Shed makes his first appearance 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.

A combination of dreamlike atmospherics and rugged propulsion takes on many forms across the album. 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 and rave romanticism in equal measure.

Wielding his signature blend of UK-school soundsystem pressure and Berlin-school techno momentum with poise and purpose, on Rave Echoes Shed offers a perfect impression of those wild, indescribable sensory overloads that leave their mark on anyone devoted to the dancefloor.

TRACK LISTING

loot 25
everybody
rave predator
password techno mix
double scoop
password trance mix
taking you home
rave echoes

PLEASE NOTE THE PRESSING FAULT WHICH PLAGUED INITIAL COPIES HAS NOW BEEN FIXED!!

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 weren't 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. Expect thick electronic textures, hefty rhythmic presence, understated sound design and intriguing programming; all combining to birth a unique lifeform all of Quirke's own creation. 

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Dekmantel's new signing Quirke delivers the goods across four tracks veering from silky synthetic house a la Midland or Leon Vynehall, to fizzy lo-fi techno and deep rumbling sunrise beats.

TRACK LISTING

Underdetermined
The Ot3
Worth Variation
Ten Times Over Crystal Fruit

Making a welcome return nine years on from his last outing on Dekmantel, Makam offers up a generous helping of wayward grooves that take his curious spirit even further into unmarked territory. With a strong dub sensibility grounding his rich tapestry of percussion and instrumentation, Guy Blanken follows his own path to arrive at an album that embodies house music as a launchpad for experimentation.

Blanken says himself he was determined to approach his first Makam productions in years from a place of total freedom — "It's not a single direction, but rather a landscape of sounds, moments, and textures. TARP feels like a new beginning, a free project that just had to happen naturally." The steady pulse of the club remains a guiding principle boldly manifested on heads down roller 'Static Shade', but even in the lilting organic loops and tumbling percussion of 'Forgive' there is a funkiness that's beholden to continuous movement.

At times the direct thump of 4/4 disco juts out as a call to dance, not least on 'Flying Birds' and 'La Tuna', but elsewhere the rhythms are more slippery. 'Dub In Loen' plots a delicate path through dub techno and 'Lummel Spirit' casts off into pattering Balearic bliss. The pervasive dub mood of the record comes to the fore on expertly crafted stepper 'Diagonal Rain' and crooked album opener 'Clear Skies'. 'Jackie B' lands as a love letter to quintessential deep house, and yet still there's a left-of-centre charm that gives the track a personality that is pure Makam.

Exuding warmth and imagination at every turn, "TARP" is the perfect example of how to make a groove-oriented album a rich home listening experience. There are ample moments primed for the spectacle of the dancefloor, but the mellow hue and broad sweep of approaches make Makam's welcome return utterly compelling from end to end.

TRACK LISTING

La Tuna
Static Shade
Clear Skies
Flying Birds
Looking Back
Lummel Spirit
Jackie B
Diagonal Rain
Dub In Loen
Madam Woo Hoo
Good Bye Mai

*comes with a download code

Wata Igarashi's 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 we're treated to a more intense, hi-octane dimension to Igarashi's sound perfectly demonstrated in the wide-eyed, invigorating rush of 'Shockwave', 'Meltzone's nagging acid frenzy and 'Unleashed's 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 it's 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.

TRACK LISTING

One Way In
Shockwave
Meltzone
Unleashed
One For EM
Supernova
Skin
Terra Incognita
Echoes Beyond

Olof Dreijer (ex-The Knife) returns to Dekmantel with "Iris", a new 4-track EP, just in time for his North America tour. Featuring remixes by Nidia and Verraco, "Iris" follows his 2024 collab with Diva Cruz, remixes for Björk ft. Rosalía and Röyksopp, plus acclaimed solo EPs on Hessle Audio and AD 93.

Think breakdance-era energy, sound-humour, mutant dancehall and body-synth mischief. "Iris" plays like a garden of sonic creatures—synths mimicking bodily sounds, chopped-up vocal textures, and ‘90s-style chord stabs inspired by Olof’s high school b-boy phase. It’s playful, raw, and weird in the best way.

With over two decades of shapeshifting behind machines and decks, Dreijer’s been a force in electronic music—from festival headliners across Europe to pushing the boundaries with his Oni Ayhun alias. He also co-founded Stockholm’s Bamba Club, a hub for progressive, percussive sounds.

Further recent highlights include co-producing tracks on Fever Ray’s latest album, producing Houeida Hedfi’s debut LP, contributing to projects by Planningtorock and Zhala, remixing Nine Inch Nails, Röyksopp & Robyn, and Emmanuel Jal. An unsurprisingly expansive repetoir for such a skilled and inventive producer.  

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Batshit sounds but unignorable body kinetics make this one of those curveball records that both techno, bass, house and future dancehall DJs will all get some mileage out of. Imagine Equiknox meets Ricardo Villalobos and you're halfway there!

TRACK LISTING

Iris
Iris (nidia Remix)
Blood Lily
Blood Lily (verraco Remix)

Identified Patient returns to Dekmantel for a third time with his 'Reset EP'. The future-facing four tracker is another mutant fusion of bass and techno with low-end power with cerebral sound designs.

Job Veerman debuted on the Dekmantel UFO Series in 2019, returned in 2020 and has lit up the festival several times with transportative sets that balance power with precision. Like his productions on the Nerve Collect label, he co-runs with Gamma Intel, they are leftfield explorations of genre and tempo that find strange sensuality in often abstract ideas. Once again here, the Dutchman draws on eclectic influences to craft music that sounds like no one else but remains anchored by magnetic rhythms.

Opener 'Light' kicks off with a fuzzy synth line that slithers between syncopated drums. Whispered vocals drift through the mix as lurching basslines swell and collapse beneath them. The groove disassembles and reassembles in waves, propelled forward by bursts of glitchy, off-kilter percussion that's unsteady yet seductive. 'Scales' is a slow, menacing descent into rhythmic darkness. It sounds both ancient and futuristic with ghoulish vocalisations and filtered synths flickering like a badly wired circuit. There's a rave tension lurking throughout, but always in the shadows.

'Internal Pace' drives on but rides fluid, wobbly bass while tightly looped hits build the pressure. Layers of static and subtle distortion add grit to this unrelenting heads-down roller. Finally, 'Return' is a kinetic, razor-edged ride where jungle breaks collide serpentine melodies. Ethereal female coos drift in and out, brushing against spat-out vocal fragments so that tension crackles throughout this hallucinogenic trip.

With ‘Reset’, Identified Patient reaffirms his status as a singular voice who twists sound into evocative new worlds.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: More bass-techno hybrids from the Dekmantel camp. More futureproof than a Swiss army knife...

TRACK LISTING

Light
Scales
Internal Pace
Return

Dekmantel UFO Series continues its resurgent form with a new album of bruising, industrial wave and techno from Broken English Club. UK techno mainstay Oliver Ho debuted his dark and brooding alias more than 10 years ago with a release on Jealous God under the guidance of the late, great Juan Mendez (Silent Servant) - 'Songs Of Love And Decay' is explicitly dedicated to Mendez, whose influence runs deep in this seductively sinister corner of underground, independent electronic music.

Within the overarching aesthetic of the Broken English Club sound, Ho finds the freedom to deliver a full spectrum album as diverse as it is consistent. You can sense the shadow of his roots in 90s tribal techno punching through on 'Crawling' and 'Death Cult', while 'England Heretic' leans on thick swathes of analogue synthesis indebted to Giallo soundtracks and the ever-compelling lure of 80s synthwave. In its grinding layers of distortion and dubbed out vocals 'Vessel Of Skin' speaks more to the post-punk influences which have set Broken English Club apart since the outset. This isn't a purely retro-fetishist expedition, though - 'Pacific Island Kill' and 'Lost Gods' exude stark modernism in their sharply-angled sequences and dramatic sound design, moving beyond the functional demands of 4/4 dance music to reach to more cinematic zones.

These are but some of the approaches Ho burrows into as he shapes out the depth and breadth of his muse on 'Songs Of Love And Decay'. It's marked by the undeniable impact of his production, perfected over a decades-deep career at the bleeding edge of machine music. At times the album celebrates the addictive thrust of the dancefloor, while elsewhere it relishes the tension of suspended animation. Throughout, the gritty veneer binds together this accomplished, uncompromising body of work as both a fierce artistic statement and a loving tribute to Mendez - an artist who equally embodied the darker side of the dance.

TRACK LISTING

A1.a Shallow Lake
A2.crawling
A3. England Heretic
B1. Death Cult
B2. Love And Decay
C1. Night Fall
C2. Vessel Of Skin
C3. Pacific Island Kill
D1. Prisoner
D2. Ghost
D3. The Occult Body

A cybernetic rush of non-conformist techno from Italian maverick Piezo.

Milan-based Piezo is usually found at the helm of his Ansia label, exploring a versatile spectrum of experimental club music grounded in soundsystem presence and non-linear structures. On Ecstatic Nostalgia he edges his sound into a more driving, techno-spirited framework which lends itself to the energy of the UFO series beautifully. From tightly wound, artfully fractured 150 rumble and elegant sci-fi breakbeat on to needlepoint electronica and subtly trance-brushed atmospherics, Piezo's broad palette fuels an ear-snagging EP which balances visceral impact with a deft touch.

Anyone familiar with Dekmantel's flagship festival will know the UFO stages showcase spikier strains of modernist body music, and the label series serves to push these sounds forwards in the hands of consistently visionary producers. After a what could be seen as a brief pause in the UFO series - it's with a fresh wave of releases.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: Unfathomably fresh club kinetics and laser-guided sonic realms for the more adventurous enthusiast.

TRACK LISTING

Ultra
Deepa
Sok Lung
Turbines

It is often said that the best art comes out of adversity, and so it is that producer Frits Wentink, photographer Erik Madigan Heck and actress Tilda Swinton have collaborated on Safe Passage, a fascinating audio-visual project born out of loss. Consisting of classical, choral, and electronic music in three movements, the gatefold album presented with a 40 page booklet of additional photographs and paintings.
Dutch producer and renowned innovator Frits Wentink helms the Will & Ink and Bobby Donny labels, builds synthesizers and beautiful controllers, and puts out always experimental, left of centre house music that pushes at the boundaries. This project initially started out as him attempting to musically illustrate the photography of American visual artist Erik Madigan Heck. The internationally renowned Heck is known for a lavish and experimental use of colour that has won him the prestigious International Center of Photography’s Infinity Award as well as make him a regular contributor to high profile media such as The New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, and Harper’s Bazaar.

Midway through the project, Eriks mother was hospitalised due to breast cancer complications before also contracting Covid-19. By her bedsides and as a means to ease her passage, he repetitively played the first portion of the score, and then, once she passed, he decided to commemorate the music's function as a soundtrack for her transition to afterlife by naming it Safe Passage. The involvement of Academy Award–winning Scottish actress Tilda Swinton has lent the music an extra dimension of spirituality: throughout the album, she interjects whispered fragments of Heck’s poetry, blurring the lines between one phase of music and the next.

The music has three movements across two sides: Side A, Safe, has a sense of hope and reflection as it undulates from minimalist string and brass arrangements to ambient and dissonant classical piano. Side B, Passage, then depicts the start of the transition into the afterlife as the voices of a choral madrigal ensemble gradually diverge, then break down entirely before a grand tonal expansion leads into a frenzied crescendo of choral vocals, hardened dub techno and anxious rhythms that convey the violence of the soul’s exit from this world. Finally, a cathartic Epilogue resets and bids farewell with the gentle sounds of a piano.

Because of the global on-going loss of life as a result of Covid-19, Safe Passage has become a soundtrack in which many people will find solace as they remember the sad transitions made from this life to the next during this unprecedented time in history.

TRACK LISTING

A1. Movement 1
B1. Movement 2
B2. Movement 3

Now for a trip into an impossible land, generated on a hacked copy of Populous, wrought out of melting circuitry and bootlegged YMO LPs, projected on early green screen and filled with failed CGI from the Waterworld era. Panagiotis Melidis and Stathis Kalatzis are Territroy, the newest member of the Dekmantel family, and the creative insanity behind the newest UFO release, "Skulls & Plants". Now, I don't recall taking a massive dose of 4-AcO this morning with my cornflakes, but that may well have happened, as this is one trippy listen. At various points EBM, tropical house, machine voodoo and shamanic breaks are twisted, warped and frazzled, all achieving the demented sound signature of this lunatic Grecian duo. Rhythms collapse, stutter skip and slur, crispy distortion coats otherwise healthy melodies and oddly exotic idents flutter across the landscape, though you could never be certain they were there. Highly psychoactive electronics and primal rhythms for fans of Helena Hauff, Detlef, Lena Willikens and the Silk Road.

TRACK LISTING

Delirium Vivens
Wax Smiles
Non Sayers
Sleeping Fury
Instar
Upside Down Sinner
I Meant You, Not You
Their Menads
Bold Like A New Sun (Ft. Olympia)
Prosopagnosia