(April 2010) A new label has sprung up from the burgeoning pot of Dutch electronics. aDepth Audio is the brainchild of Sander Prins and Tim Gaal, an imprint looking to share the duos “passion for deep melodic techno as well as for all electronic music that is made with the energy and soul of Detroit techno.” The label has began with two 12’s, but have they lived up to the pair’s aims?
The first release on the fledgling label sees Rob Bellville, aka Rob Van Beek, make the step into the world of vinyl with Sound of Instrospection. One of the first things that strikes the listener on this record is its tone. It is not a techno record that sounds modern, it fact it resembles the style and mood of early UK techno. Bellville has a heavy analogue sound, moving dense chords across thin snares and wide basslines in the title track. Glasgow based Arne Weinberg lends his remixing talents to “Sound of Introspection,” adding some deeper notes to the original whilst sticking within the structural elements of the original. The flip-side sees the tempo rise for “Tectonic Movements” and some of the UK sound is left behind for a more Berlin influenced tone. “Pulchritude” follows a similar line with an upbeat pace lining up along some deep melodies. The EP feels quite split in this regard, one side harking back to the early nineties with the flip having a much more modern aspect.
Scottish born and Australian raised Microworld is the second serving for aDepth. Microworld, aka Philip McGarva, has an impressive back catalogue on labels like Derrick May’s Transmat, Styrax Leaves and Millions of Moments. This time it is a three tracker 12″ for Canberra denizen on aDepth Audio, Time Before Techno. The curiously named title piece opens the record. A seven plus minute downtempo epic is what awaits the listener. Warm lofi techno oscillations layered across tinkering beats warm the aural receptors before stabs of synth pulse and recoil. “ISM” follows in a hazy glow of analogue warmth with refracted samples slipping to usher in a deep bassline. Whirring chords orbit snare and bass to produce a well rounded piece of dense techno. Arthur Oskan offers his services to finish off the EP, with the entire B-side being devoted to his remix of “ISM.” The tempo drops as Oskan submerges the original into a suddy stew of deep introverted sound. The track is a deep techno odyssey, with Oskan weaving the original along channels of dubby bass and streams of soft sound before showering snares in a rich cascade.
There are a good variety of techno labels out there, too many to count really; their are few releasing quality above quantity. The Netherlands and electronics go together, with this new imprint sonorously exploring at home and abroad. This debut double EP release for the imprint have not only met their aim to release quality electronic music but have set themselves up as a label to keep an ear on.
Rob Bellville’s Sound of Instrospection and Microworld’s Time Before Techno are both out now on aDepth Audio.
