#10 TORBA S/T
I often think about patterns in my life, the relationships or behaviors I’ve engaged in over and over again. All unique, but all the same. Torba‘s new single “Repeat” captures the experience, frustration, and liberation of these patterns in our lives but also in our collective. With relentless electronics, producer Luigi Pianezzola (The Soft Moon) reminds us to find the differences, the cracks in the spiral, and slip through them. The mesmerizing techno of Torba stops me and asks me if I’m in the middle of an old pattern or if I’ve stepped into something new.
#9 JEROME Moving
There’s never been a bleaker, better time to immerse myself in the gritty industrial, brooding techno, and dark electronics of JEROME. With vocals that remind me of a warped church service chant and beats that have embedded themselves in the waters of my body, rippling through my flesh, these new songs from Jerome are a meditative experience in a world full of chaos and noise. I’m listening to their Moving EP and it’s all of the genres I mentioned above, but it also brings in elements of trip hop, dance music, and drone that make the whole record a brilliantly unexpected experience. Each song either speeds my heart up or slows it down, and either way, they leave me feeling reassured in both my anxiety and my sanity.
#8 GOLPE MORTAL Moral Divide
WTF one of the sickest creative crews in Japan goes by the name of the DISCIPLINE PRODUCTION. Today I got to turn y’all on to the techno monster that goes by the name of Golpe Mortal. Their new record is a nonstop pulsating affair that will you have ready to behead all of your downpressors! I want Golpe Mortal to know that they killed with Moral Divide Respect DUE!
#7 OCD Salem
WTF the new OCD record Salem is a pulsating Techno beast that is out now via Instruments of Discipline and will have you saying WTF WTF WTF as you listen to it! Every tune is a straight banger that will have you dancing nonstop! What I love about this project is that under the thumping beats is a whole other world of sounds that will get inside your reality! I want y’all to blast the song “Be My Valentine” so you can hear for yourself how OCD gets down! With everything I have been dealing with lately because of the state of the world, this kind of insanely epic record gives me an escape! Real talk, this project inspires me to never give up and say fuck you to the shitstem! OCD creates otherworldly atmospheres within all of their songs that act as portals to alternative realities! “Negative self-talk” is heavier and more intense than most Death Metal songs — there are 5 songs living within this one song! I know for a fact that Techno is my safe place and OCD has created one of favorite releases of 2023. Now I’m ready to dance on the graves of my downpressors and wave my flag of freedom high in the sky!
#6 NEUROKILL Ritual
WTF the NEUROKILL visual “RITUAL” is not only powerful, but also terrifying and beautiful at the same time! The short film really makes me think about being a parent and how important it is to see your child for who they are, not how you think they should be. I’m a HUGE fan of NEUROKILL and the insanely Hard Techno that they create.
Right now I’m blasting the soundtrack to my apocalypse! Right now I’m blasting the soundtrack to our inner FURY! Right now I’m the intense sounds of NEUROKILL! Real talk, this Hardtechno artist is gnarly AF and I love them.
Sean Reveron
#5 MIDNIGHT CLIMAX Filth
Oh Hell Fucking Yes! MIDNIGHT CLIMAX is back with a new record called FILTH out now on Synthetic Pleasures and it’s fucking FFFFIIIIRRREEEE!!!! This project never fails to create some of the sickest Psychedelic Hardware Techno on the planet! Ryan Boone, the sonic being behind this MIDNIGHT CLIMAX, has supernatural powers when it comes to creating dance music, real talk. Over the course of 5 tracks, he proves why this record will be played nonstop in our HQ and when I DJay! All you have to do is blast the title track “FILTH” to realize that this is one of the best Techno Records of 2023 and beyond. If you play this record and don’t dance you must be dead! MIDNIGHT CLIMAX — thank you for existing I’m smiling nonstop with a HAPPY FACE listening to THUMPING BASS!
#4 HIS ELECTRO BLUE VOICE Love Conductor
HEBV’s third LP Love Conductor sounds like nothing else. on this planet! I l love this project because it’s PUNK AF meaning that it’s created from a creative space where rules don’t exist! While blasting Love Conductor I find myself feeling like I have ingested 10 happy E pills and my whole being is in a state of BLISS! “ZIXQ” is a tune that transports me to a place where the come-down it’s just as fun as the come-up! His Electro Blue Voice has manifested a straight banger in “Love Conductor.” This is why we are so stoked to share y’all this rad album in full. Punk is all about being yourself and following your passion HEBV does that to the fullest!!!
#3 MOGANO Terrarium
Nocturnal creatures love Nocturnal soundscapes! Maybe this is why the new record from Mogano, Terrarium, resonates with me so much, because I’m a nocturnal animal! The intense and beautiful textures that illuminate this offering are spellbinding and thrilling. I would like to walk NYC alone at 3 AM blasting this album while the rats run around the same streets I’m walking on. There is something about Mogano’s music that makes me think about my favorite architecture and the eternal rhythm of my favorite cities. It’s time for y’all to close your eyes, press play below, and let the mutated Techno of Mogano’s “Scattered Horizon” change the way you hear the world!
#2 AURAGRAPH New Standard
Over the course of 8 thumping tracks, Carlos Ramirez, aka AURAGRAPH, reshapes Acid House in his likeness and I love it! I would be lying if I said the world was not a heavy place right now, but like Soul 2 Soul says, “A HAPPY FACE. A THUMPIN’ BASS. FOR A LOVIN’ RACE.” As I listen to New Standard, I can’t help but think about how music has the power to heal and that’s just what this record does from beginning to end!
Auragraph has manifested one of my favorite dance records of 2023. Blasting tunes like “No Longer Here” make me imagine my ancestors dancing their pain away with nothing but love and the groove in their hearts. Auragraph looked to the past for inspiration while pushing all of us with ears to hear the future! Not one word was uttered on New Standard but this record says it all with its infectious rhythms!
#1 DSM-V Life Is Done
I write this from a place of disgust for those in the Metal and Punk communities who are allowing National Socialist Black Metal in our scenes! I write this from a place of disillusionment for a community that I have been a part of for over 40 years. Do I not belong here because of the color of my skin? In the words of Depeche Mode, “People are people, so why should it be? You and I should get along so awfully.” I write from a place where the new DSM-V album Life is Done is the soundtrack to me realizing I will never give up or give in! As I blast their song “Your Armour,” I envision myself dancing with my ancestors on the graves of our downpressors! This duo has manifested a collection of eight pulsating Nu Beat anthems that will empower the listener to say Fuck the World! What I love about DSM-V’s music is that they are able to put humanity into the machine songs they create. This means that on songs like “Flash of Light,” you can feel their empathy while moving and grooving at the same time. Underground dance music like this is good for my mental and spiritual health! Join us as we celebrate the release of DSM-V Life is Done! Before I let y’all go, just know that their song “Into Nothing” is such a big tune and makes me so happy that I’m breathing air on this place we call Earth!
