Off The Record

21– and 22-year-old Scots Calum Macleod and Liam Robertson, AKA Clouds (not to be mistaken with the local outfit of the same name), have locked in their debut visit Down Under. Part of Turbo Recordings’ core of young ‘New Jack Techno’ artists, the duo has already garnered support from heavyweights such as Richie Hawtin, Marcel Dettmann and Michael Mayer. They’ll bring their eclectic mix of bass, techno and house to Chinese Laundry on Saturday August 9.

For the first time ever, Jason Letkiewicz, better known as Steve Summers, will perform in Sydney. The New York-based selector has worked with seminal labels such as L.I.E.S., ESP Institute and PPU, and under a variety of monikers, including Two Dogs In A House (with Ron Morelli), Innergaze (with Aurora Halal) and Manhunter (with Ari Goldman from Beautiful Swimmers). He’ll hit Sydney on Friday July 18 with the Noise In My Head crew over at Club 77. He’ll also be performing at Splendour In The Grass if you’re heading to Byron.

Already announced as a headline act for Victoria festival Strawberry Fields, еme have added a Sydney date to their tour itinerary. The DJ/production duo of Kristian Beyer and Frank Wiedemann have been carving their niche on dancefloors for over a decade now with their delicate blend of deep techno, rolling house and spotted minimalism. Catch them on Saturday November 22 with the Finely Tuned collective, venue is TBA.

One of the leading names in London’s burgeoning new breed of electronic, Alexis Raphael has locked in an Australian visit. First cutting his teeth on pirate radio in the late ’90s, Raphael went on to lock down residencies at legendary London clubs such as The Cross and Turnmills and has since released his amicable blend of house and techno of labels such as Jamie Jones and LeeFoss’ Hot Waves alongside Leftroom, Get Physical and Nervous. He’ll hit S.A.S.H – at its new venue – on Sunday August 31.

Word on the grapevine is that Detroit stalwart Andrés will be returning to Sydney next month. A regular on Moodymann’s seminal labels KDJ and Mahogani Music, he released arguably the most ubiquitous track of 2012 with his ‘New For U’ single on La Vida. Keep an eye out.

It looks like Huerco S.’supcoming Australian tour has been scrapped. Back in April the Kansas City producer posted on Facebook that he’d be debuting Down Under in July, but with no dates ever confirmed, plus the fact that he’s since edited the post to remove his Sydney performance, it looks like he ain’t coming.

In a week of quality releases, Fabric and Berghain stalwart Margaret Dygas has dropped the absolute stormer In Wood / That on Perlon. Stroboscopic Artefacts have kicked another goal with Eomac’s Monad XVII, and over at Tasteful Nudes Royer’s Tough Questions is already looking like it’ll be a guaranteed staple in late-night sets this summer.

Local lad Lavurn Lee AKA Guerre dropped his debut album Ex Nihilo last week and it’s top notch. The record was produced with Marcus Whale of Collarbones, who also produces with Lee in the three-piece outfit Black Vanilla. Lead single ‘Deatheat’ comes alongside a killer clip, too. Don’t sleep on it.