Page 74 - Zone Magazine Issue 030 - Lexicon Avenue

Vinyl + Digital
Albums - Dance
TECHNO & HARD TECHNO / Mark Neenan
Albums - Dance
SLAM - INVERSION EP [SOMA RECORDS]
The Glaswegian duo return to their amazing Soma label with this HUGE 4 track EP entitled 'Inversion' The title track is a 'Slamming' (See what i did there) pacey number with a warping and tripped out synth hook which carries you along whilst the rumbling undertone get's you locked in the groove! I'm loving the fact that lots of artists new and old are upping the bpm's again, this makes me very happy! I Can see this getting rinsed by everyone! 'Primitive Shift' is an acidic beast of epic proportions, old school flavours here, but with crisp modern production as a thunderous and jacking 909 beat carries you along with this epic squelchy 303 sound bubbling away and building up to the break where we are treated to some ace breakbeats. 'Container' has a huge distorted Kick and a spiffing melodic rave synth, whilst the last track 'Zero Dip' is a fitting end and probably the hardest. A monstrous drone fuelled Industrial rattler of the highest order! Great stuff lads! Had the honour of watching a 4 hour set of these guys in Bristol many years ago and had to somehow follow them! They are top top chaps and stayed behind and danced and mingled throughout for mine and Alex's set. Utter Legends!
https://www.beatport.com/release/inversion-ep/2857839
TOP TUNE //
JAMES RUSKIN - CONSUMER PATTERNS EP [BLUEPRINT 056]
Blueprints main man James Ruskin returns with this excellent first release of 2020 after a great 2019 for the veteran Techno hero from Croydon. Title track 'Consumer Patterns' is my favourite, its a gritty thumper which builds and builds up to the break before it strips back down to the rumbling bass and tough kick combo. Lots of cosmic noises follow with snare rolls and hits leading the way as it builds back with that lovely hypnotic synth creeping in again. This really is an excellent groover! 'Social Acceptance' is a deeper roller of a track, rather dark but at the same time subtly euphoric. Beautiful tune. Track 3 'Weakness Of The System' is an ace experimental Electronica cut, with heavy broken beats and beautiful synth work, which reminds me somewhat of a few 'Floating Points' tracks. Quality release this and its also available as a limited edition Blue Vinyl as well as digitally. http://classic.beatport.com/release/consumer-patterns/2799616
VARIOUS ARTISTS - [ANOLOGUE 009]
Irish DJ bad man and Techno legend Sunil Sharpe is track 1 on this excellent VA release. 'Funghie' is a raw hard Techno hit of the highest calibre, which has a strange vocal in the background alongside eerie synths and a crazy siren that comes on in the later stages. Beast! Greece's Endlec fresh from releases on Mord and Green Fetish in 2019 gives us 'Heavy Hitter' and that, it certainly is! Galloping heavy kicks from the off with hypnotic percussive loops evolving through this heads down, somewhat tribal thumper. 'Stray Dogs' by Sedvs has a wonky, warping moving bass from the start that you can't help but move your body too. It's the deepest of the 4. Old school sounding Techno with a modern twist this. Sheer quality! Last but by no means least is 'Blue Steel' by Jerm, which is a clanking roller with some luscious mesmeric synth work which twists and turns building throughout the track. Awesome tune this. Difficult to pick a favourite here, I will no doubt be rinsing all 4! Check it out.... https://hardwax.com/82206/various-artists/various-artists/
RECOMMENDED
MIKE HUMPHRIES - CHRONOLOGIE EP [MASTERTRAXX O47]
I love Mike, no hype, no bullshit, just real good Techno. The promo blurb epitomises this. 'Mike was born at an early age and enjoys Techno.' Anyhow, I've been a massive fan since day dot and have many of those black shiny disc things of his in my collection on labels like Punish and his own Mastertraxx to name but two. Onto this release and the stand out for me is Chronology (Spelt different from the EP name) It's a relentless hard rumbling Techno affair with a hypnotic, squelchy acid like synth a constant throughout the track, as it builds and drops and keeps marching forward like an army of angry Robots about to inflict devastation on Planet Earth. Add some stripped back trademark 'Humphries' synth stabs and you have a sure fire Techno hit on your hands! Both the other tracks (Unwanted (Remix) and 7th Sign) are of equal quality with the latter featuring more of that trademark synth, in a similar vein to Mike's classics 'Tactical Recon' and 'Riot Funk' This is available on Vinyl and digital and is an essential purchase for any hard Techno fans out there! https://www.deejay.de/Mike_Humphries_Chronologie_EP_MAXX047_Vinyl__947424
ARON SC - MIDNIGHT [URBAN CHAOS RECORDS 018]
Back with his 3rd release on Alex 'Kingkade's' dark Urban Chaos imprint, Aron SC delivers us a tasty warehouse Techno treat in 'Midnight' which can be best described as quality marching dark Techno, which is accompanied by a 'Surrounded by Darkness' vocodered vocal throughout. Good stuff! Then we are treated to 4 (Four!) remixes. First up is A.P. who
in a typically A.P. fasion slightly ups the bpm and the overall toughness of the original with his own unique hard rolling style. Class! Hans Delbruck relies heavily on a big old school bass sound and has some nice psychedelic elements. Fil Devious is up next and supplies another great version, which is rather deep and dark with a droning bass synth a constant and then a crazy high pitched screeching lead comes in at the later stages. Finally DJ Nightnoise who treats us
to a rather different and somewhat melodic take. Nice package this!
https://www.traxsource.com/title/1262251/midnight
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