After two Searle ep’s, Franco Cangelli releases Mowar 14 under his own name. The Lost Conversation ep is well balanced 4-tracker with plenty of warehouse energy and emotional content. First up is Question Authority, a stripped down, somewhat dark techno affair for throbbing dancefloors where people lose their minds over infectious rhythms and punishing stabs. Next comes Paul Mac’s remix of Lost Conversation, which pretty much continues in the same dark warehouse vein. The beats jack unrelentlessly, the bass grabs you by the synapses and the dark strings brings out the emotion. On the flipside, the original mix of Lost Conversation grooves on with basic mental chord works and a deep rolling sine bassline to get you hooked. The ep closes the dance with a deep, emotional work out called Rudimentary, clearly influenced by those deep Motorcity tracks. From dark warehouses to melancholic emotional techno, Franco Cangelli gets back on track. More

Mowar enters autumn with the 2nd instalment of Deep Floors, once again exploring the deeper grooves of techno. First up is Ohio’s FBK, whose first release already goes back to 1996 on the legendary Frictional Records. With ‘She Brought Me There’ FBK opens the dance with a solid deep dancefloor groover, driven by a hypnotic hook and infectious chords. Stripped down and yet full of atmosphere. After that UK’s Tom Dicicco and Italy’s Roberto Bosco team up to deliver ‘All Dem’, another stripped affair with rolling drums and chord stabs, a solid blend of deep hypnotic layers of groove. On the flipside we find Spain’s Aiken with a strong detroit-infused workout, in-your-face kick drums, jacking rhythms and dramatic strings. Your turntables will love it. Last but not least, a new Belgian upcoming producer Stevie P delivers a dubbed out functional deep techno track with hip-sensitive chord stabs and a fiercely throbbing rhythm.

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Searle comes back to Mowar for his second release. While his Mind Transfer ep was a darker workout, his new She Moves ep show a deeper dubbed side of his productions. The title track perfectly combines the dub aesthetics and simple Basic Channel effectiveness with sweet infatuating stabs and scapes. This one’s for the deeper and more sensual moments on the dancefloor. ‘Melancholy’ goes even deeper emotionally layering a steady slightly jacking rhythm with edgy melancholic atmospherics and melodies. On the flipside Russ Gabriel, who remixed on the very first Mowar release back in 2008, reworks ‘She Moves’ in a stripped hypnotic mover, slightly more thumping for those sexy hips. Last track ‘Tunneling’ is what Searle would call a 5 am groover for the die-hards who want to be embraced by the sensuality of deep emotional techno.

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Mowar has reached its 10th release! This release heads into a darker direction with four solid and mental techno movers. Searle is a new name to join the Mowar ranks, but his sounds are pure, raw with a pinch of dark ambience. The record opens with the title track Mind Transfer, which brings a raw oldskool 808 feel layered with hypnotic Basic Channel-like chords and a subtle but most effective acid line. Modern Love's Claro Intellecto on remix duty turns the track into a slow moving warehouse monster, throbbing its way to a drugged Chicago-esque jacking feel yet retaining the original darkness of Mind Transfer. On the flipside Succubus lives up to its ominous title. This track is a dark hypnotic affair with fierce kickdrums piercing through an obscure sound palette of eerie pads and deep basses. Razor sharp modulated noise then invades the whole thing turning the track into a punishing dark workout. Finally Unauthorized brings a more edgy and experimental sound to the whole, starting of with a dubby bassline and graveyard shift pads, but once the piercing hi-hats kick in, the track shifts to straightforward almost Cristian Vogel-like mental techno. By the way… Searle is a new moniker of Mowar frontman Franco Cangelli…

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Franco Cangelli’s Mowar label returns with a four-tracker destined for underground clubs all over the world. ‘Phantomz’ is the work of Belgian producer Ozka aka David Nizet, who has released on labels as diverse as Rotation and Aesthetik, as well as putting out the ’Hidden Roots’ EP last year on Mowar. The title track sets the tone for the rest of the release: a dark, dense serving of techno propelled by dense beats, relentless filters and a foreboding bassline, it effortlessly captures the sound of 6am in a darkened warehouse. ‘Draw Any Type’ is of a similar disposition, although somewhat more atmospheric thanks to mysterious synths, but the same dense, slamming beats drive it towards the dance floor, while Aubrey’s take on ‘Phantomz’ ramps up the intensity levels. Underscored by a slamming rhythm and concrete beats, the UK producer copper-fastens a grungy riff to snappy, jittery percussion and menacing bass pulses. For a few brief moments, the track breaks down midway through, but all too soon it returns to its punishing direction. Finally, Ozka delivers some light relief in the form of ‘Ekwalize’. The track has a deeper, dubbier feeling and the textured chords augment its swinging sensibility, but even here remnants of the release’s overall intensity remain, with a cacophony of found sounds lending it a menacing undercurrent.
Don’t miss out on this superb phantom techno release!

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With releases on 7th Sign, Persistencebit and Self Defence to his credit, Belgian DJ/producer Franco Cangelli returns to his own Mowar label for this killer four-track EP. Inspired by classic techno and contemporary machinations in equal measure, Cangelli’s palette is varied but sophisticated. ‘Pressure’ kick starts the EP in dubby mode, but the fat beats and spooky riffs are soon joined by a warm, sublime chord sequence. ‘Frantic’, as the title suggests, picks up the pace, with a slamming, slightly off-rhythm underpinning wired analogue bleeps. Thanks to Cangelli’s smooth production touch, it manages to sound both timeless and modern. On the other hand, ‘Fringe’ and ‘Deviate’ make no secret about their influences. The latter deploys raw, crunchy beats and a shuffling groove as the basis for a sensuous chord sequence, while ‘Fringe’ is even more reverent. Gently filtered bleeps and tones cascade over tight claps and an insistent, jerky rhythm that recalls Stasis and Derrick May. Don’t miss out on this future-retro gem!

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