Juno Recommends Techno Best of 2018

Review: While establishing the Fit Sound imprint affiliated with the Detroit distro outlet of the same name , Aaron 'Fit' Siegel has been careful not to load the imprint with too many of his own productions, choosing instead to deliver material from Marcellus Pittman, Anthony 'Shake' Shakir, MGUN and Dungeon Acid. Here he makes a welcome return with two tracks of melodious, atmospheric, Motor City deepness. "Carmine" is particularly alluring, with twinkling melodies winding their way around yearning pads, bittersweet chords and shuffling, cymbal-heavy percussion. "First Found" is a little more forthright, with off-key pianos and scattergun electronics riding a tougher, locked-in groove.

Review: What can be said about this timeless banger that hasn't been said before? From the iconic throbs of acid to the delirious string hook, the menacing intonation of "ecstasy" to the eerie plastic strings, this is as seminal as a rave track can get. While many out there will no doubt have this jam tucked away on any number of techno compilations or cramped up on one of the original single issues, "Energy Flash" is a track more than worthy of its own luxuriant single-sided release, and in doing such a release so many years on R&S are making a powerful statement.

Review: REPRESS! When it comes to dub techno, no-one's flying the flag quite like Steve O'Sullivan these days. His Mosaic label is a bastion for the sound, and on this latest missive he's teamed up with Mike Schommer for some excursions into reverb soaked, filter sweeping hypnotism of the highest order. Before we get on to the originals though, equal dub tech legends Deepchord are at the controls on the A side with the "Negative Space Exploration" version of "Submerged", pinging the track out into a vast, icy landscape with subtle drums and stirring string swells lurking in the mist. The original version kicks off the B side with a cleaner, sharper finish but no less of that Basic Channel-inspired finesse. "Depth Charge Dub" completes the package with a slinky dive into stripped down dubby house for the heads.

Review: Dub techno doesn't come deeper than DeepChord, and Mike Schommer is one of those responsible for launching the legendary project. Making his return after 15 long years, Steve O'Sullivan's re-energised Mosaic Records is the perfect place to get reacquainted with the chap. "Invitation To Love" is as romantic as the title would suggest, letting gorgeous chords and pad washes ooze out over a steady ticking beat. The rhythm gets chopped up a little on "Remember When", while "Into The Night" heads into head-nodding dubstep territory with mammoth bass replaced by elegant Motor City synth shimmers.

Review: Some collaborative business from the mighty Drumcode camp, as boss man Adam Beyer joins forces with long-serving label artist Bart Skils for the very first time. There's just a single track (albeit pressed on to rather nifty looking marbled vinyl) to get your teeth into, but it's impactful. The duo has put a thunderous, mind-altering arpeggio bassline and heavy kick-drum/hi-hat pattern at the heart of the action, variously decorating it with long, drawn-out organ chords, creepy held synthesizer notes and - most potently - a beguiling vocal sample that neatly summarises the Drumcode clubbing ethos ("you... you're losing your mind"). In other words, it sounds like a future big room techno anthem.

Review: Originally released in 2000, Octave One's Black Water has now received the remaster treatment, taking the highly sought after first pressing of this bona fide Detroit techno anthem and giving it a boost for modern spinners to get busy with. The A side mixes "Black Water" and "Black Waters" are tough-edged bangers with that irrepressible Octave One energy, keeping the beats big and brutal and the melodies stabbing on the former and stripping down to a raw drum track for the latter. However it's the "Untold" version on the flipside that will get the crowds flipping out with its perfect string hook, rousing drums and Motor City romanticism.

Review: Malin Genie's distinctive take on house and techno has already earned him spots on some of the contemporary scene's most vital labels, from Hypercolour to Will & Ink, and now his self-titled label throws the doors open to welcome in a likeminded individual with a similar instinct for unconventional approaches to 4/4 dynamics. Yaleesa Hall has already built up a strong identity on Will & Ink, and in partnership with Genie the results are nothing short of spellbinding. From the shimmering dubby tones of "Coronal Loop" to the submerged ruminations of "Oganesson," this is advanced dance music engineered to twist your synapses and shake your limbs in the most unpredictable of ways.

Review: Having established their Ilian Tape label over a wealth of 12" releases these past few years, the brothers Zenker have expanded its remit to include artist albums in the most thrilling of fashions. Their own Immersion LP set the tone early last year, and now it's the turn of fellow Munich-based DJ and producer Skee Mask with the superb Shred. This 12-track set follows a couple of Ilian Tape singles from Skee Mask which marked him out as a producer of real potential but he's really outdone himself on Shred. There is a faint concept for those that want one, an expansion on his interest in snow and glacier caps, but it's easy enough to plunge headfirst and enjoy this LP on the merits of the music alone. Ambient pieces slide into thunderous techno productions and thrilling sideways turns into broken junglist cuts and vintage IDM sounding diversions.

Review: Hugo Capablanca has been measured in his approach to releasing music of his own. While his label continues to grow in stature, fresh Capablanca material doesn't come along every day, and this salvo on Disco Catorce is a welcome fix. Lipeli's "Paper Sound Dub" of "Lap Dance" is a killer restrained roller that leans towards heavily percussive disco and bug-eyed 70s sound FX. "Track 2" finds Capablanca getting heavy with the signal processing, creating a right racket in the process. Alessandro Adriani's remix of "Dance Less" is a lean, menacing workout of wave-laced techno, and then YPY freaks the end of the record out with the "Exp Ver" mix of "Top Less".

Review: Having only previously appeared on various artist releases in the past, Darren Harris gets his first full release on Ferox - a fine place for this promising techno talent to stretch his legs. There's a recognisable Ferox shimmer to "Tears" on the A side, using myriad layers in the mix for a full-bodied sound without sacrificing depth. "Inner Cycles" is a more stripped back affair, while "Arthropod" ditches the dancefloor in favour of a chill out room headspace, but all the tracks share the same ingredients of clean, thoughtfully programmed beats and synth lines that hark back to the good old days.

Review: British producer Mark Ambrose has been steadfast in the deep techno scene since the mid 90s, keeping his head down and slinging out refined, immersive tracks with a minimum of fuss. His Crayon label carried his most personal gear, and there was a lot of it, so now Was/Is have done the right thing and sifted through the catalogue to find the strongest jams for this Crayon Classics 12". "Zulu Groove" is a quintessential rolling groove, all pattering percussion and dubby FX threads, while "Warehouse Blues" ramps up the hi-hat sizzle and plots a course for the techno end of Ambrose's repertoire. "Thru" finishes the record off with a housier disposition, all shuffling beats and looped up melodic hiccups locked into an irresistible funk.

Review: Detroit techno hero DJ Bone is ever prolific these days, with his Differ-Ent alias releasing an epic triple LP release on Don't Be Afraid last year. A Piece Of Beyond marks the second DJ Bone studio album, and it finds him in an exploratory mood. "It Begins" is a unique exercise in synth wobbles and military drum programming, while "The Stalker" heads into the deepest and farthest corners of the quintessential Motor City techno sound. "The Chase" takes on a cosmic, break-infected stance that calls to mind spiritual jazz as much as techno, while there's more classic styles to be enjoyed on "Dreamers 9" and the absolutely stomping "Sweat".

Review: 'Find A Way' is a perfect match to the high quality standards of deep house tracks represented on Main Street. Paul St. Hilaire's voice is approved by now and is well known for his vocal on some Burial Mix releases. A killer instrumental version is featured on the B-side.

Review: Enrico Mantini and Pepe Villalba already made a sterling start with the Purism label, and now it's time for Retro Activity to step up with some striking diversions from the standard minimal house template. Drums are the order of the day on "SK-1", and what drums they are - loose, limber, expressive rhythms in a funked up, breakbeat style but certainly not any of the over-familiar breaks you're used to. "Venera 8" is a cosmic trip laden with spaced out FX wobbles and a rubbery bassline, and "Astrovibe" takes things in a stellar techno direction with sumptuous arpeggios and classic Detroit-flavoured drum machine flair.

Review: Given that he's been active since the dawn of the decade and released countless singles on a wide variety of labels, it's something of a surprise to find that Nutrition is Jamie Roberts' debut album. Pleasingly, he's not altered his style to fit the format, instead opting to showcase six tough techno tracks in his usual fearless, club-ready style. Of course, there's still a certain amount of variety present - compare, for example, the end-of-days industrial motifs, foreboding textures and clattering drums of "Calcium Read" and the metallic, early morning tribal thrust of "Mayhem" - it's just that Roberts has no intention of compromising his principles. For that, he should be applauded.

Review: Any new material from Luke Slater under the Planetary Assault Systems alias is something to celebrate, but rarely has the techno veteran dropped such an expansive set as Arc Angel. Boasting a positively overwhelming 20 tracks over three weighty slabs of vinyl, the first PAS album for five years is as spacey, hypnotic and intoxicating as anything in the British techno legend's vast catalogue. While mostly focused on atmospheric, Motor City influenced dancefloor futurism - and, let's face it, few do that better than Slater - Arc Angel also boasts a handful of inspired ambient cuts, some vintage, UK style "intelligent techno", and occasional nods towards UK contemporaries such as Surgeon, James Ruskin, Mark Broom and Oliver Ho.

Review: Three-quarters of the way through 2018, Ricardo Villalobos finally serves up his first solo release of the year. The Chilean has said very little about the two-tracker, merely serving up sound clips with no fanfare or fuss. Fans will enjoy "Wispa", with the producer's signature buried spoken word samples and intoxicating audio textures playing second fiddle to a driving kick-drum pattern and druggy, TB-303 style acid line. "909 Track" is, if anything, even bolder. While it's as hypnotic and trippy, the beats bounce, the acid lines pop and the main riff - a relentless, warehouse-friendly affair - drives the cut forward with restless energy. An impressive departure from his tried-and-tested blueprint.

Review: We were somewhat surprised to discover that Revenge For Nothing is Marcellus Pittman's first 12" single for nearly three years. We were even more surprised when we heard the title track, a fantastically druggy, drum machine-heavy concoction that sounds like a long lost collaboration between the early house pioneers of Chicago and their techno counterparts in Detroit. The sparse but heavyweight feel of the track is matched by the trippy, low-slung simplicity of flipside "Red Dogon Star", where a kick-drum dominated rhythm track is peppered with fuzzy, jammed-out analogue bass, Yorkshire bleeps and mind-altering electronics.

Review: UntilMyHeartStops makes a welcome return to the fray with this sublime four-tracker from emergent Swedish producer Martinou, previously found sneaking around the sewer sender label. As is customary with UMHS releases, the conventions of house and techno are masked by a veil of mystery, where billowing pads and crooked rhythms dig past common or garden variety club tracks to offer something more sublime. From the slender, shimmering "Unaware" to the weighty thrum of "Excessive, Surely" and on to the delicately poised "I Don't Wanna Wanna Feel", Martinou proves himself to be entirely in tune with the hidden depths of the label.

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: Ok, so the Speicher 95 series from Cologne's mythical Kompakt label is always capable of pleasing all sorts of DJs, from the shady outsider freaks to the progressive show-off, but having Laurent Garnier on top of that feels like striking gold. The legendary French producer and DJ doesn't exactly release a lot of music these days, so a new two-tracker by the man feels like something truly special to adorn our charts with. On the A-side, "1-4 Doctor C'est Chouette" is an explorative house voyage with plenty of life and organic energy behind its deep web of bass tones and spaced-out melodies; the flip, "From The Crypt To The Astrofloor", is another story altogether - Garnier enters a new realm of cerebral fantasy here, a world that sits more in line with films like Akira or Blade Runner rather than a basement dance floor. Magic.

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: The retroverts at Super Rhythm Trax return with yet more acid madness courtesy of Matt Whitehead; he of Rebel Intelligence and Model Citizens fame. It's a pretty straight up affair on the Bombing EP, where opening cut "Crosstalk" batters you with 909 snare attacks and the hypnotic funk of 303 acid squelch. "Seeing Red" is a much more tunnelling affair where that little silver Roland box again does most of the talking. On the flip, the title track is one of the real highlights; this sleazy and bombastic electro-funk number is reminiscent of Jimmy Edgar's finer moments until "Birdland" hammers the message home in style with yet more vintage flair and those early rave style steel drum presets in full effect.

Review: Following rock solid entries from Ben Sims, Markus Suckut and Alan Fitzpatrick, Mosaic's Red Series continues apace in 2017 with a firing three-tracker from German scene stalwart Andre Kronert. "A Track Called Jinx" is a slow and nervy slice of bleepy techno that says a lot with the barest of ingredients. "The Bottom Line" is a more feisty concern, raising the tempo and the intensity without losing that loopy quality that shoots straight into the dark heart of the night. "Pressure Dub" represents the more experimental side of Kronert's output, using sparse materials to create a minimalist megalith.