Detroit’s technological belly dance Gary Martin and his Teknotika Records are a special phenomenon in the history of Detroit techno. Compared to the city’s traditional electronic sound – UR’s hi-tech funk, 430 West’s rolling house or Metroplex’s stellar electro -, the output curated by Martin aka Gigi Galaxy would ratherRead More →
Buy vinyl from Juno (UK) Buy vinyl from Hard Wax (DE) Buy vinyl from Halcyon (US) Vmax convincingly signals the end of absence Set up in Michigan’s capital city Lansing, Vmax belonged in the 1990s to acclaimed imprints of the larger Detroit area. Over the years it hasRead More →
A diverse selection of nineties US techno With recent releases on Tar Hallow, Planet Rhythm and his own label Mechanism Industries, experienced US artist Fanon Flowers is not willing to send any signals about retirement. Born in Michigan’s Kalamazoo, a musically important location between Detroit and Chicago, current L.A. resident FlowersRead More →
Buy vinyl from Juno (UK) Buy vinyl from Hard Wax (DE) Classic techno from ‘a veteran’ in top form The nineties caught up with us once again, this time in the person of Steffan Robbers aka Terrace. Already more than 25 years ago he was a regularRead More →
The second part of what is becoming a tradition: After listing my favourites from 2005 and from 1996, the time is ripe for another end of the year selection from the archives. The first part is here. Silicon – 4 L.L. (Vmax Records) In 1997, Vmax founder Heath Brunner releasedRead More →
It is becoming a tradition: After listing my favourites from 2005 and from 1996, the time is ripe for another end of the year selection from the archives. The second part can be found here. Bizz O.D. – You May Be Hardcore But… (Force Inc. Music Works – FIM 123) ByRead More →
Three-one-three area legend Blake Baxter, the Prince of Techno, is not stuck in the past, if we may think so because of his reissues for Mint Condition. Recently he has produced new tracks for Killekill, and Baxter’s latest appearance comes on Four313, a new label from Detroit. He shares theRead More →
Keith Tucker – Detroit Saved My Soul (Mint Condition MC013 – 2017) In a three-tracker that originally appeared on the Glasgow label Seventh Sign Recordings in 2005, Keith Tucker of Aux 88 and Optic Nerve fame opens with a solid techno narrative “It’s A Mood (Detroit Saved My Soul)” thatRead More →
[Updates on December 17, 2017 and September 19, 2019 – see the end of the post] After a wider audience has (re)discovered Drexciya through reissues on Clone, it’s time to pay attention to other notable moments of the nineties Detroit electro. Direct Beat makes a much-anticipated return in 2018 whenRead More →
As everyone would guess, Detroit’s electro and bass label Black Bottom Records got its name from the area located on the city’s east side that was named Black Bottom by French settlers because of its fertile and dark soil. For the label, the ground has not been too fertile becauseRead More →