Various – CQTR003

Coqueto Records introduce the third edition of its Various Artists techno series with a robotic one, shepherding the talents of Brian Topham, Acid Charlie, Rufo and Rambal Cochet into one effusive, overflowing field of talent. All tracks here channel that sense of primal radical jank for which the Spaniards are known; kicking off with Topham’s ‘Dissolved In Ether’, a set-starter of EBM-alyptic proportions (giant gated snare, tick; low metallic stereo skreaks, tick; monotone decepticon vocoder grumbles, tick), the palette is well maintained thereafter; Charlie’s ‘Everything Counts’ dives headfirst into the oubliette with sparse dungeon synth strings and Italo vocal gates; Rufo’s ‘Palta Market’ takes the first trance detour with a surprise swerve into a root-noted reverie; and Rambal Cochet helms up the B-sider’s curio duties with the percussive fog-out that is ‘Catalyst Powder’.