Dekmantel Holland Schallplatten & CDs

Review: The Dekmantel Anniversary series has proved as popular to date as you'd expect with contributions from Messrs Lone, Morphosis, Awanto 3 and Juju & Jordash. Round three arrives and you guessed it, the standards have been maintained with Hunee and Hundred20 representing either side of a delightful lime green twelve inch. Hundred20 is of course the musical endeavour betwixt Dani Plessow and his studio sparrer Felix Bergleiter, and "Minke Whale Congregation" is filled with typical MCDE flourishes such as the Raw Cuts style drums, though there is also a nice crumbled edge to the track's textural qualities. With the exciting news of a forthcoming debut album from Berlin resident Hunee still cascading around our collective mindset, "The Lowest Animal" cranks up the anticipation further - occupying the guttural end of smudged out analogue body music in the opening moments before revealing several new rattling layers of mind altering, body jacking potential.

Review: Ploy aka UK artist Sam Smith lands on tastemaking Dutch label Dekmantel with Unlit Signals, a double 12" of raw dancefloor power that reconnects him with his house roots. Known for his twisted and percussive techno on Hessle Audio and Timedance, this time he looks back over a ten-year career of crafting club-rocking sounds that mix solid house grooves with his signature percussive flair. Across eight tracks there are plenty of well-honed DJ tools with a mischievous edge that comes from his knack for off-kilter synths, weird samples and razor-sharp rhythms. It's a versatile, high-impact tackle that works for the peak of the night but also the headier times.

Review: Dutch industrial techno producer Parrish Smith created Light Cruel & Vain over the course of nearly three years. Each track on the record was originally conceived solo, then further realised with the assistance of contributing musicians Sofiane Brahmi and Javier Vivancos. The collaborative where no studio sessions occurred due to the pandemic - the full collaboration conducted remotely. Notable tracks include the seething post-punk swagger of "Black Scarlet" or the brooding industrial rock of "Sway", to the industrial strength breaks of "Never Break Faith" and a frantic techno banger towards the end "I Wanna Be An Idol".