Techno & techhouse

Cupcakes (Soma 2011)

Dense & Pika celebrate a hat-trick of releases on their Hotflush home with a display of mercurial melodic flair.

With all the hallmark analogue, dust-treated sounds, the record kicks into gear with the unpredictably lush piano refrain of ‘Colt’, betraying a level of sensitivity not normally associated with the boldly direct duo.

Elsewhere, they’re as visceral as expected. ‘Black Deep' a demonic workout, all kitchen-sink percussion and body-blow bass, whilst 'Vomee' cruises along a bed of sparse atmospherics, dub-indebted stabs and bastardised vocals. 

Rounding off the EP is their most refined work to date. 'Airless (Live)' recorded in one take with live percussionists, woodwind and modular synthesizers, exhibiting their latent versatility and teasing at the possibilities yet to come.

Tracklist:
A1. Colt
A2. Black Deep
B1. Vomee
B2. Airless (Live)

Release date: October 14th 2013

Dense & Pika - Colt EP (HF041 Preview)

Egbert has been dazzling us with the speed at which he seems to have skyrocketed to being one of the world's top players in the techno scene. Within a short period of time he has managed to create a rapidly growing fan base who have all been avidly waiting for him to release an album for some time now. This November Egbert will finally be releasing ‘Warm’ on Secret Cinema's Gem Records.

With powerful pumping main room techno such as ‘Haasten’ and ‘Straktrekken’ under his belt but also melodic and somewhat minimal sounding techno, Egbert creates a broad spectrum of music within his own signature sound. So which direction did he go on Warm?

The album takes you on a trip through Egbert’s vision of melodic techno. Well produced and euphoric but without stepping in to known territory. In his own words: ‘One thing I often miss at techno parties is warmth. I would like to bring that back to techno’. While his live sets are usually filled with percussion and rhythm, this album compiles the tracks that bring warmth to his set. We also get a taste of Egbert’s raw side with the powerful pumping grooves and punishing dark basslines on ‘Tegno’ and ‘Shulgin’. There’s even a new flavour added to the versatile producer’s palate with the trippy ambient sounds of ‘Ondergronds’ and ‘Trip’.

After hearing Egbert’s first EP ‘Stroom’ on Myspace, Jeroen ‘Secret Cinema’ Verheij was quick to snatch up Egbert and take him under his wing. ‘He came walking into my studio with hundreds of brilliant tracks that only needed some polishing up’ says Verheij. After that Egbert released ‘Magie’ which was one of Sven Väth’s favourites for 2009 and made it onto Cocoon’s ‘Sounds of the 10th Season’. Suddenly, Egbert was a new player on the worldwide techno scene. Four years and many huge EPs and remixes later, his album is finally here! 

 
‘Warm’ emerges with the delicate, rolling rhythms and pads of opening track ‘Fonkel’ that stretches out across eight minutes of expansive, emotional landscape before the ‘Magic Night’ tightens up the beats before going deeper into the darkness and the previously mentioned ‘Shulgin’ pulses ever further into the night. ‘Hemelpoort’ brings us back towards the light with shimmering chords as does the more driving yet eloquent ‘Leven’ with ‘Machtig’ proving a slow builder that really hits its stride in the middle. Finally the album disappears into the ether with the atmospheric resonance of ‘Trip’, showcasing another string to Egbert comforting, radiant production.

Order it now at gemrecords.nl/warm

Egbert - Fonkel | Gem Records 2013

MARK HENNING| Blackout
[SOMA384]

A. Blackout
B. Jack & Jill

Mark Henning makes a welcome return to Soma with yet more jaw dropping tracks with the Blackout EP. Going back to his analogue roots, Mark has crafted two tough floor burners laden with his signature funked up basslines and crafty drum programming.

Title track Blackout rocks in with melted vocal samples over that ominous 909 kick, building slowly with a lush pad, the perfect intro to what will follow…Mark brings a perfectly sequenced bassline that growls yet remains as funky as can be. Layers of hi hats work their way as the bassline mutates in the background. Mark keeps this this track deep as the pad once again glides in giving a bit of Motor City feel. This is real machine funk.

On Jack & Jill Henning keeps it stripped back but no less driving. This is a full on analogue monster. A melodic synth line backed by straight up 909 drums work this track into a frenzy with complete ease. With the mere opening of filters and simplistic use of the revered drum machine Mark has built a track that will whip any dance floor up.

A firm favourite at Soma, Mark always delivers the good and with this EP of machine fuelled techno he looks to set Techno alight with his unique and quirky production.

Buy 12"

Mark Henning - Blackout (Soma 384)

Just when you thought this release couldn't get any bigger... Swedish techno god Adam Beyer rolls in with a gigantic remix for Turbo, the first thing he's done for the Canadian label since his Stockholm Mix Sessions CD back in 2002. The energy swells and builds without ever breaking down completely, the train has left the station and it's not stopping for anyone, ever. Guaranteed massive... the only question is whether your party is big enough to contain this.

Tiga VS Audion - Let's Go Dancing (Adam Beyer Remix)

Contained within this eleven-track compilation is a collection of tracks submitted to Drumcode as demos but which didn’t have other tracks to be partnered with to make up a classical Drumcode EP. Such was the quality and quantity of these stunning one-off tracks that the idea of making them into a compilation was born primarily for practical reasons. As the project grew the idea became a theme and the theme evolved into a finished project – A-Sides - which tells both the story of Drumcode’s recent past with familiarly high-octane tracks from Adam Beyer, Alan Fitzpatrick, Joseph Capriati, Gary Beck, Gregor Tresher and Dustin Zahn & Rachel Palmer but also gives a glance into what is to come as the likes of Patrick Siech, Luigi Madonna, Roberto Capuano, Dhillon and Manic Brothers get their chance to contribute to the shaping Drumcode’s future.

DC97 04 Alan Fitzpatrick - The Showgirl - clip

Measure Divide - MD6 (Luis Flores Remix)

The production duo of Liam Robertson and Calum Macleod (aka Clouds) lay down two heavy originals.

Released May 21, 2013

Techno & techhouse

Stephan Salzer Levi