Sven Wittekind "Reflection" (Sick Weird Rough): Ginnels & Tangible Excitement! split EP (Emotional Response)

In 2008 a fairly established German producer by the name of Sven Wittekind crept into our annual 'festive hundred' at #95 with "Never Forget", an adjunct to his earlier war-cry of "Fight For Techno" (and oh, how we have). Little did we know how that drunken year-end tangle with Sven under the mistletoe would blossom into a long-term love affair, with us lapping up his gratifyingly frequent singles and remixes pretty much the instant they appeared for download.

So if you'd been wondering where we've been, these weeks of winter into spring (you haven't? Oh.) the answer would have been, at least in part, digesting and delighting in this titanic, faintheart-baiting 20-track two-and-a-half-hour monster, "Reflection", which compiles a representative selection of his own-right, own-label releases between 2009 and now (right up to last year's"Butterfly Effect" single), i.e. basically the entire length of time we've been banging on about what an utter techno legend the man is, the lord of the 128, the Stewart Anderson of blackened German beats. You need to check this one out, people.

Talking of Mr Anderson, Tangible Excitement! (a new bi-continental supergroup helmed by members of Summer Cats, the Lucksmiths and of course Boyracer) have turned out four splendidly accomplished tunes on a 12" for Emotional Response, split with the redoubtably dark independent pop of Dublin's Ginnels. "Effectively Wild" has to be the pick, simply for its added guitar punch, as if Boyracer themselves were taking on Summer Cats' superb high water mark "Your Timetable". This first outing more than justifies the Tangible Excitement! moniker, right down to that crucial exclamation mark.

Ginnels, in contrast to TE! feature absolutely nobody from any bands that we've been buying records by since approx the dawn of time, and are therefore forced to win us over entirely on their own merits. Which they do, consummately. It seems that Ginnels revolve around songwriter Mark Chester, who has an easy turn of phrase and a feel for blending glistening guitar tunes with thoughtful, sometimes anguished lyrics (when he coos & croons little storytelling phrases like "disappointed doesn't cover it..." we feel ourselves ever-so-slightly folding up inside). The galloping "My Eyes! My Ears" just about nudges in front of long-distance lament "Easier When I'm Gone" as our pick of their three songs here: don't sleep on this one.