Blawan & Karenn: Dark Techno Between Noise and Groove
· re:union Radio editorial · 3 min read
Blawan and Karenn shape British dark techno: SickElixir on XL Recordings and Grapefruit Regret on Voam – the sound, the tracks and the story behind them.
Blawan, real name Jamie Roberts from South Yorkshire, is credited as one of the artists spearheading the industrial techno revival. His album SickElixir came out in 2025 on XL Recordings – and if you want to hear how dark club music can get without losing its groove, this is where you start. Then there is Karenn, his duo with Pariah, which has worked exclusively with analogue hardware since 2011.
At a glance
- Blawan's album SickElixir was released in 2025 on XL Recordings; its predecessor Wet Will Always Dry came out in 2018.
- The lead single from SickElixir is “NOS”, and singer Monstera Black appears on “Rabbit Hole”.
- Karenn are Blawan and Pariah; their debut album Grapefruit Regret has eight tracks and was written in Berlin in the summer of 2019.
- Karenn use only analogue hardware and set up their own label, Works The Long Nights.
SickElixir: techno built from rubble and voices
Opener “The GL Lights” sets the tone: Pitchfork describes spirals of blaring noise, a barking, barely intelligible voice and rhythms that sound ready to break apart. Roberts still holds the chaos together, extracting techno from dense strata of mechanised grit.
The record's signature is its mangled vocals. On “Casch” the hissing “sch” of the title lingers over the track like a film, while “WTF” uses pitch correction to mould vocals into a bassline that snaps across the stereo field. Lead single “NOS” swings between blown-out bass and a clipped whisper.
Light is rare. When singer Monstera Black comes in on “Rabbit Hole”, Pitchfork finds the atmosphere almost alien – a brief bright spot that only makes the rest of the album's darkness deeper.
| Artist | Blawan (Jamie Roberts) |
|---|---|
| Origin | South Yorkshire, England |
| Album | SickElixir |
| Label | XL Recordings |
| Year | 2025 |
| Previous album | Wet Will Always Dry (Ternesc, 2018) |
| Opening track | The GL Lights |
| Lead single | NOS |
| Guest vocals | Monstera Black on “Rabbit Hole” |
From a Hessle Audio debut to the industrial sound
Blawan started out with his debut single “Fram” on Hessle Audio and then signed to R&S Records.
Over the years the beats got noisier, grittier and more organic. Pitchfork writer Philip Sherburne described his music as full of jackhammering kicks, splintered wooden percussion and short-fuse breakdowns. On Wet Will Always Dry, “Tasser” already pushed an eroded techno pulse forward with a throaty digital rasp – seven years later, SickElixir takes that approach to its extreme.
Karenn: Grapefruit Regret and the duo's return
Karenn formed in 2011 after Blawan and Pariah met through DJing at events and releasing on the same label, R&S Records. After an EP in 2014 they stopped releasing records but kept playing live. In 2019 they returned with the Kind Of Green EP on their new label Voam.
Grapefruit Regret followed in November 2019: eight tracks, written in Berlin that summer, and for the first time using a drum machine. According to Pitchfork, the title simply stems from an unfortunate breakfast order. “Lemon Dribble” opens with static and a winding bassline, “Strawbs” ups the tempo to 150 BPM, “Kumquat” and “Crush the Mushrooms” are the hard hitters, and “Taste Yourself” closes on a more contemplative note. On how the scene had developed in the years before, Roberts said:
“Things got quite aggressive over the last couple of years, so bro-y.”
— Jamie Roberts to The Quietus, quoted by Pitchfork
Context: British dark techno with a signature
Pitchfork places Roberts in a particularly British strain of dark, industrial-leaning techno championed by acts like Surgeon and Sandwell District. If you want to dig deeper into this corner, Ancient Methods – The Void and the Industrial Techno Releases September 2026 are good next stops.
Frequently asked questions
Who is behind Karenn?
Karenn is the duo of Blawan (Jamie Roberts) and Pariah (Arthur Cayzer). They formed the project in 2011 and work exclusively with analogue hardware.
Which label released Blawan's SickElixir?
SickElixir was released in 2025 on XL Recordings. His first album, Wet Will Always Dry, came out in 2018 on Ternesc.
What gear do Karenn use live?
As of 2020, their live setup consisted of a Boss RC-505 looper, an Eventide Timefactor delay pedal, an EHX Bad Stone phaser pedal, an Elektron Digitone synthesiser and a Strymon Deco saturation pedal.
Source: Pitchfork – Blawan: SickElixir, Pitchfork – Karenn: Grapefruit Regret, Wikipedia – Blawan, Wikipedia – Karenn
