- Ancient Methods and Phase Fatale feature on the unruly first release from the Tbilisi club's label.
- KHIDI Various Artists 1, the first release from KHIDI's in-house label, gives a strong idea of what the club is like. An impression might even start forming by seeing this record's sleeve. The Italian artist Acid Hazel has rendered famous Georgian art—such as "Ancient Spaceship," a work of deep blues and sunset orange—in charcoal tones. It's an apt match for the music. The four resident artists featured offer up techno of darker hues, with the high energy levels presumably needed to get KHIDI's cavernous main space moving.
The release is illustrative of EBM's strong grip on modern techno. Phase Fatale and Ancient Methods are seasoned operators when it comes to this stuff, and their presence here should help the label gain a decent bit of international attention. Both turn in strong work. Ancient Methods seems focused on manipulating voices to mangle minds, with various cut-up samples interacting with the jagged beats and synths of "Cradle The True Side Of Reality
." You'd have to call "Cursing Losses" a fairly standard workout for Phase Fatale, its grubby arpeggio and drums reminiscent of his recent releases, but the US producer is better than most at this type of thing. Roman's "Break The Matrix" sounds like a swarm of drones attacking a techno club, a vibe that's bound to resonate if the track is dropped at the right time. "Damage Your Pain
" is apparently the debut production from OTHR, which is surprising: it's both incredibly accomplished and the best thing here. The track is a total '80s throwback, but the combination of the screamed vocals and the crisp production make it satisfyingly effective.
TracklistA1 Ancient Methods - Cradle The True Side Of Reality
A2 OTHR - Damage Your Pain
B1 Phase Fatale - Cursing Losses
B2 Roman - Break The Matrix