Techno News

Al Wootton drops a collection of stripped back two-stepping rhythms to form the 'Snake Dance' EP for Livity Sound.

At times uncompromising and austere, the swing of Al Wootton's reduced grooves, saturated with a steely dubwise brawn, provide an enduring soundtrack for stark times.

Livity Sound is a label set up by Peverelist in 2011 as a vehicle for a raw and exploratory strain of UK techno, rooted in the heritage of UK dance music and sound system culture. It has since become one of the UK's foremost protagonists for cutting edge underground music.

Delsin's Cameron series, known for its deep and atmospheric techno, welcomes Italian DJ and producer Claudio PRC. Presenting three expertly crafted and compelling techno rides.

Edition of 200, half in Bristol and half in Rome / Milan.

Different colour DIY stamp editions, designed by Pietro Agostoni.

Each one comes with meticulous, oversized, hand-applied multi layer stamps on each side of sleeve, as well as on centre label.

Mastered and cut by Marco Pellegrino at Analogcut.

Vinyl-only for now, but it comes with a DL code.

Stefàn Dubs is part of the Folklore crew operating out of Toulouse, and is also the producer behind the excellent Maquis Son Sistem records. Stefàn Dubs and Folklore have been pushing their own style of contemporary, dub influenced dance music spanning Garage, Techno, House and Jungle. The Spring Tones EP is a perfect fit for Trule, drawing on these influences to create something new while remaining focused on dance floor functionality.

Red Vinyl

Delsin's Cameron series, known for its deep and atmospheric techno, welcomes Italian DJ and producer Claudio PRC. Presenting three expertly crafted and compelling techno rides.

TOTAL turns 21 this year, and Kompakt’s venerable compilation series couldn’t have asked for a more auspicious coming-of-age collection. If TOTAL 20 was consolidation against the odds, the Kompakt crew producing for a dreamt-of dancefloor in an uncertain future, then TOTAL 21 feels abuzz and alive with possibilities. Significantly, it’s the first TOTAL in some time that’s streamlined down to a single disc; this makes TOTAL 21 even punchier than usual, a joyous, reflective, and always thrilling 75-minute audio scan of the world according to Kompakt.

As with every instalment of TOTAL, there’s a deft balancing here of Kompakt regulars and new blood. Of the latter, there’s a first appearance by KOLLMORGEN, remixed by PATRICE BÄUMEL into an astral torch song; Amsterdam’s NICKY ELISABETH, offering up ROMAN FLÜGEL’s pulsating, arpeggiated remix of “Celeste”; and CAPTAIN MUSTACHE swoops down into view, PLAY PAUL in tow, with the dream-like electro lift-off that is “Everything”. JONATHAN KASPAR also drops by with a new track, “Von Draussen”, a stealthy and lethal floor-hugger with prowling bass.

Elsewhere, there’s the lead track to MICHAEL MAYER’s astonishing recent EP, “Brainwave Technology”, which not-so-gently spears the tech-futurist babble of AI, transhumanism and posthumanism, soundtracked by one of Mayer’s typically lush, glimmering soundscapes. JOHN TEJADA reaches back to the heyday of glitch and dub techno with the gorgeous “Spectral Progressions”, while the brothers VOIGT & VOIGT, on “Nicht Mein Job”, seem reinvigorated by the interwoven patterns and funky minimalism of the Profan days. Not to be outdone, JÜRGEN PAAPE kicks TOTAL 21 with “La Guittara Romantica”, a chiming and lilting lullaby for woozy late-night reflection.

Throughout, it feels as though Kompakt are taking a moment to both breathe in the dust of the past and look forward to a bright future. Perhaps that’s why, on “Fasson”, SASCHA FUNKE seems so confident, with pinprick melodies bouncing around a hall of audio mirrors, or why THE BIONAUT returns with “Blue Sky Motor Lodge”, a song so moistly melancholy, so enduringly lovely, it’ll make you weep tears of joy. ROBAG WRUHME gets a little delirious on the ticking, twisting “No”, and then GUI BORATTO mops everything up with the bubbling, bumping glam-stomp “Wake Up”.

That’s not all – spring for the digital and/or vinyl edition and you’ll get a new cut, “Happy”, from MICHAEL MAYER, and MARC ROMBOY & C.A.R.’s “I Am A Dancer”. But however you choose to play it, now TOTAL’s turned 21, it’s your duty to throw it the celebration to end all celebrations. Let the party begin, and don’t forget to bring a party favor…

ETUI welcomes dub techno wizard Van Bonn with his ep ‘Dopamine Clouds’. The German born lives currently in northern Europe where he draws a lot of his inspiration from his walks along the fjords, adjacent forests and open fields. The three tracks present different facets of Van Bonn’s sound palette. The eponymous opener is a dub techno monolith. Every element is introduced after the other to generate a
dub heavy groove before the break welcomes harmonious pads and contrasting dub effects that carry the listener throughout the time left of this 10:50 minutes emotional journey. The Drill showcases heavily modulated chords on a forward pushing groove spiced with tonal melancholic sounds. Van Bonn only uses a very few elements in Blurred Submission - a slowed down dubby affair that moves away from the 4/4 kick to make space for deeply processed chords and dub signals that call for the remote future. Van Bonn - Dopamine Clouds will be out on purple-translucent vinyl in black inside out cover
incl. colored sticker. The artwork is based on a painting by Van Bonn and edited by timconduit.

Third release of Clommunity – label run by Kyiv club 'Closer' Very intimate and very 'Japanese', not alike in any way – this is a work of a friend and Closer resident Yone-ko - a Japanese techno master who lives in Berlin. We would call it 'stripped down music poetry'. EP has 3 melancholic but light-weight tracks + long super groovy and creepy tool track. Photos used to create the record cover were taken by Yone-ko at Closer club – a place which inspired him to produce some of the songs on this EP.

Leap is back with a brand new four track Vinyl 12“ project entitled Oceanview 1998 from Manuel Tschenett aka Mantsche.
The vienna based producer Mantsche has been making musik since 2015. During his journey he stepped into the world of dub and got influenced by Artists like Rhythm & Sound, Basic Channel, Maurizio, Sound & Sequences and other dubwise artists. Since then he started to create deep dubbed out sounds with lots of noise, reverb and delay which symbolize a timless athomsphere. We opened with title track Deltoid, an immensive Dub Techno slice which steps with dark chords, diy spring reverb and maximum finesse. Next up comes Miosis which reflects the beauty of simple delayed saw waves and heavy bassline. Flip the wax and find Drive Dub, a fully low end off beat track with the power of reggae skanks. Last one is called Oceanview, an oldshool back to the roots dub techno track recommended for late night raves.

Al Wootton returns to ZamZam with two more stunning sides of deep dubwise for late and later. It’s been a prolific year and a half since his last ZamZam, with multiple killer 12”s and an LP on his own Trule label, a four-tracker for Livity Sound, and two thrilling EPs as Holy Tongue alongside drummer Valentina Magaletti. Informed equally by UK dub, garage, roots reggae and techno, Al Wootton creates unique amalgams that always hit, and this 7” adds to that legacy in fine style.

Two-track 12" of armour-plated, tripped-out, dizzyingly uptempo steppers tekno / raw-lion-dubbs...original mix + extended FX version that unfurls into deadly halftime lurch...out-and-out soundsystem warheads both; ridiculous, ram-raiding sub-bass. 22 mins of music approx. DL inc.

Fluxion continues to carve his own musical path, taking us all together to a personal journey in his inner world, moods and moments, showcasing the importance of being influenced by none other than real life moments, people, expectations, joy, dreams and disappointments. Expressing what comes from the inside, instead of the outside, creating a more intimate work, is at the main focus of the artist since his previous album Perspectives that came out on May 2020.
Artistic development happens from within, not from repeating formulas of the past, but embracing and mixing life events, alongside different styles of music culture, and creating personal stories, outside of trends, that's what keeps the music interesting.
On Parallel Moves Fluxion flows through various emotional states, and through blending of styles and expanding the borders, he manages to create variety listening to the album which is essential on an LP. But even with the variety the music bears the Fluxion sound aesthetic making it it an enjoyable listening experience, that requires more listens.

Like for all artists, also for Alex the last one and a alf years have not only been a challenge on several levels, but also a time to reflect and to evaluate what to express and what not.

While most electronic music activists and fans know him for being one of the pure techno ambassadors with plenty of releases on some of the circuit`s most carefully curated labels incl. Cocoon, CLR, Gigolo, Odd Even and many more, Alex always showed a deeper side and love for ambient- and dubsounds, indicated by single tracks of these genres occasionally as well as playing this kind of music whenever scheduled playtimes allowed him to do so on his worldwide gigs.

It almost appears as a logical consequence, that sooner or later it was about time to come with with a full length release that digs deeper into these styles, and with CREDOWHITE being established as a platform exactly for this sound back in 2018, this is now the time to reveal what happened in his studio during the past travelfree weekends and months. Welcome Alex` new sideproject "Stoerung" with it`s debut album.

This is Cosmos.

MBERE debuts with drenched UKG and Dub Techno. Water way to have a good time.

ohne kommerziellen Wert delivers musical variety with four electrifying tracks on OHNE004. Valura’s Faceless is a modern and fresh sounding interpretation of the classic breakbeat sound and will have you showing off your robot dance moves immediately before the BL Brixton track, React, changes the tone with pure acid and a groovy drum machine thunderstorm. On the B-Side, it’s the hypnotizing VUUDUU who implores you to Take Your Molly (in the name of global peace) before diving into the dubby abyss of Lifka’s eclectic Polymorph.

Like trudging through viscous air, I Lost All My Data is a blissed-out barrage of sub-bass that nods to a long-lasting passion for sound system culture.

Uploading turbo-charged wubs with molten glass melodies, the debut EP of Giovanni Bonelli (aka Notte Infinita) is a welcomed update for UK style broken-techno conventions. Booting-up with its title track, the record quadrisects the fabric of digital music, each cut a sonic reprogramming of its predecessor. ‘Slippery Tuff’ references off-kilter club, while on the flip, ‘Ecstatic Dub (Roller Mix)’ climaxes in an ultra-sensory faux-organic whorl. Unplugging the whole thang, ‘Oxygen’ manipulates post-dubstep textures, into a data-roused jungle tunnel.

Deciphering glitched-out signal processing and harmonic warps, I Lost All My Data is the software upgrade that every system needs – do not choose Later; Install Now.

This record has been played out/supported by...

Bambounou, Madam X, Special Guest DJ, Opium Hum/Michail Stangl (Boiler Room), Lurka, Bruce, orson (version)

Berlin based record label Equilibrisme delivers its second vinyl release. The next instalment is a three tracker EP including one original track by Man-L and a special collaboration between Canadian producer Mark Thibideau and Man-L. Detroit’s Luke Hess contributes with an outstanding remix on the B-Side.