Ray Kajioka - Consistency (2016)

Consistency is Kajioka's second artist album for Kanzleramt and consolidates a relationship that started over 12 years ago. As its title suggests, this long player does what Kajioka excels at, namely smartly executed club techno. There are occasional deviations from that script, like the ambient opener, "Patch" or "Minute 53", where beautiful electronic piano and atmospheric strings prevail, but in the main this is a no nonsense dance floor album. "Fast Forward" breathes new life into dub techno thanks to it forceful kicks; "The Ratchet" sees Kajioka toy with the wiry minimalism of Rob Hood and "Constant" teems with the kind of surging chords and dense kicks that acts like Technasia used to specialise in. If dance floor abandon is your main aim, then you need some consistency.