Juan Atkins & Moritz Von Oswald

Techno (that most unfairly unloved and maligned of all electronic genres, save Gabba) has seen somewhat of a resurgence in recent years, busting out of the dilapidated warehouses and late night hotspots of the scene meccas of Detroit and Berlin onto festival stages and boat parties, from Croatia to Connecticut and beyond. Now, the forefathers of the genre from these two cities, Juan Atkins and Moritz Von Ozwald, have come together for a collaborative project that bridges their two styles and brings the sound back to its meditative, dub-y roots, with grooves that run deeper than the ocean floor. This isn't the first time they've worked together — along with Thomas Fehlmann, as 3MB, they released Jazz is the Teacher, a benchmark in the fruitful musical relationship Detroit and Berlin share, both stylistically and otherwise. The music on Borderland though owes much more to Ozwald than Atkins. The spaciousness and throb of "Electric Garden," which most of the album is based upon, sets the tone, with those trademark Atkins handclaps and the tight syncopation interweaving with the elastic bass lines and spacey synths Ozwald prides himself upon. Later tracks "Treehouse" and "Digital Forest" bring the project back to the dance floor, ticking all the boxes in a fitting and orgiastic end to a subtle masterpiece.