Review: Mike Gervais Assailant EP

Mike Gervais

Assailant EP

Label. SYSTEM

Format. Vinyl & Digital

Cat.Number. SYSTEM002

Release Date. March 9th, 2015 (Vinyl),

March 23rd, 2015 (Digital)

This memorable new release from veteran Minneapolis techno producer and promoter Mike Gervais represents the cutting-edge of American techno. It's the second release on his System label and features two original tracks with 2 remixes. 

Assailant itself has an instant kick and an intense propulsive energy, yet is no mindless banger. The sounds are sharp and clean with morphing sounds coiling and cutting through the mix. As it progresses, drones come to the fore, creating an atmosphere that's both cold and positive.

Luis Flores' remix retains only twisted traces of the original with added Latinate percussion producing a version that's simultaneously more danceable and colder, filled with spiky detail. The Doubt remix starts with stretched, morphing tones before introducing a subtly clubby bass. The overall feeling is more abstract and minimal, with texture and atmosphere prevailing over impact.

Some producers might be overshadowed when having to follow up serious remixes of their work but in this case Gervais' own 'Stumble' outclasses even these. It's a fluent blend of elegantly arranged dark layers and acidic fragments that constantly mutate and modulate, demanding active listening rather than unthinking submission to the beat.

Review: Paula Temple - Deathvox

Format: Vinyl & Digital

Cat.No: R&S  RS1412

This is Paula Temple's second release on R&S, a sequel to her Colonized EP. Now based in Berlin and also running her own label, Noise Manifesto, Temple offers a distinctive blend of contemporary techno with acknowledged industrial influences (a brave step as there's a clumsy but vocal backlash against such influences in techno at present).

'Deathvox' fades up elegantly into distortion and a relentless, galloping beat, soon strafed by harsh, machinic screams. Underlying this are (slightly) more musical elements that provide contrast with the main sequence. After a more ambient interlude it seems to accelerate again, with crisper drums and blasts of what sounds improbably like a Tibetan horn (perhaps her own voice transformed, as the press release suggests). Given her statement that “I wanted to create a sonic movement completely transhuman, captivating, and capable of tingling every chakra in the body” this makes perfect sense, even when the beats drop away and the sound comes to the fore before the chase (which is what the faster sequences feel like) resumes, although it's still interrupted again before the end.

'Monstro' is initially marked by idealistic synth chords that are soon pulverised by massive industrial percussion in the vein of Ancient Methods. It's a slow, pounding track that takes its time and also cedes space to the spacey synths again before its end.

Shifting gear again, 'Ful' opens with very sparse, tribal percussion, plaintive chords and a more muffled beat than the other tracks. Its half-yearning, half-confrontational atmosphere is very 90s, but in the best sense, and when a massive bassline drops later in the track it establishes a direct and inspiring connection to the insurgent energy of classic R & S releases.

Out now: DDR60 on VEB89

This video trailer for the DDR60 compilation features The Party Machine's 'A-SED Haus', a counter-factual hardcore post-new beat remix of East German reality.

For full details of the compilation, limited to 100 copies only, see the label website.

Review: MARCELUS Shine EP TRESOR269

This is the third EP by Marcelus (French producer Cédric Bros) Marcelus returns with the ‘Shine EP’, third 12" to be released on Tresor, which is increasingly coming to seem like a natural home for him.

Opener 'Red Dance' innovatively re-works the classic techno-minimalist sounds of Pacou's late 1990s Tresor releases. It's centred on brittle sounds with a metallic edge that produce a strong impact without sacrificing complexity.



'Worship The Bass' gradually intensifies and accumulates power and packs a strong punch, but is misleadingly-titled as it's not actually a massively bassy track. Instead Marcelus'  cold, filtered sounds compete thoughtfully with a muffled kick.



The B-side tracks (for vinyl listeners) are much more atmospheric and abstract, reminding us of the ambient side of Tresor's vast back catalogue. A filtered, metallic sound circles through 'Shine', accompanied by gauzy sounds and a disembodied female voice in a digital fog. It's certainly not a typical track and all the better for it.



'Astral' is suitably ethereal and makes for a graceful end to the EP. It's a deep and beat-less outro with a trace of the ambient textures of Harold Budd.

Review: Isolated Lines - Stride

Isolated Lines - Stride

Creaked Recordings CRDS44

12”/Digital

One of the more distinctive releases of recent months has been this set by the Swiss producer Isolated Lines, who is described as being influenced by “by old industrial and purely analog synth music.” Yet these are absolutely not backward-looking tracks. The temptation to wallow in fake, neo-80s nostalgia is completely avoided and has a very fresh feeling.

I played Stride at my recent Fluid set and it's both a very strong set builder and a great listen. It kicks in hard from the start, but when the militant hardcore bass sneaks in it becomes massive. Still, there's plenty of subtle detail and finesse in the mix and this is much more than a dancefloor tool. Definitely one of the more memorable tracks of the year to date.

In contrast, 'Raze' is more introspective and minimal, yet still focussed and dynamic. Around the halfway mark, the coldly bleepy sounds and drones are temporarily pushed back by brighter tones before the track returns to its original path.

'Uphold' is an unusual blend of darker bass and components that might have been assembled into a funky party track by other producers. It's full of minimalistic tension and marked by a very forward-thinking use of hovering bass stabs and eventually by darker bass elements that recall the more dance-oriented work of his Swiss predecessors Yello.

I was also strongly reminded of Yello on 'Induce'. The effect here is similar to Yello's more panoramic, wide-screen ambient tracks. The slowly pounding beats only intensify a surprisingly emotional conclusion to the release.

While I have to strongly challenge the press release's fanciful claim that this is "techno at its very darkest", these remain distinctive hardcore/minimal tracks that get under the skin and bear repeated listens (itself a victory in a time of endemic over-production).

Live at Fluid, Friday 15th August

I'll be playing a more techno-focussed set than usual, but naturally with a few wild cards thrown in.

Hysteria, Basement, 578 Kingsland Road, Dalston. Free from 21.00 to 22.00, £5 after. Running until 03.00. Set time: 00.00 - 01.30

Review: Container - Adhesive (Liberation Technologies LTECH007)

Artist: Container

Title: Adhesive

Label: Liberation Technologies

Cat: LTECH007

Format: Digital / Vinyl

The latest release on Mute's developing Liberation Technologies label presents the work of American producer Container (Ren Schofield). The label seems like a natural home for an aggressively experimental EP that seems to acknowledge the influence of other, now historic, producers.

Opener Glaze has an almost poppy beat offset by harsher noise textures. It also recalls the work of Nova Mute artist 2^nd Gen and also has a trace of the early electronic spirit of Mute.

Slush is harsher and more abrasive track with an aggressive, punky sound full of nagging details. In contrast, Complex is quite Punky in spirit, featuring raw textures and a strange niggling sound that might be a flanged voice sample. Whatever the source, it's been successfully designed to grate and to prevent things getting too linear.

The title track is based around a harsh, scouring pattern with sudden blares and bleepy details. It's a very rough and urgent track, as reflected in the media overdose theme of the video: