I was a big fan of Steve Rachmad in the ’90s. Productions such as  “Sitting On Clouds,” “Asphyx” EP and this stellar album, reviewed below, displayed a distinctly Dutch sound. Stefan Robbers and his Eevolute imprint were also forging styles of techno that were instantly recognizable as being from the Netherlands. The same could be said for Orlando Voorn. The Dutch producers most definitely paid homage to Detroit, but their interpretation of the sound was unique, extremely melodic and very effective on the dance floor. They made bouncy, chunky techno with beautiful textures and a sense of musicality that seems lost in a lot of — but not all —  current productions. In this review you also get to witness my penchant for long, possibly run-on, sentences.

Steve Rachmad Presents Tons Of Tones
Platinum
Urban Sound Of Amsterdam/Netherlands/LP
Holland’s answer to Carl Craig with a Tons of Tones double pack, and what a little gem it is. Nine tracks of varied flavors of techno with the Sterac flare for atmospheric strings, beefy basslines and his usual penchant for ’80s style electro, as displayed on the track “Sheherezade,” which comes with a beatless reprise that you can tinker with on the ones and twos. For busy technoheads who need quick reviews, buy this for the title track, “Sheherezade,” “Pique Nique” and “Petunia” and hammer the hell out of it, OK. Chris Orr