a follow up to the excellent keep the faith sampler compilation from those wonderful techno’d up folks at dust science recordings.

where the previous set of tunes was all about the mutant machine dancefloor beats, this time around the 14 tracks on order show the softer side to the labels workings. ok, there are a few four to the floor beats, as indicated on the recent 4 track 12″ that preceded the complete set. (more detail : here)

the mood is unsettled from the opening few seconds as anthony child sets up a tinnitus inducing stereo system test noise that permeates anything made out of brick and mortar, so even if you keep the volume down, the 7.5 minutes of strange noises and disconnected vocals will make sure you, or your neighbours don’t sleep for a few nights.

not an easy welcoming start to the proceedings, but thank fully, if you are patient, the rewards come thick and fast as you get deeper into the album.

the simple bleeps and bouncy beats of detroitrocketscience settles the nerves, putting the compilation back into a sort of ambient techno comfort zone, though the jittery sighs that are cut up indicate that maybe the folks behind this have a darker edge than on show.

the next few tracks are rather gorgeous in their twisted ambient way, and very special.

from the big synthetic noises of the awkwardly named onmutu mechanicks, to the beautiful piano and glitched beats of quantazelle, via the unusual philip glass-esque repetition of ipassenger that invokes all manner of harmony and calm, despite the stop-start nature of the melody. next up, dncn takes the real world gloops and disembowels the sonic structure to make for a rather wobbly few minutes during which you wonder if that visit to the toilet is more essential than it really is, however, when the 4/4 beat starts to come to the fore with that dark underlying acidic electro bass, then all is well with the world, making for a wonderful 7 minutes of digital experimentation, and feet moving action.

of course, no dust science compilation wouldn’t be complete without an appearance from the labels major league star, and the black dog, once again, do not disappoint with a far more urgent style of dogsquad action than you may expect. your speakers will shake under the pressure of the metallic beats, but this comes highly recommended. next up is the previous eps ace in the hole, wire tap, by the 65d mavericks, a beautiful slice of detroit styled techno, in which a sense of delicate remorse is never far from the neon lit surface.

and so the album goes on with more unknown names to those of us not embroiled in the scene, unpronounceable tracks and, all in all, some top level techno music.

stretching for 72 minutes, you really cannot fault the label and their current knack at finding folks who obviously share their passion for music made with electronic devices.

the music throughout these 14 tracks is pure but incredibly listenable techno and should the tables turn again, and techno comes to the fore once the minimal freaks decide to track down music with a little more meat on the bones, this sampler could turn out to be a perfect starter kit for those looking for something to satiate their needs.

so get ahead of the crowd, and hassle dust science to sort you out with a copy.

 

tracklisting :

1. anthony child - youknowiloveyou2

2. detroitrocketscience - babymaker

3. onmutu mechanicks - ancient rites

4. quantazelle - mental zilch king.

5. ipassenger - unborn

6. dncn - dust to dust

7. the black dog - floods v1

8. the 65d mavericks - wire tap

9. fabrice lig - access denied

10. betaville - surface tension

11. slit - alone and cutting

12. system 23 - firebomb

13. regis and female - c/chaos

14. carl taylor - scanner (auterform mix)

 

more detail : here