The first volume is a feast of acid and tech delights but the series as a whole promises to spread its wings much wider

We've all DJ'd at an imaginary club. You know the one... the club where you can play as deep or as banging as you like and a thousand wide-eyed ravers lift their arms in unison to pay homage to your superfly mixing skills. The club where you get to play a six-hour set, the floor is packed from start to finish and no-one asks for 'something we can dance to'. The club you're in, in other words, every time you get behind the decks in your bedroom.

Well, Italian electronic music legend Alexander Robotnick has gone one better than just dreaming of his imaginary club. He's started making tunes to play there, and what we have here is the first three-track installment in a series that will eventually, we're promised, take in over 30 tracks in a wide range of genres, from techno to jazz-funk.

Dorian is the first of the three tracks on offer, an acid-drenched 121bpm chugger that'd work on house and techno floors alike. The Answer Is operates in similar territory, while closer You Have Time is a bit more overtly 'techno', with ominous synth drones and a looping, distorted "time... you have time" spoken male vocal.

"Ironic tech-house" is how Robotnick himself describes the three tracks. Not sure where the irony comes in, exactly, but Robotnick's three decades of experience show here and this EP is well worth checking - Dorian in particular. We await Vol 2 with interest.

Review Score: 9

Tags: Alexander Robotnick, tech house, tech-house, acid house, Italo, Hot Elephant