Juno Recommends Techno July 2018

Review: Discos Capablanca dig into the undergrowth of German acid culture to unearth ADSX, otherwise known as Andre Fischer. An electronic music lifer since the 80s in Frankfurt, Fischer has avoided the limelight but been involved in all manner of movements. His ADSX (or Audiosex) alias was responsible for some serious acid heat back in the 90s, and it's revived here alongside former Tresor and Snax DJ Hanoben. "Phone Sex" is a dense and trippy freakout, while "Acid Sex" takes a lean and mean approach with the 303 front and centre. On the B side, resurgent Detroit champion Sharif Laffrey gets busy with a remix of "Scream" that stretches out over 12 minutes in his usual heavy-loaded, feverish and utterly on-point style.

Review: This superb, six-track assault on the senses gathers together some of the most sought-after cuts from the Balkan Vinyl and I Love Acid vaults, five of which have never before been seen on wax. There's naturally plenty to set the pulse racing throughout, from the wild, lo-fi acid stomp of LFO's "I Love Acid" and the late Andreas Gehm's "Heaven & Hell", to the breakbeat-drive rave madness of Luke Vibert's "Acid Hitler" and the gentle braindance shuffle of Plaid's "Hui". Arguably best of all, though, is B12's "Proximity", which sounds like an electro re-make of LFO's "LFO" with added clandestine creepiness.

Review: Building on the momentum of the strong reissue programme undertaken at Thule Records HQ, Thor returns to the fray with some new productions that add a new chapter to the story of Icelandic techno. This limited run of Decay appropriately comes on marbled grey vinyl. Of course, the unique atmosphere the label carved out in the 90s has been left intact - the dubby processing and icy melodies abound throughout, creating utterly immersive techno and house variations in the process. "Insanity Dub" has a live feel to its drum set which injects a curious disco energy into the mix, while "Rusty Flashback" takes things in a subtle tech house direction. "Garden Of Corrosion" stands apart with its slender sound palette, placing the emphasis on groove and swing, while "Pepper Jones" ramps the dub techno exploration up to 11. If you love the sound of Thule, you're going to love this.

Review: When we saw this new one by power duo Red Axes appearing on Phantasy Sound, we thought it was about time. The Israeli duo's distinct brand of indie-dance would surely be right at up Erol Alkan's alley - and they deliver the goods yet again on the Sipoor EP. The title track is undoubtedly the most 'techy' we've ever heard them, on this deep and tunnelling rave journey. Bleepy aesthetics make a return on "Teroof" but merge wonderfully with their renowned brand of punk funk. Finally on the flip, we have the brooding "Bad Time Story" going out all guns blazing, with some euphoric 303 acid over thunderous toms - it's something that sounds like Hardfloor meets Barnt.

Review: REPRESS ALERT: Well Street have been mightily impressive with their first two releases, presenting relatively unknown artists exploring some fertile liminal zones between deep techno, broken beat, ambient and many other shards of on point electronic music. Robert Fleck is now drafted in for the third release, making a debut appearance with a sound that further shapes out the vision of the label. "Echo Chamber" unsurprisingly deals in dubby textures, taking classic dub techno chords and matching them with delicate, crafty percussive flex outs. "Set Point" follows a similar path, but with a more delineated 4/4 backbone to the track that emphasies Fleck's techno tendencies. "Soft Focus" heads in a more UK-minded direction, using ample space and snagging beats with poised touches of Reese-ish sub bass without ever over-cooking the broth. Gasometric Run then comes on board to remix "Soft Focus," channeling Rhythm & Sound loud and proud to create a wonderful slice of ambient dub techno.

Review: It's been a hot minute since Timothy J. Fairplay slipped on his Junior Fairplay guise, but he's done just that for this bleep-tastic new 12" on (Emotional) Especial. "End Of Love" is unabashed in its embrace of early Yorkshire techno tones, making a fine job of resurrecting the bleep spectre and letting it shake up the dance once more. Roy Of The Ravers is a smart choice of remixer, and he brings an off-kilter acid rub to the table in his idiosyncratic, braindance-inflected style. The B-side is equal laden with purposefully dusty dance grooves transplanted from the late 80s / early 90s, with "Faxes From The Future" hitting a particularly sharp point in its lazy breakbeat roll and the clanging harmonies of the stabs.

Review: Back in 2006, mysterious techno crew Lost Trax made their debut via a much-lauded - and now hard-to-find - EP on Daz Quayle's SCSI-AV label. Delsin, a label that has never shied away from reissuing underground gems, has now decided to re-release it. From the word go, it's easy to see why they were so keen to put it out again. Title track "The Saturnian System" is a deliciously spacey and emotion-rich chunk of acid-flecked, floor-friendly electro full of sweeping chords and eyes-closed melodies, while "The Sequel" remains a second-wave "intelligent techno" classic. Elsewhere, they join the dots between rubbery electro and yearning techno on "Self Destruct Sequence", before fixing melancholic Motor City melodies to a liquid tech-house groove on closer "Birth".

Review: Talaboman's The Night Land LP was a definite 2017 highlight, as it managed to cross-pollinate all the best elements of the 'outsider' house debacle into one cohesive collection of tracks. Out through Belgium's mighty R&S, it was certain from the start that there would be some form of follow-up to the producer's wild and explorative shades of electronic dance. As such, the imprint have called up a selection of trusted characters from around the globe, starting with Superpitcher's deep and mystical version of "Dins El Llit", a reinterpretation that truly merits some attention of its own, particularly for how beautifully it levitates the original. TTT's newfound homeboy, Samo DJ, morphs the dreary sonics of "The Ghosts Hood" into an even deeper wormhole of dread, short of heading into total 303 oblivion; synth-head LB dub-Corp takes on "Brutal Chugga Chugga" and spins the original with the help of his characteristically edgy and off-kilter percussion work. A fine remix initiative. Recommended.

Review: Surface Records has never pulled any punches as one of the UK's toughest techno labels, and The 65D Mavericks have embodied the same spirit with their charged, lyrically provocative approach. After a lengthy hiatus label and artist are back in action, and sounding as fierce as ever. "False Prophets" is not for the faint hearted - an avalanche of thunderous drums and expletive-laden diatribes. "Cosmic Drift" is marginally more meditative, but still positively unhinged in its execution. "You Lost Your Mind" flails around a muddy, punky swamp of deviant sonic behaviour, and "Immovable (dub)" throws one last curveball into the long grass, stripping out the bark without losing the bite of this proudly individual group of techno marauders.

Review: The latest transmission of M Plant's 20th Anniversary celebrations sees label boss Robert Hood come through with some self styled 'replants' of recent Floorplan material. "Never Grow Old" of course originates from Hood's triumphant 2013 Floorplan LP Paradise, arriving midway through and impressive enough to feature in Ben Klock's Fabric mix. Here the gospel vibes remain but they are complemented by a searing Motor City key line that is really quite hypnotic over it's seven minute duration. Complementing this is a replant of "Phobia", one of Hood's last releases of 2013 which evens out the hoover rave overtones of the original in favour of some trippy synth loops that prove just as effective.

Review: Instinct's "Just A Feeling" is the pure embodiment of an early 90s Detroit techno record. Originally released in 1992 on Instinct's Decisive Records , not many copies managed to get outside of the city of Detroit. Within the melodic strings, 808s, and loosely swung samples - you can feel the spirit of these early days and of this young producer finding his sound. Meticulously remastered by Josh Bonati from the master tapes for this 2018 issue.

Review: Italian producer Enrico Sangiuliano may have been serving up dark and intoxicating techno twelves for the best part of a decade, but never before has he turned his hand to the full-length format. Biomorph is not just any old debut album, either, but rather a concept album described by Drumcode as "a journey of evolution". In practice, that means an album that ebbs and flows throughout, opening with a dash of spacey ambient, before charging off on a trip marked out by pulsating techno rhythms (crafted from both straight 4/4 beats and breakbeats), spiraling electronic motifs, booming, elongated basslines, experimental electronic interludes and more future big room techno anthems than the contents of Adam Beyer's USB stick. In other words, if you love Drumcode's particular brand of bombastic techno, you'll love Biomorph.

Review: Since it first appeared in stores back in 2005, Tin Man's triple-vinyl debut album, Acid Acid, has become something of a sought-after item. Main man Johannes Auvinen has responded to demand by preparing this freshly expanded reissue, which boasts an additional fourth record containing previously unreleased material recorded during the original album sessions. These tracks are actually rather good - especially the 13-minute epic "Heated Acid" and trance inducing "Crisp & Cosey Acid" - and naturally fit with the rest of the material on show. As you'd expect, the emphasis is on wild TB-303 acid lines and jacking drums throughout, with Auvinen delivering a range of brutal, blistering club tracks and deeper, even more psychedelic dancefloor rollers.

Review: After appearing on the first Calypso Records release out of Mexico last year, Colossio returns to the fray with a whole EP of sleazy jams for the warm up crowd to get nasty to. "Moto" is a grinding crossover track that features dirty garage guitars to match the low-slung synth undulations and sizzling disco beat, while "Fe" throws the windows open for a ranging cut centred around all kinds of instrumentation played with a post-punk looseness. "Ansia" keeps things nervous and atmospheric without skimping on party energy, and then Man Power swoops in for a remix of "Moto" that keeps things spooky while injecting a swinging groove into the mix.

Review: Emergent duo Broken Arrows were previously spotted lurking around Giallo Disco back in 2015, so you should have some idea of the kind of lurid late night machine sleaze they like to get their hands dirty with. They've now slid over to the sympathetic but marginally more techno-minded Vivod imprint with a new clutch of deviant heaters for those adventurous dancefloor spaces where B-movie sounds reign supreme. "Female Predator" is a tough EBM-tinted workout with plenty of jack in its stack, while "Fear Eats The Soul" takes a more synth-wave approach with some speech samples thrown in for good measure. "Edge Of Darkness" is a more tense affair that pings arpeggios around a minor key refrain, and then "Basic Structure" whips out the hardest track on the record, a lithe industrial stomper laden with rhythmic noise and a mean synth bassline that will hit your solar plexus like a battering ram.

Review: The headspace Area's Kimochi Sound label inhabits is very much compatible with that of Rough House Rosie, and both labels have similar legacies of championing unsung talents. Now Area appears on Rough House Rosie with some of his beguiling abstractions on the deep, smoked out techno blueprint, and it's a match made in heaven. "Sweated" courses through a mysterious landscape of blown out low end riffs and distant textures, while "Still Moving Away" locks into a steadfast techno roll that complements the lingering notes hovering overhead. "Vicious Like A Koala" is a minimal workout based around an unusual drum set and a looming one-note bassline, and "Tessellated Rhubarb" finishes the EP off with some haunting ambient musings.

Review: The low-key but long-serving D2B steps up on a self-manned label to deliver two surefire club smashers for those who appreciate the grit and soul of proper Detroit techno. "My Love" on the A side is the friendlier cut, its taut machine rhythms embellished with dextrous synth work from pulsing chords to simmering strings, all shot through with a smoky after hours haze. On the flip side, D2B gets a little rawer with the component parts of the track, jacking up the drums and spacing out the arrangement for a more intense workout that should satisfy anyone who wants techno with personality that still smacks hard.

Review: At first glance, French enfant terrible Bambounou is a surprising addition to the Diskant impint - now known as just Disk. Known for his techno and house exploits on Clek Clek Boom and 50 Weapons, his knack for intricately programmed rhythms were on display even back then. It kind of figures that he'd be a good choice for the label, come to think of it now. That's certainly proven across the three tracks on the Parametr Perkusja EP, where his sound sits comfortably alongside label mates like Harmonious Thelonious and Durian Brothers. From the slo-mo esoterica of "Dernier Metro" which reaches near tribal moments, the hard hitting polyrhythmic techno of "Kosovo Hardcore" it is great to hear some original productions from him after lengthy absence.

Review: Ste Roberts steps up with the second instalment on his self-titled label, once again burrowing into the more mysterious corners of the house and techno spectrum to deliver distinctive dancefloor gold for those who like their beats a little different. "The Circle" is a nocturnal affair that matches dark techno atmospherics with a rigorous housey bump, and the results are stellar. "AC" is equally tough, although in this instance the main ingredient is a rattling conga sample that has a raw, live and in the room quality that contrasts the unrelenting kick drum perfectly.

Review: OK EG appears from out of nowhere in a haze of the mellowest ambient techno and downtempo delights for your mind to melt into. "Creek" is a smooth but strident route in, the tidal lilt of the pads dissected by a finely paced beat loop that should find a comfortable home amongst deepest house heads. "Colours" does away with the drums and uses a plaintive sprinkling of keys and delays to create an evocative backdrop for fragile females vocals. "Reef I & II" is the clubbier cut, rolling out over the B side with a looming monosynth bassline and some dub techno inflections making it a smart choice for warm up scenarios especially.

Review: Just when we thought that Samuel Kerridge had released his final EP for Regis' mythical Downwards imprint, here he is once again with a fresh batch of hyper-real techno infusions for the post-post-modern ear. The I Is Nothing comes as a breath of fresh air in a moment where regular 4/4 techno has reached considerable sterility and, instead, Kerridge's sonic constructions are constantly surprising in different ways. "Silent Notes" blasts out sporadic kicks alongside angelic background drones in a ying/yang sort of scenario, while "Fascination Sustain" opts for a more reductive, more dubwise concoction of industrial flavours in what is a stunning piece of lo-fi craftsmanship. On the flip, Aaron Turner's evocative vocals give the already chilling ambience of "Propagates Of Desire" yet more tenebrous charm, and "Actuality Repeats" meanders its rolling bass and drums over a sleek and shape-shifting collection of industrial mechanics. Sick.