- Whether heard on a sweaty 5 AM dance floor or while relaxing at home, there's never a bad time for a trip down a techno wormhole. And while parts of the scene feel less inspired than ever, there are plenty of producers still making psychedelic tunes for the body and mind. Rhyw, best known as one half of the duo Cassegrain, has made a career from this style of techno hypnosis, sculpting highly textured tunes in the vein of labels like Prologue and M_Rec LTD across records that represent the very best of modern deep techno. ARCS-06, his third 12-inch of the year, is as good as anything he's put out, supplying three exploratory techno tracks for patient DJs.
Each track runs for around six minutes but could have been twice as long. The grooves are broken yet propulsive, lumbering forward on disintegrating basslines and blunt kicks. "Unpunishable," the straightest tune, even has a catchy melody, a rattling synth riff buried under the layers of bleeps and atmospheric sludge. "Aqua Velva" and "Vertisol" are on the verge of total meltdown, churning with a dizzying ensemble of clicks, hisses and gurgles. Tracks like this are best deployed with long transitions and a soft touch, so take your time when mixing them in your sets.
TracklistA1 Unpunishable
A2 Vertisol
B1 Aqua Velva