OndaQuadra.001

MADTEO feat. SENSATIONAL

Basiado Beatdown

[Lanquid]

Mastro Ra.H launches his new Lanquid with this seriously twisted "deep-hop" cut. Sensational, of the Jungle Brothers school, drops rhymes over a homegrown Madteo (homegrown in the sense that he's from Turin but lives in the States), who crafts the track at a low tempo, reeking of the street.

[Styrax Records]

Styrax carries on its "deepness mission" with four sacred monsters of the machines. Ian Pooley goes back to his roots with 909 grooves, Sean Deason plays his own game, straight out of Detroit, Kirk Degiorgio (As One) carves out one of his own numbers, and finally Arne Weinberg forges the album's best track.

MYSTIC INSTITUTE

[Evolution]

A reissue that brings tears to your eyes. It was 1993 and Pritchard was downright frightening, here joined by Kent and Middelton on keyboards. Still credited as "Reload Remixes", the techno here is the real deal. The charged, emotional "QA-752L-P", the little march of "NS-581A-T" and the sensory loss of "Ob-Selon Mi-Nos", later revisited in that monumental sonic fresco which is 76:14 by Pritchard and Middelton under the name "Global Communication".

M. PITTMAN

[Unirhythm]

A fellow traveler of underground heavyweights like Kenny Dixon Jr, Theo Parrish, Omar-S & friends, here Marcellus, on his own Unirhythm imprint, plays dirty. "There's Somebody Out There" is Ron Hardy in heat, and an endless 808 like "Chicago Night" spells out exactly what he's up to.

MICROWORLD

[Styrax Leaves]

Three Berlin flavors. "Disco Version" is exactly what it will become. "Dreaming" ist tief, and finally "Drum Machine" with basslines, snares, 909s and all that techno stuff we love so much.

ÂME

[Ostgut Tonträger]

The original is a 16-minutes-16 suite done the old-fashioned way, somewhere between kraut and evanescent techno. A stunning piece of work from two artists who are on a serious roll right now: without ever raising its voice, it carries you much further than plenty of easier, "cruder" tracks. The lesson of the Carl Craig school taken to its radical conclusion in the very idea of "crescendo", with analog sounds and rubbery bass hitting like they rarely do.

For those who lack the nerve, there's a club-ready edit on the B-side.

BOOKA SHADE

[Studio !K7]

For the “Dj Kicks” series, the duo comes out with a sun-drenched, cocktail-hour single, spectacularly unsuited to autumn, that already makes you long for a new summer. We all know the touch by now: soft synths, easy melodies and a relentless four-to-the-floor pulse, joined this time by a vocal that tips things toward deep house murk. There's an Estoril mix and a club mix for those who'd rather tread more safely, but we prefer to sweat.

MARTIN BUTTRICH

[Cocoon Records]

Put Buttrich on the deck and it's instantly slick techno, let's be honest, even a bit uninspired at the start. Flip the record and here's where the Cocoon stamp gets justified through sheer dub-techno filth, warming up the cones and getting the floor up to speed.

MADOX

[Mantra Breaks]

Let's dig this one back out. Out since June, carried through the summer, it's been in the bag for five months now and every single time it's a riot. Take those spineless Justice types, teach them how to roll a beat, and bolt the subwoofer to the floor: this G-dub is the kind of thing you'd happily take grocery shopping with you. A gloriously trashy, fun original, Riva Starr nods to Jaxx, and “Jaimie Fanatic” is giant hip-house straight out of Brooklyn and beyond. Something here for every taste.

SANTOS

[Hell Yeah]

Setting aside the electro explosions, Sante ventures into a deep, straight-up kick drum, building with every passing second without ever quite going off—it's torture with class. Like Maskio, the bongotronik Mix kicks in the turbo and it's game over.

GREEN VELVET

[Velvet Belgium]

Camera's ready, prepare the flash. Anyone who doesn't know this mantra should repent. It's just been reissued, so go and grab it while you can.

KEVIN SAUDERON/INNER CITY

[Planet E]

“Till We Meet Again” and “Bassline”, both Inner City productions. Even as a reissue it would move more than one listener. But there's a catch.

“Bassline” is reworked by Loco Dice with Buttrich at the mixing desk: the usual stuff we've already heard, but handled with taste.

The first track, on the other hand, passes through the hands of Carl Craig. And there was light.

CASSY/A GUY CALLED GERALD

[Beatstreet]

Beatstreet has gone from throwing parties in the German capital to becoming a label promising great things, with a deep sound now drawing two names of real drawing power: Cassy and A Guy Called Gerald, who deliver two incisive, redundant, strobe-powered mantras that say goodbye to planet Earth.

[Bpitch Control]

BPitch's story is one of endless class, and as long as Frau Ellen is at the helm, we're in for years more of it. Two tracks steeped in depth and dirty sound, almost aseptic yet imperfect at the same time, a mechanical voice sublimating into the deepest bass, and the oceanic-depths atmosphere of Marcel Dettmann's remix. Long live them.

MODEL 500

[Echospace]

Getting your hands on a genius like Juan Atkins is a risky move, but when it's done by one of techno-dub's rising stars, the result can be astonishing. A back-to-the-future trip that, in Echospace's hands, becomes six space journeys, slow as a shuttle launch and as powerful as the history seeping from every pore of these tracks. Keep an eye on this one.

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