Hiroshi Watanabe - Threshold Of Eternity EP

For his first release of 2018, Hiroshi Watanabe has reworked one of the unarguable highlights of his 2016 album Multiverse. In its original form, "The Leonids" was a soaring slice of futurist techno perfection rich in bubbly synthesizer melodies and sweeping strings. It's this orchestrated aspect of the track that's explored in greater detail on "The Lenoid Strings", a beat-less, neo-classical string quartet cover that heightens the original version's rush-inducing positivity. It's stunning and - as both Derrick May and Watanabe have proved in recent DJ sets - sounds great when dropped over the top of the album mix. On the flip, Watanabe dusts down the drum machines and synthesizers to deliver "In To The Memory", a poignant and melancholic chunk of sci-fi techno deepness.