Juno Recommends Techno: September 2022

Review: A welcome return from Deepchord, who shows the newset of dub techno players how, exactly, it is done. After 5 years, he returns to Soma Records with 'Functional Extraits 1' here, charting shuffly and subtle trips through echoic hallways ('Mapping') and rain-pattered biomech rainforests ('Shale'), and scanning the post-Earth wasteland for any semblance of a real reggae chord. With the final track almost entirely consisting of texture and bass, we can happily declare this to be next-level dub techno.

Review: Peter Kersten, better known as Lawrence, is the veteran deep house producer and gallerist who many of you may know as chief of Hamburg's Dial Records and who made external outings previously on Japan's Mule Musiq where he released several lauded long-players. His latest one comes courtesy of Berlin's Sushitech entitled Earthshine, a 3XLP featuring 12 tracks written and produced by Kersten over the last five years. All in all it's a diverse selection put together by one of the scene's most highly regarded artists.

Review: Considering his prominent presence in the modern techno scene, it's sometimes surprising just how few solo releases Pariah has put out since breaking through more than 10 years ago. A lot of his time is taken up with his Karenn collaboration with Blawan though, and together they've shaped out the sound of their Voam label with a string of EPs and the 2019 album Grapefruit Regret. Now it's time for Pariah to step out on his own, and he's presenting a sound which aligns with the playful twists on techno Karenn are known for, but there is a different energy at work here, too. Slightly more measured than the madcap stylings of his collabs, on Caterpillar Pariah takes us into a precision tooled techno dungeon without losing that spark that makes so much of his prior work so hugely popular.

Review: Veteran British producer Steve O'Sullivan originally premiered the track 'Chant Down' on the long-player Steady Pulse earlier this year for Alistair Kelly's Lempuyang imprint which now gets treated to some fine remixes. O'Sullivan gets stuck in for the first rerub on the A-side, a slinky and hypnotic Recycled dub, while over on the flip he dons the Bluetrain alias again for the icy and cavernous version Excursion providing the perfect backdrop for its mesmerizing vocal. Finally, BLKRTZ head Deadbeat takes the track into even murkier and ominous territory on his impressive perspective.

Review: Sam Paganini is a long time techno legend and Drumcode is about as big as techno label get right now. Togtjer then make for a mighty force on this new Raev 12" especially as it comes with a remix from the boss man Adam Beyer in collaboration with Layton Giordani. Their take on the title track is a hefty one with industrial overtones, saw tooth synths and squealing synth sounds that makes for an intense atmosphere. The original from big man Sam is a more stripped back and seductive deep techno roller with infectious drum loops.

Review: Since debuting the alias on Klasse Wrecks back in 2016, Tim Schumacher has used the DJ Normal 4 project as a vehicle for his kaleidoscopic, psychedelic musical fantasies, drawing on a pool of influences including ambient techno, early psy-trance, electro and house-tempi breakbeat hardcore. It's a vividly hallucinatory but club-ready sound that rarely fails to hit the spot, as this new outing proves. Mind-mangling TB-303 acid lines are the order of the day on ambient techno-goes-breaks opener 'Call of the Valley' and the Brown Album-era Orbital flex of 'Enjoi', while 'Selva' is a trance-inducing stomper full of rising and falling lead lines and trippy electronics. To round things off, Schumacher dips the tempo and doffs a cap to the ultra-trippy end of the new beat spectrum (the excellent 'Energee').

Review: Khidi kick stars a new Anniversary Series with a first volume that showcases the label's unique take on techno. It is Blueprint legend James Ruskin that opens up with his rusted loops and fizzing synths on 'Kite.' Yanamaste's 'Magma' is then an eerie and empty dub that sounds like being lost in an old warehouse on your own. Tensal brings the rave with his hammering drum power and flashing synths on 'Psychic Radio' while Phase Fatale & Reka close things down with the jack-hammer beats of 'No Esperes Mas.'

Review: This is the kind of techno that likes to perforate and puncture your eardrums, allowing its inter-kick crud to grip your temples and slosh around maddeningly. It's an impressive feat from Nheoma to be able to secure this sound so consistently; this all-Italian collab from Exium and the duo Dynamic Forces is nonetheless melodic, recalling the playful industriality of old-school Bandulu or Birmingham stuff. Brutal and electrifying.

Review: The Stars sound is all about cosmic techno visions and that is proven here from the first moment of 'Of All The Worlds.' It's got its head up above the stars with cracking perc and beats all overlaid with supple synths. 'The Embrace' is more punchy but just as sonorous and a Nuron remix goes deep. The extra background details of this are worth noting too for real purists - the vinyl version comes with superb sleeve and label artwork by Abdul Haqq and the tunes were mastered by the one and only Matt Colton at Metropolis, then cut to 180g heavyweight vinyl.

Review: We might be old-fashioned (or a sucker for a marketing technique) but for us, you just can't beat a bit of untitled and anonymous techno. And that's what we have here - neither label, tracks or artists have a name but the music bangs. First up is a bouncy, playful rhythm designed to work your body, then comes another bubbly rhythmic workout with spinning hi hats and off grid hits. On the flip is a steely jungle-tinged banger with layers of drums and percussion and last of all is a more stripped-back roller for the dead of night.

Review: James Ruskin continues to helm up the trend for what we like to call 'maddening techno'. These four bits for Anaoh are unique RSVPs to their new series 'Anaoh Invites'; 'Punching Up' marks a slippery moment of techno surface tension, while Fixon's 'Life Puzzle' seems to figets and machinates into all eternity, like an alien piston chancing on energetic equilibrium.

Review: UK techno pioneer Steve Pickton (Stasis) comes to De:tuned! Records after having trawled his old DAT tapes and salvaged three odd tunes from the attic-bound pile. 'Of All The Worlds' and 'The Embrace' are playful analog jams in mono, emblematic of the kind of early rediscoveries that a time-honoured producers such as Stasis might make. A new remix by Nuron, in stereo, of 'The Embrace' nicely breaks up this retroization of Stasis' catalogue.

Review: Welsh label Haws keeps on serving up the goods, this time with a 17th fresh techno EP. It is Naarm-based DJ and producer Solar Suite who steps up this time with a varied EP that mixes up club-ready bangers with slow-motion workouts. 'Clear Skies' opens up with twinkling keys and thumping drums, while 'Tasman Transmission' is a cosmic house cut with electronic funk to spare. 'Subtropique' is dubby, bubbly, heady and 'Still Life' then picks up the pace with another mix of balmy solar pads and electronic house drums. 'Contact' rounds out with a more blissed out and reflective groove.

Review: The Affin label has always done a fine line in deep techno. That is the case again here with the label's 55th outing. It comes from Toki Fuko and opens with the spine tingling depths, ambient pads and dub chords of 'Ajna.' Theer is then a blissed out and roomy roller in the form of 'Narration 4' and mystic, misty pads and fathom deep bass on 'Black Hole' that sinks you way below the surface. Last of all is 'Narration 2' which has a slippery late night rhythm and frosted pads up top.

Review: Rene Wise takes the reins of legendary techno label Blueprint's 65th EP and it is a hard edge and late night menace form start to finish. Opener 'Shaman Whistle' has an eerie and haunting lead synth that has you peering deep into the arrangement and then 'Don't Care' offers a more funked up tech framework with punchy double kicks and scintillating glassy sound effects. There is plenty of hammer in the kicks of 'Frown Like Brown' as well as some tripped out synth motifs and closer 'Knock Motion' then strips things back to a chunky bit of muscular techno brilliance.

Review: Echocord is one of the strongest forces in the dub techno scene, and in 20 years they've remained true to their creative vision. As with all the best of the genre, there's a timeless quality to this 20th anniversary release, which brings in some of the label's most trusted hands to fashion a compilation which speaks to the evergreen quality of the dub techno scene. There are some fresher turns from Babe Roots & Another Channel, while Mathias Kaden dons his Mathimidori alias, but diehard label fans will be looking to the likes of Deadbeat, Mikkel Metal and Quantec for that sublime, immersive Echocord experience.

Review: Joachim Wilhelm and Ulrich Wilhelm recorded as a variety of aliases in the early 90s, from Deep Thought and Intact through to Time Modem. Their sound was typical of the Central European vibe, with a pronounced Belgian new beat slant to the music in those dark but playful synth lines and arch film samples. Originally released on BOY in 1990, The Time Of The Gathering is everything you want from a release in this era, teasing a kind of proto trance vibe without any of the fluff, just trippy synth lines and an unrelenting, throbbing pulse. It's all about the Highlander-sampling title track, but every tune on this much-needed reissue is gold, sounding beautifully buffed up for 21st Century mixing.