Techno

The latest release reviewed.

VARIOUS Network - The Box Set Network ****

Before house and techno splintered into a billion genres, the Network label was one of the first to document just what was going on in the subterranean haunts of Detroit and other cities.

Neil Rushton and friends lucked out i by landing the Motor City's holy trinity (Juan Atkins, Kevin Saunderson and the mighty Derrick May).

But as the music and myths exploded, Network was able to track it all.

These five CDs will remind you of innocent days and nights when those beeps and bleeps were alien, other-worldly transmissions.

It's fascinating to chart the sound morphing and changing as it travelled from Detroit to various towns in northern England and onto the euphoric rave-up of the early 1990s.

By the time soulful house and prog-house came about, you could sense that everyone involved had fallen a little out of love.

But those early tracks . . . man, they still move your mind and body. JIM CARROLL

Download tracks: Model 500, The Chase; Rhythm Is Rhythm, Beyond the Dance