Out-of-control revelers at Berghain might disagree, but it seems like a lot of new techno has been greeted with a collective yawn from the dance music community in 2009. Enter Redshape, a mysterious masked man from Berlin whose debut full-length just might provide the techno world with the true north it so desperately needs. Sure, the album has its headier moments—see the slow burn of aptly named album opener “Seduce Me,” the tape-hiss clicks and clacks of “Garage GT,” or the synth-soaked trip-hop tumble of “Man Out of Time”—but The Dance Paradox never sounds aimless or without purpose. “Globe” and especially “Bound (Part 1&2)” turn up the intensity with sweaty Detroit undercurrents and sci-fi analog synths, while “Deep Space Mix (Edit)” tempers its shuffling backbone with foreboding alien squelches and a seriously sinister vibe. Many techno producers struggle with the album format, but The Dance Paradox is urgent, spooky, and absolutely essential.