Celebrating 10 years since Perc Trax’s inception with this compilation, Ali Wells, better known as Perc, gathers an impressive range of tracks from some high profile collaborators and artists from the Perc Trax roster.

Slowly Exploding isn’t really about the entirety of the label’s 10 year history, but sums up well what the label stands for now. Perc Trax has come a long way since its early days of releasing colour-by-numbers techno – for many it has come to represent the current state of the British scene, with Perc partly responsible for industrial techno’s current spike in popularity. There’s variety in the quality of the tracks and in the wide range of influences captured in Slowly Exploding but Perc’s vision holds the compilation together.

Perc’s own contributions to the compilation range from the satisfyingly repetitive remix of Clouds’ Dread Networks to the posturing distortion on Hyperlink that sees style triumph over substance. Happa too falls into the trap of playing for shock value with To Die Hating Them. Perc Trax regulars Sawf, Forward Strategy Group and Truss all turn in measured, powerful and precise tracks. Truss’ contribution Brockwier is a particular highlight with a dense but fully articulated sound palette. Martyn Hare’s The New Normal is a stomping off kilter track that offers listeners resolution with the simple but effective device of straightening out the beat halfway through.

At times Slowly Exploding lacks authenticity, but overall it is a decent collection of tracks that reflect the current agenda of Perc Trax and will surely cement Ali Wells as a key figure of British techno.

Crack Staff