From Bath, now based in GlasgowRecommended if you like Porter Ricks, Basic Channel, Robert Hood
Up next Manchester and Glasgow DJ sets this weekend, a China and Japan tour in November, and new collaborative project Department releasing an album in NovemberAs autumn paints the British air, skies and seas grey-white, it’s time to colour-match your soundtrack accordingly. Dub techno is something I always reach for at this time of year, cold but with a crackle of heat at its heart. Pioneered in the early 90s and blending stern techno with kindlier ambient and the sagely nodding offbeat of dub, it has been a deep, slow current in dance culture ever since and still has excellent new proponents such as Purelink, Cousin and the Glasgow producer Conna Haraway (who also heads up the labels co:clear and Index:Records).Following his debut album Lusidiq in 2023, Haraway has released two superb EPs this year. Spatial Fix is an unhurried 35 minutes, opener Freon riding a tropical trip-hop take on usually frigid dub techno, before a grayscale veil of static drifts on to the rest, closing out with the gorgeous dancehall of Patent.The three-track Shifted, meanwhile, is released on Short Span, a new label from Matthew Kent (much admired for his 2010s mixtape label Blowing Up the Workshop) that has been pushing dub techno forward this year, releasing outstanding LPs from Mammo and Sa Pa. Haraway’s entry in their discography opens with Redirect (a collab with fellow ambient-tech traveller Xenia Reaper), which feels like running your hand over the cool, subtly textured surface of slate tiling. Then it’s into Detach, a gripping four-four track that’s the most club-ready of those mentioned here, followed by Duration, in which trippy phasing effects are kept in orbit by a nimble syncopated beat. The subtle swing to Haraway’s beats, and the tactility to his sound design, build deep layers into this misty, majestic music. Ben Beaumont-ThomasThis week’s best new tracksShuck the pain away … Peaches. Photograph: The Squirt DeluxePeaches – Not in Your Mouth None of Your Business“I cannot be squashed or minimised!” As they prepare their first album in a decade, out next year, Peaches declaims an awesome manifesto for queer resistance over a fist-raising electroclash beat. BBTThis Is Lorelei – Name the Band
