PLAYLIST UPDATE AUGUST 20: Today saw Spanish producer NØLAH release her new percussion rich EP Ansuz/Dagaz. The melodic techno cut from the record is the straight lined ‘Anzus’ while we’ve included the more groove and house oriented ‘Dagaz’ in the House Playlist here.
PLAYLIST UPDATE AUGUST 18: Before we kick off with the Techno update, once again we bemoan the lack of female representation. There is not one woman among the 16 new additions since our last update and just two in this 30 track playlist. This is not good enough. We think a female only release calendar is badly needed so as to ascertain what percentage of released material is female and so that music lovers like ourselves can actually find releases by women. Given the low percentage of female artists represented in the release numbers in any given week even trying to find them among thousands of weekly releases by men can be an impossible task. If we have missed a stellar release from a female artist in either House or Techno over the past three to four weeks please get in touch and let us know. And to those who say we should just concentrate on the music no matter what gender produced it we say this to them;
We (who are men ourselves) are deeply unhappy and frustrated living in discriminatory world of double standards that culturally and structurally limits opportunities for women and excludes them from decision making and exercising power. If we feel like this, other men must imagine and ask themselves how it must be to be female.
Lack of female representation notwithstanding, the overall quality of these 16 new tracks is very strong. Headed by Montreal’s Tony Papadopoulos aka Tone Depth,who continues to push the boundaries with his latest track ‘Beirut’ for Fryhide, a cultural melting pot of experimental yet immediately accessible global infused techno with a contextually appropriate Levant guitar sample to die for. Bordeaux based brothers David & Nicolas Gaugain aka G-Prod, were featured here a week back with busy minimalist acid pinger ‘D-Tach’, from their new EP Alchemic on Specimen. Fellow Frenchmen Benjamin Charriere & Etienne Laurent aka Losless, who we also featured a week or so ago followed up their excellent Keyou EP with the crisp acid lines and nocturnal feel of ‘Locators’ for SMB.
Next up is Colombian DJ/Producer Gotshell. Hailing from Pereira he just released his new EP First Tomorrow on Mord. The track we’ve gone with is ‘Ascirez’, a relentless subtle fusion between an industrial landscape and the deepest rainforest. Bologna based Italian DJ/Producer Mattia Trani owner of Pushmaster Discs is in with the deep outward looking and futuristic ‘Arachnide’ from his Collider EP for UNCAGE. American DJ Producer based in Detroit Ryan Malony aka Uun, released his Tibetan inspired Exhumed Tapes II EP for Berlin label Modern Cathedrals. The urgent yet ambient opener Exhumed II.I channels the sound of the plateau. Uun also has a new EP coming soon on No Future But What We Make which is streaming over at the HATE Youtube channel.
Barcelona based Argentinian DJ/Producer Flug released a new two track EP Shift/Revar on Suara. ‘Revar’ is another dose of tough and tidy techno from the an ultra-consistent artist. Manchester/Berlin based Sam Coates aka Setaoc Mass, released his new EP Flying Machine EP for Figure and its tactile intensity and duality makes ‘Search Lights’ our favourite track. Fellow Manchester based producer Transcode released a new EP in recent weeks called Altered Reality for Filth On Acid. The super produced spacious thumper ‘Arbitrage’ is the standout.
Aquaregia, the Toronto founded label of Emily Nicoll recently unveiled Part 3 of their Paleo series which features ‘Astero Ceras’ one of three deep melodic techno gems by former Vancouver and now Berlin based DJ/Producer 747. Hamburg’s Frederic Berger and Patrick Buck aka Kaiserdisco & Karotte put out their Stork & Crane EP for Elevate late last month and the upbeat ‘Stork’ is next. We featured the new Whities 017 EP from Toronto’s Nathan Micay (Bwana) last week and its diversity meant that ‘Beginning Ballads’ ended up here while its flip side ended up in the House playlist.
Spanish producers Tensal and P.E.A.R.L. founded a new project called CRVEL and last month dropped the ultra impressive hard techno inspired Veritate et Ordine EP digitally on P.E.A.R.L.S. own Falling Ethics. It’s opening track ‘VEO I’ is our pick for the playlist. Equally impressive was the Paranoid EP from Italian producer Jacopo Lattanzio aka JLTZ for Planet Rhythm and we were blown away by ‘Dejection’ to the point that it hit our main Top 30 chart that week.
The last two tracks come from an English veteran and a French newcomer. Berlin based Paul Rose’s SCB moniker just release Degrees Of Intelligence on his Hotflush label and closing track ‘Traffic On The Hyperway’ is a work of art in its locomotive qualities. Paris based Leo Pol released his Dark Outside EP digitally at the end of July on Bass Culture. The minimal techno of ‘Technyes No’ is our pick for this playlist but his versatility means that he also has tracks from it in our House and Experimental & Electronic playlists too.
NOTE: This playlist is part of a loose genre based series of seven revolving 30 track playlists on the Spotify streaming platform. Tracks are roughly ordered by release date and will be replaced by new tracks as they become available. All playlists are regularly updated and all lists limited to original tracks only – no covers and no remixes.
Go to the Spotify icon under Follow Us on our front page to access all seven of our playlists including each week’s Top 30 chart covering all genres. If you like what you hear don’t forget to activate the follow button and add us to your playlists so you can keep regularly updated with new independent music. Go here to listen on the Spotify web player.
Past updates are below the player.
NEW INDEPENDENT & UNDERGROUND TECHNO
Updated August 18, 2018.
FEMALE ONLY RELEASE CALENDAR NEEDED
It’s time for a female only Techno and House release calendar until such time the ingrained often subconscious male bias inbuilt into the culture and structures of Techno and House and indeed into the human psyche and its systems is gone.
OLDER UPDATES
PLAYLIST UPDATE AUGUST 3: This playlist update begins with a Polish one-two. First up is Klaudia Gawlas with the sparse yet immense ‘Manifest’, the title track from her new EP which is out this week on Blackrod. Also out this week is the Unbroken EP (Natch Records/Elements) from Warsaw producer Pawel Zawadzki aka Concept of Thrill. We’ve featured ‘Struktura’ in the list over the past few weeks and as that leaves the ominous locomotive like closer ‘Zaret’ which is equally impressive replaces it.. The inside and understated work of the title track with its thunderous rhythms leads the 10 new entries.
Hamburg artist/producer Helena Hauff‘s long awaited new album Qualm (Ninja Tune) was released today. The distorted effects laden ‘Lifestyle Guru’ gets our nod as one of the best tracks on what is a strong and fiercely made independent release . Following that is Cardiff DJ/Producer Robert James Pike aka Heartless, with ‘Internal Voice’, a disorienting work of thrillingly unremitting discombobulation . It’s opens the B side on his new EP Inner Crosstalk (6dimensions). The ever important question of gender equality and the robotic age we are fast moving towards are the salient subjects again tackled by the brilliantly inventive Serena Butler on her/his new EP We Want Neither Clean Hands Nor Beautiful Souls (Stroboscopic Artefacts). Click on the title for our review of it.
Next is the strange allure of the restless ‘Spectre’. The title track from Aether‘s debut EP on Afterlife is imbued with equal parts melodic and experimental intent possessing dissociative qualities that never allow the track to quite catch or adhere to its groove. That’s followed by legendary Japanese DJ/producer Ken Ishii who has again teamed with Stick Recordings aficionado Alberto Ruiz to produce the thumping ‘Parallel’.
Dax J has been releasing some mighty fine techno lately releasing his second full length album this year, No Redemption (Monnom Black). The mysterious ‘Russian Blood Lines’ is another fine example. We haven’t been able to feature much from Drumcode lately so its a good thing that Webbha is carrying the torch with the one part melodic, one part rabid urgency of the title track off his new EP Catarse. Speaking of rabid urgency, the huge sound of Ricardo Rodriguez aka Industrialyzer (Suara), is next with ultra intense ‘Balance Motions’ off an ep of the same name before Italian artist Hollen brings a bit of decorum to proceedings and completes the update with the the beautifully paced title track to his new EP Script (OFF Recordings)
PLAYLIST UPDATE JUNE 23 (in order of release date):
The blistering ‘Argo’, the industrial inspired title track from the new EP by Parisian duo WLDERZ on Skryptōm is the first of 10 diverse new additions to update our Techno playlist. To illustrate the diversity on offer, following that is the entrancing minimalism of ‘Keep Under Wraps’ from Bristol based multi-genre electronic experimentalist Kayla Painter. That’s out through Drawstring Records. Both those tracks were released on Friday. Yerevan DJ/Producer Razmik Makhsudyan aka Tøtal, released his excellent new EP NGC 2207 earlier in the week on his own Death Bell label and the restless NGC 4676 is the pick of three here while the solid ‘Time’ follows from Metodi Hristov‘s and Gallya‘s new EP White Lines on Octopus.
BleeD Records, the label of London producer Volte Face has released its first compilation called Social Sculpture and as you’d expect there’s some excellent experimental fare to be had. Three tracks out of the eight are in the list; Chiba City and Paris experimentalists DJ Nobu & BLNDR‘s ‘Fish’ and ‘Doepfer Exercise’ respectively are mesmerising fare in very different ways as is the pounding ‘Shit Business’ from Rote, the project of Daniel Avery and Volte Face himself.
Next is the foreboding circular monster ‘Greywacke’ from London hard techno DJ/producer Romek Boyer, aka Rommek is from Sedimentary, the second release in his Set In Stone Trilogy out on Blueprint. Italian dark techno duo Andrea Vallisneri and Andrea Casari aka VII Circle have a new split EP out with Barcelona based Memorial Home, the project of France’s Paul Roux & Belgian Jeremy Pinchasi for their label Rapid Eye Movement. Both tracks in from it ”Dogma’ and ‘Second Floor’ expertly unsettle in different ways.
PLAYLIST UPDATE JUNE 16
Five new tracks in our update this week. The opener is the immersive and powerful ‘Brunette Cistern’ from Toronto experimental producer E-Saggila (Rita Mikhael) who last Friday released her excellent six track album Dedicated To Sublimity on New York City’s Bank Records. Next is the spatially powerful title track ‘Enigma’ from Birmingham DJ/Producer Rebekah whose three track EP on Soma quickly follows up her excellent album from March, My Heart Bleeds Black. The razor sharp ‘Flare’ by London producer Sigha (James Shaw) follows from his new four track untitled EP on Token before the ultra buoyant ‘Struktura’ from Warsaw producer Concept of Thrill (Paweł Zawadzki) from his new EP Unbroken on Natch Records/Elements ends the initial attack. Fellow English producer Max Cooper then takes things down a notch or two with the detailed atmospherics of Identity off his forthcoming album One Hundred Billion Sparks due in September on his own Mesh label. We’ve subsituted the La Fraicher and Echologist tracks too. With the former, the busy closer from Self Fulfilling Prophecy ‘La Plant’ replaces ‘Eaux Troubles’ while from the latter’s In Transit EP the buried ‘Raise’ replaces ‘Dispatch’. On InFiné and Mord respectively.
FURTHER UPDATE: REBEKAH DROPS NEW TRACK FOR PERC TRAX Not content with dropping an EP a week and a half back (the title track is in our latest playlist update, Rebekah, has unveiled another hardarse new track ‘Diamond In The Rough’ which appear on the new 4 track compilation for Perc Trax, Forever 1 with Head Front Panel (John Heckle), Manni Dee and Scalameriya. Check it just below. Buy the vinyl here.
Diamond In The Rough
Rebekah (ENG)
From the forthcoming compilation EP, ‘Forever 1’, Perc Trax.
Rebekah Facebook
Audio Stream
UPDATED JUNE 9:
Echologist (RSA/USA) – Dispatch / (Mord)
South African born and New York based producer Brendan Moeller buries the recurring synth motif deep inside an enveloping multi speed sound vortex on the excellent ‘Dispatch’, the centrepiece of ‘his new EP on Mord, In Transit under his Echologist moniker.
SØS Gunver Ryberg (DEN) – Lazayak (Noise Manifesto)
Last week Danish composer and techno experimentalist SØS Gunver Ryberg dropped her new EP SOFALD, on Paula Temple’s Noise Manifesto. The addictive pummeling echo of ‘Lazayak’ is the most immediate of its six experimental works.
Seleccion Natural (ESP) – Negative Selection (PoleGroup)
Selección Natural is the amazing collaboration between PoleGroup mainstays Oscar Mulero, Valentín Corujo and Héctor Sandoval (Exium) and Juan Rico (Reeko). ‘Negative Selection’ comes from the digital only 2 track bonus EP that accompanies the self titled album and recent Indie30 Album of the Week they released in May to mark the Spanish label’s 50th release. Check out solo tracks from Mulero, Rico (Reeko) and Sandoval (Tensal) further on in this playlist.
Rush Plus (USA) – Sweat (E-Missions)
Washington DC producers Jackson Ryland, Jus Nowhere make up Rush Plus, the project they began in 2016. Their new EP homes in on what they term as the Third Sound, found in the spaces between audible sounds and aided by velocity and speed, two aspects found in abundance on the busy and pacy ‘Rebirth’.
Martyn (NET) – World Gate (Ostgut Ton)
The Dutch producer’s eclectic new album Voids is an impressive affair and the muscular punch and crunch of the glassy’World Gate’ is one of its standouts.
Djrum (ENG) – Sex (R&S)
English producer Felix Manuel is set to release his new album Portraits of Firewood. ‘Sex’ is an amazingly multi-dimensional track that is cloaked in dubstep beats and a techno vibe. Excepts of emotive piano and violin step in to traditionally offset the amazing futuristic sound generation that emanates from expertly arranged percussion and field recordings.
Boston 168 (ITA) – Straight To Light (Bpitch Control)
Italian techno soundscapists Sergio Pace and Vincenzo Ferramosca expertly construct a pensive journey steeped in contemporary and traditional approaches on the analog driven ‘Straight To Light’ from their new EP Drops of Heaven.
Charlotte De Witte (BEL) – Silence (NovaMute)
The lithe, minimal and disciplined ‘Silence’ is the standout from The Healer, the new four track EP on NovaMute from Ghent DJ/Producer Charlotte de Witte.
Dani Sbert (ESP) – Titanium (UFO Recordings)
Mallorca DJ/Producer Dani Sbert’s ultra prolific 2018 continues this week as he leads of our playlist with the authoritative ‘Titanium’, the title track off what we think is his 36th EP or single release to go with his album from late May Beggining of Somethng The Album (sic).
Montrez (ENG) – Caffeine (Minimal Systems Recordings)
We have no idea who Montrez is but do know three things. He is male. The moniker is connected to Minimal Systems Recordings, the record label of English independent music development and production company Studio Toolz. And the track in composition and production is killer.
Marco Bailey (BEL) & Dani Rodriguez (ESP) – Forces (Materio)
The relentless and alarming ‘Forces’ is from Meeting Forces, the new collaborative EP from the Belgian based producers.
ANNA (BRA) – Razor (NovaMute)
Brazilian DJ/Producer ANNA’s new EP Razor was actually released on May 25 but appeared on Spotify only a couple of weeks back. The sharp feel of the title track is very much in keeping with its title and heavily utilises a vintage Roland MKS-80, one of her favourite hardware pieces.
Blawan (ENG) – Klade (TERNESC)
After a warped and disheveled beginning. a commanding beat and hypnotic percussion unsuccessfully try to centre ‘Klade’ the opener of Blawan’s debut album Wet Will Always Dry’ as it continues on its mesmerisingly strange flight path into the experimental abyss.
UPDATED JULY 2:
Last weeks additions that remain; Bulgarian DJ/producer KINK’s new project Kirilik, Shlømo & AWB’s new collaborative project Eyssenah, Berlin based French producer La Fraicheur, Giuseppe Tillieci, aka Neel (of Voices From The Lake with Donato Dozzy), Chinedum Nwosu, aka Shinedoe, Undveld, Boris Bunnick’s Conforce, Jonas Rönnberg, aka Varg, Richard Wakley and Paul Maddox, aka Spektre