Following on from the recent return of Mathew Jonson to Minus, ‘Knibbie Never Comes Alone’ sees old associate Loco Dice release on the label for the first time since 2006. In the meantime, the Tunisian-born, Dusseldorf-based producer has found a home for his often dubby, sometime tribalistic records on imprints like Cadenza, Cocoon and Ovum as well, of course, as his own esteemed outpost, Desolat. Having found time to get back in the studio with long-time studio collaborator Martin Buttrich despite continuing to curate dancefloor soundtracks around the world each and every weekend, Dice explores an abstract and cerebral techno template with his latest offerings. The opening 90 seconds of the A is all sparse atmosphere, static crackles and weird effects with just a sole note played over and over. The pulsing of a deep sine wave hints at what to come, and when that’s expanded on with a kick drum and bobbling bassline the whole thing begins to come alive. More life is breathed into the bleak landscape with the sounds of various robot activities, and the mystery of the bell-like melody which hangs in the air is never really explained before the last third of the track when the momentum really builds and claps and hats help drive the whole thing forward. The eventual groove which reveals itself in the A side is extrapolated with the B: ‘Loose Hooks’ is a deeply burrowing affair with an extra heavy kick hitting ever four bars to give things an air of extra insistency. Above that, various dynamic samples shoot about like fire-flies in a night sky and all the while the train track rhythm builds up more and more steam until eventually it dissipates to only the sounds of an over worked circuit board. Maintaining his sense of bold and chunky rhythm, then, but finishing things with classic motifs of Minus in mind, Dice has made for an assured homecoming.