As Dense & Pika, Alex Jones and Chris Spero have garnered an enviable reputation for making devastating club ordnance that finds the sweet spot between dark, mysterious house and roaring, brawny techno. With over a decade of material under their belt, Jones and Spero are set to release their first studio length debut album, ‘Colour Burn’ via London major imprint BMG on 4th December, home to the likes of Leftfield, The Prodigy, Holy Ghost and Faithless. ‘Colour Burn’ is a 13-track composition crossing through downtempo house and electronica, built as a conceptual sonic representation of the pair’s live audio and visual set up. The album is a step away from harder and faster material and a move towards a more leftfield sonic trajectory, featuring a handful of impressive heavyweight features of Jones & Spero’s musical heroes who have informed the Dense & Pika output. Released today, album moment ‘Honey’ features the master of sensual, slow-burn techno, Matthew Dear whose contribution to ‘Honey’ arrives in vocal form – a breathy, brooding ensemble of spoken word that glues perfectly with the duo’s trademark rough and textured sound palette. It helps turn what Alex calls “a headsy, dusty piece of housey tech” into something sensual and otherworldly. Dark and smouldering, it seems to the suck the air out of the room like a tightly packed subterranean dancefloor deep in the throes of night. Glitched out percussion and fizzling hi-hats feel caustic against the track’s low-end frequencies. The thumping bassline and kick drum combination delivers punch and pressure to the mix in a true Dense & Pika format. Matthew’s sauntering vocal contribution guides the track into a deep and hypnotic groove well equipped for any late-night excursion. “The boys sent over a lengthy jam, but there was that simple loop that stood out and had me hooked. I put it on repeat and let the mind and pen wander. It’s a bit of cosmic abandonment, brazenly sung by a professional of the night.” Matthew Dear Elsewhere on the LP, standout track ‘Hidden’ features the drums of Sepultura’s legendary metal icon Igor Cavalera resulting in a fabulous frenzy of percussion and driving rhythm. The equally momentous and unforgettable ‘Control’ features the heavily robotic vocoder of Leftfield’s Neil Barnes aiding and abetting in its quest to be a high-octane, twisted rave jam. The impressive features on ‘Colour Burn’ are an insight into the hugely artistic and visionary A&R skills of Alex and Chris and the start of a new chapter for Dense & Pika kicking off with the long-awaited release of their first studio length album. More

Hotflush’s remix series continues in style with fresh interpretations of Dense & Pika’s ‘Colt’ and ‘Airless’. The UK techno duo’s slamming main-room originals are still hot properties, but in the hands of George FitzGerald and Grain they get new life and perspective breathed into them. George FitzGerald is the Berlin based Brit who made a big impact with his bass heavy tunes on labels like Aus and Hotflush before getting snapped up by a Domino offshoot Double Six for his acclaimed debut album earlier this year. He returns to Hotflush in grand style with a remix of the now-classic cut ‘Colt’. Uplifting and replete with the inimitable tropes on which he has made his name - emotion and groove in equal measure - FitzGerald revitalises the original’s unforgettably forlorn piano hook. The second remix comes from Grain aka influential and multifaceted producer, Artwork. This is an old alias of his that makes a stomping return. His take on Airless is an exquisitely boisterous techno roller: heavyweight kicks, lively ticks and some serious main-room heft. More

Set for release next month, Chris Spero (otherwise known as UK house and techno producer Glimpse) and Hypercolour co-founder and producer, Alex Jones, return once again as Dense & Pika to the Hotflush fold with ‘Move Your Body Back.’ Having crept out of the shadows back in 2011 with a collection of white labels released through their own eponymous imprint, Dense & Pika went on to bolster their rising profile with the release of their Hotflush debut (‘Crispy Duck') which landed late last year as well as with their memorable live set at Hotflush's recent Boiler Room Takeover.
There is nothing chin-strokingly complicated or needlessly over-worked about their productions. They make interesting techno aimed at the dance floor and ‘Move Your Body Back,’ continues with this central aesthetic. The three track EP plunders percussive depths by way of stern machine rhythms, swollen low-end grit and the echoing, anthemic elements of warehouse rave techno. The title track of the EP may already be familiar to many having appeared on their Resident Advisor podcast in March and is already being played out by Maya Jane Coles, Boddika and Adam Beyer, amongst others. More

hand]stamped white label 12-inches, anonymous duo Dense & Pika re]emerge for their debut on Scuba's Hotflush Recordings. 'Crispy Duck,' their 3] track take on modern underground techno, kicks off with a chugging A side, giving serious nods to Detroit and beyond with it's deadly shuffle. On the flip, Dense and Pika claim the dancefloor with 'Coil' a tripped out up]tempo techno track, abound with hihats and fist-] pumps, followed by '31', a rough and ready tune that melds 4/4 with acid and dub grooves. Doing their best to remain incognito, the duo are on course to make 2013 their year. Huge early support from Dubfire, Adam Beyer, Midland, Will Saul.... More

Release no.4 for the mysterious Dense & Pika. 'Who Cares Wins' is another slice of grimey warehouse rawness, the kinetic drums and synths combing for a peak time cacophony of sound. Flipsides 'Morse Mode' ups the tempo whilst still keeping the duos signature rough vibe whilst 'Crackling' rounds things off nicely, more streamlined than the previous tracks with a touch of dub techno thrown in for good measure to make a brilliant end to a superbly balanced package.
More

The third release from mysterious double act Dense & Pika sees them returning to the more low slung techno vibes of their first release. '31' is a slow burner; submerged beats shuffle along before the tracks off kilter Millsianesque riff is introduced which gradually oscillates in intensity throughout. A truly heady experience all wrapped up in D&P's super skilled production, it was a feature in Jackmaster's recent RA Podcast and has gained further support from a wide range of djs from DJ Koze to Sven Vath. Flip sides 'Bad Ink' ratchets up the tension with a serious warehouse style jam, big booming cavernous kicks and twisted fx stamp their mark before dropping into a raw melancholic bass riff that takes the track to epic heights. DJ Support from. DJ Koze, Scuba, Peason Sound, Maya Jane Cole, Craig Richards, Untold, Midland, Mosca, Ame, Dexter, Sven Vath, Agoria, Jackmaster, George Fitzgerald, Paul Woolford, Will Saul, Comix, Carl Craig More

After the supremely well received first release 'Vommee' which featured on Sven Vath's recent 'Cocoon' mix CD, the mysterious Dense & Pika's next release well could be one of 2012s biggest - 'Buttplug' is the lead track (already Dj Mag's 'Killer Tune' in it's recent December issue) - a kinetic powerhouse ride of roughed up beats & bass complete with a jacked up female vocal from an anonymous source. If that wasn't enough, flip side track 'Cartoon Heart' continues the high octane thrills with a phunked up house number, the duos tight production giving the track an edge over legions of derivative here today, gone tomorrow fillers. More

High quality rough n'ready warehouse techno from two established producers (who have produced on planet E among others) coming together under the mysterious Dense & Pika alias. 'Vomee' launches the label, all guns blazing with a grimey bass led groove. Flip sides 'Bad Back' continues the low slung vibe but injects more of a fucked up lo-fi feel with a crunched up kick and metalic shards of sound. First in a series...

More

DMX Krew returns to Hypercolour with a new long player. ‘Spiral Dance’ comes stuffed with wonky and futuristic synth jams.

Having honed a style that has endured over an illustrious career, DMX Krew continues to immerse his productions in luscious analogue electronica, touching on the many bases of electro, Detroit techno, synthpop and dreamwave.

With previous albums for Rephlex, Permanent Vacation and Balkan Vinyl, amongst others, ‘Spiral Dance’ becomes the fifth album for Hypercolour, following on from 2021’s ‘Loose Gears’. More

Jamie Russell and Alex Jones set up theHypercolour imprint back in 2006 and the label continues to dish up genre bending bangers two decades down the line. For the label’s milestone 100th release, KiNKcues up a killer four track release with ‘For The People’.

One of house music’s most in demand producers and remixers, KiNK has delivered time and time again for labels such as Running Back, Royal Oak,Macro and his own Sofia Records label, and so it’s with great honour that the Bulgarian artist commemorates the label’s centenary with a kaleidoscopic bundle of hyperactive bangers! More

At the very coalface of the UK rave/breakbeat/techno/call it what you like scene since the 1990s, Jerome Hill is something of a hidden treasure amongst the plethora of DJs and producers to have dropped both bangers and bloopers over the ensuing three decades. With minimum of fuss and fanfare, Hill has steered record labels like Super Rhythm Trax, Don’t, Fat Hop and Hornsey Hardcore to revered acclaim, as well as firing out a consistent stream of releases for imprints such as Matthew Herbert’s Accidental Jr, Exalt Records, and I Love Acid, to name but a few. Surprisingly, ‘Flow Mechanics’ is Hill’s debut album after a production career that kicked off in 1998 as one half of Groove Asylum. And its collection of unabashed acid and rave bangers is a perfect fit for the Hypercolour label, whose personnel over the last few years has included Luke Vibert, DMX Krew, Shelley Parker and Gary Gritness. Tracks produced directly for club play; the album features 8 cuts destined to fit in cross-genre sets. With pumping electro cuts such as ‘Deafening Lull’ and ‘Knob Jitter’, four to the floor acid stompers like ‘Walk The Plank’, the mutant garage of ‘Brought Up Badly’ and the house groover ‘Stax Had The Funk’, ‘Flow Mechanics’ is a joyous romp through rave’s sound palette, replete with playful samples and skits (featured on the vinyl LP version), and a mischievous demeanour that affords the listener an lively album that doesn’t take itself too seriously. ‘Flow Mechanics’ by Jerome Hill is available from 3rd March 2023 on Hypercolour. More

Jack Hamill’s Space Dimension Controller project has delivered some of the most enduring electronic music in recent times. Via single and album releases for the likes of Ninja Tune, Royal Oak, Dekmantel and Aus Music, SDC has thrilled with a certain timeless sound that has embodied science fiction swirling tones, glitchy and granular beats and a nostalgia for electronic music that always sounds futuristic.

On the ‘Cro2ma’ EP, SDC serves up a trio of intoxicating productions for the Hypercolour label. Highly accessible, yet detailed and intricate in design, Space Dimension Controller soaks all three tracks with sanguine melodies and bass blippy frolics that make for an exemplary release from the seasoned producer. More

Danger! Danger! High Voltage! King of bad-ass electro-funk Gary Gritness returns to Hypercolour with an electrifying release of super slick, powered up, body poppin’ jams!

Plugging into the mainline, Gritness lets rip with four bustling joints on the ‘Power Charge’ EP. Frenetic drum machine patterns, feverish bass lines and quick fingered keyboard riffs are laced across every track here, all designed to blow the circuits of your mind! More

Deeply ingrained into the fabric of the British electronic music landscape, Luke Vibert shows no sign of slowing down, after an illustrious career spanning three decades (to date!). Vibert returns to Hypercolour after 2020’s hugely successful trilogy series (Amen Andrews/Modern Rave/Rave Hop) with his 18th album (not counting albums released under his other monikers Kerrier District, Plug, Wagon Christ et al). ‘GRIT.’ finds Vibert in playful mode (and, let’s face it, whenever isn’t he!), as twelve tracks of acidic and squelching drum machine tracks come rolling out to play. Bouncy and hypnotising 303 jams of the highest order are served up here, with rhythms pulled from the electro, garage and house pools, all delivered in Vibert’s inimitable style. More

Noted for his vast and psychedelic bass heavy productions, Brighton based producer Etch pulls out four killers for the ‘Sloppy Rhythm Trax’ EP on Hypercolour.

With a pedigree that has bestowed labels like IllianTape, Sneaker Social Club, LMD SunkWorks and TempOzone with exceptional singles and albums, the man like Etch fires on all cylinders for his Hypercolour debut.

Impenetrable and heady vibes are served up on ‘Lazyville’, whilst‘ Gaia’s Mainframe’ give us some of that aforementioned psychedelic bass in spades!‘

Pluto’s Groove’ tears into jungle and d‘n’b territories, rinsing out the acid breaks vibes, whilst ‘Belladonna & The Poppies’ throws down more sub bass frequencies in a dusty and decidedly chugging EP finale.

LAURENT GARNIER
"Hummm this is twisted and so damn good" More

Following acclaimed releases on Planet Mu, Sneaker Social Club and his own imprint Raw Basics, Anthoney Hart returns with three contemporary rhythm centred rollers under his Basic Rhythm alias.

Wonked out percussion and vocal accents undulate over distorted kicks, subtly building tension in the EP title track “Pepper”.

On the flip, “3am On The Corner” takes things down tempo with broken drums and moody pads accompanied with a haunting sax melody. This eclectic release concludes with “Moonlight Flit” bringing heavy hitting percussive UK Funky energy over a deep pitching sub. More

Very much at the forefront of the UK electronic scene, since 2001, Shelley Parker has innovated and thrilled with live performances, DJ sets, sound installations, and scores for contemporary dance. Parker's recorded output is just a small part of her musical orbit. That said, a debut album 'Spurn Point' in 2014 and various singles, remixes and EPs for Hessle Audio, One Little Indie, Honest Jon's, Houndstooth, Structure Recordings and OOH-sounds have whet the appetite for more. 'Wisteria' lands on Hypercolour, and succinctly encapsulates Parker's layered and dense production aesthetic, as a myriad of concrete rhythms, breakbeat science, inner city ambience and industrial strength bass unfurl over eight uncompromising compositions. More

Hypercolour backroom boy, Ste Roberts, surfaces to the top for a long-awaited new release on the label, serving up a trio of wonky and twisted grooves on ‘The Crescent’ EP. More

Having already made a big splash on labels like Rush Hour, Ghostly, Spectral Sound and Werkdiscs, the London based producer Moire´tees up his third full length player for Hypercolour. ‘Good Times’ goes someway to pulling back a positive energy to recent global events and finds Moire´collaborating with fellow artist Demigosh on a good chunk of the album cuts. Hazy agit house and drowsy beats anchor an album filled with smooth ambience and soulful sampling. Low frequencies and foggy tones make tracks like ‘Magdan’ and ‘Vertigo’ strike a chord between lo-fi electronica and abstract ambient noise, whilst the collaborations with Demigosh add an ethereal soulful touch that’s both stirring and emotive in equal measures. Exotic beat science is deployed on cuts like ‘R1’ and ‘Telefunk’, whilst the jazzy licks and lumpy rhythms of ‘Lost In Pacific’ seal off an extraordinary album that exemplifies the advancing maturity of Moire´’s sound and vision. More

Four brand new mind melters from the creative and imaginative Alphonse. Back on Hypercolour, following 2018’s ‘Better Weather’ single, the British beat scientist pulls together more future sounds on ‘The Dark Horse’ EP.
Always spacey and dubwise in his creations, Alphonse continues a run of releases that have taken in entries for Klasse Wrecks, Black Orpheus and Emotional Especial. Breakbeats and rave tropes fly past in a blizzard of hedonistic sounds and distinctly UK flavours. More

Self-styled ‘house husband, record producer’, DMX Krew, continues his effortless stretch of releases that date back to the early 90s, with a new album for Hypercolour. His deft melodies and mechanical, electro-tinged beats have made for some classic albums in his repertoire, from his incredible run of albums for Rephlex Records, up to 2020’s ’Ghost Bubbles’ long player for Terrestrial Funk. And so ‘Loose Gears’ marks DMX Krew’s fourth album for British stalwarts, Hypercolour, and fans will not be disappointed. Armed with an arsenal of hardware, and a head full of futuristic visions, ‘Loose Gears’ collects eleven tracks of the customary quality we have come to expect from DMX Krew. From the funk laden ‘Solar Transit’ to bleepy chugger ‘Dejected Ambient Twerp’, the vibrant synths and spongy rhythms of ‘Torpedo Tube’ to the beatless wiggle of ‘Xpansion 2’, there’s much in store to be savoured on ‘Loose Gears’, as DMX Krew serves up another fine selection of electronic goodies. More

Zodiac, a new collaboration between Brendon Moeller and Monty Luke, present a heady brew of sci-fi dub and deep rhythms on a full-length album, ‘Serengeti By Night’. With meditative roots music at the very heart of ‘Serengeti’, experimental ideas are excavated over ten tracks. Vivid atmospheres are conjured up, as tribal trance, voodoo dub and otherworldly electronics are deployed over rock steady rhythms. With influences that lie in the musical endeavours of African Headcharge to Rhythm & Sound, Public Image Limited to Cybotron, Zodiac keep the flame burning for exploratory dub-leanings, and deliver an album from the space station above that administers sophisticated braindance sounds that will command repeat listens... More

Who is Boelja? Who is Sebastian Mullaert? Who are they really? Are they the finite body and a collection of thoughts? And who are you? Are you your memories or perhaps your projections of the future? Or are you this present moment? What is silence? Is it solely the absence of sound? Or are all sounds springing out of silence and falls back into the same? And what is sound without context? Is it just nonsense? Or is there something more universal to it? Where did the second vinyl go? Is it sitting in an attic or warehouse somewhere waiting to be discovered? Is it being played as you are reading this? Is all of this just a game? Are YOU being played? Did someone make this music or did the music just happen? Where does the process of creation start? Where does it end? And who is the listener? How does the listener affect the music? Is there really any separation between the creator, listener and the music? Are they all one and the same? What is next? Where is all this going?Is there an end? Or are your actions just another event happening in this never-ending stream of consciousness? And to whom is it happening? More

Whether it’s 303 basslines or those pesky little tabs of lysergic, everyone loves a Taste Of Acid. FaltyDL, being one of the many believers, delivers four cuts of A C I D for Hypercolour. Tune In, Turn On Drop Out...... More

The heavy industrial crunch and rubbery synths of FRAK’s trademark sounds come to Hypercolour with the four track ‘Berga Magic’ EP. The Swedish techno trio have been active since the late 1980s, issuing cassette tapes (and later, vinyl) filled with blueprint techno and electronica on their own Börft Records label. Following in the footsteps of Severed Heads, D.A.F. and Devo, FRAK have truly embraced performance art and experimental minimalism over the years, never compromising, always innovating. The ‘Berga Magic’ EP comes brimming with raw analogue explorations and delightfully incongruous noise. More