In a continuation of his devotional celebration of the dance, Shed arrives on Dekmantel with Rave Echoes a supple, mesmerising album of angular techno caught between the heat of peak time and the time-blurred hours after the club. Few artists have nailed the intersection of the intellectual, emotional and physical in techno as evocatively as Rene Pawlowitz. For more than 20 years and across scores of aliases the Frankfurt/Oder-born, Berlin-based trailblazer has pushed a distinctive strain of machine music in thrall to the functional demands of motion without ever sacrificing subtlety, space, intrigue and expression. While his vast catalogue of work touches on many different moods and energies, on his Dekmantel debut Rave Echoes he shrouds eight forthright workouts in a blanket of misty melancholia to evoke the enchanting afterglow of the party. "It's not nostalgic," Pawlowitz explains. "It's about that feeling that remains for a day, a week or even years after celebrating a rave. I still have that feeling for about 30 years now. This record tries to describe it." The vaporous pads that soar over 'Password (Techno Mix)' certainly come charged with a bittersweet sentiment. Meanwhile the rhythmic locomotion comes on like the rumble of the first train back after leaving the club. The insistent bell loop up top rings out like the hook of the last track that rang out over the soundsystem. It's a sensation familiar to anyone who has spent their last drop of energy at the altar of dance, where exhaustion meets with satisfaction and disorientation as you recalibrate back into the real world. This approach dreamlike atmospherics and rugged propulsion takes on many guises across Rave Echoes. It's submerged and restrained on 'Loot 25', speckled with sharply sliced breaks on 'Everybody' and scattered across a sparse, steppy soundscape on 'Rave Predator'. Emotive, swooning strings collide with tough, squashed breakstep drums on 'Double Scoop' and 'Taking You Home' thrusts with urgency even as Pawlowitz softens the spiky transients to make space for pure rave romanticism. There is even space for 'Rave Echoes' itself the last groove before your eyes finally close, as the beat slows to a weighty trip hop roll and the ambience blooms out into a dense blanket across the frequency range. Bursting with the nuanced production, rugged UK-school soundsystem pressure and Berlin-school techno momentum that makes him such a celebrated producer, on Rave Echoes Shed offers a perfect impression of those wild, indescribable sensory overloads that leave their mark on anyone devoted to the dancefloor.

The Lab compilation series was established in 2009, and has since gone on to host some of the electronic music scenes most revered DJs. Loco Dice, Steve Bug and Seth Troxler have made the series a must check compilation brand, pushing new music, new artists and labels to the fore, and allowing the DJs to experiment and mix up the sounds in The Lab. And so the fourth installment of the series is handed to a British producer/DJ who is not shy of musical experimentation himself. Paul Woolford bit the electronic bug from an early age, searching out the latest new sounds on the radio and in magazines and through the bustling club scene around his native city of Leeds. It was here that he came across the now infamous Back To Basics club night, at which his dedication to the music would land him the resident DJ role within a couple of years. Honing his sound and DJ skills, Woolford quickly elevated to land key DJ spots around the world and a residency at Ibizas We Love Space. As a producer, Woolford has built up a vast catalogue of dependable, and at times groundbreaking, music on labels like 2020 Vision, Junior Boys Own, NRK Music and Cocoon, under his own name as well as aliases Bobby Peru, Hip Therapist & more Never one to lay down into one defined style or genre for too long, Woolford has taken huge strides over the last couple of years to lay down foundations in the deepest areas of the underground music scene, and his love of the electronic sound in its purist form has led to new music on cutting edge labels such as Carl Craigs Planet E Recordings, Hotflush (Scubas label) and Phonica, and it is here that Woolford can be found straddling the barriers of techno, dub, deep house and garage. His double CD mix for The Lab brings us right up to date with the Woolford philosophy, where genres are completely secondary to good music. The opening of Disc One is a considered segue, deftly mixing disco moods, electro and sophisticated ambient house from artists like Ashley Beedle, Lando Kal, Shed and Daniel Wang, before the familiar stings of Chez Damiers all time classic Untitled (from KMS049) sends Disc One into a lock solid groove. Not for long though, as Woolford expertly guides us through a huge melting pot of sounds and ideas, all the while keeping the mix flowing and listener engaged. Key tracks from Roman Flugel, Dan Ghenacia, Untold and Skudge work their magic and the first mix comes to a crescendo with another classic from the vaults, this time from Carl Craigs Urban Culture, and the wonderfully epic Wonders Of Wishing, still sounding as futuristic today as it did on its original 1993 release date. Without delay, Disc Two gets straight into the groove with the dirty funk of Super Collider and continues to forage deep and pacey techno house from STL, Fabio Gianelli and the first of two appearances from Trevino AKA Marcus Intalex. Analogue sounds and drum machines are the components that keep driving the mix forward, and a raft of new talent such as Billy Shane, Skudge, Yasua Sato and Kausto provide some stunning moments here, whilst scene stalwarts like Chateau Flight, DJ Harvey and Dan Curtin keep the energy levels right up there. As Woolford continues to steer his own personal journey through electronic musics marshlands, via new imprint Special Request, as well as a renewed global club scene to DJ in, The Lab mix stands as the perfect aural snapshot of a producer and DJ not afraid to take the music where