Acerbic (Stay Up Forever/Hydraulix/Cluster/Perc Trax) is the exciting new

acid and hard techno project from Ant Wilson, aka Chicago Loop (Tronic/

Respekt/Toolroom) and formerly known as DJ ANT (Powertools Records/

Stay Up Forever Collective).

After a 10 year hiatus from acid and hard techno, writing and performing more

mainstream techno under the name Chicago Loop, Ant felt that in 2023 it

was high time to revisit a scene that he knew and loved so much, the London

Underground scene, and therefore created an exciting new project to fulfil this

desire. And so ACERBIC was born.

Designed to take on the acid and hard techno scene with full

force, ACERBIC launched in 2023 with a well received 4-track vinyl release

on Stay Up Forever’s sister acid label, Acid Artists in Action, with the lead

track, XXX, becoming the acid techno anthem of the summer after causing

huge scenes at both Glastonbury Festival and Boomtown Fair. This was

closely followed by a huge 3 track digital EP on D.A.V.E. The

Drummer’s infamous Hydraulix Records, released to coincide with his main

room set at the Hydraulix party with Slam at Club Fold in London in October.

Then at the end of the year, two more 4-track vinyl releases were sent to the

cutting room and readied for release for 2024. The first one being the hard

hitting In Your Face EP on the collective's main imprint itself, Stay Up

Forever, which was released in March and a storming techno release

on Cluster Records, called Ready Player One, released a couple of months

later in May. In addition to the SUF and Cluster vinyl releases, he also

dropped a slamming 2 track 303 driven acid techno EP, called High-Voltage,

on Mark Sherry’s Techburst Records, a full-force techno slammer on vinyl

on Ireland's Interruption Recs (a track that has been on repeat by Sven Vath

for the last year), a killer 4 track digital EP on Belgium's Arkham XXX, a huge

2 track EP on Canada's Resilient Recordings, a monster rave anthem

on Skirra’s Mechanikal and finally a slamming remix of Krissmix's' Pills Of

The 90's on Stay Up Forever.

2024 had been a busy year for ACERBIC releases, but it was at the start of

2025 that really saw him up the game with 2 killer acid anthems on Resilient

Record’s 100th release, his slamming remix of Perc's 'Imperial

Leather on Perc Trax, which came out in March, and of course his massive

12 track, triple-vinyl and digital album release, BIG FAST SUPER BUZZ.

Released in May on SUFHYDRO (a collaboration label between Stay Up

Forever and Hydraulix) the LP received critical acclaim right across the

underground techno and acid scenes, both nationally and internationally.

Early copies of the 3 disc vinyl album sold out in one weekend when they

were released exclusive to the Stay Up Forever store, and then proceeded to

sell out in just one day when the official release became available through

Juno and DeeJay a couple of weeks later.

Coinciding with the momentum of the album, Acerbic’s bookings diary also

started to fill up in 2025, showcasing his fresh, new acid sound across the UK

as well as some notable gigs in Canada, Poland, Brazil and Czech

Republic.

Over the winter of 2025-2026, Ant spent most of his time in the studio, writing

and preparing a stockpile of future, high-profile releases, such as the keenly

anticipated 4-track vinyl and digital release on Perc’s mighty Perc Trax, new

material for Calgary’s hottest new techno imprint, Night Format Records and

a slamming and anthemic new Stay Up Forever!

Ant’s long-awaited return to the acid and hard techno family is in full effect!