Juno Recommends Electro August 2020

Review: Having previously impressed with some deliciously wide-eyed, mind-mangling missives on Salt Mines, Planet Euphorique and Craigie Knowes, Reptant pops up on Kalahari Oyster Cult with some similarly inclining late night workouts. Check first title track "Phasic Reflex", a bustling body-pop across intergalactic electro territory that flits between string-laden dreaminess and weighty, acid-fired wonkiness, before admiring the tighter electro bounce of the Egyptian Lover-ish "MS Plenty". Over on side B it's all about "A Realist's Realistic Reality", where Reptant's foreboding, spacey and Dexter-ish original version comes accompanied by a wonderfully melodious, breakbeat-driven electronica re-make by Roza Terenzi.

Review: 2020 marks the tenth of collaboration for Red Axes, the Tel Aviv-based duo of Dori Sadovnik and Niv Arzi. Informed by post-punk, new wave, and a plethora of club sounds old and new, they have cleaved a singular path with their hefty discography. To celebrate their anniversary, they reunite with Dark Entries for an eponymous 11 track LP brimming with jagged guitars, spacy arpeggios, and hypnotic vocals. Although Sadovnik and Arzi have previously released LPs on I'm A Cliche and Garzen Records, Red Axes is their first effort written and conceived of as an album-length listening experience. This work flows effortlessly through a variety of stylistic detours, highlighting their ears as both keen listeners and skilled DJs. Opener 'They Game' is a grooving number that unifies the psychedelia of cosmic disco with the early 90s 'baggy' sound. The energy mounts further with "Shelera", a guitar-driven acidic banger, and "Sticks and Stones", a certifiable club hit fueled by sassy vocals courtesy of Adi Bronicki. Launching Side B is "Break the Limit", an EBM-laced number that wouldn't sound out of place on a Razormaid compilation. The following tracks wax moodier, with "Brotherhood (Of the Misunderstanding)" touching on darkwave territory. "Udibaby" and "Arpman" close out the album with their respectively dense and sparse takes on kosmische lysergia. Red Axes was mixed by Steve Dub and mastered by George Horn at Fantasy Studios. The album's artwork starkly depicts the project's name in blood-red smear. Also included is a postcard with full credits and album art. It's rare one finds an album that so casually challenges classification while still being firmly rooted on the dancefloor.

Review: Solar One Music's cofounder Robert Witschakowski and Dopplereffek's Gerald Donald return with another sauced out electro offering that takes you to another dimension. Their trademark sounds jump out of the speakers across four glorious sides of vinyl. The slipper baselines, the sci-fi motifs, the feeling of high speed space travel all define these cuts as you guide n bumpy beats or get lost in glistening synths. The duo first worked together a number of year ago but are still finding fresh new forms that make them as essential as ever.

Review: Late Night Approach are no strangers to Klakson, having made their debut on Steffi's long-running electro imprint three years ago. Here they return with their first outing of 2020 - a sweaty and forthright affair that maintains a strong dancefloor focus throughout. The A-side is all about "Overbridge", an unflinchingly weighty and mind-mangling affair in the style of fellow Klakson artist Dexter that's given a buzzing, all-action, alien techno-funk makeover by Fastograph. Over on side B, the Italian twosome goes a little deeper on the bubbly, spacey and energetic "The Naus Investigation", before reaching for psychedelic acid lines, ghostly Drexciya style chords and bustling beats on paranoid closing cut "Decanaus".

Review: The 7th release on BLKMARKET MUSIC comes from Samuel Jabba and is the first part of the Dystopian Future series.
Samuel Jabba is the label co-founder of a new vinyl only label called From the Void Above. Hailing from Bogota, Colombia, Samuel is a young DJ and talented producer who creates music spanning different genres of electronic music.

On his debut release for Blkmarket Music, the A side starts off with his electro track 'Acid Pleasure' on A1. The A2 track 'Space Mirage' takes you on an outer space voyage focusing on the more deeper side of techno.

The B side kicks off with his heady breakbeat track 'Robotics' on the B1. On B2, Samuel takes us on a dark journey with his minimal electro track entitled 'Random Demise.'

Review: Second time around for the third and final part of electro hero Gerard 'ERP' Hanson's "Evoked Potentials" series, which first hit stores way back in 2011. A-side "Repose" is (quite literally) classic ERP, with Hanson peppering Egyptian Lover style drums and funky synth-bass with chiming lead lines, starburst chords and deep space chords. It's tuneful and picturesque, but will also have you on your feet and throwing shapes in no time at all. Over on the flip, Plant43 (London electro veteran Emile Facey) turns in a very Drexciyan take on "Sensory Process", in the process wrapping Hanson's bittersweet strings and 33rd century electronic motifs around a suitably deep sea electro rhythm.

Review: The first missive on Dublin's freshly minted, vinyl-only Space Shepherd label comes courtesy of Maltese producer Sound Synthesis, an experienced but still little-known artist within the global electro community. As you'd expect, the quality threshold remains high from start to finish. Opener "Arpeggiate" cloaks a squelching bassline and crunchy electro beats in sumptuous chords and sci-fi melodies, while "Diving In" adds sharp and mind-altering acid lines to the same far-sighted electro template. Sound Synthesis explores darker, horror soundtrack-influenced acid-electro pastures on B-side opener "Arp Reaktor", before rounding off a fine EP via the poignant chords, widescreen strings and bustling beats of "Love Drones"

Review: Iranians-in-Europe Tonnovelle have yet to really break through, though their releases to date for When We Met, OSMAN and their own Tonnovelle imprint have all delivered perfectly pitched blends of electro and techno. They're at it again on "Equinox", an action-packed EP that we think contains some of their most potent work to date. Check first the weighty, alien-sounding creepiness of "Spooky Action At A Distance", which sounds like a cross between bleep-era LFO and Psychic Warriors Ov Gaia, before admiring the brilliant blend of squidgy synth bass, crunchy machine drums and arpeggiated synthesizer lines that is EP opener "Equinox". Elsewhere, "Open Secret" is a foreboding, horror-flecked fusion of electro, techno and raging acid, while "End of a Beginning" is a deliciously unorthodox chunk of skittish, off-kilter IDM.

Review: After spending much of the last few years exploring forthright, mind-altering techno sounds under his given name, Thomas P Heckmann has recently started offering up new material from his Electro Nation project - an exploration of the potential of the electro form that was most active in the 1990s. He begins his second new EP of the year (there have also been some reissues) with the sharp, squelch-along club electro buzz of "Dope Head", before beefing up the beats and reaching for minor key melodies on the intergalactic pop of "Sucker Beat". Elsewhere, Heckmann successfully wraps warehouse-ready house stabs around bustling acid bass and snappy electro drums on "Virus", while closing cut "Juicy Beast" is a Fairlight stab-sporting sprint through NYC freestyle/early '80s electro fusion.

Review: This is the first episode of a new project under the name of "Generative Operations" a project born from a new vision and workflow at the Boris Divider studio. Delivering a minimal concept staying true to Divider's roots surrounded by contemporary elements.

Review: Since parting company with DFA a decade ago, Gavin Russom's releases as Black Meteoric Star have become increasingly few and far between. "Disco", his third and arguably most expansive album to date under the alias, is therefore a more than welcome arrival. It's an impressive set, too, with Russom offering up a deliciously distorted, fuzzy and forthright mix of hazy, sound collage style interludes, throbbing new wave, tactile deep electro, razor sharp analogue jack-tracks, decidedly alien-sounding instrumentals, redlined EBM throb-jobs and clanking, lo-fi electro. It all sounds like it was recorded in a cement mixer using a particularly dusty collection of old synthesizers and drum machines, but that's no bad thing; in fact, it plays a big part in the album's undoubted lo-fi charm.

Review: Plant 43 is the quintessential electro stalwart, truly immersed in the sound and forever finding new realms of inspiration within the well-worn formula. Following the largely ambient The Countless Stones album on his newly minted label, the man known as Emile Facey now switches stance for some propulsive excursions that will keep his ardent followers more than satisfied. "Density Wave" splits the difference between ethereal pad moods and bruising machine funk, while "Dream Archive" keeps things sparse, deep and heavy. "21 Winters" piles on some of the most dramatic synth work we've heard from Facey in a hot minute, bringing serious levels of bombast to the electro arena and retaining that distinctive edge we expect from a Plant43 record.

Review: Long-serving duo Morphology are the proud owners of one of the most on-point discographies in electro and IDM, though it should be noted that their releases have become far more sporadic in recent years. Here the Finnish pair make their first appearance on Exalt Records and, as expected, they've delivered a terrific EP. The headline attraction is undoubtedly "Quallia", a fine fusion of fizzing, Middle Eastern-influenced melodies, chugging bass, yearning string sounds and off-kilter electro drums. This is remixed twice on the flip. First John Shima gives the track a dreamy, sunrise-ready spin in his effortlessly emotive trademark style, before B12 man Steve Rutter re-imagines it as a melancholic slab of deep electro beauty. A fine EP is completed by "Flatlands", a melodic electro number with a subtly stargazing finish.

Review: As Jonny Automatic Tasty Dillon prepares to release his sixth studio album A Farewell To Reason, Lunar Disko take us back to 2012 and one of Jonny's many discographical highlights "Fieldwork". An EP of four stages, the concept takes us across the day using Foley sounds. "Field In The Morning" is a bright, bouncy piece dusted with birdsong, "Field In The Afternoon" is a warmer, more energetic piece of acid house, all bleepy and relentless with its rolling drums, "Field In The Evening" brings a more sobering reflective note while "Field By Night" climaxes with an intense acid rave-up, like all the best days spent in fields should. Eight years old but still as timeless as ever, Tasty has always lived up to his name.

Review: Nite Fleit has had a barnstorming couple of years with drops on Planet Euphorique and Unknown To The Unknown, a team-up with Mall Grab on Looking For Trouble and now this rabid electro stormer on Helena Hauff's Return To Disorder label. Compared to some of the grungier, punk-inflected electro you'd expect to find on the label, this is bright, bold, big-room stuff with plenty of ravey motifs to move large masses of bodies. "Empty Nest Syndrome" is hyped up to 11 while "Naive" pivots around a hard as nails electro beat. Watch out for the mad arps on "Can't You See" and "Rebel Faction" too - they're gunning for your cerebellum and you should take heed.

Review: DJ K-1's (Keith Tucker - AUX88) re-release for modern electro heads on the Direct Beat Classics label (including unreleased track from 95).

Review: Chuck 'em in a black bag and give 'em a blotchy stamp. That's Delsin's modus operandi when it comes to re-releasing their favourite older material. And following their re-up of Son.Sine's beautiful Upekah 12", Claro Intelecto's first ever release makes its way on to the prominent Dutch label, a solid decade after it was first released on the now defunct Ai Records. For that 'must have' feeling "Tone" is the track you want to hear first; a gnarly acid work out of Drexciya-influenced techno that's been dragged through the mud and sounds all the better for it. Before that though there's a deeper and electro-leaning "Peace Of Mind (Electosoul)", and while "Signifier" mirrors it somewhat, it's deep house that's pure as the driven snow. And if you needed any more proof that Intelecto is the master of a phat-bassline, look no further than "Contact".

Review: The Leeds based artist Jordan Saxton aka Viers offers up this club oriented EP for Welsh imprint Typeless, after some highly acclaimed releases on Turbo, Steel City Dance Discs and LPH White. He gets serious on the 'Innocence' EP, which features four futurist club cuts. From the hyperaware, sci-fi electro-funk of fierce opener "Eva 00", to the hypnotic yet contorted IDM experiment of "Douglas Descend" and the ravey electro-tech banger "LSD" on the flip - this one is a one way ticket to dystopia (and no way back!)

Review: Also known as Stekke or STK Ensemble, the duo of STK had previously impressed with releases on Mentha and Olga LTD, and now they come to Sudd Wax with some of their most intriguing techno abstractions to date. "Senseless" has a steady groove at its heart, but the way this duo steer their machines has a free and expressive style that suggests heady improv sessions on outboard gear were behind this distinctive techno twist. If that sounds exciting already, hold tight for the daring, skittering patterns of "Jazzoriented", which shows how far drum machines can move from standardized beats when they're in the right hands. DJ SCSI takes the twitchy minimalisms of the original and injects it with a ghettotech energy that strangely suits the source material, completing a distinctive and daring 12".

Review: Hearse's third transmission is as strong as their previous two. It's a fine gathering of dark electro cuts from a varied but vital crew and starts up with Miami's Exzakt & BFX collaborating on the rough around the edges "Raw." Hamburg's Kluentah then goes hard with "Jungle Juice," which is frosted and tense, and then acid madness comes to the fore on Luke Eargoggle's "Olympia." Syncoatped kicks are pile don top of each other and freaky vocal apparitions appear on Amboss's closer "I Want To Live In My Car" making this a beguiling listen indeed.

Review: The Ourtime Music crew have been quietly setting out their stall as purveyors of hi-tech funk since 2002. The releases may be sporadic, but each one carries a level of quality that makes it feel like an occasion. This is the second outing for Stark on the label, and they lead in with the bubbling synth flourishes of "Balance" which channels the funkiest, sweetest tropes of true Detroit techno. "Spatial Density Waves" has a more dystopian finish, but there's still funk rubbed into the gums of this creeping electro cut. "Internal Voyage" is a blissful beatless bleep-out, and "Salfrod Skyline" completes the set with some decidedly funky electro techno.

Review: Bean grinding business from Sydney newcomer Unpin on brand new label from the Velodrome collective. Six tracks deep, each cut as springy and tightly coiled as the last, the well-oiled funk of "At Traction" kicks us off before the acidic "Bang Tool" takes us into bumping ghetto territory, "Calling You" is the essence of rave over razor-sharp two-step and "Itchy & Scratchy" goes straight for your mind and mushes it up good and proper. Elsewhere "Take 2" is a wonderfully wonky slab of bluesy UKG and "Kalimbo" closes the show on a dreamy jungle tip. What a crucial debut.

Review: The 8th release on BLKMARKET MUSIC is the second part of Dystopian Future series on the label. Samuel Jabba, one of Bogota's finest locals, takes a more four on the floor approach with Dystopian Future Part II. We will let the music do the talking. We are thrilled to have this follow up EP as our next release.

Review: Under the Dardust alias, composer/pianist/producer Dario Faini has spent the last few years offering up albums and singles that combine his Nils Frahm-esque minimalist piano pieces with the kind of electronic sounds and beats more usually found in both experimental electronica and dance music. He's at it again on new album "S.A.D Storm + Drugs", an undeniably grand and ambitious affair with genuine crossover potential. This time round, Faini has added neo-classical orchestration to his impactful piano motifs, while a number of the tracks move further away from ambient and IDM towards big, bold, festival-friends dance beats, riffs and melodies. It's a formula that undoubtedly works and provides enjoyable listening, though it's often the breath-taking brilliance of the more ambient-leaning, piano-heavy pieces that hits home hardest.