It’s lucky number 13 for techno afficionados, as Vol. 13 of Drumcode’s eagerly anticipated annual compilation A-Sides LP brings the best and most diverse in techno talent. Label boss Adam Beyer has selected 18 tracks celebrating DC veterans and introducing some DC debutants, including a track from the Swedish producer/DJ himself.
18-Track LP of Top Techno Talent – Get it HERE
Adam Beyer continues his recent forays into vocal samples/processing and organic elements with ‘Life Is’, a glorious attack of chattering beat, seemingly random spacey, industrial hoover sounds and stabs, with processed vocals for the title riff and melody, the whole melange constantly up-shifting to faster, more disturbing, more gripping pace and tension.
With ‘Dance All Night’, DC initiates (solo EP in 2023, Bart Skils collab in 2024) and Tokyo techno maestros, WOMB Tokyo residents and Beatport chart regulars Drunken Kong deploy hard knock beats, growly bass, slamming stabs and an equally demanding vocal riff, ‘I just wanna dance all night’, as sirens lift us to the drop. Full of hooks.
Nigerian-born powerhouse Nicole Moudaber, producer, MOOD label and events boss, star of her InTheMOOD radio show (15ml+ listeners) previously released her muscular techno LP on Drumcode. Now for A-Sides, she crafts a fast, relentless dystopian soundscape with a breaksy backbeat, metallic stabs, industrial FX leavened by a choral melody and spoken riff.
BLR, Matt Sassari & DJ Truetone’s ‘Submerge’ is a stotting, juddering slice of hypnotic techno with a Moroderesque bass synth with Doppler FX… Marseilles-based Sassari has released on Drumcode’s kid bro imprint Truesoul plus CR2, Terminal M…, here joined by Dutchman BLR (dark/melodic techno, 25+million streams for track ‘Taj’) & Truetone. In with her DC debut is VE/RA with ‘Can’t Get Enough’. The Dutch tougher techno star of Tomorrowland etc hits us with a galloping beat, a swift, urgent synth riff and a demanding pitch-shifted vocal mantra – ‘I want this’.
UK duo Dense & Pika return to Drumcode, delivering a pulsing melody for ‘Deep Down Low’, a taut, compulsive, tense deep dive into their sound, also previously on Hotflush. Also a Drumcode favourite (2nd year running on A-Sides, plus on Drumcode’s all-female VA ‘Elevate’) is USA’s Marie Vaunt, teaming up with DC debutant Popof, Parisian tech/house DJ, remixer of Chemical Bros, Moby, Depeche Mode… for uncompromising cut ‘Acid Cult’, with its rippling arps, rattling snares and melodic synth riff and spoken vocal ‘we are the acid cult’.
Complete list of tracks/artists below. Start celebrating, Christmas is early this year.
A Sides Vol. 13 Tracklist
1. Adam Beyer – Life Is
2. Popof & Marie Vaunt – Acid Cult
3. Marco Faraone – Neva Sell, Neva Go
4. Dok & Martin – Inside Your Mind
5. Charles D (USA) – Yantee
6. Timmo – Enter The Sound
7. Balthazar & JackRock – Neo Echo
8. Nicole Moudaber – It’s Just A Dream
9. PETER PAHN – Let The Beat Control Your Body
10. Matt Guy – Dreams
11. Pleasurekraft – At Home in the Universe
12. VE/RA – Can’t Get Enough
13. Drunken Kong – Dance All Night
14. BLR, Matt Sassari & Truetone – Submerge
15. Pablo Say – What’s That
16. Kaiserdisco – Escape
17. Dense & Pika – Deep Down Low
18. Zimmz & LAAT – Ethereal
Drumcode A Sides Vol.13 drops 6th December, save it here: https://drumcode.ffm.to/dc318