JAMIE & Lucas Bergen usher in MODÜL’s new chapter with ‘Past Echoes EP’
Berlin’s underground continues to reshape itself in subtle ways. Over the last few years, a new generation of artists and labels has emerged from the city’s smaller rooms and afterhours circuits, less concerned with revivalism than with reinterpreting the physical language of techno through tension, movement, and atmosphere. It is within that shift that MODÜL begins its next chapter.
Founded by Impulsive Behaviour, the imprint returns with Past Echoes EP, a six-track release from Dutch duo JAMIE & Lucas Bergen that quietly repositions the label’s direction. Less interested in spectacle than functionality, the EP places its focus firmly on contemporary club techno built around progression, hypnosis, and physicality.
JAMIE & Lucas Bergen have built a reputation through an approach rooted in digging across the wider history of electronic music. Their sets pull influence from hypnotic techno, trance, tribal rhythms, and percussion-driven club music, moving fluidly between textures and tempos through an instinctive four-deck style that prioritises movement over predictability. That approach has already seen the pair appear at Awakenings Summer Festival, with another major festival appearance at Soenda Festival set for later this year.
Opening the EP, “Augmented Desire” immediately establishes the record’s central language. Sharp rhythmic zaps cut through dense percussion while the arrangement continuously mutates, stretching and dissolving before snapping back into focus during the final drop. Built around tension rather than release, the track locks into a rolling sense of forward momentum that feels engineered specifically for dark rooms and long transitions. The track is already available via SoundCloud and Bandcamp ahead of the full EP release, offering an early glimpse into MODÜL’s new direction.
“Zero State” moves deeper into atmosphere without sacrificing drive. A pulsing low-end anchors the track while distorted industrial textures drift through the mix like distant machinery reverberating across empty warehouse spaces. Metallic resonances and fragmented ambience create a spacious but uneasy tension that never fully resolves, allowing the groove to evolve gradually rather than chasing obvious peaks.
Closing the originals, “Echoes of Eternity” opens into the EP’s most emotional moment. Ethereal melodic pads widen the track’s emotional scope while driving percussion keeps it grounded physically. There is a cinematic quality to the arrangement, though it never loses the grit running throughout the record, balancing immersion and impact in equal measure.
Caniche takes the material into its most intense territory. Their remix amplifies the pressure of the original through sharp percussion, rolling grooves, and tightly coiled rhythmic tension that barely allows the track to breathe. Distorted textures move aggressively through the arrangement, creating a version built squarely for peak-time environments.
Rather than reinventing the structure completely, Caniche focuses on magnifying its physical impact. The result feels direct and uncompromising, preserving the hypnotic core of the original while pushing its energy into harder territory without excess.
E.DN approaches the track from the opposite angle, stripping it back to its most functional elements. Focused heavily on repetition and low-end weight, the remix locks itself into a hypnotic flow that prioritises tension through subtle movement rather than dramatic progression.
Where other versions expand emotionally or rhythmically, E.DN keeps everything tightly controlled. Small shifts in texture and pressure gradually reshape the groove over time, creating a track designed less for spectacle and more for sustaining momentum deep into a set.
Dan Berg delivers the package’s most atmospheric reinterpretation. Spacious melodic textures drift across driving percussion, creating a remix that feels immersive and widescreen while still retaining the grit and physicality of the original framework.
There is a patience to Dan Berg’s arrangement that allows the emotional elements to unfold gradually. Rather than overwhelming the track with melody, the remix balances cinematic atmosphere with propulsion, offering a closing interpretation that feels expansive without losing its edge.
What makes Past Echoes EP feel significant is not reinvention, but clarity. The release understands exactly where it wants to sit within contemporary techno: somewhere between emotional immersion and physical propulsion, avoiding both maximalism and minimal restraint. In doing so, it also establishes the blueprint for MODÜL’s next phase.
As Berlin’s club landscape continues to fragment into smaller, more intentional communities, labels increasingly operate less as platforms for output and more as curatorial statements. With Past Echoes EP, MODÜL positions itself inside that evolving space, focused on artists with a distinct perspective, and on techno that prioritises tension, depth, and movement over immediacy.
