With December here, Ban Ban Ton Ton is looking back on the musical year. Since Japanese superstition holds 7 as her luckiest number, we’re gonna try to keep each selection tight to this total, in the hope that our conjuring of 7 X 7 X 7 X … will collectively manifest some magic for 2025. You may witness some attempts to creatively bend the rules, blur / invent genres and rinse formats, in order to squeeze in as many great releases as possible… 

Predictably there’s nothing too tonking here. More chilled and melodic machine music, either reissued or related to / inspired by classic 90s gear…

Air II / Travelling Without Moving

Nils Wortmann’s labour of love, his label Silent State Recordings, continued to do outstanding stuff cataloguing the vast archives of Peter Kuhlmann – the producer / musician known, perhaps, best by his alias Peter Namlook. The bespoke run of vinyl pressings – for previously CD-only releases – that began in 2021, this year saw the Dune and Blade Runner-sampling Air II: Travelling Without Moving get the lavish treatment.

De:Tuned

Belgian outfit De:Tuned delivered new music from 2 pioneers of UK techno. Nurmad Jusat aka Nuron paid tribute to his second passion, Formula 1 racing, with a fine 3-track E.P. that took its titles from the Spa Francorchamps Gran Prix circuit. Then, Kirk Degiorgio, together with his partner Catherine Siofra Prendergast, released Requiem, an LP that added a little 21st Century polish and punch to the sound of their groundbreaking 90s sides.

Japan

A ton of Japanese techno / electronica caught my attention in 2024. A few reissued classics, but also bits that were brand new. Landmark releases from Ken Ishi and Susumu Yokota celebrated their 30th anniversaries with big vinyl pressings. Back in the mid-1990s both of these albums, Reference To Difference and Acid Mt. Fuji, respectively, helped cement Japan’s techno scene, and gain it greater global recognition. Terre Thaemlitz’s Tranquilizer also turned 30, and the producer who for decades has called Japan her home, issued a selection of tracks on a trio of 12s. Another veteran music-maker, Hiroshi Watanabe, had highlights from the archive of his ambient alias Kaito collected by Parisian imprint InFine.

Of the new things, it was Tokyo collective Unknown Me’s Bitokagaku that stood out. Expanding on work composed initially for commercial commissions it took up the baton from `80s Kankyo Ongaku and mixed IDM influences with stately serene electro-acoustics.

One Half Of Bent / Imaginary Golf Game

Simon Mills’ experiments with Twisted Electrons’ MEGAfm synth and BlastBeats Groove Box brought us this brilliant set of 8-bit tech that paid homage to `80s home computer games and Rephlex’s braindance.

Rod Modell / Music For Bus Stations

Tipping its hat, of course, to Brian Eno’s ambient landmark Music For Airports, Rod Modell’s Music For Bus Stations consists of 4, nearly 20 minute long pieces of generative music. The tracks were created with the futuristic designs of Domitianus Arquitectura, Bluck & Morgen and Metaraum in mind, the latter of which graces the album cover. The aim was to synthesise a serene, sympathetic atmosphere, and “to sound as if the architecture itself is resonating.” The ethereal emissions therefore ring as if they’ve been drawn from metallic, industrial sources. Like a warm, relaxing bath of bells and gongs. Blurring the bustle of these hubs for travel into something beautiful, calm, and peaceful. A stillness that harbours the hushed harmonies of passengers past. The slowly evolving melodic movements adding up to a delicately textured, deep mediation, where the mood is consistently airy and light. 

Sound Metaphors 

Several of the labels who work with Sound Metaphors Distribution aim to rescue underground trance and techno from the 90s. I’ll be honest and admit that much of the records they repress are far too fast and ferocious for me, however, these 12s and E.P.s have also often had some really smart chilled gems hidden on them. Transmigration’s Jake Stephenson retrospective was a great example. On a quick skim I considered the prolific rave producer’s music to be too full on for Ban Ban Ton Ton, but With The Wind Blows Peace and Bass Meditation are downtempo delights. Sunny Crypt cherry picked from Mortal’s 1997 album, Deco. Selecting 4 tunes, 2 of which bore the baked influence of The Orb and the Sabres Of Paradise. Proxima’s ongoing collaboration with Sweden’s Peter “Harmon Eyes” Benisch gave us the “ambient IDM” of Junoctal.

Stereometrix / Fall / Tread A Measure

New London label, Tread A Measure, launched with this eclectic electronica E.P. The numbers ranged from big room banging to IDM and Eevo Lute-esque boom bap beat-driven intricacy.

One of the compilations of the year, Jamie Tiller and Eiji Taniguchi’s Virtual Dreams II, of course, needs another big mention here.