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Lots and lots of super mixes this week. US DJs smashing it. New releases announced every day it seems. I thought I had this wrapped up on Wednesday! I was wrong.  

Der Opium Queen - Flying on Squares and Circles
This is a gorgeous track from Irish producer Der Opium Queen. I've tried a number of ways of writing about it but they all make it sound incredibly dull. It's a gentle rush of a track, all deft percussion and floating synths. 

ELLLL - PEPSI
Ellll is a legend, we already know that. The Cork producer recently moved to Berlin but she's still maintained her links to the Irish scene. She just released a 12" on First Second Label, and this one on Glacial Industries was announced this week. It's about time. It's a rugged, percussive affair, choppy drums like no one else. I actually used this track in my fake fabric mix last year. 

Loraine James - Button Mashing
Button Mashing is such a good title! Opener 'Bite Me Bit' is disgustingly chewy, abrasive noise over squeaking vocals and 90s synth vox. 'Commercial Drum Break' eviscerates drum samples you know and love, blending them seamlessly and then quite obviously in different points for effect. 'Gays With Me (I'm Good)' runs with multi-sensory synths, thick bass and scattered percussion together with totally repurposed rnb vocals. The identity of the singer is on the tip of my tongue but it's just out of my reach. Finally, 'Lost My Train of Thought', which also uses sampled vocals, is a total mind-bender of a track, like twisted sheet metal and pounding machinery. This is heavy stuff. 

Bambi - Above the light of the Morning Star
Shouts to Roo Honeychild for linking to this. It's a short mix, not even half an hour, but it is FULL of bangers. It features the incandescent 'Finished Symphony' from Hybrid, which I've been listening to a lot lately, the 2000 remake of Push's 'Strange World', Loft's RIDICULOUS flip of 'thank u, next', stuff from e+e and Torus and more. Waaaahhhhh.

Anastasia Kristensen - Ascetic EP (previews)
Can you believe this is AK's first full release? She's appeared on compilations, she's done remixes and she's done a bunch of high-profile mixes, but this is her first EP. It's been a long time coming, but it's worth the wait. The title track is a loopy weirdo track with dank bells clanking over deep, sonorous tones. It also gets a breaks edition, which is faster and weirder. 'LXR Jam', possibly my favourite track here, is a squidgy jam, presumably made on the synth of the same name. Then 'Donni' is a deep vibe of a jam, floating on the edge of the dance with rumbling bass and hefty drums. Let's just hope we don't have to wait so long for the next one... 

HNYPOT 305: Wonja's Fine Lines and Wrinkles Mix
Wonja has long been a friend of BC, she was the first to take over when I went on holiday, she contributed a track to the 2014 Christmas compilation and she did the guest mix in 2016. So every time she has something new I rush to check it out.This mix for HNYPOT, which continues to fire out stellar mixes, is an absolute belter. High tempo bangers right from the start, it's got what you want — classic techno and electro, stompy Dance Mania-type ghetto house (is that the right way to describe it?!), MAW... IT BANGS.

Mariam Rezaei - DAM
Four tracks of inventive electronica that range from swirling, thundering techno to frosty ambient, often within the same track. Choppy and freaky rhythms panned across the spectrum meet grinding effect patterns until the release with fragile, barely-there whispers of sound. 

maneater mix 09- livwutang
The latest maneater mix kicks off with Minor Science's glorious 'Naturally Spineless', which still sounds fresh nearly three years on. It kicks and bangs at a lively pace, energy growing throughout. There's a particularly crazed section of wild jungle-inflected bangers towards the mix's end that simply melts into some deliciously gloopy techno in one of the most intriguing mood shifters I've heard in recent sets. Then out rumbles an old Scumfrog track I first heard in Danny Tenaglia's Athens Global Underground. Incidentally I'm going to Athens next week. 

DINA - Sea Trial
DINA featured last year for one of her Boarding Gate shows. This is her first release, and it's a solid piece of trippy, driving techno that fits with what I've heard her play before. Electro meets techno, the title track is a straight-up banger that's still subtle enough not to be big and stupid. 'Hewarat', which the artist tells me translates as "talking bullshit", features mountains of sub bass, echoey tones, softly spoken words and pained singing buried deep in the mix. This all rises to a crash of kicks and crashes half-way through the track, all lending to an elegantly nightmarish effect. 

Different Fountains - Transparent Flag
Different Fountains return with their first album in five years. Love this act (whoever they may be). This release doesn't seem as weird as say Adam & Neve, but it promises to be good nonetheless. I wonder if 'Gammon' is an ode to the Brexiteers. Probably not.

Alien Mutation vs Indigo Egg - Gateway To The Sun (Extended Mix)
Here's a giant old 90s track that goes through about 17 movements, crystallised ambient techno business. It's being reissued by Transmigration, who are putting out the Planet Mushroom EP later this year (typical delays including artwork and pressing notwithstanding). There are currently two for sale on Discogs, at €65 and £70 respectively, so this is A Good Thing. 

Noctuary mix series 022 - Lorelei
The final stellar mix of the week comes from Lorelei, an Atlanta-based DJ who's originally from Michigan. It's a slow affair, a dub techno excursion to take you through the frosty weather. It's actually got up to 11C here in Dublin this week, but hey. Nothing like icy dub techno on a cold day when the sun is low in the sky. The mix features Plastikman, Caterina Barbieri, Valentino Mora, AOS Or:la and more, and it's a beaut.