DVDE DMX Krew
Set Free EP

Simone de Kunovichand Pancratio collaborate on the 'Memory Card EP,' a three-track release that blends exuberance with a hint of nostalgia. The duo drawsinspiration from the early days of video gaming, using samples from obscurePlayStation 1 adventuresand a minimalist sound design that evokes 32-bittextures. Be it the mellow early morning hours or the intensity of peak time, thesetracks offer DJs the right tools to electrify thedancefloor.

Far over on the west coast of the USA we find a room full of drummachines, samplers and keyboards. Hard at work is Israel ‘Iz’ Gravning aka Tone Scientist, who’s been using this Seattle studio to produce genre-defying future music for more than 25 years.An avid student of jazz fusion, hip hop, house, techno and others, hewas galvanised to build his own studio after hearing jungle and drum & bass on a trip to London in 1995. His musical course thus intersected with the collectives then pushing new dancefloor sonics rooted in the rich tradition of Black music – like Nuyorican Soul over on the east coast, and the new broken beats of IG Culture, Dego and Bugz In The Attic in London. Then, in the early 2000s, Iz put out a handful of EPs under different aliases, including ‘Lion Dub’ on the Guidance sublabel Subtitled, but soon stepped back from the public stage. That’s not to say he stopped making or playing music, though. Far from it. Fast forward two decades and our very own Walrus, chilly but happy in the depths of a Toronto winter, happened across ‘Lion Dub’ in the legendary Play The Record store. Intrigued, he tracked Iz down and discovered he had been active all this time. A short email exchange later and this 2xLP of archive material was born.These six tracks explain fully why Iz calls his studio the ‘Time Machine’: vintage equipment and instruments converse with up-to-date software; classic sounds and textures twist into fresh configurations; and Iz’s own creativity and musicality sings to us from a location beyond the trappings of time or genre.All music written, produced and mixed by Israel Gravning aka ToneScientist in Seattle/Washington between 2005 - 2008 except for “Things

Opal, the multidisciplinary project based in Milan, presents its third release, Demo in Progress, produced by Italian artist Marco Maggi, known by his alias Mama. This EP marks a significant evolution in Mama’s artistic path, offering a sound meticulously crafted for the dancefloor. The production highlights his distinctive language, blending dynamic rhythms, profound grooves, and atmospheric textures. Limited 350 copies, no repress!

Viewtiful Joe (Casa Voyager, mindcolormusic, Fundamental) continues his run of sublime electro EPs with this joyful 5-tracker for Welt Discos. Futuristic in sound yet harking back to the heyday of breakdance in the early-to-mid 80s, these battle-ready boogie jams explode with wiggly slap bass, soaring pop melodies and the funk to make you jump. Lock in and freak out!

2024 RepressWriting about techno is quite difficult without falling into cliché: there are only so many ways that you can say something about a music whose core elements are forged on deliberate repetition; where real talent is attributed to those who can find the perfect groove where nothing needs added or subtracted to hold the listener’s attention for upwards of five minutes.Such tracks are the hallmark of Tresor’s catalogue, and this joy in repetition can be found in works from Detroit, Berlin, Birmingham, Edinburgh, and more. And it is through this lens that Parisian artist, UFO95, focuses his output, resulting in Backward Improvement, an EP that sits perfectly in the spectrum of techno found in the Tresor chronology.The title itself makes an abstract reference to the influence of the classics of the genre, inspiring him to take a distinct less-is-more approach to production for this collection of stripped-down yet unrelenting techno chiselled from the live set which has fixed UFO95 as one of the next holdfasts for the future of the scene.Perhaps it is the fact the UFO95 only performs live that had led to such crisp and focussed studio productions.; each of the tracks showcase the artist’s burgeoning talent for creating the essential foundations of techno; perfect, looping, instinctual grooves that are counterbalanced by an apprehensive tension from off-key tones.Backward Improvement marks the addition of a new name in the list of techno’s best producers and proves that while the genre may now be in its 40th year there are yet sonic explorations to be made and variations that are worth unearthing.