Birmingham Techno paragon Monrella (Mick Harris) doesn't mess about, returning to Trauma Collective with 'Shank', a no-nonsense cut of heads down 909 techno. His analog production strikes a fine balance between solid groove and industrial rumble as the characteristically dry precussion crunches around a relentless synth stab.

Alongside Regis and Surgeon, Harris was an architect of the dark Birmingham sound that blossomed out of club night House of God. He played a key role in the genesis of grindcore in the late 80s as the former drummer of Napalm Death and went on to translate his taste for raw, analog distortion into rugged 4x4 club tools with productions for Regis' ZET label in the mid 90s as Monrella. Several alias projects followed, the broken techno explorations of Fret, beatless dark ambient with Lull and the dub inflected trip-hop / illbient of Scorn.

'Shank' is remixed on the flip by the Berlin-based Force Reaction, a collaborative project from Kwartz and Kaiser, two purveyors of a particularly muscular strain of techno igniting dances across Europe. They last released together on Kaiser's K S R imprint back in 2021 but this is Kwartz's second outing on Trauma Collective after a link up with Monrella on TRM003. Their version introduces reverb and echo to the mix while firmly retaining dancefloor utlity.

Rounding up the B-side is a polyrhythmic and densley textured remix from Héctor Sandoval as Tensal. Sandoval is one half of pioneering Spanish techno duo Exium, and he also contributed to ZET back in 2001. Tensal doubles up on this release, dispatching a second remix in the form of a peak-time thumper available as a digital only bonus track. More

Trauma Collective go out all guns blazing with a fierce offering by ascendant Italian producer Sciahriar Tavakoli aka Sciahri (Sublunar Records/Unknot). The Trauma EP is at once an obviously loyal tribute to the imprint platforming him, while being a visceral soundtrack to the gradual setting in of early morning lights. Wasting no time in exercising his sonic assault, opening cut "Hypnotism" will affect you much like its name suggests on this punishing, splintered- beat body basher, before pummelling you into submission on the strobed-out warehouse techno epic "Plastic Rain". He then ventures into the more abrasive shades of texture and gradient on the experimentally minded "Ava" until getting off-the-grid once more with a descent even deeper into the void, on the knackered closer "Dead Waves". More

Trauma Collective returns to shock to your system on their fifth release, which comes courtesy of Spain's Rafael M. Espinosa aka Geistform. The Barcelona-based artist, also known for his exploits under the Univac alias, has crafted a singular style that exists at the interzone of IDM, digital noise and electro and having earned him releases on Pi Electronics, Femur and Hands Productions in recent years. Espinosa executes four programs in sonic warfare on the Antena EP, all sounding akin to complex bitstream amplification. A multi-level barrage of frequencies play offense on opening cut "Proxima B", which sets the theme for more widescreen pulsations that gash the senses, as heard on the syntax error of "Note Repeat" and building up to a climax on the monochromatic soundstage of "Norc" - a jagged and angular exploration in bass artefacts and static redux. Since unleashing the austere techno of Birmingham legend Mick Harris (as Monrella) and hometown hero Kwartz on unsuspecting ears, the Madrid-based collective has now ventured into more experimental spheres, as heard on the off-kilter mentalism of ASC's Loop Research and the brooding atmosphere of Makunaimadama's limited cassette release last year. Antena is the logical progression for the label's next chapter, where it continues to push the threshold of electronic music's outer limits. More