Rm 1: Donato Dozzy, Voices from the Lake (live), Claudio PRC, Cassegrain
Rm 2: Sigha, Forward Strategy Group (live), Isodyne (live), Tengui, MB & CB
Having just about recovered from a mad night of pounding kick drums and slicing hats at east London's small but mighty Rhythm Factory, we're heading south, to our beloved Corsica Studios, to voyage yet further - as far, some might say, as is possible - into techno nirvana, just in time for the summer. Announced a short while back, Prologue Music will be making a long-overdue appearance in the capital, and, much to our delight, we've been asked to jump on board and take the reins. Hot on the heels of a stunning Voices From The Lake debut LP - for our money, a genuine modern classic in the making - and with a lush Claudio PRC album just out too, it was really a simple case of saying "YES PLEASE!" and getting right down to it. So here we go...
Prologue is more than just a name: since its inception in 2008, the Munich-based label has become synonymous with a sound - for a while coined "headfuck techno" - at once tough and trippy, drawing on classic '90s acid and ambient techno and more steely, hard-edged industrial transmissions (to name but two sources), resulting in tracks built out of cavernous, rolling basslines, drifting ambience and intricate, at times alien percussion plucked from an altogether creepier milieu than techno's usual palette evokes. It's no wonder the man many regard as the world's leading techno hypnotist, Donato Dozzy, found his way onto the label, and positively wonderful that he's making a rare trip from his Rome base for this evening's proceedings. A DJ of nearly twenty years, his sets at Japan's Labyrinth festival - a place where the Prologue sound resonates like nowhere else - have become the stuff of legend, mixed entirely on vinyl for extended periods with the kind of care, love and attention the music he plays - be it gently galloping tech house or brain-dissolving acid trance - deserves. A chance to see him doing his thing on Corsica's newly revamped F-Ones - his first time at the club since December 2010 - is, quite simply, unmissable.
Equally essential will be the London debut of his, and fellow Italian Neel's, recently established Voices From The Lake project, first appearing at (you guessed it) Labyrinth in September 2011 and making their maiden voyage to the UK for what promises to be a sublime exercise in deep, otherworldly techno atmospherics. Released back in February and earning a rare 5/5 score on RA, their debut LP is already sounding like a classic specimen, a gently unfurling journey into downtempo, rain-swept 4/4 bliss where every element sits at ease in a perfectly formed mini-universe of FSOL-esque jungle ambience and softly cascading melodies. For fans of both deep techno specifically, and artfully crafted electronic music in general, this is a must. Prologue's latest LP, meanwhile, dropped a couple of months back courtesy of the evening's third special guest: the up-and-coming Sardinian DJ/producer Claudio PRC. Debuting for the label in 2010, his dark, hypnotic productions, spanning ghostly cave techno, rolling acid jams and beatless drone abstractions, have reached an impressive climax with the new album, which is as coherent a statement of the label's sound as you're ever likely to hear. Sparse, haunting and primed for big systems, Inner State is exactly what we want to hear pouring out of Corsica's cones tonight, and we're sure Claudio - whose DJ schedule has seen him travel across Europe and into Asia of late - will oblige. Capping off a storming room 1 bill, Cassegrain will be dropping in for a debut UK DJ set, hot on the heels of stellar collaborative work with Tin Man and a truly next-level Prologue four tracker (acid/IDM-drenched techno variants, anyone?) - making for a perfectly rounded exposition of advanced European D-floor flavours.
Complimenting all this, we're inviting back two of our favourite past guests for a second, Colony-centric room of hard-edged UK-meets-DE sounds. With releases on Hotflush, Blueprint, CLR and his very own Our Circula Sound imprint, Sigha is by now a name familiar to anyone with even a passing interest in underground club music. Recently making the switch from his London home to Berlin on the back of several truly thumping darkside techno EPs, his latest release, Abstractions I-IV, shows his breadth of talent, spanning hazy shoegaze drones, broken machine riddims and pitch black bass dynamics. Expect a typically uncompromising, vinyl-heavy set from him. Keeping things firmly dank and edgy, the evening's second exclusive live PA will be delivered by the much admired Perc Trax two-piece Forward Strategy Group, who're rocking up to launch their debut LP for the first time on these shores. Anyone familiar with their sound - stripped, raw, dissonant, at times crushing - will know quite how real a deal they are (recent gigs at Horst and Tresor suggest as much), and it's with great pleasure that we're bringing them back to usher in what, like Voices, looks set to be one of the techno records of the year. Support comes from Patrick FSG's wicked dubwise side project, Isodyne (on an ultra-rare live tip), fellow B20 contributor and Colony resident Tengui, and, of course, hosts MB & CB, dropping the ruff stuff for the stamina crew, as per.
Needless to say we're beyond excited about this: Prologue is a label that commands respect and it's about time London stood up and said hello. Furthermore, Corsica Studios is, we're pretty sure, the perfect venue: two Funktion-One rigs, friendly staff and pitch black warehouse vibes = an unbeatable setting for the music and a perfect corner of town to get lost in until silly o'clock. Factor in three UK firsts from three of techno's leading lights, DJ sets from several of its key players, and support from residents who appreciate what it's all about, and you've got yourself a serious underground party. Don't you dare sleep on it!