Abracadabra

In all likelihood, there isn’t a sound system on the planet loud enough to do this justice. Alex Tolstey from Boshke Beats has compiled a gem here, that’ll nicely satiate the tech-heads’ need for beefy, beautiful beats. Mantik’s Siu Nim Tao opens the album with a loud, crunching rendering of that Dolby Digital thing they play in cinemas. Your seat rumbles. And it falls into a baggy, swaggering bit of techno that’s full of future-phear vibes. Alic’s The Gentle Way Of Mind Destruction is more minimal, subdued stuff. It bustles along under fuzzy percussion, with melodies suggesting themselves and worming their way around the bottomend before emerging from the surface like beauty from the depths.

Fuzzion’s Black Magic gets a live remix, which further cements him in my book as one of the best producers around at the moment. Cheekily psychedelic, it’s all about twists and turns which eventually, by way of some Jean Michel Jarre-reminiscent pads, eases itself into a sort of anthem-to-chaos; deliciously clever. Metalogic vs Michael Lawrence’s Fabricated is another delight: the sounds that come out of the speakers here are so deliciously William Gibson that you an almost see that television-interference sky up above you. Midimiliz, always welcome at my house, make a welcome return with Model 1, less caustic than we might have expected from them but still retaining their glassy roboticness mixed in with some deftly-applied funk.

Fuzzion returns with Acid Flash, which rams home the above point about him being one of the finest producers in dance music at the moment. Snarling, moody, atmospheric stuff that eases up briefly before dropping back in with added flair, tweakery and psychedelic rambling. Metalogic vs Tao’s Through Your Head has an enormous sound, waving up and down like Beckers’ Switch’s gothic younger brother. It gets messy, very messy with sounds cascading all around and some seriously slutty moments tucked inside.

The Rockitmen do well with Elephant’s Boogie, a slomo funkified journey through textures ranging from the heavy and sluggish to the melodic and tight. It’s a standout, and not just for the classy way it blends those two vibes: there’s a definite, tangible progression through the track that lends it something special. Kino Oko’s Beat, Rhythm and Harmony is a gem. Quirky, funkier and with this cute little pensive vibe running through it. As with their recent album Lost Entertainment, the array of sounds and vibes these guys can muster up is nothing short of amazing. It’s the one track on this album that your girlfriend is guaranteed to love.

With Mass Turbo’s Sin Sinati Infinity-Project-on-Delta bringing the album to a close, the overall package that is Abracadabra is as tight as it is varied. While not everyone digs the Horns & Hoofs and Boshke sound, those of us that do will be in seventh techno heaven with this one. Good work indeed.