New from the ever discerning Nous camp comes AYLN's RehtomEP, a 25 minute exploration of the kind of unrelenting machine music for which both artist and label have come to prominenc Side A is a journey through sparse syncopated rhythms, industrial noise motifs and the kind of buzz and hum that the heroes of the second wave of techno music championed, culminating in the EP's title track 'Rehtom' which is an exercise in analogue techno mastery.
Side B's delivery is subtly more dulcet, kicking off with Digital Memories, which has a more classical techno structure than anything that came before, building intricate melodies into an otherwise taut and tightly woven electronic landscape while the closing Impulsive Sheit is a gentle downbeat number, exploring the space within the music and creating an atmospheric ambient discourse to outro the heady charge of the EP as a whole. More

Moody 6 track compilation from this excellent Berlin based imprint.

More

Another smasher from Nous, this time courtesy of Cofaxx, AKA Joseph Magee and his boundlessly breathtaking 'Pico Vu' EP, a seven tracker that manages to cover immense ground and knowledge within a compact narrative. And each track is a mandatory component of this cleverly assembled story with startling standouts such as 'Dicey' a deep Detroity piece, layering into a Sound Signaturey space, while LA's seasoned producer Brown Irvin closes side 1 with a bolshier bash at opening track 'Tide Pool's ambient, semi-conscious swirlings. Over on the flip 'Velvet' is all golden era electronica stylings, early days Warp and Planet E on a lingering dinner date, while 'Shape to Fade in's smoky textures straddle irridescent sounds for a not-out-of-place jazzy backroom style builder. More

Over the course of five galvanic, techno-esque slabs of sound Fetnat delineates his vision, paying exquisite attention to detail in the almost imperceptible smithereens of vocal noise on tracks like 'Kaoti' and closing out the EP with a magnificent curve ball in the shape of the relentless 'Rotel', a dazzling, synthetic drama of ebb and flow. More

O.Xander is back on Nous for another jaunt into textured techno rhythms all sewn together with a cheeky side eye on diverting off the obvious path and sustaining a reticence for anything too formal EP opener 'Snowspeeder Blues' is a glacial skitter around pitch perfect retro-techno territories, while 'Thru Our Veins' harnesses the eternal power of acid and 'A Perfect Balance' takes a wry slo-mo lens to the synth-core sound.Over on side B we are back in the acid zone for 'Full Spectrum', if a more mournful and disquieting rendition of that genre, with the Juniper's Dub version squirming through a gauzy terra firma of dim lit Detroit design. More

For their first release of 2016 Nous Disques takes up where they last left off with another impeccably crafted release, courtesy of the L.A. based producer Dreams, who serves up 5 tracks of gritty goodness on his ‘Off the Grid’ EP. The project kicks off with ‘Chain’, a hissy, analogue, Detroit-scented monster before moving seamlessly into the more stripped down and minimal ‘Voyeur’; closing out side one ‘Red Veil’ glides in mellifluously, immediately reminiscent of Stacey Pullen's trailblazing forays into that space between house and techno. Over on the flip the title track leads with a jubilantly squelchy tribute to Chicago before the fittingly titled 'Night Cap' closes out the EP with a woozy, slo-mo skitter through eerily sparse electronica. More

Osaka’s Koshiro Hino steps up to the plate for the next journeys by Nous Disques with an oblique experiment in syncopated, gritty-textured, deep-hued techno with a heroic dash of industrial malevolence. The EP opens with ‘Borei’ an out and out mind melter of a track reminiscent of the golden days of DJAX-UP, before travelling to sparse second wave spaces with ‘Doobidoo’ and ‘Shadow’ a perfect partnering of nonchalant efficiency. Side two comprises the doomy and dense ‘Holy Goof’ which at over 8 minutes makes for a soporific listen, while the EP’s closer ‘Smog’ featuring AKN, is an adventurous sensorial amalgamation of muted hiss and hum with a deliberate metallic heartbeat winding the track ever tighter on its perfectly realised axis. More

Ismael's addition to the Nous camp is an impressively expansive account of contemporary electronic club music, with one foot firmly planted in a robust and ripe understanding of its roots in gritty US electro funk and proto house, alongside the industrial machine music exemplified by the first wave, while the other foot finds itself skating around a future reticulation, informed emphatically by the hardcore continuum and all of its awesome sonic artillery, while infused with the rhythm and grime of now.

More