- Hypnus Records is a new Stockholm-based label that has quickly made obvious its love of deep, off-kilter techno. Up next is a vinyl EP from Korridor, who a couple months ago put out an intriguing record on Abdulla Rashim's Northern Electronics imprint. This one is called Dyson Sector NGC 224, and each side is split between one track of about ten minutes in length and a less bass-heavy, roughly six-minute cut—without a single 4/4 kick to be heard.
Up first is "Vacuum Decay," the weakest track overall. It unfurls in long swoops, molten-metal riffs rising and falling in slow-motion, but it's strikingly similar to Mike Parker's distinctive analog trips and its length is a bit excessive. Better stuff follows, beginning with "Dyson Sphere." Set around 170 BPM and eschewing low-end propulsion, it's led by a torrent of acid synths and covered by dreary pads. "Binocular Observer," the other extended track here, offers pleasantly perpetual, polyrhythmic discord in its array of beeps, boops, chirps and ticks—not to mention what sounds like a piano melody wandering around in the background haze. "Kardashev Type III" is all swirling downcast synths and hushed rushes of cymbals and hi-hats, finishing on a subdued note a record that favors the head over the feet.
TracklistA1 Vacuum Decay
A2 Dyson Sphere
B1 Binocular Observer
B2 Kardashev Type III