Kicking on from the celebrated Viva London release, Steve Lawler returns to the series with another double CD mix based on one of his favourite spots to DJ, as he pulls back the curtain on his annual residency at Toronto’s Guvurnment club. The jammy bastards are treated every year with two epic sets in the single sitting – the first, a main room slog inside before it’s up to the terrace for a unique carryon into the morning. Hence, you have the concept for the respective Inside and Outside discs.

Inside opens with tribal African rhythms and dark sexy funk as TG’s Give It A Go crescendos and drops into a jacking house beat. Layer upon layer of discordant bubbling sounds have casued me to shake impulsively to this fantastic piece of noisy techno. My first impression is joy, and massive respect at Lawler’s no nonsense opening – within three tracks, the speakers are pumping out some twisted pulsating sounds. Resonating tubular guitar riffs stereo in and out into the awesome Loosey Goosey; bouncy, hollow tunnel techno for the acid generation. Re:Axis’s Outsider snaps into a lush melody before tucking it’s head in and driving into one of the best tracks on the disc, Capacitor from Spektre where spooky FX and a tribal death-rattle roar over a twitchy echoing riff. Evolving slowly, I’m unsure at first until the track explodes into peaking techno, leaving me with my head thrown back, grinning from ear to ear.

The steady, relentless Ramper brings me down a rung before opening up gloriously into the most fantastic piece of progressive techno that I have heard in freakin’ ages. A modern symphony, Alex Tepper’s Grains is a rich effervescent icing on some seriously Spastikated drumwork which frustrates me at not being able to share it with a clubfull every time. Tmsstr detunes the melody and shakes the walls with As You Like It as Lawler schools me in modern techno, before Alex Costa’s Pull & Bear elates with some warm church hall reverb. Lawler flirts between optimistic progressive and deep dark tech, pulling me one way then the other and never letting me settle into a path. Smith & Selway abduct me on a 9-minute march which has me just about to lose patience when Joel Mull’s Red Light of Dawn masterfully takes me on a hellish organ trip into a dark carnival of sound. Classy programming and Latin street rhythms are the order of the day as we close with funky dark techno into Ilario Alicante’s irrational ode to ping pong I Like To Serve.

Heading to the terrace for the Outside mix, Lawler begins the dawn service with downtempo but bouncy minimal as The Black Dog and Miss Fitz vie for my attention. Spacey and lush, a Nina Simone sample drifts by as three quick mixes once again get things started. It’s impressive that even with two 70+ minute discs, Lawler does not waste time prolonging the warmup – a positive reflection of an obsessive but brilliant DJ, desperate to share. Nivek Tsoy’s Time & Space drips in vacuously – pitched down, dark and lazy. As I start to feel unsettled, a wonderful pair of Cle tracks radiate in. Nomads is a superb piece of warm melodic techno reminiscent of M.A.N.D.Y’s all conquering Body Language with its unabashed 90s synth and hollow percussion. Its sister track All Dried Out is twangy and exciting, continuing the electro influence that expertly counterbalances the eerie opening to the disc.

Diskotecktonik comes in punctually, a throbbing electric sci-fi theme complete with Gregorian chant and chiming riff transitioning softly into Stu Hirst’s Cambio with delicate harpwork and lasery stabs over intricate Euro-tech basslines. Sie’s seductive Sublimes is an absolute cracker, with a mouthwatering vocal and no-nonsense drum. Matthew Jonson’s Symphony offers off-key mysticism before the inimitable Audion sway in with the playfully organic Billy Says Go. As Lawler looks out towards sunrise, we are treated to proggy tech with Decade before Xuplak from Betoko chimes in and the lovely Perception diverts me on a tribal journey. The CD ends indulgently with Frank Martiniq’s tick-tock masterpiece The Astropop Shop. Furiously good, Lawler really has saved the best until last in a shameless celebration of live techno.

Viva Toronto is an incredibly engaging double CD that works the concept of club/terrace superbly. Original and I suspect, enduring, the release is not for the fainthearted. But one thing I can say with 100 per cent assurance is there is no track wasted as Lawler flows through themes with masterful ease – this is techno with personality.

Viva Toronto!

Check out the tracklisting…

CD One – Inside
1. Viva Toronto Intro – Friends – Viva Music
2. Robytek – Luna Africana (Reprise) – Rebirth
3. TG – Give It A Go – Renaissance Recordings
4. Calculus – Loosey Goosey (Reboot Rework) – Hairy Claw
5. Re:Axis – Outsider – Piso Records
6. Spektre – Capacitor – Suruba Records
7. Alecs Marta – Ramper (Patrick Zigon Remix) – Treibstoff
8. Alex Tepper – Grains (TG Remix) – Fling Recordings
9. Tmsstr – As You Like It (Original Mix) – Viva Music
10. Alex Costa – Pull & Bear (Ji-Fi Remix) – Presslab Records
11. Christian Smith & John Selway – Total Departure – Drumcode
12. Joel Mull – Red Light Of Dawn – Audiomatique Recordings
13. Markantonio & Joseph Capriati – Codice Morse – Bakerloo
14. Ilario Alicante – I Like To Serve – Atypical Farm Recordings

CD Two – Outside
1. Viva Toronto Intro – Computer Man – Viva Music
2. The Black Dog – EVP Echoes – Soma Recordings
3. Miss Fitz – Drifting On – Contexterrior Media
4. Nivek Tsoy – Time & Space – Dessous Recordings
5. Clé – Nomads – Poker Flat Recordings
6. Clé – All Dried Out – Poker Flat Recordings
7. Fetisch & Me – Diskotecktonik – International Deejay Gigolo Records
8. Stu Hirst – Cambio – Viva Music
9. Sie – Sublimes (Rone Mix) – Time Has Changed Records
10. Mathew Jonson – Symphony for the Apocalypse – Wagon Repair
11. Audion – Billy Says Go – Spectral Sound
12. Baggy Bukkador & Tim Fischbeck – Decade – Traum Schallplatten
13. Betoko – Xuplak – WOW Records
14. Dachshund – Perception – Perspectiv Records
15. Frank Martiniq – The Astropop Shop – Kickboxer

And check out this clip of Lawler doing his thing on the Toronto Terrace…