Anselm – Gral
The average atmospheric track you hear these days tends to be based on a soaking wet drums and aggressive dynamics processing. I am happy to hear Anselm flipping this concept around on the first track of their (possibly first) release. There is also plenty of energy on the more conventional “Ebene”, which deserves way more floor play than it’s gotten so far. Notice how using your volume knob for its inteded purpose feels so damn right.
AWB – Celestial Longtitude EP
Taapion Records has become a buy-on-sight label for me, and AWB’s latest contribution definitely lives up to it. Whether you prefer soothing melodies and broken beats or a regular four-to-the-floor pumping floor filler with all knobs turned up to 11, there should be something for most modern techno diggers in this one.
Wata Igarashi – Ciphers
This one is all about the title track and its pads. Breakdowns? Don’t need them. Drums? Keep them simple and trippy. Bass? Merely a prerequisite for the pads.
Teste – The Wipe – Revisions
Having already released at least eight (!) variations of the classic Wipe during the past two years, Edit Select lets Terrence Fixmer have another couple of swings at it. I find the second one to be working very well.
Relapso – Echo I
“Echo” is a promising new series from the crafty Portuguese producer Relapso, keeping it brutal and straight to the point.