System 01
System 01 ( 1990-94 )

Wicked new J Albert 12" on LQQK Studio's 369 Records imprint that spans NYC freestyle-esque electro, dubbed out garage and tougher techno. All killer no filler

The Moroccan producer starts 2021 on the right foot with a full EP on his own and newly born label. He delivers 4 powerful and fast-paced club tracks, all stamped with his unique trademark sound.

With a series of archival releases now chronicled on home imprint Offworld Records, enigmatic techno producer Tim Jackiw issues a highly limited magenta-coloured 3-track EP of recordings unearthed from late-night studio sessions captured on DAT tape throughout 1996. On the A-side, minimal number 'Full Moon' stretches out over 10 minutes and ventures deep into the unknown, the feature a Roland SH-101 motif drenched in huge washes of reverb. On the flip, a previously-lost longer mix of favorite 'Shade' captivates with emotive pads and melodies and is rounded out by the ethereal title track 'Sunset Over Saturn'. Recommended!

Dark of Groove

Orphic Apparition is a new label born out of a transatlantic meeting of minds. Facilitated by a long, hedonistic party in one of present-day London’s ‘meanwhile use’ venues Grow Tottenham, Canadian producer Raf Reza and British acid house luminary Paul Chivers spent a precious day in the studio to record a 3 hour straight to DAT session before Reza's return to Canada. The result of this spontaneous yet intuitive collaboration blurs the lines between Chiver’s long-standing Ramjac Corporation alias and Reza’s genre-spanning approach to dub, breaks and house styles. Part of the early 90s rave scene and an important member of the blueprint-setting Irdial label, Ramjac locks heads with the self-professed ‘lazy music guy from Toronto’ to adapt their studio session into five separate mixdowns.‘In The Grow’ begins with a bouncy, cut-up sounding Errorsmith-esque rhythm, the recurring fright night melody that distinguishes the record coming in all quick and powerful. The A2 ‘Rotten Mix’ offers a more traditional house approach in its composition, with dub FX and a nice DJ friendly outro. On the final uptempo choice the pair opt for a head-scrambling electro take. Choose your fighter! The ‘Swampy Dub’ on the flip really dismantles everything we’ve heard prior, slo-mo drums allowing a much different DJ experience and altering the freaky synthetic propulsion into an almost modern classical sound. A little like Paul Dresher’s eternal ‘Channels Passing’ (tip). Combined with the other edits this version almost becomes a totally different track. The final ‘Rootless Dub’ gives its clues in the title, removing all the tough drum sounds and allowing for an ambient decompression.Orphic Apparition will return soon.

Third release on Steve Pickton’s co-owned Fencepiece record label features something special from the OTHER WORLD Studios archive - the first ever Stasis release from 1993. Three sublime examples of classic UK Techno from one of the true originators - Vanmannans Answer also features an early studio collaboration with fellow UK legend Nuron. Originally released on the tiny Time is Right label and now super expensive, these tracks have been remastered for 2020 from the original DAT and are scheduled for release in January 2021 (INDIVIDUALLY NUMBERED, LIMITED EDITION VINYL ONLY).