- Bags of stomping techno gold.
- Those who grew up in Ireland in the '90s will remember the phenomenon of Lucky Bags—bright yellow foil packets emblazoned with a turtle mascot, filled with a medley of gummy sweets, plastic toys and other cheap mystery paraphernalia. The element of surprise within was the key USP for prying pocket money from small children at newsagent counters.
This concept gels nicely with the music of Irishman in London Dylan Moran, AKA Céilí, whose taste in techno is a raucously mixed bag. Nosebleed techno, euphoric trance and stomping hardcore all feature on Mála Ádh, the debut release (and first of many compilations) on his new label, whose name translates from Irish as "bag of luck."
A daft, maniacal energy runs through these six tracks from different upcoming artists, such as DJ Ketaflush, whose endlessly looping "Ketamina Bianco (OG Mix)" makes you want to find your own patch of earth to stomp on. Or experimental producer Marcel Dune's "Grey Court," a trance-techno hybrid with soaring arpeggios that would perfectly at home in a Courtesy DJ set.
Julien Andreas' "Manchurian Candidate," which takes its name from the cult novel about political brainwashing, is an acid techno workout with a hardstyle thump—exactly the kind of mind melting music designed to push the EQ meters dangerously close to red. Cressida's "If Only U Knew" has more of a UK flavor with driving bass-oriended melodies and euphoric vocal samples, while "Distress Beacon" by Wheez-ie surges with polyrhythms that call to mind the best of Shed.
Moran himself demonstrates a taste for hardstyle on "Blessing In Disguise," another zany tune that thumps like a jackhammer. Any one of these tracks would be perfectly placed at a loose afters in a dark recess of Hackney. It's a label worth keeping an eye on, with hopefully even more ádh to follow.
Tracklist01. MarcelDune - Grey Court
02. DJ Ketaflush - Ketamina Bianco (OG Mix)
03. Céilí - Blessing In Disguise
04. Cressida - If Only U Knew
05. Wheez-ie - Distress Beacon
06. Julien Andreas - Manchurian Candidate