Some techno/dancefloor music tries to hammer a spike through your temple; some brushes its lips against your ear and inveigles you into bed. When I tell you that Entering Sleep Mode is the product of Frenchman Vincent Raude, an experienced proponent of dub, jazz and drum 'n' bass who is exploring the world of minimal, you'll have no trouble deciding which type of techno this is.
Trainscommin, the first of three tracks, starts off with a relaxed, dubby feel about it, as though your ears have settled into a comfy leather sofa in the corner of a good bar. Gradually, tiny little pops and clicks augment the exemplary kick-snare pattern until your corner of the bar is filled with comely members of the opposite sex, attracted by the hip-jogging bass and the pervading air of coolness.
Or This is a fairly standard minimal techno track, allowing you to swap phone numbers with the aforementioned group of babes/hunks (your mileage may vary), but it's beautifully produced with an upfront bass/drum combo backed by washes of echoing synths and a scratchy hi-hat that keeps everything moving.
Finally, you impress your new fan club by ordering a fashionable aural cocktail. (Be careful when using that last phrase.) Driving Upwellings features a modest can't-quite-tune-this-radio riff backed by dubby pulses, rolling kick drums and a driving hi-hat. You could play this track at a planet-splitting volume yet it would still sound as though you're eavesdropping on a Women's Institute lecture about jam-making, by which I mean it sounds warm and comforting, although WI women occasionally let rip, so don't think that Driving Upwellings doesn't bring the funk.
If you want to convert a friend who isn't into techno/dance to the ways of The Church of Scientology Minimal, Entering Sleep Mode is a very good place to start. The more you listen to it, the more you realise that Monsieur Raude has packed a lot into each track, yet his compositions feel spacious and subtly groovy; the mix is warm where you want it to be, powerful when you need it. All in all, it's iron-fist-in-velvet-glove material, courtesy of weapon-against-the-forces-of-darkness netlabel, deepindub.
Of course, the real reason I'm recommending Entering Sleep Mode is because it's fun to stare at your reflection in the album cover and pretend that your disembodied head is speeding through hyperspace.
You're all doing it now, aren't you? Heh.
Upwellings - Entering Sleep Mode (link to zipped album and individual files)
deepindub netlabel (Warning: you are entering a whirlpool of free and excellent dub, minimal and techno. I know - I'm wonderful. Thank me later.)

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