Techno Reviews: February 2025
Some absolute TUNES, maaaaaaate!
Here we have my monthly techno reviews. Reflecting the same approach I took with my reviews pages at Mixmag, the following selection delves into various styles within the techno spectrum. Some of the music I’ve selected dances around the edges of what’s considered techno, which is just how I like it. No Album Of The Month this time around, just straight in there with the tuneage. Enjoy.
Here’s the mix.
Big Hands
Bacchanalia III
[Vargmal Records]
I love how the atmosphere of this one slowly drifts in like a cool winter mist. I kept my eyes closed for most of it, losing myself in the spacious production. The beats don’t come in until just over two minutes, such is the considered pacing. Big Hands lets the elements coalesce and evolve gently, driven along by the drums and steadily increasing the tension until we reach a crescendo before continuing to tease things out until the end.
Hans Berg
Under The Roots
[UFO Station Recordings]
Hans Berg got busy with the modular synths, and the trusty Nord Drum to create this four-track EP. Each of the tracks on this release is full of spellbinding character with names that reflect the candelit sessions Hans made them in: ‘The Trolls Urge’ and ‘The Magic Drum’, for example. ‘Under The Roots’ conjures up visions of underground tunnels occupied by pixies and the like, or maybe the mycelium network you’d find below the Earth’s surface. It’s enchanting and the array of layers and sounds he incorporates, while keeping the central rhythm intact, is superb.
Erik Luebs
Beat The Lifeless Heart
[Nous’klaer Audio]
Big shout out to the Nous’klaer fam over in Rotterdam. Erik’s new EP is Glimpse Of Reality. With its sombre name you know what to expect with ‘Beat The Lifeless Heart’. This cut has hints of a life support machine beeping, with a carefully crafted soundscape. Maybe it’s me, but it seems as though there might be a flatline at certain junctures. The production is taut and Erik’s musicality really shines through, too. Great EP all round.
M.F.S: Observatory
You Get Me Flustered
[Observatory Music]
London-based Italian M.F.S: Observatory (AKA Mattia Turchetti) goes all out with an EIGHT-track EP on his own label. There’s so much to choose from on this release and it’s all very high quality. In the end, I chose ‘You Get Me Flustered’ - not only for its bountiful energy, but also the cheeky female vocal. It works exceptionally well and I’ve really enjoyed hammering this one at home this month. Big!
Dino Sabatini
Dryalus
[Outis]
Bleepy, cosmic minimalism from label head Dino Sabatini. Tunes of this nature just catapult me into space, as though I’m traveling through the vastness on an intergalactic mission. Turn it up really loud and let it envelop you with its luscious wavelengths.
Alien9
Sampark
[Unity Records]
Alien9, a new alias for San Diego producer Harshal, caught me straight away with this cut. The tracks features on an EP centred around the concept of extraterrestrial communication in his native language, Marathi, which is spoken in the Indian state of Maharashtra. Besides the contagious rhythmic structure - the percussion is especially potent in this regard - ‘Sampark’ (translating to ‘Contact’) also has a sample of a high-pitched human call which is the key motif throughout - “Woooooooooo-woo!”. Very catchy.
Al Wooton
Calvinist Hospitality
[Trule]
Al Wooton always comes correct. His dubby explorations take the genre into expansive new places, always with authenticity and respect for the roots. This one’s got tablas, unsettling drones, a stepping rhythm and lots of space for the various layers to reverberate. It rolls out with purpose all the way to the end, never relenting, keeping the drums well and truly doing their magic until it peters out.
Cari Lekebusch
Mind and Matter
[Mind Medezin]
Great to see this release from Stockholm legend Cari Lekebusch. The EP this cut is taken from is the first of a two-part series called XYZ. ‘Mind and Matter’ has the kind of layered sound design you’d expect from someone of Cari’s experience. Expertly constructed with hypnotic groove, soul and a good bit of pump to send the dance floor into a frenzied response.
Pause
Dark Matter
[47]
Here’s the latest release on Tommy Four Seven’s label (big shout to you, long time!) and it’s typically sinister and brooding. Pause unleashes four inventive and morose pieces. ‘Dark Matter’ has a does-what-it-says-on-the-tin title, with creepy atmospherics, shuffling drums and a grainy, malevolent feel throughout. As it shifts and evolves, more of that creepiness unfurls. Naughty.
Mike Parker
Voc-1 Robot
[Samurai Music]
Alright, so it’s essentially drum’n’bass, I know, but it merges the drum arrangement of DnB with techno aesthetics, so I’m all over this one. I grew up on drum’n’bass and this doesn’t sound like anything I heard over the decade I was deep into the music, which is what I love about it. Mike Parker’s fusion of influences is mesmerising, and all the cuts on this release - Envenomations - are built around this concept of blending DnB with techno sounds.
Sub Basics
Nt
[Osmura]
More spacious production, with a dense low end that doesn’t dominate the sonic landscape. Sub Basics takes a considered approach to production, with a low BPM and minimalist composition. That cavernous atmosphere sucks you right in. Love it. This EP also contains another couple of tracks that have DnB sensibilities. Many of the architects of the genre were techno fans, so it’s nice to see artists bringing the two styles together like this.
Photonz
Finding A Way
[GLXY RECS]
Portuguese techno powerhouse gives us a large serving of techno incantations, delivered with aplomb. Every cut on this four-track release is seriously potent. ‘Finding A Way’ has a rapidly oscillating low end and a jovial, enchanting melodic layer that summons us into ritualistic reverie. The energy is off the scale. Masterful production.
Chris Bekker
Masterpeace
[Terminal M]
One for the peak time heads, this one is bound to bring the house down at the height of a techno rave. The build up gets the tension at just the right point before a drum roll sends us into the hard-hitting main event. A showstopping breakdown is what really makes this one ideal for lifting the dance floor into the skies. Almighty is the word.
Nicole Moudaber x Risa Taniguchi
Gorgeous
[Mood]
A deadly double team up with Nicole Moudaber and the excellent Risa Taniguchi on Nicole’s Mood label. ‘Gorgeous’ uses that very word in the vocal sample, and it is gorgeously-darkly seductive. The groove is serious, and the whirring riff that comes in halfway through will have you transfixed. One of this month’s tunes I really want to hear in a club, pounding my brain through a massive system.