Tag: techno

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Barker – Reframing

In 2018 Sam Barker released his Debiasing EP and pretty much changed the techno game. He wasn’t the first to do away with kick drums, but with Look How Hard I’ve Tried especially he demonstrated just how powerful restraint could be. His recently announced second album Stochastic Drift now sees Barker creating tracks with a fresh deftness and by “letting go of expectations”, and the first single Reframing is fucking magnificent, although if I was being super critical I reckon it could be at least twice as long. Roll on April.

https://sambarker.bandcamp.com/album/stochastic-drift

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Skee Mask – MDP1

Skee Mask just released the latest album in a series that pulls together batches of previously unreleased tracks, these made between 2016 and 2022. As with its predecessors, D is more coherent and accomplished than 99% of electronic albums released this year; an impressive feat given that this is essentially a sweep of the cutting room floor.

https://skeemask.bandcamp.com/album/d

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Midland – Vogue In Slow Motion

Midland’s debut album Fragments Of Us examines the queer experience, from the early days of the 80’s AIDs crisis up to the present day, and features the voices of some Midland’s artistic heroes including Arthur Russell, Marlon Riggs, David Wojnarowicz alongside the contemporary voices of Stereogamus’ Jonny Seymour and Horse Meat Disco’s Luke Howard. The subject matter is often dark, and includes news snippets following the introduction of Section 28 in the UK – which prohibited the “promotion of homosexuality” in public life – to an excerpt from an audio diary of Wojnarowicz that concludes simply with “basically I don’t want to die”. But there’s hope and possibly catharsis in Midland’s production, which is warm and accessible without ever becoming bland or homogenised.

https://midlandsound.bandcamp.com/album/fragments-of-us

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Katatonic Silentio – Bridging The Gap

Mariachiara Troianiello aka Katatonic Silentio continues her exploration of spatial, experimental sound design on her new EP Axis Of Light, slicing and splicing various forms of dub, techno and breaks while following her instincts towards storytelling in each track. Bridging The Gap is skeletal, paranoid, sketchy and extremely good.

https://katatonicsilentio.bandcamp.com/album/axis-of-light

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JakoJako – Afterglow

Triumphant, emotionally resonant techno from JakoJako’s eagerly awaited Segmente EP which is out today on NovaMute.

https://jakojako.bandcamp.com/album/segmente-ep

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JakoJacko – Introspection

Berlin based modular synthesist and DJ JakoJako’s, aka Sibel Koçer, recently announced a new four-track Segmente EP which will be coming out 18 July on NovaMute, and Introspection is the second single to be released from it. Pretentiously, nauseatingly described by Resident Advisor as ““fragile techno written in the key of wonder”, I feel slightly sick quoting this level of dewy-eyed fawning, but here we are.

https://jakojako.bandcamp.com/album/segmente-ep

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Herbert – It’s Only (DJ Koze Remix)

Today’s track is 12 years old, but I had completely forgotten about it until yesterday and assume there are plenty of people who have never heard it. If that’s you, you’re in for a treat. Thinking back to 2012 it was almost unavoidable in certain circles, but unlike many other hype tracks of yesteryear, this remains completely essential and may well be one of the best remixes ever produced, especially given its somewhat forgettable source material.

https://www.matthewherbert.com

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Donato Dozzy & Tin Man – Test 3 (Vocal Version)

The now 10 year old Acid Test 09 sees a special anniversary edition repress with a new vocal mix of track Test 3 which arguably distracts from the near-perfect bubbling simplicity of the original, but is nevertheless a nice reminder of how brilliant this collaboration was.

https://acidtestrecords.bandcamp.com/album/acid-test-091

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Lossy – Our Old Haunts

I finally watched Aftersun last night and woke up still feeling pretty sad about it, so needed something to bounce me into the weekend. This (relatively) new EP from Lossy is perfect, and at times reminds me of some of Barker’s recent, beatless(ish) work.

https://feveram.bandcamp.com/album/our-old-haunts

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Donato Dozzy – Le Chaser

After various collaborative projects over the past few years, Donato Dozzy finally gives us what we all want: a solo ambient techno album, tailor-made to make us weepy. “An emotional homage to family and the Adriatic Sea” (!), Magda is absolute fucking perfection and if it’s not in my top 10 albums this year, it will have been a frankly ridiculous year for music. At times evoking, possibly even surpassing his seminal Voices From The Lake project, if you don’t like Le Chaser at least, we can’t be friends.

https://donatodozzy.bandcamp.com/album/magda