pdqb :: Mutations, Modifications, and Other Alterations (Synaptic Cliffs)

Berlin’s pdqb unveils a double-pack of remixes, mapping the mechanics of robotic grooves across a hand-picked roster of producers.

Machine funk, sharpened edges

The set opens with first-gen LFO founder Gez Varley in his G-Man guise. “Sixfold Radianz” moves through proto machine-funk terrain with a steady 4/4 drive, synth sweeps, and remorseless and controlled precision. Hardfloor wear their Dadamphreakin’ baseball caps for “Fronterra Extaterrestre,” bending elastic funk into tight, taut structures in what presents as a standout effort from the legends. UK electro surveyor Carl Finlow appears as Silicon Scally with a rework of “Hypothermia (34,8).” The track becomes a 2–4 a.m. white-noise, all-heat groove, fully Finlowesque: restrained, precise, expertly woven, and crisply calculated. Static and hiss fold a driving pulse, letting the rhythmic heat play with ideas of bodily contortion.

My subjective best of the batch is Annie Hall’s remix of the closing track “Mäckchen” from the pdqbs’ previous Wetware Unveiled. The original is a little over two minutes, a brief, understated instrumental end piece. Annie expands it into a confident, technoid-funk exercise: stuttering beats loop and lock with rigid precision, bass and rhythm assert themselves in their own groove soup, and subtle harmonic and textural shifts build a captivatingly controlled momentum. The skill on display illustrates the capacity to command a piece, honing until both shape and direction are paramount, turning minimal source material into something assertive and fully realized. For me, it is precise, assured, and mature in its delivery.

Electro Nation‘s return a textbook exercise in classic electro on “Pseudoliparis Swirei:” arpeggiated top-lines and oceanic bass sweeps interlock across a rigid, functional, and broken digital rhythm. A salute to both lineage and pioneers of what become known as electro alike. Next, Martin Matiske takes on “Reklonstrusion” and strays no further than a collected fifty years of musical art in a flash of electronics, imagining passing Kraftwerk on the very same autobahn. Perhaps traveling to the same destination via different controls, heard as rippling bass arpeggiates in waves over portamento melodies and analogue thips and kicks.

Lloyd Stellar contributes with his rebadged mix of “Verquerer Weise,” showcasing a commanding bass and minimal robotic vocal fragments, shaping space with simplicity and scale. The track moves methodically, with rhythmic momentum and remote melodic gestures defining the structure rather than embellishment. DJ Di’jital closes the set with “Sycorax,” pointing to a similar territory as Spacepimp’s seminal Clear Records release K9 Law. Slapping gutter-funk beats and subtle, shifting locked grooves dally with newly restrained pad textures, creating a sense of movement, momentum, and final arrival. The remix maintains a taut, controlled, bursting energy while offering, at last, a satisfying, precise landing, framing the set’s conclusion with clarity and compositional rigor.

This superior collection demonstrates that future/now robotic electronics can be incisive and intelligent without tropes or theatrics. Each track stakes a clear position, reconsidering familiar forms with subtle shifts and structural rigor. Empirical evidence that one doesn’t need to run with the pack. Eyes front for lift-off.

Mutations, Modifications, and Other Alterations is available on Synaptic Cliffs February 13, 2026. [Bandcamp]