Buy Music Day, February 2025

Mental Rhythm
by Kid93 on Obscuur Records

Out just last week from Kid93 on Obscuur Records, Metal Rhythm is a 4-track EP loaded with raw, hard-groove rave techno. Loaded with pumped up UK basslines and punchy hard techno beats.

Favorite tracks: Track 2, “On Repeat All The Time” comes out swinging with speedy, hardbeat rap over punched-up tech-trance. Track 3, “Retrograde” chops it up on a heady, swirling rave lead with big drops. Track 4, “Stranger Things On My Mind” is a speedy, swirling broken beat beat rave stomper.

Hardkick Weapons
V/A on Sachsentrance

Another entry in the (sometimes dubious) hard techno vs pop mashup trend, Hardkick Weapons delivers on this full-length release; featuring a stacked line-up of hard trance & gabber with solid production, spliced with classic & top 40 vocals. Super hype, a little cheese, and an absolute blast of stupid fun to sprinkle into your peak-time sets. I’ve been rocking this constantly when I need the energy to power through a workout, and it’s so much fun.

Favorite tracks: Track 4, “Beast” by Lewis Layn gives a Juicy J verse the rave anthem treatment, turning Dark Horse into a happy hardcore earworm. Track 13, “Closing Duties” by VAENT & Niotech is a bouncy gabber weapon built to send dance floors into a frenzy. Track 1, “For The Hardcore (Extended Mix)” by JANE opens and sets the tone for the rest of the album with pumpin’ hard house & trance.

Cryochamber EP
by Wick on Wrongnotes

Another big, brutal industrial techno EP from Wick, this time on Wrongnotes. Boasting 4 heavy duty, uptempo industrial techno tracks and a ripping dark-electro remix from Makornik.

Favorite tracks: Track 2, “Antimatter” is a stalking, dark-industrial war droid; menacing and blasting laser cannon synth effects. Next up, “Neosphere” builds on sinister martial percussion, with a chanting vocal hook and eerie atmosphere. Track 4, “Hybrid Droplets” is speedy, with slamming mechanical percussion.

Mind Games
by Kabay on Bipolar Disorder Rec.

Heavy duty, 3am warehouse hard minimal. A solid hour of dark, raw and rolling hard techno. Featuring originals and 5 remixes from Lobster, Groef, and more.

Favorite tracks: “Lucid Emergence (Lobster Remix)” is hypnotic, dizzying astral techno, spiraling through high precision orbital trajectories. Track 1, “Pleasure Pulse (Original Mix)” is a seething dark techno banger, with smoke machine synths and deep, rolling percussion. Track 2, “Pleasure Pulse (Groef Remix)” is another ravey, high speed, hard-groove dark techno roller.

Release Your Spirits
by Lepsi on Obscuur Records

Favorite track: A-side “Here We Go” is a pumpin’ jump-up UK rave anthem; built up around a stadium-sized vocal hook, soaring through piano rolls, and dropping into laser beam tech-trance.

Koselig
V/A on Zakè Drone Recordings

Koselig is a new 4-track album from Zakè’s label featuring long-form ambient and atmospheric collaborations with special guest artists.

Favorite tracks: Track 3, “A Whisper” by From Overseas and zakè is a rich and layered composition; atmospheric and enveloping, slowly looping nostalgic warm ambient. Track 1, “Kinderness” by Benoît Pioulard and Viul is melted, warm ambient drone; with emerging shoegaze guitar textures slowly coalescing and glowing, before simmering out over the remainder of the track.