Acupuncture Records, the homegrown Beijing-based DJ collective and label known mainly for their inventive and always pumping parties, has been quite busy over the last few months putting Beijing techno officially on the map. While the team – including artists Weng Weng, X.L.F., ELVIS.T, Pancake Lee and Terry Tu and manageress supremo Miao Wong – has been in the beat business for quite some time and officially joined forces as a label in 2007, they released their first EP – Terry Tu’s “Ebb”, featuring a remix by ELVIS.T – earlier this year.

To promote their signature sound, Acupuncture launched pages on Beatport and Juno. This month, Acupuncture released tracks from its second EP, “HARE” by ELVIS.T. The label looks to release about one track per month from hence forward, including an album – Nil – dropping in April. Mark your calendars with the April 24th release party.

As far as the music is concerned, Acupuncture’s first two forays into the world of wide-scale distribution present a wonderful aural contrast. “Ebb” features beautifully melodic downtempo minimal. It’s the kind of music that was meant to accompany a stunning sunrise. “HARE”, on the other hand, zips along with trippy minimal tech riffs peppered with twisted tidbits, such as the rubbery arpeggios of the EP’s namesake track that successfully mimic a sense of whimsical dislocation.

Check out the Acupuncture Myspace page page to hear all the new releases. Better yet, get your booty to Acupuncture’s weekly Friday shindigs at Luce.