Various

Hard to believe, but it’s already been five years in business for the folks at Cocoon Recordings. How time flies. In those five years, the label has issued 22 singles, 14 mix albums, and five label comps: they certainly don’t flood the market, but nevertheless, it’s a consistent flow of noir and ethereal techno. If Cocoon and its wide array of producers can be relegated to an umbrella, then that umbrella would be one of pushing trance-like permutations into a techno rubric. Much of their output has that warm synth-driven bounce to it, but instead of flying ecstatically out of control, as most trance prescribes, their output tends to spiral around the hardened linearity of techno’s latitudes. All their big names are here: Dominik Eulberg, Dinky, Oliver Koletzki, as well as the old guard of Anthony Rother, Sven Väth, Roman Flugel and Legowelt. The 11 tracks are woven together unobtrusively by label employee Chris Tietjen, who wisely lets the music speak for itself without too much trickery. On the down side, chances are if you buy comps with any regularity, then you already have many of the tracks elsewhere.