in particular – are used to influence thinking and to synchronize emotions and behavior: from military technology to sound systems and the physicality and sexuality of queer techno culture.

Known for his innovative post-punk takes of dance music as featured on EPs for unterton and Ostgut Ton, the Berghain resident draws on his background as both a guitarist and sound engineer to create a heady mix of broken rhythms, noise-, and shoegaze-inflected techno, often at slower tempos. The result is music with space and pace to expand, highlighting the intense rushes of frequencies found in both sonic warfare and functional dance music. Over eight tracks named after a combination of historical and fictional narratives from literature and science fiction, Payne’s rhythmic excursions explore different manifestations of sound as power – specifically within the context of seeing Berghain as an instrument itself. This is also reflected in the album artwork, taken from an early flyer for the SNAX party series and an obvious ode to the fetishization of power dynamics.

In his own words: “All tracks on the album, no matter the style, were tailored to sound a certain way in Berghain – something I figured out through years of dancing in the middle of the floor, DJing as a resident and investigating what frequencies really penetrate the body. This includes speech and high-frequency, brain-penetrating instrumentation and drilling textures that I had not utilized so often before, but which I think also have an effect on thought and memory. It's especially true in a space where gay and fetish roots combine with music in unexpected ways, almost in a cultish manner. A musical and physical deprogramming and reprogramming, psychic driving and de-patterning, the erasing and replacing of memories.”

Ultimately, Scanning Backwards surveys not only the manipulative properties of electronic music (mantras, loops, subliminal messages) but also how rhythm facilitates both moving and thinking in synchrony; a pulse of coordinated sound- and brainwaves.

Repress

Betonkust on BAR Records, defining his love for acid, electro and cinematic melodies on this 4 track EP.

Limited hand stamped pressing of 200 copies..