Hyperloop – Alone With the Gods (Ovum Recordings)

I don’t pretend to be the world’s foremost leading expert on techno. Truth be told it’s rather a scary genre, full of people who like a pure kind of techno, or a minimal kind of techno, or a kind of techno made in a certain place.

All I know is techno is good when it’s got the funk. Riva Starr‘s techno spinoff Hyperloop already has a great pedigree with releases on Adam Beyer‘s Truesoul and Drumcode. Now it brings an undeniable heavy dose of machine funk to Josh Wink‘s Ovum.

There are three tracks on the EP, the first ‘Alone With The Gods’ is a simple, heavyweight techno jam. It’s not easy to make something with this much feeling with so few elements. Huge kick drum, repetitive stab, high string, sharp high hats. It’s all about the arrangement, the highs and lows to ebb and flow the energy. When the breakdown kicks in and the spoken words, taken from a Charles Bukowski poem drop into the mix it makes beautiful sense. This is music that you’d watch aliens come from outer space to take over the world. It just sounds that way. A powerhouse groove.

Reknik is techno with a housier, filtered loop, straight-up, in-your-face sound. From the start it sets out with incredible energy and a blistering bass-led groove. The sample is, if I’m not mistaken, from the Masters at Work remix of Mondo Grosso‘s – ‘Souffles H’, a stone cold house classic from back in the day. This kind of track is a head down, hands up, work the floor, no-nonsense floor destroyer. Programme this right in your set and watch the reaction.

‘Hyperspace’ is a variation on a theme, with big stabs punctuated throughout. It’s another big groove, peppered with old-skool samples and kept simple with that big drum groove. A strong track, but lacking in the soul that drives ‘Alone With The Gods’ and ‘Reknik’.

I am possibly not your best judge of what techno is cool. I can, however, say with some authority that this is techno with funk, with groove and with soul. And that is cool.

A big release.

Score: 8.5/10

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