RW033

Recycling Wax is shockwerking.

Robin Tasi
February 12, 2026

Hey there,

This week, I invited Lex into our TOP5. He is the founder of Shockwerk, who loves vinyl and old-school sound just as much as we do. On top of that, they also offer vinyl courses, and Shockwerk has released one of the sickest things out ther,e in my opinion: the Power Protector. More on that below. But first, let’s start like this today:

Recent Cuts - Fresh vinyl and digital releases worth checking out.
Essential Oldschool - Records from the 90s and early 2000s that still matter today.
Behind the Booth - Personal stories, lessons, and perspectives from life as a DJ.
Top 5 by Lex - A handpicked selection, carefully curated each week by DJ’s.

1. Recent Cuts - Fresh vinyl and digital releases worth checking out.

#1 Gockel - Otorongo: This is exactly how I want to see it. I open my browser on a Monday morning, and there’s a new Gockel release available. This time, it comes with an EP by the label owner himself. Once again, it’s a record with four strong tracks. The label stays true to itself with dub elements in the techno tracks, combined with a touch of Detroit techno. Simply good and highly recommended. I’m really curious to see what’s still to come from this label.

#2 Skee Mask - ISS012: Ilian Tape and Skee Mask are one of the best matches of the past few years, if not decades. This time it’s a four-track EP. It’s officially classified as techno, but I feel that these warm synths and the warm analog saturation give the whole EP such a moody feeling that parts of it could even pass as house. Either way, an amazing record and an absolute must-have.

BANDCAMP
DECKS
DEEJAY

BANDCAMP
DEEJAY
HHV

#3 Sciahri - Pareidolia IV: Let’s talk about a label that has been around for almost ten years and that I already loved back then. I’m talking about Sublunar, which Sciahri launched relatively quickly after his successful EP. The Italian’s vision never broke off: hypnotic, bleepy, deep. With this new LP, there’s also a lot more harmonic and atmospheric content added, which I really like. I’ll soon meet Sciahri at our gig at Tresor Berlin. I’m playing after him. I’m really looking forward to hearing his sound live. Keep up the good work.

#4 Sedvs - Teorema: Honestly, I haven’t seen or heard anything from Sedvs in a very long time. That’s probably on me. But one thing is certain: I still have two tracks by Sedvs & Peel that I absolutely love playing to this day, namely “Endurance” and “Still On”. Insanely good productions. This solo release is no exception. Four brutal, dark tracks with scratchy synths and loads of atmosphere. The A-side goes straight forward with a solid 4/4 kick, while the B-side is much more experimental and breakbeat-oriented. I like this a lot. Essential.

BANDCAMP
DECKS
DEEJAY

DEEJAY
JUNO

2. Essential Oldschool - Records from the 90s and early 2000s that still matter today.

#1 Axel Boman - Holy Love: Alright folks, I’m doing it. I officially declare 2010 as “old-school”. Even though people still resist calling the 2010s old-school, records from 2006 are somehow already accepted. That’s a four-year difference, and come on: we over-30s also need to accept that 2010 was actually a long time ago. So today I’m showing you an artist I absolutely loved back then. This is a record I will probably never sell in my life because it’s just so beautiful. In clubs, “Purple Drank” was played a lot, but honestly, I love every single track on this record.

#2 Johannes Heil - Die Zahl Des Tieres: Alright, and here it becomes obvious again why “Recycling Wax” was founded in the first place. Besides sharing music, I also wanted to go through my own record collection. Because nothing is better than listening to an old record when your taste has changed or expanded over time. Back then, I always thought: yeah, only part 3 really does it for me, and that annoying noise is just awful. Now I listen to the other tracks and think: damn, how good is this. This is definitely new material for my sets, and the record itself is not even expensive. Brilliant.

BANDCAMP
DISCOGS

DISCOGS

#3 Various Artists - Dominator 98 - The Official Remixes Volume 1: Let’s move on to an extremely cheap record. This is a remix EP of the track “Dominator” by Human Resource, originally released in 1991. And yes, remix EPs always come with the risk that the interpretations are too different and don’t fit together at all. But the DJ Misjah Harddub is an absolute must-have. I played this track last weekend, and I’ve been playing it regularly for almost ten years now. No filler, just a track that goes off and creates a great vibe in the club.

#4 Roland Casper - Strong Box: Let’s stay in my home federal state for a moment. Right now, the German Instagram and TikTok scene is completely losing its mind. The rapper SSIO from Bonn is releasing videos for his new album, also filmed in Dortmund. Everyone’s talking about the taxi plate from the Ruhr area, the rapper Manuellsen is running NRW, and if you misbehave, you’ll get banned. If you live here, you’ll find this funny. Why am I telling this story? Roland Casper, Cologne’s finest, showed in the mid-90s what Cologne had to offer in terms of acid. Five tracks, some proper bangers. Pretty raw stuff.

DISCOGS

#5 DJ Valyom - Flash=Back 1 E.P.: This is a record I played by coincidence. Back then, Justin and I did a stream on my old shared apartment’s rooftop terrace on a summer day via Facebook Live. Yes, I’m old, I know. We had a UDG trolley full of white labels. I pulled out this record and found the perfect outro with “Miami”. Check that track out, it really got me. Just a great lo-fi tune.

DISCOGS

3. Behind the Booth - Personal stories, lessons, and perspectives from life as a DJ.

Last year, Kathi and I changed our booking agency because I was looking for something new, which also meant stepping out of my comfort zone. The previous agency was full of long-term friendships. But since joining Zenith, I’ve consistently had high-quality productions and clubs where I can be 100 percent myself as a DJ and fully express what defines me. This weekend I was in Trier, and hell yeah, I could really be myself there. Everything was on point, from the beautiful hotel room to the artist care and the great food. Then I was in the club and finally had a three-hour playtime again. You need at least three hours to create a proper journey. At 4:30, half an hour before the end of my set, the promoter, Kilian, asked if I wanted to keep playing. As if he knew exactly what I wanted. Because I didn’t want to stop, I wanted to continue. And that’s how it happened that six hours later, we closed the club together in a B2B. From techno to electro to EBM to gabber to house, and then the end. My back was killing me because I’m an idiot who always stands around instead of dancing and moving, but I didn’t care after six hours. Afterwards, I had to lie flat on the bed with a slight panic attack just to calm down. Damn back pain. But the point of this story is this: the club had a maximum capacity of 200 people. And the fact that I stayed for six hours also had a lot to do with how great it felt to be so close and connected to the people in front of me. A five-meter barrier to the speakers and people behind fences does not create the ideal vibe. So here’s the question: small or big?

4. Top 5 by Lex - A handpicked selection, carefully curated each week.

Guys, electronic music is more in demand than ever before. It has become such a huge thing, with positive and negative effects. But despite all the commercial sounds and the industry machinery behind it, there are still niches and spaces. As a vinyl DJ, you’re part of a small bubble. You kind of know each other, you’ve seen each other somewhere before, and that makes it easier to connect. That’s exactly how it happened between Lex and me. Lex is the founder of Shockwerk, who first became known through parties in Stuttgart with an insane view from a high-rise building. I honestly don’t even remember what exactly it was about back then. Additionally, Shockwerk recorded several reels of DJs playing vinyl. Over time, we got in touch. Lex eventually moved to Berlin, and contact became much more frequent, especially in person, because as someone from Dortmund, you play in Berlin much more often than in Stuttgart. So we met, talked nerdy stuff, and I understood what Lex is planning with Shockwerk. I was also happy to record a reel playing records. It’s fun. By now, Shockwerk is throwing parties in many cities and countries and has really great merch, including a spirit level and the mentioned Power Protector. This is something that often happened to me in clubs: with an SL1210 MK2, I’d accidentally touch the power button with my left hand and turn it off. That’s no longer a problem now. The Power Protectors are always in my record bag. And they have even more great stuff that I haven’t fully checked out yet. Anyway, enough advertising. It wasn’t planned, but the products just speak to me and make club gigs easier. Let’s take a closer look at Lex’s TOP5.

#1 Leandro Gamez - Body Shaker

#2 Per Hammar Feat. Malin Genie - Defender

DISCOGS

BANDCAMP

#3 Tomie Nevada - Memory Lane

#4 Trevor Rockcliffe Feat. Blake Baxter - Let’s Get Together

DISCOGS

#5 Danilo Vigorito - Untitled (Appendix D B1)

DISCOGS

Alright, that’s it for this week. If you’re reading this newsletter, I’m currently on my way to Amsterdam. I’m playing at RadioRadio, so if you’re around and feel like it, come by. 🙂

And don’t forget: keep sending me your favorite track or record. Who knows? Maybe you’ll be the one curating the next pick in the Community section.

Simply reply to this email or comment here with a link to your favorite E.P.

Catch you next week! Be ready to drop the needle on my next picks.

Keep it spinning,
Robin Tasi @ Recycling Wax

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