Also-rans: techno tryers making all the right noises

Still awake?

Not all techno can make it into my final list: it’s the taking part that counts, right? Here are some more also-rans as we count down the best electronic music of 2016.

Maybe I should have given more time to the sonic harsh-tronics of Andy Stott’s Too Many Voices (Modern Love), him being a former chart-topper round these parts. There was also some storming techno from A Made Up Sound’s A Made Up Sound (A Made Up Sound) – band, album and label nicely uniform there. Thug Entrancer moved from footwork to acid on the likeable Arcology (Software), and JK Flesh moved my bowels with the dirty jackhammer techno of Rise Above (Electric Deluxe).

One of my most listened albums of this year was Death In Vegas’s 1997 album Dead Elvis. Which is a shame because it overshadowed his comeback album Transmission (Drone). It didn’t quite transmit enough for me.

I enjoyed the paddy techno of Roman Flügel’s All The Right Noises (Dial Records). Prolific Icelander Bjarki put out three techno collections on the Trip Label: too much for me to absorb for this list. And I liked Abstract Division’s dancefloor-ripping Contemporary Spaces (Dynamic Reflection). This was technically an EP but it felt very much album-esque. An excuse I will use again, controversially, later on in this album countdown…





Scroll all of the best 2016 electronic albums by clicking here.

A bulging bag of bargains and a Death In Vegas

A day before the dismally-named That's Entertainment disappeared from Manchester's Market Street, I bagged myself a bulging bag of CDs for a few quid. I spent ages sifting through their alarming quantities of Christian rock music to find the best clearance albums I could.

The bargains I bought included Apollo 440, Dust Junkys, a whole bunch of Moby, Hardfloor, Bentley Rhythm Ace, Jam & Spoon, Fun-Da-Mental, and Dead Elvis by Death In Vegas. I felt I had bought the 1990s.

That was a while back. Since then, it's Death In Vegas (DiV) I have played the most. Dead Elvis isn't perfect, but in the middle of the album is a triple-decker smashdown of Dirt, Rocco and Rekkit. This felt like the absolute height - and heart - of big beat.

In 1997, I saw DiV support the Sneaker Pimps at Manchester University Student's Union. The Pimps bashed out their brace of hits, so note perfect that Six Underground might as well have been played on a tape. But support act DiV, with their debut album barely a few months old, tore the roof off the place. One of my happiest gig memories. The Pimps never stood a chance.

DiV have a new album out called Transmission: it's very different, although you can hear the intensity of Rekkit on the towering second track Consequences Of Love.

In the meantime, back to Dead Elvis and that dirty trio of 1990s techno perfection. Have a listen.