- Recycling Wax
- Posts
- RW045
RW045
Recycling Wax is sick in bed.
Robin Tasi
May 21, 2026
In partnership with
I’m writing this on a Wednesday evening from bed. Since Sunday, I’ve been sick with a rather unusual cold that came with dizziness and a feeling of weakness. Luckily, I’m doing much better now and recovering well. Rest really is the best medicine for the body. Still, it was important for me to publish the newsletter this week as usual.
⚠️ If you ever thought about supporting me, my whole digital collection is now available for just 5.12€ (70% off) via Bandcamp. Have fun digging, and thank you very much for your support!
So let’s start the way we always do:
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.
Community Pick of the Week by Cwtch - One favorite from the community.
1. Recent Cuts - Fresh vinyl and digital releases worth checking out.
 © deejay.de |  © bandcamp.com |
#1 Border One – Inner Radiance: Ever since starting this newsletter, I’ve been diving much deeper into new releases, and I have to say: the Fuse imprint has become one of the most consistently solid labels out there. No matter which record I listen to, it always sounds fresh, focused, and rooted in timeless techno. While the Fuse Club in Brussels also hosts trance events and more commercial sounds these days, often tailored for internet clips and social media moments, the label itself remains very strict in its identity. Functional, driving techno. And Border One delivers exactly that. Inner Radiance is a top-tier four-track EP. The A side pushes forward with fresh and uplifting Detroit-inspired vibes, while the B side shifts the focus toward darker and more intense hours. But overall, it’s simply an excellent new release. Fuse is slowly becoming one of those labels where you can basically buy every new release blindly. | #2 Planetary Assault Systems – Planetary People: Holy shit. Am I really seeing this right? A new album from Luke Slater’s legendary long-running project, once again on Ostgut Ton. What else? At first, I thought it would be difficult to write extensively about this release. An album isn’t just there to provide twelve new floor bangers. It should go deeper, create atmosphere, tell a story, and invite you to truly listen. And this album absolutely succeeds at that. Of course, there are plenty of powerful club tracks here, but this isn’t mindless warehouse techno. This is over thirty years of UK engineering and experience condensed into one album. It starts beautifully with “Into the Night” as an intro, moves into “Labyrinth” with its 2010s techno feel, and then reaches “Quadrant 10,” which leans heavily into old school territory. Honestly, I started this paragraph saying I wouldn’t have much to say, and now I actually have to stop myself because the deeper I went into the album, the more it pulled me in. Let’s leave it at this: a true legend releases a new album and, honestly, it’s brutally good. |
 © juno.co.uk |  © decks.de |
#3 David Moleon – Bones And Smoke: Let’s move away from the modern sound for a moment and head back to the early 2000s. David Moleon is currently not only known for his YouTube videos, where he analyses DJs or tells stories about old records. It’s all in Spanish, which unfortunately means I can’t fully understand it, but somehow I still know exactly what he’s communicating. And here we have a double vinyl release that brings back exactly that old samba and tribal sound he became famous for in the first place. Time to welcome one of Spain’s most iconic tribal producers back to the spotlight. Vinyl only, so be quick. | #4 Unknown – Out Dancing: One thing that always fascinated me throughout my digging journey is those mysterious releases without a real artist name and without any unnecessary branding around them. And this record is exactly that. Disco at its finest. And I really mean that. It’s simply beautiful disco music presented in such a cool and effortless way. No track titles, just two perfect summer, sunshine, and caipirinha tracks. Big tip! |
 © deejay.de | #5 Mike Dunn – Face The Nation: Alright, if you don’t know this record already, that’s an automatic F grade. A true classic finally gets reissued on grey coloured vinyl. Chicago sound? Mike Dunn. Nothing more needs to be said. |
2. Essential Oldschool - Records from the 90s and early 2000s that still matter today.
 © discogs.com |  © discogs.com |
#1 TBM – Hypnotisamus Reworks: Today I want to show you five records from a brilliant label run by a true pioneer: Alessandro Farace, also known as Al Ferox. I discovered him around the mid 2010s and immediately fell in love with Kobayashi Recordings as well as Dancefloor Killers. Let’s start with TBM, which stands for “Tribal Bass Of Montpellier” featuring Chris D., Simon B., and William “Willy” R. What really grabs me about this record, though, is the Marco Carola Effect Remix of “Hypnotisamus”. What an absolute weapon. Huge recommendation and luckily still not expensive. | #2 Anthony Lynn – Busted Track: That same year, Anthony Lynn released this EP, and most of his discography actually came out on this label. What always stood out to me most was “The Raw”. Extremely uncompromising and timeless sound design, with kick changes and ridiculously sharp closed hats that hit so hard. Just a proper banger. And once again, still fairly affordable, starting around five euros. |
 © discogs.com |  © discogs.com |
#3 Alessandro F. – Car Crash / Planet Kobayashi: The label owner himself was known for his EBM-influenced sounds, heavy use of the SH 101 arpeggiator, and heavily distorted drums. What I love most about his productions is how raw and overdriven they feel. Improvised almost. Like he recorded everything in one take and just went: done. What a machine. I actually had brief contact with him years ago regarding a podcast, and he even recorded one for me. I was incredibly proud back then. Absolute legend. Both sides of this release are amazing, although personally I prefer “Car Crash” because it pushes forward so relentlessly and has already destroyed plenty of dancefloors over the years. | #4 The Hidden aka Johannes Heil – Who Am I: Back in the 90s, the early 2000s, and even throughout the 2010s, there was simply no way around Johannes Heil. I once read that he stepped away from the music business entirely. The reasons? Pure speculation. I honestly don’t know. But what I do know is that on this release for Kobayashi Recordings, Johannes perfectly demonstrated what the combination of techno and electro can sound like. It fits the label aesthetic perfectly. Seriously, this release belongs on Kobayashi like a glove fits a hand. I honestly play this record far too rarely, but I think I might bring the Y2 track with me this weekend. |
 © discogs.com | #5 Marco Bailey Vs. Redhead – Zwam E.P.: Of course, these two kings of tribal techno, Marco Bailey and Redhead, also became part of the label. In the early 2000s, there was simply no way around them. With this EP around the turn of the millennium, they brought a completely different energy to the label, which otherwise leaned heavily into dark and arpeggiator-driven sounds. I absolutely love those loose breakbeat-inspired compositions running through almost the entire EP. Killer tunes. Straight into the shopping cart. |
3. Behind the Booth - Personal stories, lessons, and perspectives from life as a DJ.
I have to admit, being sick makes it difficult to concentrate. But somehow it’s still working. I’m lying in bed with two cats between me and my girlfriend Kathi, who’s digging through music. On TV, there’s a streamer called Hand of Blood commenting on a documentary about a small garden community somewhere in North Rhine-Westphalia.
Anyway, I thought I could tell you about last weekend with Sven Väth at Junkyard.
First of all, some background about Junkyard itself. It’s been a venue for techno but also reggae, dancehall, rock, metal and many other concerts for the past ten years. A former scrapyard, just like the name suggests, was built almost entirely in true DIY fashion over the last decade. A lot of things are homemade, from chairs made out of tyres and nets to the bar itself and parts of the stage. The sound system constantly has to be adjusted for completely different genres, but that DIY spirit and rough, dirty atmosphere with endless room for discovery is exactly what made me become a resident there around five years ago. Though luck definitely played a role, too, because I’ve known the booker who made me resident for about seventeen years. Without connections, I probably wouldn’t have become a resident there. Now Junkyard recently celebrated its tenth anniversary. Since the venue can hold up to 1600 people and pure techno clubs can barely survive these days, the electronic side of the programming has also become as diverse as possible. Hard techno started becoming huge around 2021, and trance followed around 2024. Genres that are not bad at all by themselves, but through trends became extremely commercial and repetitive. And somehow I was always somewhere in between. Never fully one thing or another. I always wanted to play old school sounds, and somehow I managed to make people feel like something different was happening, even if my sound was completely different from the rest of the lineup. When hard techno was popular, I played early hardcore and 90s gabber closings and hardly anybody noticed the difference. And honestly, old school 90s trance can sound incredible too.
For the tenth anniversary, though, we wanted to go back to the roots a little. We wanted someone who helped build the scene in Germany and internationally. And who do you think of first? Obviously Sven Väth. Papa Sven himself is such an important part of techno history. So there we were. Open air. 1600 people. Sven Väth is playing from 7 PM until 10 PM. Because of German noise regulations, even industrial areas have to respect quiet hours after 10 PM. Germany, you know. And it rained. Not heavily, but enough. Wet weather, ten degrees, difficult conditions. Rain ponchos were handed out. But once Sven started playing at 7 PM, nobody cared anymore about the weather or the cold. People absolutely felt it. The crowd itself was fascinating. Usually, you see phones filming vertically. This time, people filmed horizontally. Sometimes, even with those old flip phone cases attached. You know exactly what kind of generation I mean. A proper boomer crowd between forty and fifty years old. But honestly? Hardly any phones at all. Those people know how to party. Also, a positive side effect for me: being 34 suddenly felt very young again.
Sven absolutely destroyed the place. People lost their minds. It was so much fun. What a legend. He finished the set with “Dein Schweiss” and “Knights Of The Jaguar”. Such a beautiful ending to a three-hour set. At midnight, I continued inside the hall, and while I was playing, I talked to a few people who told me things like: “Are you going faster tonight? Back in the day, we used to party at Stammheim. We came here from Kassel.” Absolute legends. After Sven’s set, I actually had tequila with him right there on stage. We talked for around twenty to thirty minutes, and it was genuinely beautiful. Such a down-to-earth guy. Open to conversations and interested in people.
One thing I noticed, though: signing autographs and having small talk clearly became part of his everyday job. But I also noticed that he probably doesn’t enjoy hearing how amazing he is over and over again. And honestly, I can understand that. After the thousandth person tells you how incredible you are, it stops becoming a meaningful conversation. What do you think?
We talked a bit about the current scene and exchanged different perspectives, and what really stood out to me was that he never spoke from a pedestal. His opinion was simply his opinion, not the one ultimate truth. And honestly, that’s pretty rare within the so-called boomer generation. Usually, you get the classic: “Listen, kid, I was taking pills and listening to techno before you could even spell techno.” You know what I mean? Sven Väth was absolutely not like that. He even stayed at the venue for another hour afterwards, even though big artists usually leave directly after their set and head back to the hotel. By the way, that tequila was brutal. I was fighting the urge to throw up, but luckily, he didn’t notice. Hahaha. Seeing a DJ and producer who’s been active for over thirty years, remains grounded, curious and genuinely interested in hearing other people’s stories and opinions instead of presenting his own view as the only correct one was honestly something special. Rarely experienced someone that genuinely sympathetic. Definitely a moment I’ll never forget.
And there are still more legends coming to Junkyard soon, so I’m really curious to see what they’re like, too.
4. Community Pick of the Week by Cwtch - One favorite from the community.
© discogs.com
#community #tribal #techno #warmup #peaktime #closing
Marko Nastić - The Return Of Evil Dick Ninja EP: “Hi Robin, I'm sending you another one from Belgrade’s finest 🙂 Marko Nastić – The Return Of Evil Dick Ninja - I believe you have already heard this vinyl somewhere, but if not, then even better. What is interesting about this release is that Marko sampled B1 from the soundtrack of one of the best Serbian films called ‘National Class’. Personally, B2 is the best one for me.
All the best!
Cwtch”
Thank you so much, Tomy, for sending it!
Man, I’m exhausted now. I’ll stay home tomorrow as well, my sick note still covers me until then. On Saturday, I’m heading to one of my absolute favourite clubs: Fi in Cologne. And on top of that, I’ll be playing B2B with my friend Måtyrer. That’s going to be amazing. Then on Sunday, it’s PollerWiesen in a face-to-face setup with DJ Palga. Curious to see how this face-to-face format actually feels. I’ll report back next week :-)
Your inbox is full. Slack is piling up. Client messages need a response yesterday. Typing thoughtful replies to all of it takes hours you don't have.
Wispr Flow turns your voice into clean, professional text you can send the moment you stop talking. Speak like you would to a colleague — tangents and all — and get polished output. Emails, Slack, LinkedIn, WhatsApp, whatever's open.
89% of messages sent with zero edits. Used by teams at OpenAI, Vercel, and Clay. Works on Mac, Windows, and iPhone.
And don’t forget: keep sending me your favourite 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
Reply