Juno Recommends Techno: October 2022

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: Two Shell are well known for following in the mega-produced techno tradition of Overmono or Objekt. But as we all know, they set themselves well apart for their inclusion of well known R&B and pop vocal samples, easily blowing their fellow tech-heads out the water with an extra pinch of accessibility. 'Home' is a heater that has bubbled about for a while now on IOM and Reddit, curiously sampling CHINAH's 'Away From Me' and its B-side 'No Reply' sampling Dani Sylvia's 'Zachariah' - two songs which we'd wager don't need official sample clearance. Filtrating in and out of weighty downtempo-techno stomps, Two Shell capture modern hypertechno at its finest.

Review: Remastered rarities by the late Susumu Yokota under his 246 and Prism monikers. Go Up was originally a defective release which has since been corrected and remastered and Vol 3 - 02 was not released. It also features a megamix of Ambient Love and Squeeze Up (which feature on Cosmic Soup 005) by Gene On Earth and a remix of Flare's Grip - Prism Remix by Matthew Herbert titled "Herbert's Make It Right Dub". Three legends on this EP. Superbly remastered and cut by Mike Grinser at Manmade in Berlin. Artwork by John Williams.

Review: This is the third full-length album by veteran Swedish producer Ola Obergman who has been producing since the turn of the millennium on respected imprints such as Skam, Borft and Futhur Electronix. A heavy collection of 808-based fusion in classic Pariter style, Mirror Counterpart is a cohesive effort featuring some truly impressive productions; from the early proto-house sound of the title track, to the Detroit influenced hi-tech soul cuts on the second disc - 'Indeterminacy' and 'Stellar Triangulation' respectively - going into 4/4 robot funk on the second disc with 'Alice Matter' and 'Uncertiny Principle' being the highlights. Superb.

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: Former Factory Floor flummoxer and drummer Gabe Gurnsey grabs us by the groin on this gargantuan groveller of an LP, 'Diablo', his new album. Blending influences from Detroit techno, minimal post-punk and krautrock, it's an impressive follow-up to Physical, his debut solo album for Erol Alkan's Phantasy Sound. It hotly heats our hearing with high-octane hygge, and develops nicely out of his former one-off EPs and singles.

Review: Yan Cook steps away from his Cooked label with another hefty offering of fulsome techno, this time on his other regular label, Delsin. As always with this man, this is powerful peak time techno with great functionality but also plenty of form. Tolling kicks and wall-rattling chords come together in various different ways as he gets dancing on the bumpy 'Buddy' before 'Lemur' brings more serene and dubby vibes. 'Mirror Maze' is a mind-altering affair and 'Gambler' then layer sup fat synth undulations with smooth drums and vast wet clasp. Lovely stuff.

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: Canadian artist Maara takes us on a hedonistic club trip with this new outing. It carries on his usual way with trance-inducing dance sounds that mesmerise and titillate in equal measure. 'Can't Slo Down' comes on fats with thick bass and synths intertwining to mind-melting effect while eerie pads detail the space up top. The hyper-speed 'Highrollerz' is like riding on a laser through space, until that is some jungle breaks arrive to switch things up. 'Princess Express' is cyborg techno funk that is fast but full of depth and warmth and 'Rude, Crude & Out Of Control' cuts loose on a flurry of drums and warped synth lines.

Review: We're not sure who Spray is or are - many artists have used the alias over the years - and Craigie Knowes aren't saying, though they assure us that Witches Drinner, the mysterious producer(s) first EP for the label, is 100% guaranteed to keep clubs rockin'. We agree with that assessment, and you will, too, once you've listened to 'Puk Codes', a retro-futurist techno treat full of non-stop percussion, addictive acid motifs, sampled vocal yelps, warped bass and dreamy chords. The warped bass returns on bona fide stomper 'Witches Drinner', while 'Posture (Correction Mix)' is a driving, bleeping chunk of 90s techno revivalism that should leave dancefloors crying out for more. Closing cut 'Ratenplan', meanwhile, is a more psychedelic, mind-altering slab of peak-time techno weight.

Review: Victor Ruiz returns with his signature brand of trancelike progressive house. 'Beirut' is a love letter to the picturesque capital of Lebanon, and manifests as a psychic kaleidoscopic dirge, its production maximalized to convey a sense of slow-burning urgency. Harder techno sounds are checked off on 'Confession', which contains an outstretched prayer recording, and the subsequent 'Jurema' and 'Omen', the latter of which opens out caverns of atmos for your pleasure.

Review: Carl Hardy's Animals On Psychedelics label doesn't rush things. It has taken several years to get to release number seven, but you won't find us comparing. It is a prime example of quality over quantity and here again with have another timeless, mind-melting release designed for whacked out dance floors at 5am. Vladimir Gnatenko is back once again after previous impressive outings and both his cuts are molten affairs with liquid synths and neon colours over supple drums. He also collaborates twice with Kai Noob on a pair of similarly tripped out techno wormholes.

Review: Levon Vincent's particular brand of techno is so percussive, club-ready and mind-altering that very few realise how sonically experimental it is. In a bid to make us more aware of this, the information sent to shops and press about 'Niresa', his latest single, features the popular producer discussing his love of creating a 'unique tonal dialog'. He also frames the two-track missive as 'music for astral planing' [sic]. The untitled A-side is certainly intergalactic, with sparkling, deep space melodies weaving in and out of a crunchy, drum machine-driven techno rhythm. Over on the flip, he goes further, offering a more pared-back beat, insatiably exotic and hallucinatory electronic motifs, bubbly synth stabs and waves of psychedelic synth sounds. It's utterly brilliant and beguiling, but we'd expect little less from the NYC-based producer.

Review: Ohm Records once again come through with the heat, doing the utmost justice to our favourite letter of the Greek alphabet with four slapping deep dubby, subby, wubby tech house cuts. We highly recommend Anton Kubikov's 'Azimut' and Module One's 'Inside The Chamber', both of which chuck echoic on beds of great scaping pads, like hallucinatory angels skirting across heat-hazed horizons.

Review: We're Going Deep is run by Placid aka Paul Wise and it has roots that go back many, many years. The music it puts out remains at the very cutting edge though as this new one proves. It comes from D5, UK underground favourites, and here they offer up a trio of super stylish cuts of deep and sleek techno. 'RedAnalysis' is a bumping one with nice prickly percussion and trippy melodies, then 'BlackAnalysis' gets more soulful and smears Detroit synths over tightly bobbling kick drums. 'Noanalysis' closes out somewhere between the two with warm atmosphere and cool groove to spare.

Review: Legendary UK dub techno pioneers Glyn 'Bigga' Bush and Richard Whittingham aka Rockers Hi-Fi, originally formed in 1992 in Birmingham. Rockers Hi-Fi gained a cult following in the early years of dub-techno and soundsystem culture with their psychedelic, bass-heavy blend of dub, house, techno, beats and drum & bass. We're pleased to present a selection of tracks from their formative years, mainly encompassing the club ready, dancefloor centred part of their discography. This reissue LP includes a mixture of sought after bangers, as well as some lesser known tracks which people may not have heard.

Review: Into The Deep Records is a Paris-based, vinyl-only label run by Arthur Lastmann and Step Daw. It presents a reissue of Nu Ambient Grooves by Chris Zippel aka Genuine, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of its release. The productions were originally released on Bavarian imprint Ninetysix Sounds back in 1997 and is full of quality downtempo, IDM and acid sounds. Opening up with the psychedelic sunrise breaks of 'Clearing The Past', it soon leads into the sunset on the chilled beats of 'Wandering Around, Lost'. Over on the flip it's all about the emotive electro futurism of 'Playground'.

Review: Optic Nerve's - or Keith Tucker's if you prefer - Fragments EP is the last of the year from the Puzzlebox label and is a lush and futuristic techno offering that lands on limited white vinyl. 'Linear Motion' is powered by a sleek and propulsive deep techno bassline with solid stabs and majestic arp sequences. 'Echoes' is just as dreamy in its melody but then becomes a hefty techno stomper and 'Metallics' brings rich bell sounds, peak time drums and real class to any DJ set. 'Sequence in Time' is the closer with its hyper speed, icy melodies and twisted synths all making for a scintillating sound.

Review: We Stay Together is Andy Stott's classic release from 2011 which receives a much needed repress on Modern Love this week. Hailed by many as one of the Mancunian producer's finest works, it features such sludgy and slo-mo ventures as 'Posers' or cavernous dub techno reductions as heard on 'Bad Wires', through to the ominous swells of 'We Stay Together (Part One)' and haunting yet evocative numbers like 'Cherry Eye' which really defined his idiosyncratic style of "knackered house". Essential.

Review: The Netherlands' EPMmusic has been involved in the electronic music scene since 2001 and its latest release sees some of the scene's legends represent in true spirit. Berlin veteran Rene Pawlowitz aka Shed reworks Downwards chief Regis' cut 'Beyond The Reach Of Time' which will have you reaching for the lasers, while over on the flip you've got the inimitable Inigo Kennedy reinterpreting Bryan Chapman's 'Io' in typically austere fashion, followed by Works Of Intent's playful and kinetic perspective of Paul Mac's 'Nothing Remains'.

Review: Don't be fooled by the title Hard Pop, Kaos aren't giving the game away and ceding to a specific mode of hard dance on this VA release. It opens up with Not Yet's 'Birmingblast', which sounds exactly how you would expect a nosebleed techno track to sound if it's making a nod to Brum. Sue Lewig does tease towards the pop impetus with some snatched vocals in the equally driving 'Silver' and Keepsakes' 'The Seen Shall Swim Upstream' gets locked into a powerful, albeit slightly unsettling groove. 'You Should Go Out Of My Space' rounds the EP off in a cheeky manner with the deadpan vocal from Not A Headliner.

Review: The second release on Istanbul's Benthic (a sub label of Oath) is by Swedish hypnotic techno engineer Acronym, who presents four typically mental and atmospheric cuts, while perhaps acting as voice of a generation, on the cheekily titled Millennial Lowlife. He ventures deep into the void on the cavernous and glacial title track, before releasing you into freefall on the sublime ambient journey 'Albanova' on side A. Turn the disc over and you're treated to one more beatless excursion in the form of the glassy-eyed and bittersweet 'Flashing LED' that would make even John Beltran sit up and notice.

Review: TAPE Records co-founder Deniro (real name Reynier Hooft van Huijsduijnen) has a fine track record when it comes to producing trippy, off-kilter techno. He's at it again on his first TOKEN outing, which lands almost 10 years since he made his debut. He begins by layering unsettling, minor key melodies and wayward electronics over a locked-in, deeper-than-average techno groove on 'Saola', before delivering bass-heavy, kick-drum heavy beats, foreboding bass and clandestine lead lines on 'Vaquita'. B-side opener 'Gharial' sees him reach for drum machine handclap fills and looped-mind-altering synth sounds, while 'Bajii' makes great use of undulating, ambient techno style melodic motifs, high levels of reverb and tactile techno beats.

Review: Needs have done a fine line in charitable releases in the last few years and here comes another one, this time in the form of a various artists release. Maara's 'Lose Control' is a bumpy techno workout with nice pinging kick drums, Priori then slows it down to a more predatory crawl on 'This Multiple' and Rudolf C allows the aliens in his machines to take over on the deep cyborg techno of 'Bugs Life.' HearThug's cosmic workout 'KillAcidKill' brings a tense vibe to the floor.

Review: Smokey and mysterious Dutch dance from Immaterial.Archives, who here nail a sound that falls neatly in between something made by Burial and I.O Mulen. A compilation EP for the more nocturnal and detail-hungry listener, it includes Quelza's 'La Panthere Bleue', which contains guttural backalley groans and lighter-flicks; Eric Fletcher's control-room trancer 'Spiral 176'; 'Forma No Pura' by Oscar Mulero, with pressurized pink noise aplenty; and Divide's 'Nemesi', which judders and stop-starts like the cross-planetary calls of an alien race.