Various Artists – [unclassified] [2011; [adult swim]]

Eighteen tracks of steady-beat techno, leaning into downtempo pacing while layering touches in all over the place. Bass commands most of the songs, while the higher-pitched inclusions tend to be dragged over the top in fragile-sounding ways. The points of acceleration that do crop up feel, for the most part, like they’re just dressing on the slow-moving bass bump loops, which lends a sense of hard separation between the two ends. There’s plenty of technical skill and careful programming on display, but very few of the songs feel like they actually do much of anything beyond following the loops through some light ramping. A nice snapshot of electronic groups just under the mainstream radar at the time of its release, and some generally chill beat atmospheres, but not much more than that.

Various Artists – Camping [2005; BPitch Control]

Twenty tracks of off-beat techno pack this label sampler, with chill vocals, dribbled beats, stiff clicks, and melting synths drifting together. Bits of chipbreak, acid house, electro, and other flavors bubble up from the dozen or so contributing acts, and while the tempos and action occasionally become frenzied, the music rarely loses its sense of controlled cool. That also helps bind the diverse tracks together across their range of fluctuations and stutters, building a sense of the label’s style on the whole (extensive sampling of Kid Rock associate Joe C. in Housemeister’s “Do You Wanna Funk” aside).

One of the strongest points in the compilation’s favor, though, is the openness the musicians show to bringing in single points of divergence to the rest of the song’s shaping, like the injection of Mediterranean strings into electro, or post-punk bass lick loops combed into house rhythms. Though few of the featured artists have stuck with the label to the current day (with owner Ellen Allien’s plentiful output being the prime exception), the general attitude of the music gives a clear sense of how BPitch Control presented themselves at the time, even with the quick turn-about offered by the musical switch-ups.

Geiger – 69 Bux / Bum Bum [2010; Areal Records]

In the opening track of this single, Geiger builds up from a simple beat into increasingly active loop layers, with slow-surf tone-fades providing the most distinctive touches to the otherwise fairly stock techno, though the fairly slow pace also helps give it character. Things fade to a quiet close, and “Bum Bum” picks up with another basic beat, though snapping flourishes on the end pick it up somewhat. The other notable features are some gasps and bent tones, the latter of which gain volume and prominence of the course of the song before again fading down into the exit. Some nice moments, but nothing too special.