Steve Bicknell remasters Cubtracks for lean, loop-driven club use

Steve Bicknell has not simply reopened an old folder. With Cubtracks Remastered_01, he pulled late-1990s and early-2000s S.B. Project material back into circulation and gave it a fresh mastering pass aimed at modern club systems, not museum shelving. The release landed on June 17, 2026 as the third entry in his Remastered series, and its value sits in that timing: these are stripped-back tools from a period when Bicknell was working in the grey zone between house and techno, now reframed for rooms that still prize tension, repetition, and control.

The record arrives as a UK 12-inch on S-B-Productions, catalog number S-B-P003R, with 12 tracks spread across 27 minutes. Bandcamp says the set revisits key S.B. Project material from the late 1990s and early 2000s, drawing three tracks from The Primitive Streak and three from Cultural Co-Operation, then adding six lock grooves from The Primitive Streak Redefined. That structure tells you exactly what kind of record this is: less a nostalgia package than a working object built around loops, locked endings, and the kind of discipline that lets a DJ stretch a moment without the floor losing shape.

The remaster matters because it sharpens that functional edge. Peter Van Hoesen handled the mastering at Memento Mastering, a detail that fits the release’s utilitarian brief and gives the restoration extra weight inside the scene. These tracks were originally issued on Clubtracks between 1998 and 2002, and Triple Vision’s description nails the point: functional, stripped-back productions built for DJ use, occupying a distinctive grey area between house and techno. In other words, Bicknell is not presenting these cuts as dramatic rebuilds. He is restoring their pressure, their balance, and their usefulness.

That context makes the archive feel alive rather than dusty. Resident Advisor has long framed Bicknell as a key figure in the UK’s electronic music scene, and his club history explains why this material still lands with purpose. He co-founded LOST with Sheree Rashit at the start of the 1990s, while Discogs lists him as the founder of Cosmic Records, 6dimensions, and S-B-Productions, with aliases including S.B. Project, The Evader, Kim Bilir, and backtotheparty. Clubtracks itself was the more Chicago house-sounding branch of that ecosystem, which helps explain why Cubtracks Remastered_01 feels like a bridge between pulse and restraint.

For collectors, the appeal is the recovery of a rare branch of Bicknell’s catalog in clean, remastered form. For newer minimal heads, it is a reminder that the best functional techno does not need to announce itself. It just needs to hold tension, keep moving, and sound right when the lights go low.