Uturn Records

Although I never ended up completing the label's full catalog (I think I am missing the first 2-3 releases), Uturn is the label that taught me to follow not only artists, but imprints they release their music through. It made me realize that it was a way to stay up to date with like minded artists, automatically building up your own data base. I guess you can draw a parallel to people who watch a certain sport because they ire a player, vaguely knowing the remaining figures on the court. I use to think I watched basketball, but in reality I was waiting to see Michael Jordan. I began to fully appreciate his game once I acquainted myself with the game of those around him. Something similar happened here.

So I decided not to look for the artist's name, as more often than not I'd find nothing on the shelves. But by keeping an eye out for a logo, a symbol, now this worked.

Although the names on these records did not mean much to me in a pre internet and Discogs universe, the label's logo was a way to connect to the sounds of the artists while writing their names on the back pages of school notebooks.

Oh, and the music? Every artist that dropped a 12" on this label released a stone cold, untamable classic. Johannes Heil and Heiko Laux each released more than one timeless gem here. Simple mathematics: about a third of this label's opus is classic by anyone's standards, and the remainder is defined. I followed the label's trajectory blindly, buying in real time everything from "Sahara Effects" to Diego's 2005 record. It' s all pure gold in my ears, with some seriously twisted dance floor ammo.

In fact, I have now come back and am seriously contemplating completing the lot, despite technically already having obtained what I came for. If I do it, it would be out of gratitude and to relive the joy of opening a Uturn release.
Truly amazing streak of winning releases from a crew of producers whose collective output and influence cannot be oversimplified with some cliche term like evergreen.
Alexander Kowalski, Heiko Laux, Johannes Heil and Diego Hostettler have each released a record for Uturn that is generally brought up when their finest moments are on the daily menu.
One of the greatest cult labels in techno, in my humble opinion.