Test 01 1A/Vicious So Damn Tuff

• Rumour has it that this is Dillinja and it leaves littlle doubt as it's a dirty bass monster that spits out classic electro samples and even bits of McLaren's Buffalo Gals. The production is overall heavy and gritty and it will appeal to the 4/4 crowd as well. The Vicious side is less direct and sounds more retrospective but both sides make great use of old material treated with new technology. Easily one of the best records around.
  Border Fox

Renegade Hardware Quantum Mechanics RHLP01

• After a long wait;, this album is out at last and it features tracks by Future Forces, Genotype,Kane ,John B and remixes from Decoder and Dillinja. The remix of Extra Terrestial by Genotpye is fairly apocalyptic to say the least and Germ by Genoforce is also instantly a classic but for me the finest moment is Morphosis courtesy of Kane and F Forces. This is an exquisite track using minimal sounds and sparing effects that effortlessly reaches into much darker territory. The rest of the album is also first rate and although I expected a harder package, it wisely provides a variety of moods and styles that ensures its future force.
  Border Fox

Based on Base Recoil Sonic/Change BOB 07

• Another track here for the Taxi Driver collection as Charge brings you Mr De Niro's voice telling you that 'the days go with regularity over and over...and suddenly there is change'. De Niro appears on more records these days than Ed Rush and perhaps has a promising career as an MC especially if he makes any more crap films. Any way this is a useful release and Sonic would be at home on the above album with its twisted bass lines and pounding breaks. Recoil is Dylan so enuff said, you know its going to be banging
  Border Fox

Frontline 30 The Kraft Synthetic/ Demolition

• Swift continues here where he left off with his releases on True Players and Charge Records and he continues to push the mould further into the sour corner with the bassline being manipulated into a more industrial growl. Although not as hard , Synthetic is the more dynamic of the two while Demolition featues an intro which is difficult to cue but provides a great pile up in the mix when dropped properly. Expect more abrasive material to come crawling out of the Kraftwork.
  Border Fox

Virus 01 Ed Rush+Optical Medicine/Punchbag

• The avalanche of material from Rush+Optical continues unabated with no sign of a let up in sight and this new label promises much with its first release. Medicine is of course the thing you require if you're illin and after the unsettling atmospherics and brutal tech-step deal with your symptoms, you are ready for a lethal injection of base meltdown which is then manipulated like a 303 line to awesome effect. Punchbag is more of a smokin track and it should deal with any serious side effects from the a side
  Border Fox

Tearin Vinyl 10 Shogun Assassins Shogun Assassins/Switch

• Haven't seen much action from this label for a while but this release puts them back on the frontline. Initially, Switch seems laid back and chilled but it is underpinned with possibly the most massive flood of base around, sounding as if it was bounced of a mountain or something. It lurks throughout the track which toys with various drum effects and patterns and then swells epically obliterating everything in its path.It's a hard act to follow but the a side is equally interesting and more obviosly disturbing. This time the base is twisted unmercifully after a suspenseful intro and it's really too extreme for words so find it and upset you entire street.
  Border Fox

Photek Productions 001 Digital Lower Depths/Sub Zero

• Very pure drum and base here which is sensitive yet deep enough to carry it off. Perfect sunday music to calm even the most based out or a good record to launch a set with. The sounds are rich and undistorted and the drum patterns are what you would expect Photek to release;a sort of regular irregularity
  Border Fox

31 Records Optical The Bounce/The End part 1

• Bounce is on a funk trip featuring chunky bass sounds with snatches of guitar and keyboard and it's not my style at all but The End part 1 is nothing less than a masterpiece. Luxurious swathes of synth introduce Optical's strange broken beats and each background sound is bled into the next while a perfectly pitched guitar note pierces the air somewhere far off. The track gets deeper and more haunting untill it finally piles up in the most impossible yet workable manner. Difficult to mix not least because it's in a class of it's own
  Border Fox

31 Records Optical Search/The End part2 Fortran remix

• And then ther is the remix which unfortunately doesn't do justice to the original. The drum patters are more direct and accessable but the track although not bad, lacks the depth of the original. Also, a vocal sample has been added which goes on for so long that disastrously Kate Bush comes to mind. However , search on the flip-side is much better and it sounds qutie freaky with it's eerie carnival voices drifting in and out of the voodoo hardstep. Weird science and obeah for sure.
  Border Fox

Formation 075 MA4 Step into our world/Bull Terrier

• Bull Terrier is an excellent track that's strong enough to deal with Dillinja any day. The base is fat and punchy and it has plenty of momentum, being chased along by the hounds barking throught the mix. There's even a touch of west side sax in there for good measure. The reverse is not so thunderous but it does boast a snippet of Blondie doing Rapture and gets away with it which is no mean feat.
  Border Fox

24 Karat 015 Havok Depth Charge/Cyclone

• For those that like their hardstep fast ,minimal and drenched in a fog of base, Cyclone is the track that caters. The base swirls and loiters before finally letting loose and this is just the kind of record that fills up all the spaces in harder techstep tracks while upping the pace. Depth Charge is more straight forward hardstep which still kicks but the former makes this an essential acquisition.
  Border Fox

Fuze 4 The Vagrant Stealth/The Rip

• Fuze is one of the best new labels recently producing roots/dub based drum and bass along with the likes of Juice and Splash. The Rip is very much in this vein while Stealth takes some of the tremors and quakes of the former and erupts into a full scale disturbance. It breaks down in the middle only to come back twice as hard and it leaves little doubt that this label is prepared to take the sound further.
  Border Fox

Mamasan Records 007 Digital Escape/Delight

• This strong Digital release comes on an imprint from Berlin which continues the trend of quality drum and bass coming from abroad which is encouraging. Escape bristles with sharp tight percussion and clean cold far away bass sounds that put it in the Technical Itch mould. The sound level is a bit low but it's well worth pushing the gain up for while Delight sounds more like a live session that's further been compressed and filtered and has a much older feel to it. Lets hope more labels abroad have the sense to promote material like this.
  Border Fox

Audio Couture 001 Calyx Cubic/Narcosis

• One of two releases by Calyx around at the moment and it is a very carefully produced affair that creeps up on you and has you addicted after a few spins. Narcosis is the darker side and the bassline grows into a feline growl which is laid over a strict hard-step. Cubic has less of the night about it and is a more instantly likeable track but the quality of production ensures that it will be a useful and much played track.
  Border Fox

Moving Shadow 118 Calyx Techtonic/Recal

• This is the other Calyx release and again the high standard of production is maintained. Techtonic stars with a gnawing sound which eventually morphs into a full on bass line that lights up the track. This is then backed up with further warm rushes of sound while the snare maintains a hard line throughout.. Further bass experiments on Recall twist the sound almost into lyrics which will no doubt further confuse the more chemically disadvantaged.
  Border Fox

Problem Child - Tank - Chrome 20
Disorder/Futureboi - Split EP - Chrome 20.5

• Whilst journalist Simon Reynolds suggests a new watershed in techstep (a plateau of musicality and a downpour of 'the same') the Chrome material continues in its well contoured guise. Trademark effects - sci-fi data shards, bullying bass noises - are again to the fore which go against the grain of new UK 'two-step' tracks with their obsessive siplicity and muffled synth sweeps. Chrome music is primarily impact driven (party tunes etc.) yet impact is watered down by their surfeit - thus the Problem Child tracks sounded awesome to a friend who'd heard no techstep but to me they sounded a little bit too close to spandex metal. The Disorder track is also pretty hard and familiar, trading on the Unabomber theme of pessimism and quoting heavily from an anti-tech standpoint whilst deliberately swamping the mix in overlaid and overamped 'technology'. Phutureboi come from the Don-Q label and material from this label is less techstep orientated but seems to lean partly towards a grubby jazz feel which I thought we had left way behind. As for a review of the picture... well anyone who has lived through the endless rave pic-discs should find themselves on safe territory.
  ATX

Dakar + Grinser - Ain't No Turning Back - Disko B 63
Susanne Brokesch - Sharing the Sunhat - Disko B 60
Kirlian - Pleasure Yourself - Disko B 65

• Disko B seem to be able to confuse even the most well-defended reviewers by denying the existence of a focal point, strategy and attitude. Like a painting-by-numbers kit we can claim credibility points for championing Disko B in putting out cool material by Inter-ference and Unit Moebius, but what do we make of their Cheap-esque takes on disco/techno-trash? The Kirlian album is horrendous for all of its 60 plus minutes, basing itself as a disco soundtrack to celebrate jerking off. The Dakar + Grinser 12" is in a similar vein to last years 'Shot Down in Reno' and consists of tweaking odd noises into tired structures which has a 50% hit rate (with me) - i.e. 2 good tracks, 2 duff tracks here. The Brokesch double pack is a schizoid celebration of the minute processes that taint and already hugely tainted 'everyday life', thrown together with hip hop breakbeats. Close to the obsessive proximity and anti-stylistic abandon of thge Jazz fudge label, but with that hip Viennese attitude that everyone raves about....
  ATX

Traktor 3000 - ep's 1 + 2 - Din
Monolake - Arte/Occam - Din
Various - 8/8.5/9 - Fatcat

• Musical style and mode of operation are cloaked in secrecy and bland aesthetics suggesting organic offshoots from the Chain Reaction nuclei. The trademarks are all here - hanging tones, heavy static, backgrounded beat patterns that when located start to fall out of sync with everything, and an emergent fluidity that defies itself and parodies its 'proper' self in trance. The traktor ep's have more of a bass-kick than the CR meterial - but the sublime disregard is maintained for those expecting a standard techno workout on all but the last 2 trackswhich start to use snare builds, peaks, drops, etc. Illustrates the full range of subtleties that lie between deliberately being against a form of music, the dialectic between abandonment and subversion. The Monolake cuts are more chilled and again play with modes of saturation and post-saturation - presenting a dilemma in reviewing in that you know this material has limited shelf live in your head. The Fat Cat ep is even more saturated in style, mimicking a helicopter that surveils the street - turning, moving - altering the pitch intensity and direction of the consistent whir of the blades. Ideally a weapon against those who have internalised complacency.
  ATX

Phoenecia - Randa Roomet - Warp 98

• A welcome return to old skool Warp - making records where the emphasis is on not much (apparently) happening as opposed to the freneticism of recent Squarepusher and Aphex releases. Phoenecia are part of the 'From Beyond...' assembly that have been working out on Interdimensional Transitions - rapidly in danger of becoming a Manson-esque post-techno cult. Four tracks here spread across 2 vinyls, all worth checking - mworks best at 33 where the bass drags, the chords stumble, the noises really clang and the drums stay slow. There's a strange re-emergence of heavily repeated and slowed down patterns that takes in such as thge new Somatics material, the newly promised i-F album and of course Autechre. Musically it's part of the wider sweep of the previous undercurrent of electro, emerging once again with more than just journalistic titilation - complex beat patterns inserted into simple loops, sound strains between ambient and industrial, hisses and leaks in production.... Best thing on Warp for a while.
  ATX

Gerhard Deluxxe - Spiral Architect - Sabotage/Craft 26
Bannlust - Digital Tensions CD - Sabotage/Craft 27
Matt Winch - Can't Play Remixes - Sabotage/Craft 28

• Potuznik rides the crest of the Viennese wave of ultra-hipness as Sabotage play in the whirlpools and eddies that sweep behind such media fervour, paddling in the garbage of discorded glossy photos, banal interviews and expense accounts. His 4-tracker is loosely drum and bass with the best track (c) using an evil Cabaret Voltaire tension chord to sidestep the formularised paths to darkness. The other three tracks extend the Cheap style of pastiche moving closer to ragga than anything new.
  Bannlust is Marco Fischer who co-ordinates the gritty label Science City and also records as Krok producing machine driven, paranoid electro. Bannlust is closer to Autechre, jerking across a grid of electronic noise using input data from tensions, moods, noises, uncomfortable sounds, machine codes and switchovers. Close (in parts) to both Rephlex and Throbbing Gristle, but such parallels are only a symptom of my laziness, at the heart of it there is a true tension, a tension between the sheer impact of the obscure sound sources and the subtlety of their arrangement. If we were to keep with fashionable traditions we could suggest this as a soundtrack for late night browsing of the multi-noded, right-wing conspiracy web-sites.
  For the Matt Winch remixes we see Labradford taking and extending the original minimal musicality, whereas Christoph Reimann extends the original playful attitude. The result is two tracks that sound remarkably similar though obviously arrived at through different processes.
  ATX

TAO - Esoteric Red - Language WordV5

• Rumours of a rediscovered 23 Skidoo feel with industrial funk veteran Tony THorpe's Language label. One side of this album hits the mark taking and extending the acyrilic ethno feel and fat basslines of 'Gospel Comes to New Guinea' - with only a slight nod towards categorising as drum and bass - and complementing it with tracks based around counter-directed samples and the feel that there is (in the distance) other tracks playing sweetly and sickly in sync. The other side of the album is closer to the grotesquely over fed Big Beat genre - and if my spies are right I am led to believe that 23 Skidoo's much anticipated comeback release (on Virgin) was stalled due to its striking similarity to Underworld. Oh dear. Tony Thorpe deserves respect for pushing this (and last year's Biomuse material)... creating a wormhole through the 90's for thin boy white funk to emerge. (Review curtailed due to build up of clouds of nostalgia)
  ATX

Modulation and Transformation 3 - Mille Plateaux MP43
IndustrialSampleCoreGrouchBeat - Mille Plateaux 41

• Two differing compilations. Part in Spite of, and part irony towards, the Wire's recentaccusation that Mille Plateaux had reached a po-mo critical meltdown comes this triple pack of uncompromising material... they should have gone all the way and called it "Now That's What I Call Post-Structuralism". Modulation and Transformation is a show of strength and commitment and comes without the recently developed user-friendly-ish theoretical packaging of some Mille Plateaux material. Tracks are laid out to be consumed, a subtle and slinky subversion operating at the outermost level - i.e. time to make a choice - the end of choices? To begin with you get Oval/Curd Data/Arno Peeters with new material all sharinga no-fixed-point-of-origon. You get the picture? Here's the holiday snaps: 'Blue Byte' (who?) sound like they've been rifling through Porter Ricks trash can (and enjoying it), 'Gas' who invent amoeba trance, the crushed beats of 'Steel' and the fact that the '4E' track sounds like you crawled through a pipe in an effort to listen to the Steel track and got stuck in the middle. There's sdtuff from Panacea and Spooky but we are assured that the Electric Ladyland series will still be continued regardless of this excellent release. Frightening.
• 
  The industrial.... album isn't as bad as I'd been led to believe but isn['t as good as belief that these London/Brighton musicians have in themselves as the pioneers of anti-complacency. The garment in question is the much touted 'drill'n'bass' - a kind of student music for the evolutionary clique above big beat. What worries me is the fact that I'd probably be into this stuff if I was a lot younger! What I'm saying is that it all seems so deliberate and deliberately 'anti' that, after 20 odd years of buying records etc. you can see through it. To be fair, side A is very good - more spirit and funk - but the rest is kind of ultra controlled 'uncontrolledness'... frenetic drum patterns, silly samples, cut and paste to infinity. Ever since punk there has been a current instigated by Nurse With Wound and propped up by such as the Butthole Surfers, a worshipping of the quest to be... well... different. And it seems that after 10 years of hustling dance music that 'difference' is still.... well... the same.
  ATX

She sees with her Fingers - Controlled Weirdness / Warlock - Unearthly 03

• Unearthly touch down with the third wave, and deliver a four track program of deep minimal sometimes offbeat rhythms, featuring a hypnotic mix of raw drums and analogues best illustrated by the A side with the wicked 'Razor Steppin' a powerful groove combining a deep talking bass and sideways stepping drum track with a claustrophobic high pitch drone, and 'South London Strutt' a well balanced rolling tom and snare train-like rhythm.
  Kovert

Anaphylactic Shock - Suck my Stump e.p. - Amputate 01

• New UK label coming with a Somatic Response-ish attitude toward frequency abuse, except not as refined or as well executed in places as the Somatics, but still laying down some cool ideas/structures and experimenting in hardsound . At least two of the four tracks are extremely playable with only one not, thanks to a much too repetitive gangster vocal sample(s) which just gets too annoying in a short space of time.
  Kovert

Various Artists - Chinese Revenge - Eclectic 01

• A four track e.p by four different artists kicks off this new label - with the D'arcangelo brothers contributing the first track, opting for their much preferred hardsound rhythmic intensity, as opposed to the eighties revival leanings recently displayed, much loved by nostalgics thinking back not looking forward. A.D.C. step up second and display more Italian broken beat tactics, not as intense as the recent Uncivilized World e.p. but still cool. On the flipside we get a different flavour with two deeper trips, firstly courtesy of 'interr-ference' with 'Shadow of the clown', relying on random analogue monotony(in a good way) and overdriven drums Lastly Gabriele Rizzo lays down a hi-hatless deepside cut with an echoed kick ploughing through a mover-ish landscape littered with lo-fi electronics.
  Kovert

Amp tek - Declassified - Eclectic 02

• Second installment from Eclectic, sees Amp tek's - over three of the four tracks - interpretation of breaks and sub bass, with 'Ufo crash', a quite tense broken beat experiment being the last. Of the strange breaks we get three very different, but at the same time similar tracks - different in levels of intensity but similar in that they all share a sense of space, atmosphere and strangeness. 'Chupacabra' - being fast(a bit too fast needs pitching down as the breaks are quite busy) and quite dark with a cool t.step inspired bass . 'Area 51' has a melancholic feel reminiscent of some of Leo Anibaldi's tracks on the 'Muta' album, injected with splintered beats sporadically and 'Falso movimento' a slower eerier sound with a deep bass.
  Kovert

Gabriele Rizzo - La Morte Si Rinnova - Elex 03

• A record of two halves, on the one hand we have two tracks reminiscent of an e.p. by Gabriele Rizzo on Plasmek a couple of years back more on a minimal 808/acid tip, and then on the other side we enter the machine with more tension and an altogether stranger atmosphere, much more interesting a lot slower but more intense and experimental with a larger sound.
  Kovert

White label - Elex 04

• Not sure who this is by but its similar to the more experimental side of the third Elex release and also to Rizzo track on the first Eclectic, so id guess its Gabriele Rizzo again. Over five tracks we experience a darker, moodier, deeper sound than Elex 03, less danceable but more atmospheric. There are beats there, echoing, but sparser metronome like.
  Kovert

Phon - going Uphill e.p. - Ript Skin

• Excellent, meticulously produced U.K. four tracker, with three broken beat cuts and one acid track, which kind of pales into insignificance compared with the other more experimental tracks. 'Thrash the Rat', '5 till 2 or 12' and 'Fireworks'. All carrying broken rhythm structures under a weight of atmosphere, creating a large but clear production, that kicks!
  Kovert

Eradicator and Din - Gopherraid - Spite 02

• Various manifestations of mainly hip - hop influenced breaks roughed up over six tracks, covering overdriven hard hop, speed breaks and heavy electro.
  Kovert

New Skin 01

• Showcasing and mutating/melding hardsound possibilities as part of a growing number of exciting U.K. new school arrangements, these five tracks cut up/break down and reassemble preconceived styles into fresh freestyle rhythms. Working with harsh generally uneffected drum sounds, noise, snatches of breaks some speedcore tendencies and dry bass to build broken structures and rough anti - rhythms.
  Kovert

Christoph Fringelli + DJ Pure - Anti Christ - subversion 02

• This is absolutely dangerous. Two mixes of probably the hardest sick step, combining tough stepping drums - given a metallic reverb to the beats on one mix - with some awesome evil frequency abuse and drones.
  Kovert

Dillinja: Violent Killa (Valve 01)

• Absolutely THE record of '97. One of the most powerful dark drum & bass records to date....this levels any dance-floor like a double impact nuclear bomb going off - the vast menace of the double kick at the beginning of each bar hurling the track forward, pushing everything in its wake. Intense pressure building.... and then the oscillating, seething bass-line is finally released (like an Alien bursting from your chest!) in 4 long drawn-out swelling refrains. Truely violent and a killer...just the way we like it!
  Scud

• I presume 'Limited' refers here to the mere 2,000 copies they're manufacturing of this and not as a reminder to us of their status as a business? So why exactly are these 'Limited' anyway? Might it be because they're merely vehicles for Empire & Co.'s 'leftovers' & unresolved cubase sessions? - a classic music industry pimp-trick.... Most of the material on here sounds like it is exactly that. OK it has some of the usual energetic Empire trademarks, but it smacks of cynicism and on-the-road hotel-room boredom....knocking together tracks just for the fuck of it and DATing it regardless because you know the hype is big enough to give them any old cheap noise....or is that just called punk attitude?
  Scud

• In stark contrast to 'Deathfunk' this presents us with a whole bunch of excellent rough party tunes and sees the Empire exploring more diverse frantic step rhythms. Sounding all the better for it these come as a timely antidote to the self-imposed & self-concious restraint of most of the other two-step material around. Drop these tunes and Fuck it up for Everybody!
  Scud

• Like SPITE 02 the entire record suffers from being buried behind this wall of lifeless reverb(?)/FX leaving the listener with the impression that their record stylus has finally ground down to a blunt chisel! Or maybe this is a deliberate 'wall of sound' production choice? Whatever....Its generic Patric C. stuff, in a kind of old-school vein - big fat distorted hip-hop beats and incessant hypnotic ravey noise-stabs, breakneck beats and raggamuffin toasting.
  Scud

• The orgasm addict David Hammer returns from his Summer vacation and brings us an EP of such awfulness that it shines with a brilliance bordering on genius. This seems to be becoming something of a Shizuo trademark. The catchiest (and least chaotic) track here is surely The Hooker with its drugged-up sweaty swing-beat and sleazy 'punani' bass-line. I can see this pumping out of 4 wheel-drives at traffic lights on hot Summer nights! Which brings us toThe Nutter ....My God! This surpasses even Anarchy !!! Apparently it was inspired by the old Harry Enfield dime bar ad. and was recorded live in one take on a post-party LSD come down....strapping on his fender and giving the punk performance of his life the Shizu-man gives us his raw angst....a stream of pure Shizuo-conciousness. Love it or hate it. Shizuo absolved us all from our sins last time.....can we forgive him his?
  Scud

• "Don't be trapped by old concepts.....you're evolving into a new being. We don't hate you.....there's no need for hate now.....or love. We adapt - And we survive!" Dub-plate>> Dub plate>> Dub-plate>> Dub-plate>>
  The Jackal

• 4 tracks of hard techno from Marseille, 50% of which is worth buying the E. P for. "Brocoli" and "Thrust in Peace" are two slabs of energetic and forcefull hard techno. Industrial sounds and manic loops drive forward and build up to a wicked crescendo. Total hard dancecore. Play on 45 for maximum crowd mashing.
  delinquent

• Another record that hits the target is this mysterious French 4-tracker on Skylab by Double Face. The second tunes on either side are the best. Crystal clear, driving techno on a pukka loud pressing. Monotonous and repetitive punchy kicks layered with screeching hypnotics.
  delinquent

• I have to admit to being a bit of a Francophile when it comes to Techno after a recent spate of excellent French releases. Another two Gallic gems are two blue 10 inch E.P.s from FTS. Ranging from laid back atmospheric to full-on late night assaults. The highlight for me is one trak on FTS 02 that coolly punches you in the chest with a wicked kik drum. Excellent tension between broken sections and straight banging sometimes straying into doublespeed territory all the while seriously fucked hi-hats making it groovy. Spiral Trance after a few sessions in the gym and an intensive course of steroids.
  delinquent

• The brilliant follow up to one of my favourite records of 97 keeps up the pressure and goes that little bit further.Slower and more distorted than UD001,the aftermath of a napalm attack on a densely populated housing estate.Broken,bloody,funky and hard yet intensely digital.The future of Techno.
  delinquent

• 3 origional sounding tracks,1 slow and 2 faster.Acidic,dark sweeping breakbeat driven techno.Cavernous and deep.Subterrainean music for smoke-filled basements.
  delinquent

• The latest offering from the French hardcore label which ranges from excellence to turd is a solid and cool 4 tracker from D.J.Olive.Rough kicks overlaid with effects laden crystalline sounds,acidic industrial noise.Powerful and distorted party hardcore at around 200b.p.m.
  delinquent

• Keep Techno Crap!the Label proclaims.This NTW23 related release(you may not believe me,but honestly)is truly experimental.Insects crawling over a drum machine,clicking,tapping and dull thumping percussion weave around cheesy-weird old skool basslines.Definately"spiral"but a new and welcome direction,more in a "Unit Moebius/Acid Orange vein.
  delinquent

• Cool 2 tracker from Teknival live set veterans Les Boucles Etranges.Superficially this could be lots of other French Techno records but listen closer (or louder)and there is something manevolent dwelling within the 4/4 hi-hat structure,a gremlin whose sole desire is to see you a gibbering vegetable in a dark corner of some seedy party.The little demon who sits on your shoulder and tells you to slip a black microdot into the evian water of that smiling faced raver who keeps asking you for chewing gum.2 pukka fast techno tunes with a subtle elusive edge that hitches a ride on the thumping bassline.Unsettling and large.
  delinquent

• The French have breathed new life into 4beat hardcore techno and this is a perfect example of that sound they have made their own.Banging rough beats sit comfortably with junglistic breaks and spaced-out cold minimal sounds.Kiks hard and still keeps that cerebral,icy and dystopian ambience that all good techno should have.Like C-Tank,Caustic Visions and Magnetic North did all those years ago but few have managed to achieve since.
  delinquent

• This is an excellent record from the reliable Dead End label.Massive hardcore bass that just vibrates like a fucker and sends anything within a 5 mile radius away convulsing and foaming at the mouth.One of those pull your collar up,your cap down and punch the air in front of you until the veins pop out on your forehead and you realise all your mates are laughing at you sort of tunes.Add that monster of a bassline to some sweeping rushing sounds,a computer game melody and some dark synths and you have an all round decent record.My only critisisms are that occaisionly it veers too much into tried and tested gabba realms and also that the intros are the best parts and after a while the tunes slip into pretty predictable breakdowns and build ups,but mix it out before it gets familiar and you've got a pretty formidable party weapon on the decks.
  delinquent

• Unmistakable NTW23 style of music and anti-celebrity graphics here.(There is a few new Isotope records around at the moment but go for this one in the black sleeve if you know whats bad for you.)Has that trademark malfuntioning hyperactive android trying to kick his way out the speaker sound that certain old spiral records had.Just when you think it cant get any more paranoid,manic and robotic some other mad loop drops in until it sounds like a flock of cybernetic sparrows killing each other with electric drills,when the tune ends suddenly your ears take about half an hour to adjust to terrestrial sound waves.
  delinquent

• More mashed mayhem from the Mutilation Chamber."Horrorflick"kicks things off with distended skreeching synthlines and electro stabs driven by an understated kick."Darkvoice"follows;a pounding industrialised soundblast which just go on as long as it could.Title track"Source of distubance is a slow grind of epic proportions with layers upon layes of distortion which feels like it would collapse under its own weight if it weren't for the filthy bass drum supporting it.Final cut "Acid Racket"is a surprisingly bouncy noise with more of an emphasis on beat construction than the previous tracks,neverthless it builds into a high pitched white out that brings the e.p. to a halt.Basically an excellent record from the masters.(Look out for Future Galactics new sub label SixShooter for Somatic stuff).
  eun

• Produced by the confusingly named A.F.X.Dub(Richard James meets Lee Perry??),the first release on SpeedyQ's label is a similarly confusing release.The five tracks onboard range from slightly cheesy hard techno to full on speedcore with broken noise experiments along the way.At its best moments Lack of Yin is abrasive and fucked up but a couple of otherwise good tracks let the e.p.down with daft samples.Worth checking out anyhow.
  eun

• By far the most credible release so far on the generally dodgy P.C.P. breakbeat sub-label.Two mixes of doomstep darkness which stand well with the Gyration/Chrome take on Drum and Bass.Both mixes combine Mover atmospheres with solid breaks and hovering bass to maximum effect and are thankfully free of the crap samples that plagued previous releases.Hopefully this 12" is the start of some serious action from P.C.P.producers working within D&B frameworks.
  eun

• Excellent speedcore four tracker on Dead End,produced by the Japanese duo responsible for Burning Lazy Persons on Fischkopf.Concentrated kicks stop/start throught the E.P. in a choatic high pressure assault.Frequent breakdowns to minimal percussive elements allow the tracks to build up in stages with each component part having maximum impact.This emphasis on structure makes it a wicked record to mix but also gives eachtrack an individual identity beyond a slight kickdrum variation,a quality sadly lacking at the moment in some releases of this velocity.
  eun

• From the same minds as SansPitie 2,Near Kreutzfeld Jacob Experiment ,comes this ludicrously limited(150 copies) 12".The full-on interference of"Active Radio"opens the e.p.,beats gradually break through waves of high frequency noise causing certain distress on the dancefloor.The following tracks consist of heads down 4/4 kicks overlayed with contorting digital shreaks.The intentions of this record are made clear by the single scream of pain which ends "Massacre a la Playstation".Highly volatile material definatly worth seeking out.
  eun

• Wicked mini album from the ridiculously talented Patric C who continues to release mindblowing stuff without any of the rock star nonsense of labelmate Alec Empire.Switching from manic break beat cut ups to heavy as fuck industrial rhythms interlinked by locked grooves and sampler chaos,"Snuff Out" is an essential record for anyone who is sick of seemless musical journeys towards the millenium..
  eun

• Quality e.p. from two of U.K.technos lowest profile operators.Over four minimalist tracks feelings of isolation,dislocation and confusion pervade.They exist within a funk vacuum where individual loops interlock and disengage in esoteric functions.The standout track for me is "Fingers"with its constantly twisting synth pulses which relish in their own dark potential.
  eun

• California;sun,sea,space-trance and speedcore?!.Six tracks of the latter thankfully.Wicked lo-tech hardcore grunge from the West coast based Vinyl Communications label.The live prodution style is sort of Explore Toi ish but operates on a more twisted primalangle.Tracks evolve into a maelstrom of f.x. and feedback only to be reduced to single wavering tones dispensing with any conventional structual design.The e.p. is complimented with excellent cover graphics which link well with the concepts related by the music of user/machine relationships.The only criticism is the quiet cut but this can be sorted with a bit of e.q.ing .
  eun

• French sound system Double 0's first release comes as a pleasant surprise,dirty distorted loops roll out across four tracks of mid paced techno.There are obvious Spiral influences to some of the percussion patterns and the e.p. is most impressive in its more chaotic moments when the 4/4 lets rougher noise break through.Track B1 has the amusing effect of making speakers seem blown through it s overdriven bassline resulting in horrified expressions on sound engineers faces. Worth getting for that fact alone.
  eun

• Purposfully sinister 6 track 12"from Londons doomcore underground.All tracks display a singleminded approach to style of music that will never have its own pigeonhole in Mixmag.Oblique kicks underline a mix up of metallic screams,darkrave atmospherics and nasty little samples,whose interactions provide further evidence of an undercover movement intent on dragging the hapless trancer into the land of skullfuck.
  eun

• The long awaited follow up to one of last years best records comes in the form of a two track 7".Both tracks explore broken up hardcore in a direct and brutal style.'Verdun 2050' uses a crisply edited breakbeat inamongst its stuttering kicks,whilst'Gueule quand tas mal' relies on amplified'grosse pieds'to hammer its message across.Both tracks are brief and to the point and leave you wanting more.Hopefully this signals the beginning of some serious experimentation in French hardcore structures from Reverse and that number three will come out sometime this year.
  eun

• It's good to see Beast back on form after the truly awful Lenny Dee effort on number seven.Aura Exiter provide four sharp edged cuts which are more fast techno than speedcore in the combinations of sounds used.'Twinbeat'builds from a sci-fi intro into a powerful piece using half speed kicks and mutating frequencies.The kick/percussion patterns determine the direction of tracks rather than the surface textures which drift in and out of the mix in F.Xed layers.A solid and fresh sounding e.p., catch it now at your local crumbling warehouse.
  eun

• Interesting follow up to the so-so first release on Contrarotative.'Track 0001 dbase' takes up one side of this 12" with a disjointed broken intro leading to a mid paced cut up.Spinbacks and damaged samples seperate hardbeats and the sounds of speeding traffic,all boosted by SpeedyQ's high energy production techniques and aimed squarely at the dancefloor.
  eun

• I hate CD's coz I always want to be able to spin the tunes on decks... especially when they're as good as every track on this piece of plastic. From the gentle, pure darkness of Hecate... the brilliance of Kerosene's version of Heroin... the restraint of Bomb 20 (this is a CD after all)... EC8OR... to the sex of Lynn Powderhorn (check out the Hecate interview on C8). I am even getting round to liking the Alec Empire track! All these tunes are certainly "CD material" (whatever that is??) but they are tunes that show another side to artists involved.. slow, fukt and broken. Dark, distorted, mean and so very, very moody. This a compilation that was begging to be made and it's permanantly being played round at my place coz there's times when you're tired and you can't be fukt to get up and put another tune on the decks.... ahem.
  stevvi

• The long awaited return of SubVersion sees 2 remixes of the 1st release. Side A hosts the Panacea remix and, for me, is the side to go for. It's more D&B/less hard/slower than 001 but it's none the worse for that. A truly massive tune. The B side by Fennesz appears to use bagpipes... something I haven't heard since AC/DC or... ermm.. Mull of Kintire.. oh shit. Anyway, it's not my favourite track as it just never gets going, I kept thinking that it was gonna kick off with a massive bass line or something but it just kinda fizzled out.
  stevvi

SLAB: Loop Records. (LOOP 006)

• How very, very disturbing. I believe these 2 tunes were produced sometime back in '95 and it's a great shame that they've taken so long to get released. Having said that, they have not aged one bit... except for the drum pattern similarity with Loop 9701 (don't ask me about the release sequence). Don't get me wrong, the 2 records are very different, 006 is distorted with the sound of pain, it's nasty, it's excellent... it's the sound of much wailing and gnashing of teeth.
  stevvi

Various: 0161 [Skam & V/Vm & Public]

• A 14 track compilation that sees the coming together of three Manchester labels in honour of either the rebuilding or the bombing of the Arndale Centre. Going by the cover and the opening track by Mild Man Jan - an illogical, fucked up mess of city street recordings spliced to tape re-wind and treated thrash - I'll interpret it as the latter. Other highlights include Martian Tin Can's intriguing take on trip-hop with filmic stabs and loose jazz break as background hiss; V/Vm's maverick intervention of manipulating frequency into fast pulses of irregular rhythm (sadly too short); Datathief's moody electro evocative of middle-distance Cabaret Voltaire phased to a PCP-style emotional tingle and Professor Broxburn's scarey attempt to create a soundtrack for the movie Themroc! Also includes tracks by Gescom, Bola, Jega, Jackfear, The Fall and others. Overall, it's a useful window on some of the directional elements of a Manchester scene too long dominated by house and indie-pop. Destroy buildings, make compilations?
  Flint Michigan

VOMIT: Dystopia II. Re-Load. (Re-Load Ltd. 972901)

• After many dissapointments with Re-Load, this EP perked up my ears by going against the usual flow of hard monotonous (read: boring) floor-filler stuff. It's not really ground breaking but it is nicely experimental. Very sporadically placed beats work along with crinkling and gurgling samples, fallout-like sirens, jungle beats, etc. Sounds very related to the Autechre style of keeping things off-center. To me it sounds very clean; distortion/other noises aren't really brought out but hang in the background. It sounds like they're trying to hold back and that brought down this EP a couple of notches for me. But if you do like Autechre/Rephlex-y style things I'm sure you'd dig this.
  DJ Entox (The Skreem)

• This records takes the Techno/D&B mix found on Praxis 024 a stage further. Christoph Fringeli is pushing the limits of accepted genres... cutting them up and smashing them together. It's simply harder, nastier and better than all the rest. It's the sound of Praxis.
  stevvi

TUNK SYSTEMS & GEORGE SABELLICUS: ? Zero Tolerance Records. (ZTR 010)

• A split 12" with Tunk Systems filling the first side with a structured (?) noise track.. something you can listen to without your ears bleeding. The flip side has 2 tunes. The first is schizophrenic - dark nervy nastiness with light smiley rave. The second is simply the sound of suffering in Hell. Lovely.
  stevvi

VARIOUS:? Zero Tolerance Records. (ZTR 009)

• This is kind of a ZTR compilation, it opens with some Heist distorted disturbance followed by extreme stomping nastiness from Avid Fan, the final track on the A side is by the Pigmen and is a more chilled, deep rumbling affair. The B side has 2 Neuroviolence tunes that show his/her calmer side... both tracks are simply excellent. ZTR have managed to put togther a varied release with each tune complimenting the rest. One day I'll say something bad about this label, it has to happen... but not just yet!
  stevvi

OVERLORD: Hall. Dance Ecstacy. (DE 2055)

• This record is just fukkin' brilliant. Slow, eerie and brilliantly PCP.
  stevvi