#16 Top Releases in Ambient / Experimental

Wata Igarashis first album on Dekmantel is a lightning bolt of immediate, immersive and impactful techno energy that maximises his trademark tunnelling rhythms and psychoactive arpeggios with stunning results. Compared to some of his dreamier releases on labels like Midgar, The Bunker New York and Delsin, here were treated to a more intense, hi-octane dimension to Igarashis sound perfectly demonstrated in the wide-eyed, invigorating rush of Shockwave, Meltzones nagging acid frenzy and Unleasheds delirious, pitch-bent peaks. Precision honed and revelling in the hypnotic abandon of the loop, My Supernova is a techno album through and through, but its also overflowing with the kind of head-melting creativity and nuanced production that Igarashi has made his own. Just lose yourself in the giddy arps of Supernova a joyous whirlpool of synths upon synths upon synths reaching fever pitch without even a hint of brute force.

Wata Igarashi

#26 Feat. Banner in Techno (Raw / Deep / Hypnotic)

With a glorious flourish of melodious club abstraction, cult producer Quirke makes a welcome return by delivering his most upfront tracks to date for Dekmantel. Josh Quirke first came through on Young Turks (Young) and Whities (AD93) through the 2010s, offering a distinctive, slanted take on hardcore and house music alike that came shrouded in dense atmospherics and shot through with wistful melancholia. Comparisons to artists like Burial and Skee Mask werent unfounded, but Quirke was very much operating on his own terms, as he has continued to ever since. The last we heard from the low-key producer was his debut album Steal A Golden Hail, released on Whities in 2019, and now he comes through with a strong update to his sound that finds a natural home on Dekmantel. Its clear from the structural shifts in lead track Underdetermined that Quirke is operating free from the so-called rules of dance music, veering from a pure synth intro straight into the full peak of the track without so much as a warm-up. Placing emotionality ahead of functionality, Underdetermined manages to be every inch an anthem. The OT3 deals in denser percussive textures and haunted pads, with ample room for wistful sentimentality and a steady trucking kick. On Worth Variation, the array of blown-out elements are glued together into a dub techno pulse, where every atmospheric impulse feels like part of the groove. Ten Times Over Crystal Fruit completes the record across a grand sweep of narrative arrangement, shifting through phases and heavy layers of joyful noise. Its intense and delicate in equal measure, absolutely ready to move a mass of bodies but without ever deferring to the familiar. Quirke happily avoids engagement with the wider scene while making his truly individual music, but he himself admits he struck upon a dimension of his sound that could explore immediacy and impact without losing the subtle, smudged-out beauty inherent in his musical DNA.

Quirke

#26 Feat. Banner in Techno (Raw / Deep / Hypnotic)

With a glorious flourish of melodious club abstraction, cult producer Quirke makes a welcome return by delivering his most upfront tracks to date for Dekmantel. Josh Quirke first came through on Young Turks (Young) and Whities (AD93) through the 2010s, offering a distinctive, slanted take on hardcore and house music alike that came shrouded in dense atmospherics and shot through with wistful melancholia. Comparisons to artists like Burial and Skee Mask werent unfounded, but Quirke was very much operating on his own terms, as he has continued to ever since. The last we heard from the low-key producer was his debut album Steal A Golden Hail, released on Whities in 2019, and now he comes through with a strong update to his sound that finds a natural home on Dekmantel. Its clear from the structural shifts in lead track Underdetermined that Quirke is operating free from the so-called rules of dance music, veering from a pure synth intro straight into the full peak of the track without so much as a warm-up. Placing emotionality ahead of functionality, Underdetermined manages to be every inch an anthem. The OT3 deals in denser percussive textures and haunted pads, with ample room for wistful sentimentality and a steady trucking kick. On Worth Variation, the array of blown-out elements are glued together into a dub techno pulse, where every atmospheric impulse feels like part of the groove. Ten Times Over Crystal Fruit completes the record across a grand sweep of narrative arrangement, shifting through phases and heavy layers of joyful noise. Its intense and delicate in equal measure, absolutely ready to move a mass of bodies but without ever deferring to the familiar. Quirke happily avoids engagement with the wider scene while making his truly individual music, but he himself admits he struck upon a dimension of his sound that could explore immediacy and impact without losing the subtle, smudged-out beauty inherent in his musical DNA.

Quirke

#27 Top Releases in Trance (Raw / Deep / Hypnotic)

Dekmantel continues to shape out the return of its UFO series with an EP of mind-massaging techno-trance futurism from Wata Igarashi. Capturing the energy of the UFO stages which indulge Dekmantel Festivals darker, experimental tastes, Igarashi turns out four shapely serotonin injections in his inimitable style. Theres an immediacy to the Kaleidoscopic 12 which rushes into earshot the moment the EP fires up with the insistent acid throb of the title track. The eternal undulation of a 303 provides the bedrock for Igarashis fluttering brushstrokes, while a tough yet supple beat charges underneath. Cascading arps are a core element of the richly melodic sound on this release, reaching measured peaks of ecstasy on The Sailage without ever taking a cheap shortcut. Understated, emotionally-charged eloquence spills out of every sequence. Theres a softer, blurry-eyed sentiment to the synth work on Steaming, while Interweave tempers classic acid techno tropes with gaseous atmospherics. There are plenty of crisp edges in his tracks for the dancers to latch onto, but Igarashi specialises in a fluid motion that encourages less thinking and more feelinga lysergic techno flow to truly melt into.

Wata Igarashi

#31 Top Releases in Bass / Club

The Knifes Olof Dreijer introduces Colombian - Swedish percussionist and DJ Diva Cruz with a new collaborative EP on Dekmantel Records. The Brujas EP follows the debut of their exciting hybrid live show at Sonar Istanbul and ahead of upcoming performances at Sonar Barcelona, Dekmantel, and ya Festival. Together, opposing patriarchy, racism, colonialism, capitalism, and immigrant challenges, they joined forces in Olofs studio, resulting in the creation of the Brujas EP, where Diva debuts her voice. I dream to empower everyone who feels outside the box with my lyrics. It is so sad to see children singing and dancing to music made by male artists whose lyrics degrade women, and on top of that, they win prestigious awards while doing so. I dream for a better world and especially Latin America, which needs to change the macho perspective and work together for a better world for everyone, says Diva Cruz. As a percussionist Diva brings a combination of fierce live percussion together with a rhythmic blend of tunes from all over the world during her energetic DJ-sets. She has also been the lead percussionist for both Fever Ray and Robyn on their world tours. Olof quote: Im very excited about sharing this music with the world especially since its been a few years in the making. Im very grateful to work with Diva. She has shown me a new world of music and I feel like I keep evolving and learning new things all the time, especially with our new live show when playing percussion together.

Olof Dreijer, Diva Cruz

#83 Top Releases in Electronica

Wata Igarashis first album on Dekmantel is a lightning bolt of immediate, immersive and impactful techno energy that maximises his trademark tunnelling rhythms and psychoactive arpeggios with stunning results. Compared to some of his dreamier releases on labels like Midgar, The Bunker New York and Delsin, here were treated to a more intense, hi-octane dimension to Igarashis sound perfectly demonstrated in the wide-eyed, invigorating rush of Shockwave, Meltzones nagging acid frenzy and Unleasheds delirious, pitch-bent peaks. Precision honed and revelling in the hypnotic abandon of the loop, My Supernova is a techno album through and through, but its also overflowing with the kind of head-melting creativity and nuanced production that Igarashi has made his own. Just lose yourself in the giddy arps of Supernova a joyous whirlpool of synths upon synths upon synths reaching fever pitch without even a hint of brute force.

Wata Igarashi

#93 Feat. Banner in Deep House

New album by Call Super for Dekmantel, honouring the classic mix CD format with 12 exclusive tracks all produced by Call Super using different monikers. Call Super revives the endangered art of the mix CD with a fluid, technicolour hour of elegantly advanced club music featuring a striking assembly of emergent artists. Since their first releases in the early 2010s, Joseph Seaton has been a many-sided artist balancing expressive electronics with organic instrumentation. Their background in jazz has informed ambient and experimental albums, but theyve proven to be just as comfortable tackling all shapes and speeds of impactful club music. This extends to their practice as a DJ, regularly surfing the slipstream of the club and festival circuit with a sensitive, seductive instinct for the movement of a dancefloor. Seaton set out to make ARPO an acronym for A Rhythm Protects One to honour the meaning of mix CDs in a world drowning in online DJ streams. Part of the generation raised on seminal series like the metal-tinned fabric and fabriclive (which Seaton themselves contributed to), they cast back to the lasting impression of landmark sessions like Coldcuts 1995 opus Journeys By DJ: 70 Minutes Of Madness. These were mixes to absorb over and over again, where every deeply considered track and transition became lodged in your psyche. As a DJ, producer and composer with a reputation for distinctive, head-turning musicality, Seaton puzzled out a selection for ARPO that bristles with invention. Every track feels like a moment, loaded with motifs and loops that gently impose their presence across an ever-shifting, intricately woven tapestry of dancefloor psychedelia (not to be confused with any genres with psy in the name). As well as exclusive new material under their Call Super and Ondo Fudd aliases, Seaton uses multiple new monikers to present their creative vision. In terms of slinky 4/4 groove and mid tempo pace, you might locate the likes of Conny Slipp, Scarletina and Clam1 on the wilder fringes of minimal tech house, but their productions teem with textural depth and melodic subtlety that reach past that scenes typically functional tendencies. Curveballs abound, and Seaton relishes in the chance to divert into dramatic workouts like their own Limelight and Mothertime or strip everything down for the striking, swooning poetry of Malgo & KVS The Argosy. Way beyond neatly boxed-off club styles, the individual tracks have their own unique qualities that hold space within the mix as a whole memorable hooks that burrow in deep, sequenced as a complete and immersive whole to carry with you through life. As Seaton puts it themselves: There is a line in the Malgo & KVS track that goes, I must be the place where the storm catches breath. The line captures that feeling of the best of times in a club, where everything slips away in terms of time and you feel like youve reached a place beyond the outside world, a place of your own that is somehow communal with those around you. The mix was meant to be an honest reflection of those moments for me as a DJ. The zones that somehow encapsulate the physical and mental harmony you feel in that place. This is a mix for that zone.

Conny Slipp, Scarletina, Cleo, Call Super, Louis Lupin, Ondo Fudd, Clam1, Malgo and KVS, eye gritt, DJ Flowerdew

#93 Feat. Staff Picks in Deep House

New album by Call Super for Dekmantel, honouring the classic mix CD format with 12 exclusive tracks all produced by Call Super using different monikers. Call Super revives the endangered art of the mix CD with a fluid, technicolour hour of elegantly advanced club music featuring a striking assembly of emergent artists. Since their first releases in the early 2010s, Joseph Seaton has been a many-sided artist balancing expressive electronics with organic instrumentation. Their background in jazz has informed ambient and experimental albums, but theyve proven to be just as comfortable tackling all shapes and speeds of impactful club music. This extends to their practice as a DJ, regularly surfing the slipstream of the club and festival circuit with a sensitive, seductive instinct for the movement of a dancefloor. Seaton set out to make ARPO an acronym for A Rhythm Protects One to honour the meaning of mix CDs in a world drowning in online DJ streams. Part of the generation raised on seminal series like the metal-tinned fabric and fabriclive (which Seaton themselves contributed to), they cast back to the lasting impression of landmark sessions like Coldcuts 1995 opus Journeys By DJ: 70 Minutes Of Madness. These were mixes to absorb over and over again, where every deeply considered track and transition became lodged in your psyche. As a DJ, producer and composer with a reputation for distinctive, head-turning musicality, Seaton puzzled out a selection for ARPO that bristles with invention. Every track feels like a moment, loaded with motifs and loops that gently impose their presence across an ever-shifting, intricately woven tapestry of dancefloor psychedelia (not to be confused with any genres with psy in the name). As well as exclusive new material under their Call Super and Ondo Fudd aliases, Seaton uses multiple new monikers to present their creative vision. In terms of slinky 4/4 groove and mid tempo pace, you might locate the likes of Conny Slipp, Scarletina and Clam1 on the wilder fringes of minimal tech house, but their productions teem with textural depth and melodic subtlety that reach past that scenes typically functional tendencies. Curveballs abound, and Seaton relishes in the chance to divert into dramatic workouts like their own Limelight and Mothertime or strip everything down for the striking, swooning poetry of Malgo & KVS The Argosy. Way beyond neatly boxed-off club styles, the individual tracks have their own unique qualities that hold space within the mix as a whole memorable hooks that burrow in deep, sequenced as a complete and immersive whole to carry with you through life. As Seaton puts it themselves: There is a line in the Malgo & KVS track that goes, I must be the place where the storm catches breath. The line captures that feeling of the best of times in a club, where everything slips away in terms of time and you feel like youve reached a place beyond the outside world, a place of your own that is somehow communal with those around you. The mix was meant to be an honest reflection of those moments for me as a DJ. The zones that somehow encapsulate the physical and mental harmony you feel in that place. This is a mix for that zone.

Conny Slipp, Scarletina, Cleo, Call Super, Louis Lupin, Ondo Fudd, Clam1, Malgo and KVS, eye gritt, DJ Flowerdew

#93 Feat. Banner in Deep House

New album by Call Super for Dekmantel, honouring the classic mix CD format with 12 exclusive tracks all produced by Call Super using different monikers. Call Super revives the endangered art of the mix CD with a fluid, technicolour hour of elegantly advanced club music featuring a striking assembly of emergent artists. Since their first releases in the early 2010s, Joseph Seaton has been a many-sided artist balancing expressive electronics with organic instrumentation. Their background in jazz has informed ambient and experimental albums, but theyve proven to be just as comfortable tackling all shapes and speeds of impactful club music. This extends to their practice as a DJ, regularly surfing the slipstream of the club and festival circuit with a sensitive, seductive instinct for the movement of a dancefloor. Seaton set out to make ARPO an acronym for A Rhythm Protects One to honour the meaning of mix CDs in a world drowning in online DJ streams. Part of the generation raised on seminal series like the metal-tinned fabric and fabriclive (which Seaton themselves contributed to), they cast back to the lasting impression of landmark sessions like Coldcuts 1995 opus Journeys By DJ: 70 Minutes Of Madness. These were mixes to absorb over and over again, where every deeply considered track and transition became lodged in your psyche. As a DJ, producer and composer with a reputation for distinctive, head-turning musicality, Seaton puzzled out a selection for ARPO that bristles with invention. Every track feels like a moment, loaded with motifs and loops that gently impose their presence across an ever-shifting, intricately woven tapestry of dancefloor psychedelia (not to be confused with any genres with psy in the name). As well as exclusive new material under their Call Super and Ondo Fudd aliases, Seaton uses multiple new monikers to present their creative vision. In terms of slinky 4/4 groove and mid tempo pace, you might locate the likes of Conny Slipp, Scarletina and Clam1 on the wilder fringes of minimal tech house, but their productions teem with textural depth and melodic subtlety that reach past that scenes typically functional tendencies. Curveballs abound, and Seaton relishes in the chance to divert into dramatic workouts like their own Limelight and Mothertime or strip everything down for the striking, swooning poetry of Malgo & KVS The Argosy. Way beyond neatly boxed-off club styles, the individual tracks have their own unique qualities that hold space within the mix as a whole memorable hooks that burrow in deep, sequenced as a complete and immersive whole to carry with you through life. As Seaton puts it themselves: There is a line in the Malgo & KVS track that goes, I must be the place where the storm catches breath. The line captures that feeling of the best of times in a club, where everything slips away in terms of time and you feel like youve reached a place beyond the outside world, a place of your own that is somehow communal with those around you. The mix was meant to be an honest reflection of those moments for me as a DJ. The zones that somehow encapsulate the physical and mental harmony you feel in that place. This is a mix for that zone.

Conny Slipp, Scarletina, Cleo, Call Super, Louis Lupin, Ondo Fudd, Clam1, Malgo and KVS, eye gritt, DJ Flowerdew