Cogs, Beans and The Machines – The Tramps Are Alright EP (Powertools909)

The novelty of Cogs Away!’s swear-heavy opening wears off pretty quickly, but you get the impression Cogs – that’s Ant and DDR, by the way – are aware of that, because once you’ve endured the swearing, it only makes the briefest of reappearances in the main body of the tune. Which is a doozy. Set off by the kind of kickdrum that scares pigeons out of rafters, you can almost sense the individual fingerprints of the artists involved: the cranky, determinedly oily low frequencies of DDR, the mad-eyed, OCD melodies we’ve come to expect from the Ant of Hazchem or Acid Jammer. Nevertheless, though there be acid here, Cogs feels like first and foremost a techno project, and unsurprisingly Klammerton with its frequent changes and lots of breaks, sounds like it could have come out on Powertools, while Twathammer will remind you late-90s Cluster. 303 makes a reappearance on the final track Flounce, meanwhile, which sweats in a big coat and stands on the sidelines glaring a thousand-yard stare, like the rest of the EP a tough, solidly constructed tune, built  to last.

Acid Steve & DDR – AV 01 (Avinit Records)

Cat no: Av001 
Release date: 13/07/11

Raves like This
BPM: 143
The first release on Acid Steve’s new label uses media samples of the Holborn Halloween Rave of 2010 to kickstart a determinedly old-school track with a dirty acid line that creeps in at about 0.30 and gradually makes its presence felt, morphing into full-blown assault by the track’s end. The spoken-word samples are dropped in deftly and without interrupting the overall bangingness of the whole thing – all of which adds to the 90s feel.

Winning! (feat MC Sheen)**
BPM: 143
Personally my tastes go to the dark rather than the fun side of Acid so I shouldn’t really like a track called Winning! that samples Charlie Sheen. And at the time of writing, with the world well and truly over his antics, it probably does look a little gauche. But actually I think the track will date well. As is the fashion, it has a long breakdown featuring a portion of a TV appearance, an interviewer asking, ‘Tell me about the last time you took drugs,’ and Charlie asserting that the last time he took drugs, he took more than any human being could survive. Any human being other than him, obviously. Yet instead of laughing and making wanker signs at him, she earnestly asks, ‘How do you survive that?’ ‘Because I’m me,’ he says, after a pause to reflect on the sheer fucking awesomeness of being him, ‘I have one speed: Go.’ And because Acid Steve and DDR are no slouches when it comes to calibrating the precise dynamics of their breakdowns, that ‘Go’ signals fierce wet splashes of 303 that build in excitement to a second breakdown where all hell breaks loose in all manner of kaleidoscopic patterns. The fact that it’s called Winning (feat MC Sheen) will no doubt put people off and put me off at first – it makes it sound like a YouTube skit, for one thing. In fact it simultaneously celebrates and lampoons the year’s biggest arse, doesn’t once use the word ‘winning’, thank God, and features some of the most arresting acid of the year.

Get it from: 909 London

Realising that it would be good to actually hear the tracks I’m wibbling on about, I’ve been trying to embed sound samples from 909 London, but without any luck. So either go directly there to hear them via the link above or, alternatively both tunes appear in this mix (mine — consider yourself warned), now up on Soundcloud.

All 2011, All Acid Techno Mix

Here’s a mix I made of… well, it’s a bit daft to say it’s the ‘best’ Acid Techno of 2011 so far, since I can’t possibly presume to be familiar with it all but this is the best Acid Techno of 2011 that I’ve heard, at least.

The tracklisting is…

D.A.V.E The Drummer - Acid In The Box
D.A.V.E The Drummer & Chris Liberator - Twinkle Toes
Jamie C - Shitbag
Sterling Moss - Never Give In
A.P - Can't Get Enough
Syndrome – MFT (D.A.V.E. The Drummer Remix)
Austin Corrosive - The Drums
Ben Fraser - Tek Stream
Nitronoise - Missed F*ck
DDR And James Kinetic - The Cross Joint
D.A.V.E. The Drummer & Tassid - Keep It Going
Sterling Moss - Rock N Rolla
Chris Liberator & Darc Marc - Happy Birthday LSD
Nitronoise - Acid Crumble
A.P - Ride It
D.A.V.E The Drummer - Stop The System
Chris Liberator, Sterling Moss & Maxx - Deadly Swine
Hectech - Lock'n Loud