REVIEWS – Mel Donnellan – Dance

Mel Donnellan aka Nitetales selects eight cuts blurring the lines between techno function and electronica emotion; a reflection of music he plays on his Deep Discoteca Radio Show (RTE Pulse) and the dance floors he works.

Submissions: nitetalesmusic@gmail.com

Techno

10/10 – Top Release –

Michael Mayer – The Solution (Priori Mix) [Kompakt]

When The Solution first surfaced, it carried all the hallmarks of Michael Mayer’s touch; elegant, slow-burning and emotionally restrained. It was Kompakt at its most reflective. Entrusting it to Priori for a rework feels both brave and completely natural: one artist rooted in Cologne’s heritage, the other shaping the future from Montreal’s fertile underground.

Priori (NAFF label boss) doesn’t deconstruct so much as translate. His remix keeps Mayer’s melodic DNA intact but reframes it through a lens of texture and movement. The drums shuffle with subtle swing, pads shimmer like heat mirages and a ghostly synth line hovers between melancholy and propulsion. It’s minimal, but never cold, a masterclass in how to stretch emotional tension without resorting to cliché.

I played this on repeat one rainy morning recently and it just made sense: that bittersweet edge Kompakt always chased, rendered in Priori’s crystalline detail. It’s techno for the thinkers; meditative, immersive and quietly devastating.

9/10 Recommended Release –

Jordan Nocturne – On The Move (Original Mix) [Polari]

Jordan Nocturne continues to prove why Belfast’s scene remains one of the most forward-thinking in Europe. On The Move, released via Cormac’s Polari label, swaps disco sparkle for something leaner and more hypnotic; trance-inflected, high-definition burner that feels purpose-built for modern floors.

The momentum is constant: crisp percussion, a pulsing low end and those crystalline synth lines that rise and fall like waves under strobe light. It’s less about hooks and more about propulsion, a precision-tooled journey piece that sits somewhere between euphoria and discipline. You can hear echoes of early 2000s progressive in its DNA, but reimagined through today’s sleek production lens.

I haven’t aired it yet, but it’s lined up for my next Deep Discoteca show; the kind of record that threads perfectly between melodic tension and club release. It’s not flashy, just expertly built for forward motion.

8/10 – Scuba – Meteors (Original Mix) [Last Night On Earth]

Scuba’s always been a shapeshifter; from dubstep’s darker corners to the wide-screen atmospheric techno he’s a master in and Meteors lands squarely in that evolved space. Released on Sasha’s Last Night On Earth, it’s the kind of track that feels both immediate and infinite, built for late hours when time blurs into pulse.

The production is immaculate: rolling percussion, a bassline that hums with quiet intent and a lead arpeggio that flickers like distant constellations. You can hear the tension between motion and melancholy; that signature Scuba balance where melody threatens to break through but never quite does. It’s cinematic without being indulgent, hypnotic without losing focus.

I’ve always thought Scuba sounds best when he’s looking outward and Meteors feels like him watching the sky; detached, hopeful and utterly in command. I’m very happy to see him deliver the goods on this most cherished label.

7/10 – Elektrochemie LK, Thomas Schumacher – Schall (Revisited Extended Mix) [Armada Music]

First released in 1999 under his Elektrochemie LK alias, Schall was one of Thomas Schumacher’s defining statements ; a stripped, looping slice of techno that echoed through Europe’s late-90s underground. Twenty-six years later, the German artist revisits his own creation with a maturity that few producers earn over decades in the game.

The new Extended Mix updates Schall without rewriting its DNA. The acid-soaked bassline still slithers with menace, but the low-end weight and spatial precision are distinctly modern, designed for the kind of warehouse systems that can rattle ribcages. Schumacher’s real trick is restraint, he tightens the architecture rather than over-engineering it, letting the hypnotic groove breathe and build naturally.

I first heard Schall in my student days in Galway (Ireland), when Marco V was hammering it in sets across Europe; bridging trance and techno in that early 00’s blur. It felt unshakably raw back then; hypnotic, relentless, impossible to ignore. Hearing Schumacher revisit it now, all those years later, it still hits with the same authority. Some records don’t just age well; they remind you why you fell in love with the music in the first place.

8/10 – DJ Boris – Wish You (Original Mix) [Transmit Recordings]

Few producers carry New York’s techno DNA like DJ Boris. Wish You, released on his own Transmit Recordings, is a reminder that big-room techno doesn’t have to trade soul for size. Built around a muscular kick and a growling bassline, it drives forward with the confidence of a veteran who knows exactly what a dancefloor needs and what it doesn’t.

The breakdown teases a fleeting vocal sample before slamming back into that rolling groove, all tension and release with no gimmicks. The sound design is immaculate: dark, metallic and engineered for strobe-lit concrete spaces. It’s the kind of track that would’ve torn through Twilo over twenty years ago and still feels just as relevant today.

If you’ve ever doubted the longevity of the New York sound, Wish You is your reminder. Heavy, hypnotic and built for movement; pure Transmit energy.

7/10 – Joe Goddard & Sarah Story – Keep Needing (Instrumental Mix) [Stories]

While the vocal version of Keep Needing leans toward radio warmth, the instrumental reveals a different character entirely. Stripped of the topline, Joe Goddard’s production shows its teeth; darker, moodier, and loaded with that classic progressive house muscle that once defined early-2000s dancefloors.

Released on Sarah Story’s Stories imprint, it’s a subtle evolution for both artists: melodic but with real weight underneath. The bassline growls just enough to keep tension, while the synth layers drift between euphoria and introspection. It’s not built for hands-in-the-air moments but for deep, locked-in movement; the kind of track that slowly owns a room rather than chases it.

I love how it channels that era when progressive house had both groove and grit; modern in execution, nostalgic in spirit. This one’s destined for the darker corners of my Deep Discoteca setlist.

Electronica

7/10 – Shiffer & Paul Brenning – All I’ve Been (feat. Paul Brenning) [ICONYC]

Shiffer’s music has always carried a sense of understated drama; detail, space and an emotional undercurrent that sneaks up on you. All I’ve Been, featuring Paul Brenning, is another step along that line: cinematic, melancholy and utterly precise. Released on ICONYC, it sits at the crossroads of electronica and progressive house; immersive enough for headphones, potent enough for a warm-up floor.

The track unfolds patiently. Brenning’s vocal hovers like mist over pulsing synths, while the percussion glides with restrained momentum. There’s no big drop, just slow release; emotion in motion. You can feel the craftsmanship in how every element breathes, how textured silence is used as much as sound.

It’s the kind of record that doesn’t shout for attention but earns it; meditative, modern and beautifully unresolved. A real set closer for me.

7/10 – Wanderist – Imagine (Original Mix) [Aus Music]

Imagine finds Wanderist in a contemplative mood; a track that feels designed less for dancefloors and more for those in-between hours when everything softens. Released on Aus Music, it’s elegant and human, built around glowing synth textures and a bassline that moves with quiet intent. Wanderist is the solo project of Maarten Smeets, half of the influential Dam Swindle duo.

There’s a patience to the arrangement that stands out. Each element; the soft-focus percussion, the feather-light chords, the subtle melodic lift seems to arrive exactly when it’s needed, never before. It’s house music refracted through an electronica lens, closer to reflection than release.

What lingers most is its warmth. Wanderist resists the temptation to push; instead, Imagine breathes, reminding you that motion doesn’t have to mean momentum. It’s music for the comedown, the journey home, or the space just before sleep; pure Aus sophistication.