Jack-of-All-Trades Tadd Mullinix, who drops hip-hop as Dabrye and crazed minimal acid as James T. Cotton, teams for the second time with D’Marc Cantu for three tracks of old-school acid madness. The gritty, thunderous “Sweat Box” starts with a whispered vocal reading the title, simple bloopy bass, and rumbling toms before those hi-hats ride in and the tension builds. You keep expecting it to explode and the kick to come in, but in its restraint it is all the more effective and menacing. Besides, the next cut, “Ace of Spades,” takes care of all of that anyway. Screeching from the get-go, it thumps along with a tweaked vocal snippet and a 4/4 pulse, until eventually some snares roll in and more knobs are twisted. The side-long “Acid Planes” follows the same basic formula, but stretches it out for 10 minutes+ for maximum mixability. In fact, you could likely start it at three different points in the record and no one would notice, and that is not an insult. Drop this next to some Trax classics and watch the trails.

Spectral Sound / SPC 38
[Listen]
[Todd Hutlock]

Never mind those voyages to the planets of rainbows and winged amazons that countless prog-bands heard from their Moog synthesizers. It is an instrument of dork camp, and synth-pop icon Jean Jacques Perrey will back me up on that. Perrey and IDM maven Luke Vibert previously made excellent comrades in “You Moog Me,” where their vintage ‘60s lounge-pop vacationed under a Martian sky lit with star showers and criss-crossing flying saucers. Their new excursions in acid techno sadly lacks some of the same spark. “Moog Acid 138″ is a decent, acid-techno treatment of carousel melodies that get overwhelmed by a blaring traffic jam of irritating synth yowls. The snappier “Moog Acid 133″ gets larded by too many abrupt synth wonks, garbled vocoder mutterings, and erratic turntable scratching. The remix by Jackson and His Computer Band thankfully gets the blood flowing: he slaps together an erratic, noisecore-meets-Billy Joel’s “Pressure” groove. Plastician’s remix strips everything down to a steady rhythm that slaps both cheeks of the face, while traces of the original Moog track buzzes like a mosquito caught in the ear. Now that’s a fitting tribute to the legend of Perrey.

LoEB / LOEB 001
[Listen]
[Cameron Macdonald]

It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise to find this acid techno classic from the golden age of the genre reissued by none other than Richie Hawtin himself, as the track was a regular feature of his own DJ sets back in the day and was even included on the X-Mix-3 mix CD that he released with Plus 8 partner John Acquaviva back in 1994. Hawtin’s one-man revival campaign (see the last few reissues on Plus 8 for evidence, including Baby Ford + Eon, Link, and even Teste, originally released on his own Probe imprint) may be the result of a feeling of nostalgia or a longing for the “good old days” but it is sure making for some damn fine records to be rescued from obscurity.

“Model8” was an early single from the aptly named Dutch producer and DJ Harry Lemon and you can hear the early Plus 8 sound all over its grooves. The classic drum pattern, bouncing bass riff, and especially the smashed-to-hell hi-hats might sound a bit dated now, but an enterprising DJ could likely still work it into a set. The original mix builds in layers to a big breakdown about halfway through before really letting fly with the acid/percussion madness. All well and good, but it’s the remix on the flip that is the real killer. It sounds infinitely more modern, with its stripped-down percussion attacks and positively HYOOOOOGE build-ups and breakdowns clearly prefiguring where Hawtin was going with F.U.S.E. and later with Plastikman. A massive, floor-filler of a record that isn’t quite ready to be retired yet.

Basic Energy / ENERGY 103-5
Plus 8 / PLUS8089
1993 / 2006
[Todd Hutlock]

Tadd Mullinix resurrects his James T. Cotton guise for the infectious “Oochie Coo,” and heads directly to rump-shaking territory. Over crashing hi-hats, stuttering snare snaps, and a bouncing bass groove, Mullinix lays down some schmoooove talk to his lady while the track percolates into a frenzy. Tip: the louder you play this, the better it sounds, and the more you play it, the more infectious it is. On the flip, “My Zel” is a fairly unremarkable, mid-tempo analog shaker with sizzling cymbals and big tom-toms pushing the rhythm, but 2AM/FM’s remix of “T-Y-O-C Painkillers” strips the original down and sells the parts, resulting in a throbbing head-nodder in the classic Trax/acid house style. Another winner from the Ghostly/Spectral camp.

Spectral Sound / SPC-35
[Todd Hutlock]

People (never) ask me, “Todd, what’s a good song to gently ease myself into dance music?” I now have my 12” to hand them and send them on their way. Divided seamlessly into two emotionally-over-the-top parts, the seventeen-minute opus “Inner Cycle” is probably one of the best things (re-)released via Kompakt ever. It’s an acid-pop-house gem that moves from great to astounding along its length, until it gets to a coda that reaffirms why I listen to dance music. And, yes, he’s still the guy that sang on “Music Sounds Better With You.” You could probably spin “Function” till the end of time, too, and be rather content.

Immer / IMMER 001
[Todd Burns]

This Environ vet does little to change his sound on this, his Ghostly debut. It wouldn’t be such a heinous crime if this was his finest work, but “Berlin Sunrise (Die Nacht),” only comes to mean stuff in a mid-song breakdown worthy of the Neptunes, in which everything drops out except the glistening synth, the Italo tempo drums, and a yearning string line. When things get normal again, just pick the needle up and go back or wait for it all to come together in the finale. “Berlin Sunrise (Die Daemmerung)” is a less effective, more compact beast that pumps up everything at the expense of length and subtlety. On the flipside, the highlight is “Das ist Kein Techno!,” which is decidedly not techno! What it is is top-notch acid house.

Ghostly International / GI-34
[Todd Burns]

Stylus writers have remained curiously silent on the newest offerings from Richard D. James and it’s easy to see why, based on the first two entries into the Analord series. Anyone who wants to bother taking 800 words to review the thing better be spending 700 recounting AFX’s historical impact or something equally as boring. Which reminds me: Analord 1’s aceeeid revivalism is inconsequential to most who came to him after his Twin alias came to be regarded as his “important” work. For those who get off on it, you know what to expect: a bit more melodically complex than most acid and a whole lot harder to mix into and out of.

Rephlex / ANALORD 01 / ANALORD 02
[Todd Burns]