Decimal - Lost In A Dark Place

Soma Quality Recordings: 2010

Dammit, I don't have enough 2010-2011 Music. It's not my fault I didn't get back into Music until 2012, it's Music's fault - not enough wicked-cool shit just dropping into my lap. Guess I gotta' dig for it, but who do I trust? What tastemakers could always be counted upon? Say, how about that Soma Quality Recordings outfit? They've had consistent quality for many years now – it's right in their name! More than that, they've curated plenty of dope acts over the years (Slam, The Black Dog, Daft Punk, DeepChord, Vector Lovers, Funk D'Void, Silicone Soul). Let's see what they have available in those years? An album from a guy called Decimal? Sure, I'll bite. The samples sound good enough – no apparent minimal bloopy-blorp and hissing wank detected.

Yes, this is the only reason I got David Spacek's debut album. I didn't know anything about him prior to purchase, but I apparently have one track by him, on M.A.N.D.Y.'s sterile contribution to the fabric series. His first Decimal singles came out in that period, releasing mostly through Berlin techno print Enemy Records. Somewhere along the way, he hooked up with Soma Quality, and was given the green light for an LP. And then his discography completely dries up, no follow-up album, no subsequent singles, not even a different project under a new alias (so sayeth Lord Discogs). Only a lone track on his Soundcloud has appeared since Lost In A Dark Place, uploaded but this past year. Geez, did something go totally pear-shaped over label deals? Got a better paying job elsewhere? Suddenly became a family man? Whatever the reason, 'tis a shame, as there's some pretty good tunes on here.

For sure he can't help but supply some tech-house and techno fodder for the clubs. Opener Temple March has most of the 'minimal era' trademarks, though is less obnoxious in their use than most singles went. Why, there's even a few funky broken-beat bridges littered about! Forgotten Requiem ups the tempo some with a far groovier rhythm, and even builds a looping hook throughout, accentuated with backing strings at the peaks. Holy cow, Decimal's doing progressive house! Or at least making tunes that Serious Prog DJs Who Play Serious Tech-House can make use of. It's certainly a sound Scuba would have noticed.

Other tracks make use of looping hooks, though more of a nod towards Detroit's style of melody (Soulchamber, Vastis Black Mask). Simulation is pure Detroit in it's own right, all future-funk and percolating synths without falling back on obvious rhythms. A couple more tracky tech-house tracks eat up some mid-album space (Tightly Wound, Ghost), but dig those downtempo dalliances in A Physical Sense Of Time (dubby electro) and The Lesson Of Hope, nearly eleven minutes of twee ambient techno. Dang!

With such diversity, how'd Lost In A Dark Place go so overlooked? Was Decimal's association with mid-'00s minimal that hard to shake off? Not 'forward thinking' enough for discerning techno heads? B'ah, their loss.

Derek Carr - Distant Systems

Firescope: 2017

When I heard there was a new album from Distant System, I couldn't believe it. I've been keeping tabs on Tyler Smith's wonderful, neglected project for ages now, and to have it suddenly pop up out of nowhere? That can't be right! But the cover art sure looks like something the psy side of music would put out. What's going on with- oh, it's an album titled Distant Systems, from Irish techno producer Derek Carr (not to be confused with NFL quarterback Derek Carr). Well, that's almost as spiffy – I liked Mr. Carr's The Digital Space Race, and was interested in developments his career would take since Psychonavigation Records imploded. Still, unintentional as it was, it's a bit of a tease calling his new EP Distant Systems from where I'm sitting. The struggle is real...

Anyhow, Derek Carr has found himself a new home with an intriguing little print called Firescope, who's parent label is B12 Records. Yes, that B12, they of early UK techno legend with Warp Records. I can't say I've gotten into the duo to the same degree as their peers like The Black Dog and Aphex Twin, for no better reason than none of my compilation purchases ever led me to their music. Yes, it's that stupid a reason, but they've remained active, dusting off their own self-titled print a decade ago to release a bunch of back-catalogue for the digital era. For some reason, B12 set up a whole new label in Firescope to release their newer material (just this past year!), and have started inviting like-minded producers into their fold. We'll see how things pan out in time, but if they keep bringing in talent like Derek Carr, it'll be far indeed.

If you missed that Digital Space Race review, or somehow overlooked the super sci-fi cover art, Mr. Carr does a Detroit techno thing with an ear to the great above and beyond. Distant Systems maintains that tone, a tidy four-tracker that goes down easy-peasy as a space-based pie (popular diner option near Jupiter 2). Artifice 2 has a simple electro rhythm going for it, with little bloopy pings, haunting pads, and rich sweeping synths in the lead. Terrahawk gets a tad funkier in its electro, coupling with gentle trance pads and bleepy-acid leads. 3 3 8 9 reuses the same pads (kinda' reminds me of the ones used by A Positive Life), but opts for the techno groove instead – essentially a 'deep' version of Terrahawk. If you need an even deeper cut though, East Is East has you covered, a simple slice of chill Detroit goodness, good for the afterhours.

Of course, Derek's ear for techno bleeds retro, so if you don't have much use for tunes that sound plucked from the glory years of Artificial Intelligence, Distant Systems may not be your bag. Can't imagine many such folk existing though - maybe those religiously weaned on the minimal monotony of the '00s, and nothing else.

Space Dimension Controller - Welcome To Mikrosector-50

R & S Records: 2013

While this album technically isn't Jack Hamill's debut as Space Dimension Controller, it sure feels so. His actual debut LP was a digital-only item released four years prior on Acroplane Recordings, Unidentified Flying Oscillator. I don't recall much buzz surrounding it though, most folks instead intrigued by a debut single released that same year, The Love Quadrant. R & S Records especially liked the cut of that record's space-funk jib, so ol' Jack hooked them up with a few lengthy EPs, earning him critical plaudits with Very Important music journals in the process. Naturally an album was expected following that buzz, but Welcome To Mikrosector-50 wasn't like anything folks anticipated. For Mr. Hamill sought nothing less than to take the Space Dimension Controller concept into the realm of a fully-fleshed narrative, concrete plot and all. Oh my, who even does that in techno anymore?

The year is 2357 A.D., helpfully parlayed by the opening chill track 2357 A.D. Jack Hamill moonlights throughout this story as Mr. 8040, introduced in the following track of Mr. 8040's Introduction, a proper throwback electro-funk jam complete with hippity-hop rapping. Then there's a brief ad-skit shilling for the marvellous Mikrosector-50 habitat, followed by the free-wheeling space-funk jam (you're gonna' read 'funk jam' a lot in this review) of To Mikrosector-50, with a little more info dropped by Mr. 8040 regarding who is and what he do. Following that, there's another brief skit, where our hero consults a computer regarding the whereabouts of his lover/wife/beneficial-friend. It's about here that you realize you're not dealing with a regular ol' clutch of tracks, but an unfolding story with music acting more as a soundtrack to Mr. 8040's journey to find the love he lost.

His trip takes him through various sections of the Mikrosector. A chill guitar-funk jam of Your Love Feels Like It's Fading. A rather synthwavey tune of Lonely Flight To Erodu-10. A failed club pick-up in the house-funk jam of Can't Have My Love (with heavenly vocals from 'Kat Kirk'). A seedy excursion into an underground acid-techno [funk] jam of Rising (Detroit called, it wants its retro-future back). A shameless hooker score in Quadraskank Interlude (about as down and funky low as you'd expect). And even a narrative excuse to return to the first SDC tune in Love Quadrant.

Yet it's all for naught, his search proving fruitless. Having exhausted any hopes of finding peace in this future, Mr. 8040 leaves to the bouncy Detroit techno of Back Through Time With A Mission Of Groove. It's a tidy wrap-up to the album's tale, save a cheeky stinger hinting that perhaps there may be more in store for the Space Dimension Controller in all our futures.

If you're the sort who wants new tunes with nothing attached, the various skits throughout Welcome To Mikrosector-50 will likely frustrate. Me though, I'm all about that album narrative score. If anything, I'd love to see this translated into movie format. Or at least a graphic novel a la Perturbator.

Laurent Garnier - Unreasonable Behavior

F Communications: 2000

The only Laurent Garnier album you’re supposed to have, even if you’re not a Laurent Garnier fan. For this is the one that has that one track everyone knows him by, the hit everyone expects to hear rinsed out, the anthem jocks repeatedly return to so many years after the fact. Still, it kinda’ sucks that Acid Eiffel is relegated to a bonus live disc, and rather shortened at that, but hey, all that tasty, escalating, trance-inducing 303 action, finally available in a proper LP release, and not some wacky compilation of early works. Eh, what do you mean that’s not the one track everyone knows him by? Well, they should, by god, g’ar, and gum.

Right, fine, it’s The Man With The Red Face, the techno track that reintroduced the saxophone solo to a new generation of punters. That may not seem terribly impressive at first glance, but keep in mind the instrument hadn’t seen much action in the dance industry for some time, perhaps Red Snapper’s 1995 Hot Flush it’s last big moment in the spotlight. And while you’d still find it cropping up in jazzy, downtempo circles, its utility as a showpiece in clubland was simply done and dusted, the few instances almost unanimously forgettable. Not only did Mr. Garnier resurrected it, but did so in such a memorable way that it’s been remixed and ‘covered’ many times since. Yeah, I can’t deny it’s a catchy, fun tune when dropped at peak-time – still prefer that 303 workout from Acid Eiffel though.

One classic anthem does not a great album make, though. Nay, what sets Unreasonable Behavior apart from all the other Laurent LPs is its consistency from front-to-back. This is a straight-up techno album, exploring all facets of the genre as it was by the turn of the century, with few of the stylistic indulgences Mr. Garnier allowed himself as the years went on. You get jazzy electro care of City Sphere and Cycles d’Oppositions, futuristic chill cuts like Forgotten Cuts, Communications From The Lab and Downfall, head-down 4am bangin’ shit like The Sound Of The Big Babou and Dangerous Drive, plus your requisite nods to Detroit in tunes like Greed and the supremely deep tune Last Tribute From The 20th Century. Damn, that one wouldn’t sound out of place on a Turbo compilation of the same year.

Of course, much of this is par for the course when it comes to Garnier. Having spent nearly a decade honing his craft though, Unreasonable Behavior goes down as polished and smooth as any collection of techno can. There’s none of the clunky execution some of his earliest material suffered from, nor any of the wayward experimentalism that’d come later. It’s finding ol’ Laurent at the sweet middle-ground of his career, plying all the professional tricks of his trade while maintaining intuitive techno songcraft. Heck, if any track does comes off rote, it’s The Man With The Red Face, just because it is such an obvious anthem.

EDM Weekly World News, January 2014

Back issues! Look, with the recent derth in Original TranceCritic Reviews and Ace Tracks all backtrack'd and caught up, I need something else to fill the Lazy Writing Day quotient. Might as well be these older editions of EDM Weekly World News, especially since their original home remains in cryostatis. In this issue, we celebrate Four Tet's astounding, unprecedented, immaculate haul of that year's Grammys. I bet he do it again!

Derek Carr - The Digital Space Race

Psychonavigation Records: 2008

Derek Carr isn't super-obscure like some of these Psychonavigation folks are. He has some half-dozen records to his name in the early ‘00s, though mostly jumped from label to label in doing so. By the time he found a semi-permanent home with the Ireland print, he’d already released two albums on another Ireland print, Nice & Nasty Records. And his self-released debut single, Copperbeech EP, is apparently something of a rare collectible for ‘Irish techno by way of Detroit’ enthusiasts, because this is also apparently a scene. That actually has me wondering if Derek Carr is actually his real name. I mean, I can only assume it is so, but Lord Discogs doesn’t have any bio on the guy, and anyone also making Detroit techno with a name like that can’t be a coincidence. Okay, it can, but c’mon, really? Are folks with that combination of syllables just destined to make music of a similar sound? The Techno Gods are weird.

In case it hasn’t become obvious by now, Derek Carr makes minimal gabber; and by ‘minimal gabber’, I of course mean Detroit techno. Its more ‘space age’ than the genre typically goes, The Digital Space Race at times coming off like early Apollo material. Openers Horizons and Butterfly could have found an easy home on those seminal ambient techno compilations, while Letters and Grassy Plains fears no pianos being coupled with their soft electro breaks. Elsewhere, the future funk is present and correct with tracks like 678, Departed Emotion, and Home, while Mr. Carr indulges with a little spritely indulgences with Juvenile and Sis. Plus, can’t neglect the strict ambient cuts, the short Dilated Beyond Belief (hilarious title!) serving as an intermission of sorts, and Surrounded By Nature taking us out in good ol’ space drone fashion.

Um, that’s The Digital Space Race all summed up then, isn’t it. If you’ve ever heard retro Detroit techno, you’ve heard this album, and Mr. Carr isn’t in any sort of hurry to shake the foundations. The tunes are all nice and arranged well enough, but they don’t leap out in any significant way either. Not even the strictly old school production is much of a unique selling point. Novel perhaps, especially for a 2008 release, but this is Derek Carr’s preferred style of music making, and far from the only chap around doing it. Yet I’m hesitant to call The Digital Space Race something silly like ‘recycled’, ‘rote’, or ‘retro to a fault’, because it most definitely is not that either. It may sound sprung from suburban Detroit in the year 1994, but futurism will never age.

As for Carr, he’s put out a couple more albums on Psychonavigation since this one, but more interestingly recently released another single on Trident. This was the ‘print’ he set up to self-release his first single, which I guess he dusted off to put out another EP through Bandcamp. Now wouldn’t that be something, seeing a re-issue of the old Copperbeach EP too.

Various - DJ-Kicks: Claude Young

Studio !K7: 1996

We're going way back into DJ-Kicks' history here friends. Back to the days when Studio !K7 was still mostly known for its X-Mix series and all those cool, trippy CGI video tapes accompanying them. No no, they really were cool, not dated at all. The power of retro will make it so! Ahem, anyway, the initial volley of jocks into this new DJ mix series featured a quartet of Detroit techno luminaries: Carl Craig, CJ Bolland, Stacey Pullen, and Claude Young. The first two are legends, no doubt. The third gestated within the underground for a while, but I've seen him having something of a career surge in recent years. And as for ol' Claude, man, where can I start with this guy? No, really, I'm asking that, because until this CD, I'd never heard of him before. How many Detroit Braggin' Points will this cost me?

Right, it's not entirely my fault, Mr. Young having mostly shied away from the mix CD format over the years. He’s also been all over the map regarding his album output too. Debut Soft Thru came out on Belgium Elypsia, sophomore Patterns The Album came out on Dutch Djax-Up-Beats, his third LP came care of Young’s own cynet:media print (based from UK!), and his latest effort of Celestial Bodies originates from Fountain Music in Japan. Maybe he’s got some proper Detroit vinyl under one of those many early aliases instead.

Whatever the case, folks don’t typically point to Claude Young as a legend for his productions, but rather his DJing, one of the most unique Detroit jocks to ever rock the decks. Approaching the art more from a turntablist’s perspective, he’ll often layer multiple dubplates, cutting back and forth between vinyls so rhythms mesh in ways never intended. So much poly’, mang, from tracks so minimal! Of course, in the post-Ableton era, such trickery is rather common, if not always expertly executed. Claude was doing it with the only tools any jock worth his salt needs though, and has earned all the props for it.

One of the likely reasons he hasn’t often committed these talents to the CD form is such turntablism is better suited in a live setting than recorded format. Young can pull all manner of sonic tricks from his bag, but if you’re not familiar with the tunes themselves, only an expert techno trainspotter will hear how a track changes up. Also, isn’t the whole point of turntablism the showmanship as well as the music being played?

Ah right, the music on this edition of DJ-Kicks. I haven’t talked it much, because there isn’t much to tell. It’s Detroit techno through and through (and lots of Mark Bell), going from the minimal stuff to bangin’ stuff to funkier stuff, all dope if you like your mid-‘90s techno. I found Young’s set took some time warming up, a bit heavy with the experimental cutting in the early going, but once the pace picks, hoo, it’s a fun ride, is what.

Various - DJ-Kicks: Andrea Parker

Studio !K7: 1998

Proving it’s never too late for serious knowledge to smack one across one's face, I was completely blindsided by this CD. For starters, I had no idea who Andrea Parker was, a fact in itself not too surprising since the DJ-Kicks series often taps DJs and producers well under the radar. However, that lack of information instilled a preconceived notion of what I was in for based on cover art alone. Forget even looking at the track list, I was certain Ms. Parker was gonna’ bring the soul-funk downtempo nu-jazzy vibes with this mix. Clearly that’s her musical calling, what with being adorned in the sort of garment worn to classical performances or high-end wine tastings, frolicking about shag flooring and vinyl backdrops. Plus, this was released when Studio !K7 was going through their downtempo jazz-dub phase with DJ-Kicks, featuring such names like Terranova, DJ Cam, and Kruder & Dorfmeister. Surely this lady from the UK would fall in step with this sound too.

And I’d be perfectly fine with that, but what I got was even better. Ol’ Andrea, turns out, has more in common with techno, electro, and booty bass (!) than anything so highbrow as jazz-dance. Hell, the second track on here is Dr. Octagon, the salacious nerdcore alter-ego of Kool Keith, followed upon by two Carl Craig cuts, and a whole lot of Detroit tuneage after. See, if I’d just looked at the track list first, I’d have known what I was in for, what with names like 69, Model 500, Dopplereffekt, Drexciya, and Bambaataa throughout. On the other hand, it’d have ruined the fun surprise of all expectations being so utterly smashed. It’s getting rare such purchases can do that, and isn’t that the whole point of the dig to begin with?

That all said, Ms. Parker’s set isn’t terribly surprising in of itself. If you like your vintage Detroit techno and electro, you’ll like this, with plenty of familiar names (those namedropped above) and outliers rounding things out. Visions Of Mars from DJ Panix is some mighty mint electro, and darn obscure too, given it was all John Litchfield and Mark Burrows did with this alias (not that they were highly prolific anyway). There’s also a little breaks action in this mix, care of Renegade Soundwave’s classic The Phantom and lesser known Da Tunnelz from Sons Of The Subway.

As DJ-Kicks mixes are often released to coincide with a chosen jock’s other projects, Ms. Parker throws her name into the electro hat with her own track Unconnected at the end, sure to be one of the highlights from her debut album, Kiss My Arp, of the same year. Wait, let me confirm that with Lord Discogs… *checks* What, this track came out before this mix, on the fifth volume of the classic Trance Europe Express series? Damn, this woman keeps with the surprises - I gotta’ check out more works. Ooh, this IDM/electro/bass label of hers, Touchin’ Bass, looks promising…

Gabriel Le Mar - Stripped

Le Mar Production/Carpe Sonum Records: 2013/2015

I've seen many variations of the 'in dub' album over the years, but this is the first I've seen the process being called 'stripped'. I suppose there’s a distinction between the two: dub remix albums are all about giving original tracks spacious room, drawing a few specific elements out, almost always on the low end of things. A stripped track, I assume, takes things more in a minimal route, retaining the core musical ideas while removing any extraneous effects and fluff from the original. I honestly don't know though, this album being my only exposure to what a stripped album might be. It could simply just refer to the fact every cut is beatless, as the sub-title of each track states.

Given the idiosyncratic nature of Gabriel Le Mar’s discography, it’s not surprising he’d give some of his music the ol’ rework. Born with a last name of Mastichidis, his early career saw him flit between various forms of techno, ambient, psy, and world beat, all with a dubby bent. He’s also worked with a few well regarded groups like Saafi Brothers and Aural Float, and Lord Discogs is telling me I’ve had Gabriel Le Mar tracks since the year 2000. Wow, I had no idea, though listening back, those were the more dope cuts from that Ambient Dub compilation (which, for the record, has no ambient on it). Since then, he’s also apparently dabbled in breaks, progressive house, trance, tech-house, electro… geez, Lord Discogs, are you on the level here? What hasn’t this guy done?

A ‘stripped’ album, until now. Originally digitally self-released a couple years back, Carpe Sonum Records has given Stripped the physical format treatment, as they do for many folks featured on Fax +49-69/450464 at some point (yeah, ol’ Gabs has even collaborated with Namlook). Going by the info provided by The Lord That Knows All, at least half of these tracks have previously been released on other recent digi-albums from Mr. Mastichidis, though I’m assuming in an un-stripped form. Since Discogs’ record keeping of MP3 and WAV albums isn’t as comprehensive, the same could be true for the rest. Then again, having an original track called The Beat (Beatless) is the sort of cheekiness any producer can’t resist for a concept like this.

For the most part, Stripped goes the dub techno route, with nary a kick drum in earshot. This leaves some tracks coming off like builds that never reach an expectant climax (Deep State (Beatless), Auf Dem Wind Davon (Beatless), Firecracker (Beatless)), whereas others are quite content cruising in a techno simmer (Lectron III (Beatless), Paddy Fields (Beatless), Far Out Of Reach (Beatless), Dreamtechnologies (Beatless)). And though each track keeps to its promise of being beatless, there’s never any lost rhythm, a rather ample amount of Detroit funk flowing throughout. Only two tracks, iGeorge (Beatless) and Deepulse (Beatless), tread anywhere near proper ambient waters. This all makes for very interesting techno, though strictly a genre-savvy option if you’re down for groovy dub.

Model 500 - Digital Solutions

Metroplex: 2015

Considering how very important Juan Atkins is among other Very Important People in the world of techno, it's remarkable how small his discography is compared to his peers. I suppose he gets a pass, what with practically inventing the whole genre while providing one of the first labels supporting his Detroit-bred style of electronic beatcraft. What's even more remarkable about all this, though, is Digital Solutions is the first, proper full-length Model 500 LP to be released on his Metroplex print. Every prior album came out on Belgium R & S Records, including the Classics collection that gathered up a bundle of Metroplex singles. Guess even ol' Juan was pissed off by the lame R & S Logo cover on that recent re-issue of Deep Space (seriously, so stupid).

Whatever the case, Digital Solutions marks the third such effort from Mr. Atkins, well over a decade since the last Model 500 album dropped. The genre he’d built had gone through several changes throughout the ‘00s, most significant the exodus of many faces and shakers to the clubs and warehouses of Berlin even as kids inspired by his early works came into their own. Though there wasn’t any need for a ‘statement album’ from one of the honoured elders, there was some buzz whether he’d use the Model 500 moniker to explore these trends, or perhaps find an entirely new avenue worthy of exploration. So many possibilities, mang!

Instead, Juan said nuts to all that and went way back to his roots, offering up an album of retro electro and techno. Huh, that’s… I’m resistant to say ‘disappointing’, but certainly not what you’d expect in a 2015 LP when previous Model 500 long-players (all two of them!) were evolutions on his futurism music. I can’t even compare it to an old rock band releasing an album of blues standards, since those musicians often have a huge swath of back-catalogue allowing for such nostalgic dalliances. Did Mr. Atkins just not have much to say regarding techno’s recent incarnations, or does he feel the sounds he created thirty years past (!!) are more future-leaning than all the minimal-plonk that dominated for too long? Perhaps that’s the statement us chroniclers of electronic music are deluding ourselves into believing!

Speaking of Digital Solutions, this is a fun little album of throwback electro and techno. In fact, the two tracks that do take stabs at relatively current trends (UK grime in Encounter, minimal in the titular cut) are the only wack moments found among the nine pieces. Even the titles seem culled direct from the ‘80s, simple things like Hi NRG, Electric Night, The Groove and Control. Though I’d have loved to hear a Model 500 album go deeper into the Deep Space style, hearing more in the Classics vein is mighty fine for my ears - even stronger modern production can’t dilute that retro-future charm. I can’t think of anything more suitable for this moniker in its return home to Metroplex.

Instra:mental - Resolution 653

Nonplus Records: 2011

As the '00s drew to a close, duo Alex Green and Damon Kirkham were gaining themselves a solid rep in the drum 'n' bass scene as Instra:mental. It certainly didn't hurt they found collaborative work with tech-step veterans like Jonny L and Source Direct, nor finding a home with trendy upstart labels like Nonplus Records. Then they found another future-looking kindred spirit in D-Bridge, set up their own Autonomic label, and pretty much created a whole new sub-genre within 'deebee's already convoluted mess of micro-genres. Despite being short lived cul-de-sac of a style, that's still a mighty impressive accomplishment in a scene filled with many one-off dead end attempts at new directions. Has there ever been an official name for the Autonomic sound? Eh, whatever, I'm still calling it microfunk because... reasons (hint: look in one of those Twitter links to the right).

With all that musical momentum behind them, a proper full-length album was inevitable from Instra:mental. What sort of music would they venture into? More of that tasty microfunk business as heard on their FabricLive 50 mix? A return to the jungle they built their early career on? Maybe some further venturing into post-dubstep’s experimental realm? Nah, none of that, guy. For their debut LP, Instra:mental set out to do nothing less than a pure Detroit techno homage, d’n’b fanbase be damned.

It shouldn’t have been a surprise, as their Nonplus singles skewed that way as it was (heck, the whole label does). Still, they kept one foot in the UK’s bass scene, familiar ground for those who’d wandered in from jungle’s realm. Resolution 653 has almost none of that, dragging the listener into 313’s domain of electro, techno, and its various permutations. That includes a little of that post-dubstep sound (Thomp, Rift Zone), which often took audio cues from Detroit’s lineage. Mostly though, we’re dealing with broken-beat futurism (Sun Rec, Arc, Love Arp), Hawtin-plonk minimalism (8, Talkin’ Mono), renegade warehouse techno (Aggro Acid, Delta Zone (Advance), Memory Implant), neo-Tokyo ambience (Waterfalls, Plok), and technobass (User). Holy shit, there’s actual old-school technobass on this album! Haha, Dynamix II represent! Yeah yeah, that genre was technically a Miami thing, but whatever – t’was southern bass heads doing Detroit, is all. And now London chaps too.

However, there’s a problem with Resolution 653. Well, two if you were expecting proper jungle t’ings from Instra:mental, but I sure didn’t. Hell, I wasn’t even aware of them when I first checked this out, only that they had this really neat looking cover art, and it was being billed as a collection of throwback electro. That said, folks well-versed in electro’s history likely won’t find much that’d have them abandoning their Anthony Rother records anytime soon. Instra:mental do the genre justice, and bring a couple tricks from their d’n’b pedigree, but for the most part they remain so fixated on Detroit’s heritage, it’s blinkered them from exploring any new avenues. And that’s disappointing for a duo that blazed their own paths leading up to Resolution 653.

Scuba - Personality

Hotflush Recordings: 2012

Did anyone honestly figure Personality a sell-out? I know the move away from dubstep on Scuba's part would have alienated the hardest of his core followers of the time, but surely not the scene at large, primarily hearing of Mr. Rose only as another hyped named from the super-trendy Hotflush Recordings print. Not a terrible distinction, but if he was to extend his career beyond the rigid, insular fandom that dubstep had cultivated, he’d have to abandon it altogether. Fortunately, his style was already drifting down a different path anyway – heck, his ‘dubstep by way of Detroit’ music was what stood him out in the first place. So bemoan if you must that he never took ‘post-future-garage-step’ any further before being seduced by tech-house, but take heart that all DJs end up playing house eventually.

Personality isn’t a house record (shock!), but it isn’t a gritty techno one either. Rather, it’s a throwback to the earliest days of techno, when the Belleview Three and their immediate successors pictured the future as a funky, fun, and wondrous place rather than a bleak, dystopian one. There’s no hiding Scuba’s inspiration on this album, as anyone with elementary knowledge of the genre’s history shouldn’t have much difficulty in spotting the influences and nods to the forefathers (Hints? Well, Action sounds quite a bit like- hm, no, I don’t think I’ll ruin your trainspotting fun after all).

The good news is Scuba capably keeps his music sounding about as contemporary as ‘80s Detroit techno through UK-bass lenses can, working in bits and pieces of future garage’s stylistic markers. There’s crackly vinyl effects (Underbelly, Gekko), singing soul sista’s floating on past memories (Dsy Chn, Tulips), and even a ‘proper’ dubstep cut in Cognitive Dissonance for your half-step, wobble-bassline fix. It’s not all Detroit either, July coming on more like a Herbie Hancock cut than anything from Metroplex; elsewhere, NE1BUTU falls deep into the raver’s unabashed anthem E-hole, replete with rolling piano licks and sweet-smelling vocal Vicks (??). Nothing gets lost in nostalgia glaze or respectful homage either, the production cutting edge and crisp.

In fact, I think he goes too far in the mastering department. This is one loud album – not in a brick-walled manner as so much pop music goes, but in how much punch it carries. Even with headphones, you feel the weight of these beats, and though Scuba provides plenty of sonic separation with his samples and synths, it’s all front-and-center, directly in your audio face. Imagine watching a High Definition version of O.G. Robocop at a wide-screen theatre in neck breaking middle-seats of Row 2. It looks awesome, but is a bit much to take in at that range.

If that’s the only major gripe against Personality, however, then who gives a flip? The only other complaint I can think of is if you’re dead against anything Scuba makes that isn’t dubstep. Hey, at least you get broken-beats on this album. You sure ain’t hearing that from his sets anymore.

Carl Craig - Landcruising

Blanco Y Negro: 1995

Here's something that will boggle your mind. For all his musical innovations, creative drive and honoured status within the world of techno, Carl Craig's album output is seldom name-dropped when talk of essential electronic musics goes down. Not that he helps matters by shying away from the LP format, having released fewer than you could count on your hand – it's apparently all about the singles with Mr. Craig. Still, should you find yourself bluffing your way around the 313 Posse and in need of a C-C album to talk up, you can't go wrong with Landcruising. It may get overlooked on lists of Definitive Techno Releases, but at least it's from the mid-'90s, when everything was awesome sauce and radical radish-relish. Of course that's a real thing – a decade that gave us Pepsi Clear and hypercolor shirts would definitely have radical radish-relish. Sorry. Dignity, that’s what Detroit techno demands, and by Belleview I’ll give it for Landcruising.

Craig had spent more than enough time honing his craft with singles, remixes, and aliases. The fans demanded an album, and though ‘proper’-techno albums were still something of a rarity, he capably handled himself in the format. He even bookends the experience with the sounds of getting into and exiting a car, because obviously you would if you’re making a Detroit techno album about cruising over landforms.

What seems to go forgotten about Landcruising is just how sci-fi and - dare I say - geeky the music is. Despite its steady techno pulse, opener Mind Of A Machine isn’t all that dissimilar to space synth of the ‘80s, especially when a guitar solo makes its mark in the final stretch – I can feel the mullet growing on the back of my neck as it jams away. Follow-up track Science Fiction has a guitar solo too, though the percolating funky rhythms in this future-leaning track at least adds some class to the prog rock wailing.

Like Model 500’s Deep Space of the same year, these are rather musically optimist portrayals of future-music, an outlook for techno that sometimes goes neglected given the general urban decay Detroit suffers from is typically the influence most producers from the region draw inspiration from. There always was a sense of escapism in Detroit techno, but the landmark albums almost unanimously glorify the griminess of illegal warehouse events and future-shock existence, feeding into a self-perpetuating 313 mythology. It’s why Landcruising, despite having lovely music like the ambient A Wonderful Life, epic Technology, sexy smoothness of Einbahn, and neo-classiness of One Day Soon, gets overlooked compared to its contemporaries – it defies the established Detroit techno narrative, and didn’t have many successors when folks figured the genre could only go one way (to Berlin, apparently).

Still, you can’t go wrong with having this in your library. Landcruising may not be a definitive collection of techno, but there’s very little else out there like it. I mean, who’d be so bold as to usurp the mighty Craig legacy?

Bandulu - Guidance

Infonet/Never Records: 1993/1996

While most of the UK were getting their rave hardcore techno on, one three-piece found themselves drawn to the source of it all, merry ol’ Detroit. Hey, if chaps from Germany and France could make American future-funk music, why not blokes from London too? These three men though - Jamie Bissmire, Lucien Thompson, and John O’Connell – couldn’t escape the musical melting pot that was the UK, immigrants from all the former empire’s old colonies bringing their sounds to the British underground as rave culture fostered bountiful creative growth. Some sound experiments flashed brilliantly, then swiftly died; others slowly burned and carry on to this day. Bandulu’s first album, Guidance, captures that period where it seemed nothing was off limits for UK techno.

Take the titular opener. What is it? Tribal? Trance? Techno? Dub? Progressive house? Oh, who cares – awesome is what it is, especially with a big bassline that’d leave Leftfield weak in the knees. That said, little else on Guidance hits the same perfect blend of genre soup quite like that cut does, the rest mostly focusing on those Detroit techno influences while keeping the open-air rave vibe going.

This leads to a lot of tunes sounding rather like trance, even earning them duty on a few early trance compilations before Bandulu went full dub techno. Revelation, a blissy space flight that would have gotten early Eye-Q’s attention; Peacekeeper works the loopy rhythms with echo washes (plus clap-action Oliver Lieb would be proud of); and Earth 6 is what early goa trance would have sounded like had the genre taken its cues from techno rather than industrial. As for the techno side of things, Messenger’s the groovy one, Gravity Pull’s the future-dystopian one, Flex is the Carl Craig inspired one (plus an added ethnic chant),Tribal Reign is the ‘experimental-Craig’ one, and Better Nation is the Carl Craig Innerzone Mix one. Yep, the Detroit don himself gets a credit on Bandulu’s debut – guess the London act’s influences didn’t go unnoticed in Old Techno Mecca at all. There’s also a downtempo-dub cut with Invaders, the sort of tune that undoubtedly earned Bandulu a bunch of gigs with Megadog.

So high praise abounds for Guidance, but here’s the caveat I must make with so much music from the early ‘90s: it’s rather dated. Bandulu as a group had yet to refine their production, thus many of the drum kits, synths, and samples are firmly rooted in that era of UK techno. Nothing’s outright tinny or anything, but clearly lacking the sonic finesse later works offered. Heck, as tracky as Cornerstone was, the music on there could at least still be played in a modern setting and few would be the wiser. Guidance, on the other hand, will have folks thinking of techno from the way back whens, the long long agos. All of which is fine should you have a fondness for this time and are looking for more neglected gems, as few techno LPs sound quite like Guidance, then or since.

Various - Muzik Classics: Techno

Beechwood Music: 1999

Bliminy crimely, geezer, is this one mint collection. A two-CD pack spotlighting just about every important person in the world of early techno, complete with detailed liner notes at a wonderful Beechwood budget price. No, wait, come back! This isn't your typical crap Beechwood compilation of one-third recognizable tunes, and the rest a pile of no-name mock-ups. Rather, Muzik Magazine handled the tracklisting, as part of a short-lived series promoted by the rag showcasing classics of electronic music yore. There was one for drum 'n bass, one for Ibiza anthems, and finally this one for techno. Shame they didn't keep going to include trance, though there was that one free-CD they gave out a few years after.

While I've given Muzik plenty of props in the past, they deserve extra-so for these discs. Aside from a few top tier DJs, techno as a whole was on something of a downswing in the late ‘90s, other genres and scenes the current hotness as far as the clubbing world was concerned. Trance, house, progressive, d’n’b, breaks (nu-skool or big beat), UK garage: these were all far more comparably popular in record stores. Techno was what you’d play late-late at night, and usually only the hard, bangin’ stuff. If some dewy-eyed young punter stumbled upon Muzik Classics: Techno and learned somthing, then the magazine had done its job in providing positive education for the kids (including Slam’s Positive Education on here).

As this is a retrospective on techno’s formative years, all the significant regions of the time are accounted for: Detroit, UK, Germany, Detroit, other US cities, Detroit, Belgium, Detroit, Detroit, Canada by way of Detroit, and Detroit; sorry, Japan, you were a little late to the techno game for this box set. The tracklist features nearly every classic you should have heard of at some point, including Strings Of Life, Red 2, Circus Bells, Flash, Energy Flash, Spastik Flash, Acpreience 1 Flash, plus a flash of electro from Cybotron’s Clear. More interesting are the lesser known cuts and aliases from prominent producers, such as 69’s Jam The Box (Carl Craig), F.U.S.E.’s Substance Abuse (Hawtin), Dark Comedy’s War Of The Worlds (Kenny Larkin), and Aphrohead’s In The Dark (Felix da Housecat, although it’s the Dave Clarke Mix in this case).

Muzik Classics: Techno also serves as a handy bluffer’s guide to the various sub-genres within that scene. Dub techno gets its nod from Phylyps’ Trak II and P.A.S.’ Booster, minimal is repped by DBX’ Losing Control (plus Hawtin, of course), the ravey stuff is handled by CJ Bolland’s Horsepower, acid gets an additional look from Laurent X’s Machines, and even sample-heavy ambient tribal-techno has its moment from Bandulu’s Guidance. Oh, and lots of Detroit techno too.

Is this the most comprehensive collection of classic techno you’ll ever find? Nah, guy, the whole of Lord Discogs is your bet for that. For something more physical and affordable, however, this double-discer’s definitely one of the better starting points on learning the roots of the genre.

Beto Narme - Multiple Choice

Sublime Porte Netlabel: 2010

I have no recollection of how a digi-EP from an Istanbul net label found its way into my possession. As it's a 2010 release, I suspect it was part of some MP3 promo-pool I briefly subscribed to, but I've nothing else from Sublime Porte, which makes having this stranger still. If an MP3 promo was good enough for me to keep that year, I usually kept an eye on the label too, hoping another EP might get released that could knock me out of my then writing stupor. Maybe Sublime Porte simply lost its promotional power, unable to penetrate an overcrowded digital market. After all, who'd ever be interested in dubstep from Turkey?

If Multiple Choice is anything to go by, they should be. Right, it's impossible gauging a whole scene of an entire country based on four tracks from one label, but we gotta start somewhere. Plus, Sublime Porte’s still in operation, even recently taken a tentative step into the realm of limited-run CDr. They must be doing something right with their dub ambient techno dronestep if they’re still around, even though Lord Discogs tells me they don’t have a consistent roster. Even this Beto Narme, or Tufan Demir to the Istanbul legislate, has but this one four-year old EP to his name, though a smattering of remixes too. His Discogian bio is almost certainly out-of-date then, suggesting this was an “ever-growing dubstep project”. Maybe he got a high-paying job as that sound engineer he was striving for.

What held my interest with Multiple Choice was how, for an EP promoted as dubstep, it sounded very little like dubstep. Rather, Mr. Demir shows he’s definitely a student of Detroit and dub techno’s never-ending influence. Aside from occasional drags of the low end, Cellophane Dub is straight-up funky dub techno, including a breakbeat that’d have Carl Craig nodding approvingly. Elsewhere, Outranked Spectacles and Figment Dots gets closer to the half-step beat we’re all familiar with, but we’re still firmly floating in dub techno’s spacious waters. And warm waters they be, not those frigid, sterile bays other Detroit-inspired dubsteppers so loved to frequent. Beto Narme can’t help himself though, getting sucked into the lands of ‘wub’ on last cut Simmer Down. It’s a fine tune when you hear the vintage reggae vibes, I could just do without the requisite Rusko modulations every dubstep producer threw in during those days.

I have an almost inescapable bias against most forms of dubstep, subconsciously preparing myself for a given track letting me down by indulging in nonsensical, erratic drops. Aside from the aforementioned brief bit in Simmer Down, that moment never came on Multiple Choice, and I could enjoy all the polyrhythms without worry (dear God, I know different forms of dubstep). Yeah yeah, I know there’s tons of dubstep – sorry, post-dubstep (future garage?) like that out there. With so many netlabels pushing the stuff though, how does one even begin to filter it all out? Maybe start with this Turkish label?

Ken Ishii - Jelly Tones

R & S Records: 1995/2008

Ken Ishii’s from Japan, making him a very important person in the world of techno by default. More specifically, he helped put Japanese techno on the map, establishing it as an actual unique branch of the techno pantheon when, at the time, hardly anyone figured the Land Of The Rising Sun would even have such a scene. At a glance, that’s seems incomprehensible. Japan – the country with an unrivaled fascination with future technology, where names like Tomita, Merzbow, and, um, Kitaro, were among the earliest adopters of synth music in the ‘70s and ‘80s – were late to the techno game. On the other hand, it’s not too surprising such would be the case, as the cultural movement that spurred techno’s growth didn’t really exist in Japan. Illegal warehouse parties? Dank clubs? Counter-culture spurred on by all-night benders? Japan had little, if any, of that going on, so the world at large continued regarding the nation as a place where weird noisy experiments or New Age dribble was their chief electronic music export (also: j-pop!), and that’s about it.

Then some Japanese kid gets signed to seminal London label R & S Records, and the rest is history …sort of. Japanese techno is still somewhat niche compared to other hubs of the world, but Ken Ishii helped open the door, especially so with this here Jelly Tones album released way back when, and given a recent re-vamp with ridiculously convoluted packaging.

Funny enough, aside from a couple instances, this album doesn't really strike me as 'Japanese' in tone, but still very much Detroit influenced. There are scant instances of Far East tonal harmony or rhythm, though the mood does feel more proper cyber-punk than future dystopia. Or maybe that's the imagery associated with Jelly Tones doing it. Ishii managed to get Koji Morimoto to lend artwork and even an anime video to the project, and as anyone who's seen Akira knows, that guy's mint at depicting future-shock Neo-Tokyo settings. So, neener-neener, Daft Punk fans, Ken Ishii did it first. Hell, those French robots were probably inspired by the video for the bleepy clicky-click tune EXTRA.

As for the rest, you get a couple bangers like Stretch and Frame Out, some ‘braindance’ kind of stuff in Cocao Mousse, Ethos 9 and Pause In Herbs (oh, there’s some of that quirky Japanese styled electro-cool vibe), and the requisite ambient leaning cuts with Moved By Air and Endless Season. And, um, that’s about it. Only eight tunes on here, though a couple remixes were added to the American release, and, as usual, Japan got extra tracks too (Rusty Transparency and The Sign; also, Sony Records released it there, giving Ishii quite the ‘mainstream’ bump in his mother land in the process ).

All said, Jelly Tones’ a sweet package of unique mid-‘90s techno, if you’re in the market for that sort of thing, though maybe not as genre-bending as Ishii’s later work. Gotta have that one ‘ease the noobies in’ album, I guess.

Drexciya - Harnessed The Storm (2013 Update)

Tresor: 2002

(Click here to read my original TranceCritic review.)

Drexciya was the first review I ever published, a very important moment in the world of techno. Well, no, it wasn’t – heck, it wasn’t even a blip in the grand scheme of things, and techno fans sure as hell weren’t checking out some funny new website called TranceCritic, even if Harnessed The Storm was the first review there. Still, if anyone expecting trance came away from that one with a better appreciation of the deep sea dwellers from Detroit, all the better. It’s not the best review, but without that first step, we’d never have gotten to where we are today, whatever ‘here’ currently is.

Actually, let’s find out. Instead of just an ‘update’, here’s a newish review of the same release. Ahem…

Despite being mainstays of Detroit techno’s second generation, the duo Drexciya stood well apart from their contemporaries. Part of it was their enigmatic origins (pro tip: cultivating hardcore fanbases works best when your work remains mysterious), but whereas many in the Motor City (or foreigners drawing influence from it) started exploring minimal, dub, or jazz-fusion during the ‘90s, Drexciya looked more to the past for inspiration, taking their cues from electro when most had moved on from it (too ‘80s, man). And in fully immersing their mythos with underwater sonics, it created a sound unlike any other, Drexciya singles turning into hot commodities whenever they’d sprinkle forth.

EPs were all well and good, and many a classic cut appeared on those records. Yet surely a concept like Drexciya deserved the full-length treatment, and nearly a decade after their debut, there finally came Neptune’s Lair. As far as I can tell from online gushers, it met expectations, so the natural follow-up was eagerly anticipated. Harnessed The Storm arrived three years later, and while many a fan enjoyed it too, their concept seemed a bit tired now. Electro had resurged in popularity, while techno was drifting from Detroit’s heritage, various European takes on it the new hotness of the 2000s. But hey, what’s it matter? Drexciya were such a unique duo, that even if their concept and productions were coming off old-hat in the new millennium, they could carry on by name recognition alone, with no pressure to change with the times. Folks came to Drexciya records to hear their aquatic electro, and damn it, that’s what they’ll get.

Only they no longer did. The unfortunate passing of member James Stinson in late 2002 shocked everyone within techno’s world and, as a point of respect to his partner and friend, Gerald Donald (other half of Drexciya) put an end to the project. Harnessed The Storm would be the last music they released. Truly a shame, but in some ways a blessing too, ending them on a high with legacy intact. I mean, can you imagine if they’d jumped on the minimal bandwagon too?

Eh? I didn’t describe any of the music on Harnessed The Storm? Silly, there’s a link at the top with over one-thousand words doing so.

Model 500 - Classics

R & S Records: 1993

Model 500 is Juan Atkins, a very important person in the world of techno. Often credited with being one of the Godfathers of the genre, his fame diminished as new upstarts took the techno mantle for themselves during the 90s. His career floundered for a while, which led to depression and over-eating. Determined to reclaim prestige for his name and his waistline, Atkins developed a bold new diet, which focused on the consumption of high amounts of protein to stave of hunger cravings. Wait, I’m getting my Atkinses mixed up. Damn you, Webcrawler!

Yeah, me getting into el’ Juan’s techno legacy is pointless. With online essays, published books, and video documentaries about techno’s roots out there, more than enough material is available for the curious. I don’t see much talk of Model 500 though. Why is this? It’s not some obscure alias. No UFOs was a techno hit, back when the term ‘techno hit’ wasn’t even a thing. Maybe Cybotron was the sexier moniker.

Or perhaps there’s some merit to that nonsense I wrote in the first paragraph. Atkins never released a proper Model 500 album until the mid-90s, when much of the new Detroit blood was dominating talk. This here Classics collection was released a couple years before Deep Space (the Model 500 debut proper), and as a round-up of his 80s material, Classics is interesting, but not the most engaging listen.

The problem I have with this is it sounds too 80s for me. Hey, I like me some 80s, but when I throw on a techno album that has the word “classics” as the only word in the title, I go in with preconceived expectations. I want to hear proper futurism, and Classics simply doesn’t have that, no matter what the cover art suggests. I’ll grant it’s not Atkins’ fault that Yello forever dated “chiki-chikah” to the 80s, but there it is in Electric Entourage, and I’m left feeling “eh.” That said, cheers for tracks like No UFOs and Sound Of Stereo, which meet those stupid expectations (but jeers for making them the bookends of the whole album, muddying what little album flow there is further).

One of techno’s ongoing appeals is the sense that, no matter how advanced in technology we come, the music will always remain at least one step ahead - the best of what 80s techno has to offer still retains that. These tunes, however, don’t, instead coming off like 50s depictions of the year 2000: definitely futuristic in attempt, but now quirkily retro. Go in with this in mind, and Classics is a fun enough throw-on.