Abyss

Martin Merkel makes his Bonzai Basiks debut and comes with a very respectable reputation. He is a relative newcomer on the production scene but he has made a huge impact among his peers. All this didn’t happen by accident as Martin is considered a veteran among DJ’s having been a highly sought after booking around the French club scene since early 1990’s. It was 2011 before he decided to start his own label (Shelter 45) and begin releasing his own material and ultimately bring in new artists and create a label family. Martin also goes by the monikers Chemical Boy & M Faces. Here we see his two tracker ‘Abyss’ come to life.

‘Abyss’ intros with a huge, gritty kick, soon a myriad of percussions come to the fore and bring with them an industrial techno vibe. Curious sounding basses lurk in the depths as the metallic clanks of the percussions carve out a techno groove. The sounds become more intense as the track progresses with an almost distorted quality while the main break takes this sound to limit before slamming right back into full on techno mode, top stuff.

‘Give It Up’ gets right into the action from the off as a cool chunky kick pounds a beat alongside some very well crafted percussion arrangements. Synthy techno sounds are a big focus throughout as a single note begins to hypnotise. Some brilliantly manipulated sounds start to emerge and this leaves us with a true and powerful slice of techno that will be a feature among many for sure.