[MD2]

Limited to 150 copies and containing scant information, Mike Dehnert’s latest release (and the first record on MD2) could hardly be seen as an attempt to build on his recent high-profile work for Clone. Like the unassuming presentation, the Berlin producer also delivers music that, coming after a succession of grandiose re-approximations of chord-heavy classic techno, is more understated and less, well, epic.

That’s not to suggest Dehnert is starting to shy away from the dance floor: the first untitled cut is a rattling groove, its skeletal pitter-patter rhythms underpinning a fluid, building acid bass line and a gradually building hail of percussion. The second track sees him depart further from the script, with softer, less austere chords and a sweet vocal sample caught amid a rhythm that shuffles and lurches rather than confronts the listener head on. A cynic could argue that like every Berlin techno producer with even the most tenuous connection to Hard Wax, Dehnert has “gone dubstep,” but I’d be inclined to view this release as part of a refinement process. Indeed, if we are to assume that his Fachwerk releases to date captured his wide-eyed rush from bedroom producer to a respected member of techno’s underground, then MD2 marks his transition to the next stage. Irrespective of the destination he hopes to arrive at, this part of his journey is proving immensely enjoyable.