Juno Recommends Leftfield: November 2022

Review: "The Box" is a collection of the earliest and perhaps most cherished recordings by UK producer Dennis Huddleston, better known as 36. Written between 2005 and 2012, it compiles the albums Hypersona (2009), Hollow (2010) and Lithea (2012) into a 6LP boxset, alongside a bonus LP of exclusive and unreleased tracks titled Orphans. Originally written as a triptych, The Box showcases an incredibly eclectic, deeply emotional range of tracks, bridged together by that optimistic melancholy, which has since become the hallmark of the 36 sound.

Review: The Future Sound Of London are well-known for their intense sectioning-off of various albums into sagas. Conceived as far back as the late 1990s, the 'Environments' album series has been routinely topped up on a slow but steady basis, and has thus far manifested as a grand total of seven psychedelectronic odysseys. 'Environments Seven', which came out earlier in 2022, is testament to the duo's madcap penchant for sagaizing; indeed, this seventh instalment in the LP is split into a trilogy, and 'Environments 7.02' is the second in said trilogy.

Review: Anyone who's cast even the most casual eye over their ever expanding catalogue will have realised that one thing Past Inside The Present do best is bring artists together for unexpected and inspired collaborations. Departing in Descent is the first collaboration between James Bernard and Bvdub but their creative conversation effectively started as far back as 1994 when the latter bought Bernard's Atmospherics album in 1994 when it was "mistakenly stocked" in his local house music store. He says it was and remains his favourite ambient album, so when the pair found themselves crossing paths for one night in LA years later, a collaboration was the only logical conclusion. The results are more organic and friendly on the ear than some ambient offerings, with real instrumentation meshed with walls of woozy synths and delays, but no less fantastical and ambitious for it.

Review: Twinkle3 are a trio made up of accomplished flautist Clive Bell and electronic experimenters David Ross and Richard Scott. Their latest project welcomes the legendary David Sylvian into the mix alongside Kazuko Hohki, who was in 80s synth pop oddity Frank Chickens amongst other projects. Their collective venture for Cortizona treads predictably unpredictable territory, where minimalism, sound design and free improvisation merge into a meditative, distinctive whole. The woodwind and electronics intertwine in sublime fashion, resulting in a compelling trip for anyone who appreciates delicacy and risk in their leftfield electronica.

Review: Though he was already in our top 10, 'Foreverandevernomore' might just be the album that makes Brian Eno one of electronic music's top 5 greats. Reflecting on the conundrum that is Earth's increasingly precarious climate, it for the first time ever features Eno singing on nearly every one of the featuring 10 tracks. Briefly, we need to fall in love again, but this time with Nature, with Civilization and with our hopes for the future, opines Eno. The sonic manifestation of this is a blue, metallic drone album that pits influences as far back as Greek mythology against those as modern as aviation, sonically reconciling old and new.

Review:  As part of Trunk Records' Soundtracks reissues series, comes the vinyl debut of James Bernard's OST for 'The Devil Rides Out', a rather corny yet no less enjoyable gothic horror classic film from the late 60s. Directed by Terence Fisher, the film centres on the macabre antics of an underground group of Satanists. Fittingly, the soundtrack is immediate, full of tribal drumming and stern, expressionistic string zaps; its pieces have titles like 'Orgy Of Evil' and 'Hidden Sacrifice'. You were warned.

Review: The Disintegration Loops man William Basinski has linked up with acclaimed experimental composer Janek Schaefer for this new collaborative record on Temporary Residence Limited. What they cook up is a suite of very unassuming songs that are all dedicated to the late and great avant-garde composer Harold Budd. The record was eight years in the making and is as timeless as ambient gets with 42 minutes of gently undulating sonic terrain gently and quietly detailed with subtle skill and placid melodies. It is as beautiful as it is absorbing once you really give yourself over to the sounds.

Review: For fans of downtempo electronica and deep techno, the renewed activity from enigmatic Scottish producer Pub has been a welcome treat in recent years. Seminal releases have been reissued, including 2000's Summer 12", and now we appear to have a logical follow-up in the form of Autumn. It's not clear whether this is an archival dig or something freshly brewed, but it shimmers and dances with the same vitality that has always marked out Pub's music as something truly special. There's a joyous lilt to the melodic composition here, but not without that melancholic undercurrent which has always defined the emotional impact of Pub's considered, elegant take on home-listening electronics.

Review: Since its initial release back in 2008, Alva Noto and Ryuichi Sakamoto's fourth collaborative album, UTP, has become one of the pair's most celebrated full-length excursions. There's a good reason for that, too. Recorded with the Ensemble Modern string section, it presents an impeccable, atmospheric and otherworldly blend of electronic ambience, high-minded abstract experimentalism, and modern classical that benefits greatly from the presence of variations on multiple tracks - a creative decision that makes it sound like a cyclical, subtly evolving trip through minimalistic, Reichian movements. Astonishingly, this is the first time the album has ever been available on vinyl, so we'd expect copies to fly out. Pre-order now to avoid disappointment.

Review: Four Tet's iconic label, Text Records, rarely releases much beyond the artist's own, less album-based output and collaborations with friends. So it's a revelation that a new artist is coming to release on the imprint too - Hagop Tchaparian's 'Bolts' is a uniquely trans-Armenian take on folktronic dance, blending the found sound house tropes Mr. Tet is all too used to with field recordings from the Mediterranean. An auditory homage to skateboarding, coastal tat shops, and post-punk through the lens of emotive dance music.

Review: If there's one thing you can count on Jean Michel Jarre for, it's testing the limits of technology and seeing where he can take things further. The Oxygene synth wizard is back at it with a revolutionary new record which seeks to offer his fans a sonic experience like they've never had before. Oxymore has been recorded as a multi-channel, 3D binaural album, and while that might sound a bit vague for the uninitiated, the idea is that it gives the producers and engineers greater control over placing sounds within a three-dimensional, or even 360 degree space. Anyone listening on headphones will be able to experience this new revelation in sound design and hear it for themselves.

Review: After the massive impact of Vex'd in the breakthrough years of dubstep, it was big news when Jamie Teasdale chose to swerve in his own direction and emerge as Kuedo. Released in 2011, Severant was a bold statement of intent which didn't wholly shirk what had come before, but placed emphasis on the kind of romantic synthesis you'd readily associate with Vangelis and saw trap and other influences sneaking into the mix. In hindsight, Severant is typical of the times we live in, drawing on a glut of influences and presenting its own idiosyncratic vision, but above all that the emotion and intent of Teasdale's ideas make it an enduring, captivating listen.

Review: Back in 2004, during their tour promoting their 'Tour De France Soundtracks' album, Kraftwerk's performance at Cirkus in Stockholm was recorded for broadcast on Swedish radio. This two-disc set presents that recording in full. It's more atmospheric than some of their 'official' live albums (the audience sounds more involved) and includes some killer versions of hits and album tracks. The spruced-up, fully digitised re-make of 'The Model' is a blast, 'Radioactivity' dually creepy and utterly joyous, and the 'Computer World' medley - which also includes 'Home Computer' and 'It's More Fun To Compute' - utterly brilliant. The riotous, ten-minute show-closing take on 'Musique Non-Stop' is also superb.

Review: The second studio album from Yello was added to the pantheons of weirdo electronic pop some time ago. In fact, some 31 years ago to be exact. While not by any stretch the outfit's most famous effort, that belongs to fourth album, Stella, and in particular the 1980s movie anthem 'Oh Yeah', in many ways that track doesn't encapsulate the spirit of the band anything like the tunes here.

At times low slung ('Ballet Mecanique') and occupying a space somewhere between roots and fairground, in other moments tragically epic and approaching New Romanticism ('Quad El Habib'), while the music itself is wildly varied and unarguably original, the overall magic is still found in how much fun it sounds like they were having, and how much fun we have hearing it.

Review: Sofie Birch is Denmark's answer to enviro-ambient music, and here comes 'Holotropica', her latest foraging foray into the fantastical. - "I imagine Holotropica as a place - where nothing happens and everything is", goes Birch's introduction to the album. Far from conveying a soundscape in which nothing happens, however, the songs bookended by 'Observatory' and 'The Sun XiX' convey a sort of mega organic electronic world in which lots of things do happen, albeit very slowly. A serene, clean and temperate album; a blissful sanctuary for the hurt.

Review: Angela was the studio project of husband/wife duo Angela and Ingo Werner formed in 1981 in Russelsheim, Germany. Ingo had classical training in bassoon and piano at the Akademie fur Tonkunst in Darmstadt from 1966-70. He joined Krautrock band My Solid Ground in 1971 before going on to form his own project Baba Yaga in 1974. In the late 70s he formed the ensemble AIR with Armin Stowe and Reinhard Karwatky. The project debuted with a a concert at ARS Electronica Competition in Linz, Austria 1980, which they won. Klaus Schulze was on the jury with Wendy Carlos and Robert Moog - but more importantly, Angela was in the audience. Two days later, Ingo told the band he needed a singer, so they asked Angela, and recorded two albums for RCA between 1981-82 before being dropped. Ingo wanted to work on a new project that involved dancers and live video. They recruited American performance artist Jyl Porch, who was living in Munich, to assist with choreography with her friend Kirsten McKenley. Jyl ended up recording her own album first, which gained interest from Klaus Schulze, who helped them secure a deal with EMI in 1983. Later that year, the trio recorded 4 songs that would be released on Angela 'Fantasy' single on 7" and 12" formats in 1984.
The music on 'Fantasy' was completely created with computer software of Ingo's own design. The concept of a polyrhythmic, polyphonic, and polydynamic sequencer was realized by Ingo after a visit to Wolfgang Palm in Hamburg. He paired his sequencer with Palm's legendary PPG Wave Computer System, allowing for more dynamic and nuanced programming. Angela programmed the music, sang, and wrote the lyrics to "Painted Love", while Ingo arranged and played all electronics and keyboards. Jyl wrote the lyrics for "Fantasy" and the slow and sleazy, electronic disco B-side "I Gotta Little Love", where she also sings background vocals and the "hot little flame" rap. The original B-side to the 7" version was a cover of the 1967 Hal Hackady and Lee Pockriss song "Kites", made famous by Simon Dupree and the Big Sound. All songs have been remastered by George Horn at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley. The EP features the original 1984 cover artwork with a striking photo of Angela styled by Jyl in severe Neue Deutsche Welle fashion, and includes an insert with lyrics and and photos designed by Maycec..