VARIOUS — Uncertain Landscape Part II

Jamaica Suk’s 17-track, quadruple-volume ‘Uncertain Landscapes’ series continues with its second part, bringing five tracks of uncompromising cutting-edge techno. NovaMute artist Nicolas Bougaïeff kicks off with the rasping sounds of ‘Nocturne 1’, a tense juggernaut of a track. Sheet metal textures clash up against eerie FX the most throbbing of kick drums, with a twisted, distorted feel to the breakdown. Keith Carnal’s ‘Infringement’ injects rhythmic bleep patterns into its chattering percussion, creating an almost dubby feel that’s contrasted with an urgent energy. Well-timed filtering adds to the tension. The warped wiggle of Helrad’s ‘Groove Addicts’ comes next, with intense machine energy filtering up from the depths. A manic cacophony of detuned bleeping creates a heavy, relentless feel over the succinct beat. Insolate’s ‘Sanchin’ rocks a pulsating bass chug that underpins washed-out textures and synth delays, with rasping metallic sounds washing over the track in the second half while the shuffling percussion keeps ticking away. Manuel Di Martino channels some classic Detroit vibes in the chattering clap & snare patterns and rolling groove of ‘Runout’. Resonant tones blip, loop and pitch-shift in hip-shaking fashion to give the feel of a classic Jeff Mills set in action.