Stray Landings Mix Series

Oubys’s latest release is not for those who scare easily, or for those who don’t like to be placed far outside their comfort zone. Created by Wannes Kolf, stage name Oubys, SQM LP Part II is set for release 14th November under Belgium’s Testtoon Records. There’s actually nothing “pleasurable” about SQM LP Part II. Just like Part I, Part II doesn’t offer a thick and fast release of serotonin. Instead, the thirty three and a half-minute LP forces you into a corner. Opening song Resurrection is relentless in its attack on your senses, and by its end, you’ve lost the battle. Kolf has subjected you masterfully to an oppressive industrial soundscape and he isn’t going to let you go until he’s rinsed your mind free of joy – a process that takes just over thirty minutes… This isn’t music for people without patience, either. Instead, this is deadly serious food for thought that promises – right up front – to corrupt the happy places in your head and fill them in with a disease sent from the furthest, darkest recesses of space. At times, it squelches and lurches towards you, bleeping at you with ever-increasing ferocity, screaming at you to take off your headphones and hide in a corner until everything is over. At other times, the music appears almost featureless, a carefully constructed drone of sub bass, reverb and affected synth tones – until it comes at you chaotically with cuts of sharp noise that penetrate through the droning mist like a knife penetrating your auditory system. Although the opening track of LP, Resurrection, is an aggressive attack on your mind, Restless, the following piece, is Oubys’s way of presenting the listener some amount of respite from sonic bombardment. All the way through to SQM Expanded, the record’s final piece, Kolf plays with your expectations, toying with a dichotomy of aggressive versus suppressive textures that always keeps you guessing. With eerie soundscapes that leave you wondering when the next slice of noise will come from, SQM LP Part II is something like the sonic equivalent of Ridley Scott’s Alien. That’s what gripped me most about this collection of songs: the unknowing of it all. You fear for the harsh industrial sounds that puncture the deep, dark undercurrent of the music, but you also need them. When they arrive, they stir anxiety in you as you pray for their release. It’s like a form of terrible Stockholm syndrome where Oubys is puppet master and the strings are pure noise. Finally, as the music faded out into nothingness, Oubys freed me from his suffocating grasp. What sticks with me most about my experience with SQM LP Part II is that although I can’t admit to having fun listening to the music he has created here, I was enraptured by it, needing the next bar, then the next; then the next. If you’re ready to be disturbed and challenged, it comes recommended. To celebrate the launch of the LP, Oubys has also crafted a live mix that you can listen to below. It gives a flavor of what Oubys does so well; sculpting together a parasite of noise that will burrow into your brain and stay there for days.

Chookiessss is the name of a Youtube broadcasting platform that is, in the owner’s own words, “celebrat[ing] shit that’s different and worth listening to”. This is perhaps something of an overly modest manifesto, as Chookiessss has an achingly meticulous style carved out for itself, each upload grasping at an indescribable mood and exacted aesthetic. One way in which Chookiessss has established itself in this way is the careful attention paid to the accompanying artwork – snippets of obscure films, distorted digital art and fuzzy visuals all colour and actualize the message of the music. “I think the experience of listening to music is made so much more powerful and immersive by the accompaniment of visuals, and vice versa”, the channel’s owner muses, noting one particular example used from Gasper Noe’s ‘Enter the Void’, “I love that movie. It’s rare to watch something that leaves you feeling so hollowed out, or at least affects you to that extent (particularly so with Irreversible)”. The channel’s owner is also an established producer in his own right, with an EP release on the horizon, “The EP is called Closed Mouths. I’m really proud of it, so I hope people can hear it at some stage. In terms of what people can expect to hear, it’s quite cinematic, and pretty abstract, but it has an arc, at least in my mind.” Despite the unmistakably niche quality that the channel holds, the selections cover a wide range of techno, noise, ambient, industrial and dub. This is reflected in the latest installment of our podcast series, which snakes around the many disparate influences of the channel, all the way from Grindcore Occultists NAILS to the pensive hymns of John Cohen. “I love heavy stuff, like techno and metal, but ambient music has always resonated with me the most, right since when I was little, so the later half of the mix is quite reflective”, he explains. “I’ve grown to love noise, so a lot of that mix is quite abrasive and people might find it hard to listen to. But to me music should be challenging, even if it’s not amazing. Good production goes so far beyond mixing and mastering. It’s about taking risks, and it becomes pretty apparent when you produce who is taking risks and who is playing it safe. The bitter irony is that invariably the people who aren’t taking risks get recognised, and the ones who are making genuinely interesting music largely get overlooked.” He’s absolutely right, of course. The majority of the artists featured on the site will likely never get the day in the sun that they deserve. All we can do is be thankful channels like Chookies take the time to champion the dark corners of the Internet, and value the courage it takes to be original.

The word Acharné comes from the French word for ‘fierce’, ‘obstinate’ or ‘intense’. Speaking with the anonymous artist who has adopted the word as his moniker, it becomes clear rather quickly the tag fits; interviewing Acharné sees more questions asked than answered.
”If ‘Berlin techno’ is reduced to white-noise washes and 40Hkz drones, where does that leave the story of the GDR? If hip-hop producers en mass are emulating Timbaland’s sampling of tabla-loops, where does that place the roll of Sufi music in our collective imagination? If half the top-selling ‘house’ tracks on beatport are marked by an ‘afro-Americanised’ male voice talking about ‘back in the day’ and ‘real Detroit techno’, where does that place the Detroit of today in our imaginations? What does that say about our relationship to gender, authority and the Black Male body?” Although currently based in Berlin, Acharné travels extensively, and he explains his views on the idea of a ‘home city’ with a degree of scepticism. ”I’ve always felt ‘disconnected from any ‘dirt space’ in a fundamental way. This isn’t necessarily something I view as ‘negative’, but rather an inevitable part of a de-centralised work environment, and something I find really valuable to explore and embrace. Ultimately, its the human condition we all share - the challenge of forming identity and purpose beyond boundaries, which I guess are all ultimately just imagined.” Sonically, Acharné is equally unwilling to settle, flitting between ambient, sound design, and techno with ease, as evident from his latest release on Seppku. Explaining how the EP came about, it becomes evident the chosen home for his productions was decided on with care. “I’ve been friends with the label-manager, Dan for some time. For both of us, I think, Seppuku is a tenuous ‘mark in the cultural sand’. Experiments – or rather ‘survival strategies’ for navigating through life in Berlin, through clubland, through the rise of EDM and the “meme-ification” of social media, short-form attention-deficit journalism. Both of us work in music and media, and these projects are counter-balances to the strange acid-seas we sometimes swim within – stuff I’d call “Big Pharma Techno”. So much once so-called “underground” music has been subsumed by high-commerce – which is totally fine, in once sense… but also polarising and utterly creatively stymieing for many producers who insist on identifying as ‘old school’ or ‘originators’ or whatever. 
My EP “Rooms Without Walls”was something of an allusion to this tension between transicence and settlment, which continues to fascinate me. Many of us here in Berlin are here are transient workers, migrant workers, sound and light and text workers – here for a certain time.

Berlin is traditionally the model city of temporality, becoming, yet never ‘arriving’.” Coming hot on the heels of his Seppku release, Acharné’s contribution to our podcast series comes in the form of a recording of one of his live sets. When pressed further on the origin of the performance, Acharné reflects on the circumstances of the recording. “The live-set was recorded in an bunker space in Berlin, which I’m only going to refer to as “Quarantine”, as I was incredibly ill and feverish during the recording. Much of the base-material was actually generated in the preceding 48 hours – again, largely due to a sort of delerium I find myself in when I get ill – which seems to be more frequently in recent years. In situations of panic, melancholy, illness, I revert to a kind of primal insomniac mode – and tend to completely isolate myself. Hence, the genesis of this recording.”

DSNT is a multi-disciplined creative company based in Belfast. Given the multifarious domain that the collective work in, they are often somewhat difficult to define. Oisin, the groups spokesman sets the record straight. “It predominantly works on a per-project basis. I usually take a curatorial role on each project and put a team together. We have a Belfast crew that run the parties and help with the label which comprises of Nez, Ryan Dallas, G.Boo & Sebastian. We couldn’t have put on half of the guests we have done without them. They also help with the A&R and a lot of the music we have signed has been influenced by them.” Despite the fact the group have a strong foothold in events, their operations include a wide manner of things. Previous engagements have included artist management, events management, record producing, graphic & motion design, filming & editing services, art exhibition curation, visual arts and motion graphics. They recently provided the visual show for Headless Horseman’s appearance at Atonal Festival for example. “It was an amazing experience, one of the highlights of my adult life” Oisin begins. “We worked on it for about four weeks straight, from 10am to 3-5am each night. At the start there was three people in the team working on the visuals and then in the last week we pulled in some extra guns in the form of Carlos Purcell who absolutely smashed it. It was a complete honour to be part of the event and we’re massively grateful at the trust the Horseman placed in our hands to produce something that I feel was really special. Berlin Atonal was the perfect festival, the production & curation of the event was so tight.” Having been a huge supporter and follower of DSNT for some time now it seemed fitting to invite them to feature in our podcast series, ahead of their third birthday. "In short, if you want to make money, do something else" Oisin begins when asked about the landmark. "Its been an amazing 3 years, great learning experience and an opportunity to meet some really amazing people, probably what I love more than anything is watching the community grow and develop over the past few years." Summing up the mix as ”Str8 up bangorz all the way”, Nez, the groups nominated DJ for the feature chooses to record in one take, offering a summation of the kind of set typical at DSNT events. With several parties upcoming to mark the birthday celebrations, the next few weeks seems to be heralding an extra push on all frontiers of the project, as Oisin explains. “After DSNT004 we have an all Irish EP featuring tracks from Sunil Sharpe, AnD, Eomac & Fran Hartnett and to coincide with it we’re collaborating with Irish visual artist Danleo who does pretty sick illustrations. We’re going to release a line of four t-shirts to coincide with the release (one for each artist) and we’re planning to develop a new visual show to coincide with the release and do a little mini-tour with our visual show & artists. I’m also working on a bunch of other visual shows for various events, namely our upcoming show for Culture Night - Altered State.”

Residing in Malmö, Sweden, Finn of Tomland (aka Finn Albertsson) approaches the art of DJing differently. Since the hedonistic excesses of the ’90s, Albertsson has operated under a different guise, his Finn Of Tomland project marking the start of a slower, deeper, more considered sound. Few DJs have the courage to include such a wide-range of different styles in their mixes; ranging from dank dub landscapes to hyper-frenzied noise. It is arguably this freeform approach that has led to Albertsson receiving wide acclaim for his sets, an achievement noted by Copenhagen venue Culture Box, with whom he now has a residency. Alongside his work as a DJ, Albertsson also runs the fantastic SonuoS imprint, exposing a range of leftfield producers to the scene at large, pushing an array of sounds as diverse as his DJ selections. With this in mind, If you like what you hear in this mix don’t hesitate to visit the SonuoS Soundcloud page, here.

"Valerio met Voiski while doing his art studies in Paris" Ligovskoï begin when asked how they first came into contact with the owner of Parisian imprint Dement3d, for which they have recently provided the second release. ”He played him some of our very first pieces, and Voiski liked them straight away. He and the Silicate label that Voiski founded with some other musicians invited us to participate in the project “Outland”, a CD compilation based on the science fiction film of the same name. One of our pieces from this compilation has been published and we performed live during the release party. That’s how we have met Heartbeat, who was trying to build Dement3d at the time. Our collaboration with Dement3d started and we worked together on our EP - All four original tracks are very important to us; they evoke different images and emotions that we’ve come across over the last three years.” Whilst the first of their releases have only begun to materialise in the last few years, Nikolaï Azonov & Valerio Selig's relationship in fact stretches back a good ten years - the pair first met in high school. “We spent a lot of time together talking and playing the music trying different styles” they explain of their introduction to electronic music. ”The discovery of ambient music was a real revelation for us, it seemed obvious to us that we wanted to follow this path. We really found ourselves in this music; there was some kind of alchemy.” Despite the pair's long standing friendship however, the collaboration process is not quite as straight forward as you might expect, with Brussels based Azonov living near 200 miles from Selig's residence in Paris. “We work from a distance. One starts a song and then sends it to the other to add some elements etc. When we feel we have enough material we meet in Nikolaï's studio for construction, arrangement and mix of the songs.” Recorded in Brussels, Ligovskoi’s mix for us covers a range of influences, including some of the formative listening material alongside their own productions ”Each of the tracks in its own way had a significant impact on us making us the Vibrate release showing future paths to follow and doors to open.”

SØS Gunver Ryberg is lady of many talents. Working on an impressively broad spectrum of sound art - from installation and performance pieces to film & video game music, she views the differences between her contrasting approaches in a surprisingly simple fashion. “I don’t necessarily distinguish between my various outputs” she begins when asked about her varied projects. “Working in connection with other media is just another way for me to express myself. People ask me to collaborate with them because they know my sound and music and connect to it” she explains. “I often get commissioned to make a piece for a specific site or setting. Then I’ll typically work with various multi-channel configurations. I enjoy integrating spatial elements whether it is an installation or a performance.” Whilst adhering to the guidelines set by commissioned work, Ryberg still manages to keep a firm grasp on her notably experimental signature - a sound which her home city of Copenhagen has been rather receptive to. “A lot has been happening in the last few years in the experimental music scene both in Copenhagen, and the rest of Denmark. There is a strong curiosity and openness towards experimental music whether it’s sound art, electronic, new classical music etc. It inspires me and make me feel free.” With a live performance at Atonal Festival imminent, Ryberg’s podcast for us gives us a taster of what can be expected; comprised of twenty-two minutes of abrasive, droning atmospheres and clamourous percussion. “I’m very excited to be part of the Atonal festival - I’m looking forward to experiencing the unique acoustic space, the whole vibe and ambience in that setting. I’ve worked on a mix that represents my expression, ranging from one earlier composition SIVA to a new one Cirro_Stratus which is recorded live in my studio. My set for Atonal is a continued dive into the transformative physical power of sound. It will be a mix between insistent rhythms and a meticulous exploration of textures and timbres.”

Occupying a territory not-quite-techno, yet not wholly unfamiliar to the dancefloor, the productions of Berlin based ‘rkss’ have a highly distinct feel to them; perhaps ode to his unique approach to sampling. “I focus a lot on textures when I listen to music” he states when asked about his production process. “Though I do think some machine made music is great, we currently live in era where we can take any sound and turn it into something completely different. My friend showed me this essay John Cage wrote in the 1930s, which discusses how in the future people “will be faced with the entire field of sound”, among other things. Pretty much everything in that essay blew my mind and I still find very inspiring. As for more musical or aesthetically sources, I suppose anything I’m listening to at the time funnels into the music. Not consciously, but it ends up in there.” His latest offering, the Reject & Fade released ‘Tunnel’ EP is testament to this, using randomly generated source material throughout the EP. “For my first EP, ‘Basement’, my sound source was all from one film - all micro samples. Similarly I used this technique for ‘Tunnel’, except this time I used Youtube samples. To be more specific I used this amazing website, which simply generated random youtube videos. As one would make field recordings of ambient sounds or real life, I did the same thing in this digital domain, of listening and cutting up random content people were putting on Youtube. All I can say is there are a lot of bodybuilders on Youtube.” Having sent over a selection of material to Reject & Fade curator Michael Hann, it wasn’t long before plans for a fully-formed release began to take shape. “I really respected his taste and wanted to get his opinion on some stuff I had been working on” he says of their initial discussions. “He asked me to create a release for the label he was starting up. I was getting really into just sampling random things I was finding on Youtube and the internet in general - I wanted to explore this aesthetic further, so I set myself the aforementioned parameters. For me it was a success because you really can make something interesting out of anything, if you choose to. And I think the overall music has a certain and specific aesthetic, related to its sound origins, which is what I was hoping.” Covering a range of the material he was listening to during the record’s inception, rkss’ mix for us charts an hour and twenty minutes of tripped out House, Techno and Electronica.”I feel that the album itself is a little bit all over the place” he explains. “At least relative to traditional techno or dance record, with high and low BPMs and some non-traditional rhythms, but its interesting to see a little bit of all of these elements were present in the mix. Which is to say I can see in hindsight how this music effected my music at the time.”

"It was only going to be a matter of time before I tried my hand at it so it was just part of the natural process" Airsilk responds when asked about his first forays into production. Whilst he doesn’t pinpoint exactly when he began toying with production software, his compositions are more telling; carefully constructed webs of noise and found sounds come together in a way which suggest he has been working on the project for some time. "I used to DJ under a different name but I’ve never put any tracks out before" he expands. "The Airsilk project has only come about in the past few months - I figured it was about time I started getting myself out there and see what people thought." The timing of the project is likely not incidental either, having moved down to the capital from his hometown of Leicester in the last few years, his studies have drawn him further into the world of sound-design. "I’m really keen on using elements from sound design and noise music because I think using those kind of techniques create a unique, organic quality that’s difficult to replicate" he speaks of the writing processes used on the project. "I’m always looking to record or find interesting field recordings, especially as you can discover weird artefacts in the recordings to use too. I find it rewarding to create sounds in my tracks from odd, non-descript sources." His mix for us is not for the faint hearted, distorted, full-throttle techno is maintained across its duration, including tracks from the likes of Metrist, Ontal and Catch, alongside several unreleased Airsilk productions.

“Honestly I’m not so much into this Berlin thing even though I definitely understand how nice it is to live in a city that’s a big meeting point for Techno producers” Sylvain Le Goff, better known as Octave divulges when asked about the pull of the city, which appears to draw in techno producers from around the world with gravitational force. “You can see techno ‘colleagues’ all the time, have good fun making music, try new gear or just hang out with guys that have the same passion and meet a lot of people. I don’t know - I’m just not interested I guess. It feels like too much hype, and the city is overpopulated with DJs which is not something I’m looking for.” Having been born and raised a Parisian, it’s refreshing to hear the producer talk about his home city with such enthusiasm. “I love the city, I have my family and friends here and have never thought about leaving. Even more since it’s very easy to travel from Paris, by train or plane which is cool for touring.” First entering the world of production in 2007, it wasn’t long before the Octave project began to gather momentum - Richie Hawtin featuring ‘Past Flash’ on his 2008 released ‘Sounds From Can Elles’ CD for DJ Magazine. However arguably the most pivotal point in Le Goff’s career came with the establishment of his own label, Silent Steps. “I love techno and I love working with other people from the scene, but something I really need to work with people is the feeling” Le Goff says of the family oriented vibe to the label. “All my collaborations are based on the music of course, but the feeling you have with the person is something really important to me as well. I need both and I think that rules the way I work with the agency/label.” Whatever the reasons behind Le Goff’s approach to running the label, its release history is testament to its success, having put out music from the likes of Audio Injection, Yan Cook and Impact Unit. The label has also seen several high profile artists take up remixes for the label, including London based Ali Wells aka Perc. “He did a remix for Silent Steps two years ago which was actually the first reason why we were in touch. It was a true honour for me and the label, this remix is still one of the tracks I like most on Silent Steps” Le Goff explains of his relationship with the Perc Trax founder. “After that I booked him three times at label nights in Germany so those were good opportunities to meet and get to know each other. He’s a true guy; easy and very nice. We have a nice, friendly relationship but I think I’m still, foremost, a big fan.” With 2014 christened by the release of an EP Analogue Series remixes from the likes of Milton Bradley, Bas Mooy, Giorgio Gigli and Yan Cook, the rest of the year is set to be a busy one for the label. “I have a busy schedule of releases, all on vinyl, featuring amazing tracks and remixes from Impact Unit (Material Object + Luis Flores), The Noisemaker, Paul Birken, Subjected, DJ Hyperactive, Yan Cook, Mike Parker and many others, so you can expect a lot of music to come out in the next months. The agency ‘Silent Steps Booking’ will take up a lot of time this year as I really want to grow it and promote all six artists with me on the roster. It’s very important to me and I will dedicate time to it.” Le Goff’s offering to our podcast series consists of a live mix recorded at Crucifix Lane towards the end of last year. “My live sets are always thought out and worked on a lot at the studio, but I also always leave room to jam and go on unplanned paths to keep it live and have more fun.”

These days known better by the L.A.W acronym which they produce rugged warehouse techno under, the background of Irish sisters Lisa & Alice Wallace is perhaps not what you’d expect. “Our parents are both from farming backgrounds and live active lifestyles so we were always kept busy growing up. If we ever wanted to watch TV, we had to knit. Not cool.” they begin when we asked the duo about their musical history earlier this month. “One of our weekly ‘distractions’ was attending piano lessons from a very young age, sometimes dragged to lessons being typical nightmare kids; we were reluctant to practice, but we are now thankful for our mother’s persistence. Our family were also members of the local flute band – there are seven in our family, so we pretty much made up half the band! Lisa also studied music in school and university. Our first family holiday to Ibiza back in 1999 led us to dance music; we visited a record shop in San Antonio and heard this music over the soundsystem that pretty much blew our minds. The obsession went from there, to aspiring to be DJs ‘when we grew up!’” After realising this aspiration, the progression from DJing into production seemed only natural for the pair. “When we first heard dance music we wanted to become DJs to make people dance and that has naturally led into producing as we want to make music to let people feel how we do when music gives us the butterflies.” Having had their first release with Slap Jaxx Records, the pair have gone on to release with Rebekah’s tightly curated Decoy imprint, gaining support for their full-throttle approach to industrial techno. “We were really happy with the feedback the ‘Condemner EP’ received and it’s cool to have a release alongside some amazing producers on Rebekah’s label. We have always been inspired by Rebekah; her productions, sets and work-ethos are on another level and she is fresh proof that females can be taken seriously and be successful within such a male-dominated genre.” Alongside continued support from Rebekah, Dave Clarke has also been a keen supporter of the L.A.W. Project, picking them as winners of the Demo Demolition Competition at ADE 2012, as well as commissioning them to remix his track ‘Storm’. “Dave is one of those people that we get completely star-struck with; talented, knowledgeable, hilarious and never predictable.” they explain of their relationship with Dave. “We have followed his Whitenoise show for years and would encourage anyone to do so; there is something for everyone in there. He educates, crosses many genres sophistically, is truly passionate about every aspect of music and makes time for listening to unknown producers. We sent Dave a promo of our debut ‘AWOL EP’ in 2012 which he supported on his radio show and in his sets, which was a real personal achievement for us.” With the recent release of their Illegal Alien EP, ‘Critter’, L.A.W. have graced us with an exclusive mix, road testing the recent release alongside some older favourites. “We are strong believers that good music does not have a shelf-life. We included tracks from our favourite labels and producers and some very talented up-coming artists. We didn’t hold back with this mix – it’s a hardy one… and we hope you enjoy it!”

"The project started out as an idea for a live show" Mike Jefford begins in offering up an explanation of his Positive Centre project. "In preparation I had bought some new power adapters for various bits and pieces I wanted to use. To get things working, I had to switch the polarity on them to match the bit of equipment it was for - most of which were configured as ‘positive centre’. It stuck in my head and made sense with how I hear the music - so when I sent the first bunch of recordings out they were all under that name.

" Following from his initial enquiries, Jefford managed to secure himself a release with Sigha’s renowned Our Circula Sound imprint earlier this year. “Last Autumn I’d started putting together a new Live show for Hayley and Sam Kerridge’s Contort party in Berlin.” he begins when asked about the occurrence of the six-track EP. “During the sound check my drum machine was shorting out, so I took everything back home, recorded all the stems and ended up with a load of new tracks. I sent James ‘An Assembly’, which he liked enough to ask me to do the EP.” As might be deductible from the production standards of the debut Positive Centre record, the release doesn’t mark Jefford’s first foray into production. ”I first started out with fruity loops and sonic foundry acid when I was a teenager, but it was only when I started using hardware and leaving the computer to do the editing that I found my feet with it.” he expands. Despite having worked and released under a few different alias’ in the past however, Positive Centre marks a concerted effort to express particular memories and ideas. “For me its about capturing the intangible, remembered feelings, old thoughts and things you’ve half forgotten. I’ve never been particularly good at describing this in words, so I find sound is the best way to get these things across.” Jefford’s mix for us covers a range of his personal favourites, alongside his own material, taken both from his debut and forthcoming releases. “The release date for my second EP on OCS should be announced soon. Otherwise I’m in the studio preparing for some upcoming live shows in London and Venice.”

“Raj was sort of my attempt at making an all-out “noise” record, very personal and no holds barred.” Polish born, now New England residing sound-artist Derek Piotr says of his third album. “I had begun working on the record after I recorded voice and organ in a cathedral with a countertenor singer for a separate project. While in that space we also played with the huge resonance – stomping and clapping and chanting. The stomps and organ are the first thing you hear on the record, in “Spine”. It grew from there. My original image for the album was Kali razing all of Manhattan with the Empire State Building in her hand… I wanted the record to sound like steel being destroyed.”

Berlin resident Lui Urbano seems to be taking the Techno scene by storm as of late, gaining support from a multitude of legendary figures, such as Dave Clarke, Function and Chris Leibling with just a few release under his belt. This said, the calibre of those releases potentially explains how Urbano has managed such critical acclaim in a short space of time, releasing with labels such as Affin and Dynamic Reflection, and perhaps most pivotally unleashing his pummelling '2XR909' EP through Decoy Records. The progression from sending tracks to Decoy founder Rebekah to releasing on the label seems like a very natural one, having first met the Birmingham bred DJ at a Weekendstories event. "Rebekah and I got along very well." he says of their first encounter. "I was already aware in advance that she has shown me support so I made her a demo CD and gave her my contact details. Shortly thereafter I had a message from her that she would like to release 4 tracks from the demo on her label Decoy. I was very happy about that. Decoy is still a young but good label with a lot of great artists." Traversing a range of different old school influences, Urbano cites the likes of Jeff Mills and Joey Beltram as inspiring the EP. "Decoy is definitely the right home for this sound" he states, and with a slew of further releases in the pipeline the 2XR909 EP probably won't be the last example of Urbano's idiosyncratic take on 90s style warehouse Techno. "Soon I will release a 12 vinyl on the label Nasyt Teme Records with a remix by Flug, another EP on Ketra with remixes by Deepbass and Mark Morris and an EP with Oliver Kucera on YMN. Towards end of the year I will release a White Label vinyl. On top of that there will be a bunch of releases for artists like DJ Surgules, Second Area, Submerge on labels such as Harthouse, Illegal Alien Records and many more. And of course there will be another release on Decoy, more info to come soon." Whilst we can't share a tracklist for the mix, Urbano's offering traverses a range of hard-hitting dancefloor sounds, whilst managing to remain within a coherent framework. "It’s very important to me to play a variety of music but you can never lose your own style."

Yu Miyashita, who also goes by the name Yaporigami, is a musician shamefully under-appreciated. In July, I found myself blown away by his brilliant new track ‘#001’, with its mysterious backdrop and seductive groove. His blend of glitchy, jarring industrial noises will make your head spin, but behind the sheer power of his sound, there is hidden depth and subtlety, available only to those who listen closely. Earlier this week, we caught up with Miyashita to talk music, film and how different locations influence our taste. We were also very lucky to receive a guest mix from the man, which meanders from post-rock ambience, to Wagnerian crescendos, and loops of paranoid mutterings.

Chris Jarman has had a rather lengthy career, having released music since the early 2000s under the alias Raiden. Whilst he was also working with Industrial, Trip Hop & Techno in his formative years, it was Jarman's D&B tunes that came to dominate the Raiden moniker. “The D&B tunes tunes I made were snapped up by a big label very quickly, so that pretty much took over my life, yet my D&B material has remained highly Techno influenced.” Jarman says of his releases as Raiden. “It got to a point where I wanted to go back and do something I didn’t necessarily have the chance to do before, midlife production crisis maybe?” The so called 'midlife production crisis' Jarman mentions has come in the form of a rebranding of his output, and July sees the second offering from his most recent pseudonym 'Kamikaze Space Programme' out on West Norwood Cassette Library. “When the first KSP release came out in late 2011 Bob [WNCL] instantly supported me and we have been talking ever since.” he considers of the releases formation. “He’s very patient & particular about what he puts out, so it took almost a year to get this release together, but he brought the best out of me.” Those who have heard previews of the forthcoming EP will certainly agree the release has been worth the wait, highlighting Jarman's deftness at re-contextualising samples. "Everytime you hear the sound it takes you back to when you recorded it and a mental image of an object/situation that produced the sound, you’ve frozen that moment in time." he explains. “It’s interesting to see people dancing to a track that’s made entirely from loose change that was in my pocket for example, you’ve taken sounds you wouldn’t normally regard in the context of dance music, yet it’s the things we hear in everyday life." The mix Jarman has put together for us covers plenty of affront new KSP material, comfortably placing it alongside offerings from his contemporaries such Clouds and Boner M. "I was aiming for a mix of crunchy music full of texture and harmonics" he adds. “I recorded the mix using Ableton live using Push and various midi controllers, a sampler acting as a drum machine and a delay FX unit all on the fly." Keep an eye out for the Kamikaze Space Programme EP on WNCL over this month, and also expect to see an EP for TRUST under the byname in the future.

Those privy to the recent explosion of upcoming Techno talent in the UK, will more than likely recognise the name WITCH. The Leicester based production duo first came to light when two tracks simply titled ‘A1’ & ‘B1’ appeared on their Soundcloud. Catching interest from the likes of Happa, Boddika & Avian affiliate Truss/MPIA3 the tracks have gained notoriety.

Cambridge may seem like an unlikely hub for raw, industrial tinged Techno, however with talent such as Samuel Illife aka ‘Ill Life’ (as well as his contemporary Metrist) hailing from the city we’re certainly not complaining. With the now London residing artist’s debut EP set to surface on Infinite Machine next month, we decided it’d be a fitting time to bring you an exclusive mix from the man himself, crossing a range of deeply textured, warped Techno.

Stray Landing contributor Dave Parsons, these days better known as Tarquin, has been moving from strength to strength recently, capturing significant attention with his infectious house jam, ‘Hyperglycemia’, and thunderous, oddball collaboration with Neana, ‘C-Mine’. There is a strong idiosyncratic feel to Parson’s productions, perhaps in part coloured by his highly accomplished Jazz musicianship. His mix for us is a clever mediation, blending the groove laden Techno stylings of Wax, Basic Channel & Psyk with the more current, House led textures of Locked Groove & Alex Coulton. As is becoming increasingly customary for our mix series also expect a couple of exclusives from Wizard Sleeve’s Okota, and the man himself.

In the early days of pirate radio, shout outs would be given by the last three digits of the number texting in. Such is where 877 Records took their name from, the label fronted by by Dom Hughes, has been moving from strength to strength, releasing work by the likes of GoldFFinch, My Nu Leng, Pasteman & Tanka. The label’s release schedule shows no sign of letting up in 2013, with the fifth edition in the series expected early March. ‘The Well Rounded Rebel Alliance’ will follow after this, including the three way collaboration between Donga, Blake & Richter ‘Skeleton Grin’ that kicks off Dom’s mix for us. Spanning forty-five minutes, the mix explores many of the areas 877 promote themselves, including tracks from XXXY, Kry Wolf & French Fries alongside several of their own dubs.