Juno Recommends Experimental: May 2022

Review: Made in 1984 but unfairly left to fester, unreleased, by way of the sheer amorality of the '80s music market, we sure hope this release of Yasuaki Shimizu's 'Kiren' finally gives this body of work the recognition it deserves. Following up his albums 'Kakashi' and 'Utakata No Hibi', this is the composer's one-off foray into experimental dance music, further showing off his work with fellow jazzers the Saxophonettes. From the cold, juddering ambience of 'Momo No Hana' to the post-punky sample dance of 'Peruvian Punk', this one's a rare and odd tidbit for the eclectic digger.

Review: Prepare yourself for a crazy but wonderful deep dive into the legendary world of cult French outfit Vox Populi!, focusing primarily on their 'big years' of 1986-1990, inverted commas used to hopefully articulate that these guys are yet another example of why music consistently fails to give outsider artists the widespread recognition they deserve. Nevertheless, those who know VP know just how incredible their music is.

In the first three tracks alone the breadth of their output becomes clear. Opener 'Caballo Blanco' could be And You Will Know Us By The Trail of the Dead meeting Primal Scream at a Goan festival in the late-1960s. 'Mush Dub Gnarls & Vrooms' takes us into downtempo electronica with an undercurrent of bite, nodding to Andrew Weatherall's Sabres of Paradise project. Meanwhile, 'Holistikoholic' almost seems to reprogram the mind to the court of some king or other, with its jaunty flutes and wooden percussion.

Review: Creating a strong identity around his music with each subsequent release, Brainwaltzera builds on killer releases for Furthur Electronix and Analogical Force to release an anticipated new album of electronica goodness on regular stomping ground Film. This double album features everything we love about the anonymous artist's sound - delicately sculpted beats that can bite when it counts, mind-tickling synth lines that balance melody and sound design without overdoing either, and labyrinthe compositions which take you far and wide like any good home-listening electronics should. Whoever they are, they're fast becoming one of the leading lights in modern braindance, which seems to be precisely the point given their name.

Review: Nine tracks of 'life-affirming downer music' by Swedish duo Charlott Malmenholt and Joakim Karlsson aka Treasury Of Puppies. Mitt Stora Nu is the Gothenburg-based duo's second album, following last year's titled Lollos Dagbok and their eponymous debut back in 2020. A collection of lo-fi and quirky indie-pop ditties, all said to have been influenced by Edgar Allan Poe as much as Britney Spears. Mastered by Giuseppe Ielasi and pressed in an edition of 1000 copies. Comes with insert.

Review: Musick to Play in the Dark Vol. 2 was the 2000 studio album from Coil and, as Part 1, it was described by the band as "moon musick." This contrasts to earlier work which was solar rather than lunar inspired, but either way, it was another classic from Peter 'Sleazy' Christopherson and John Balance. Their partnership remains one of electronic music's most magically alchemic and after a quiet start, this album slowly but surely takes its hold on listeners. 'Ether' and 'Paranoid Inlay' are confessional tone in tone while the final two 'Where Are You?' and 'Batwings (A Limnal Hymn)' are brilliantly haunting. Fact fans might know that the latter was actually played at John Balance's funeral service.

Review: Ricardo Villalobos and Samuel Rohrer have never failed to cook up real magic in the studio over the years. They have been working together again closely and the fruits of their labours form this new MICROGESTURES album. It is made up of five tracks that are all mind blowing detailed when you listen in close. Each one is constructed from infinitesimally small details that all coalesce into stringing minimal techno rhythms of the sort that will boggle brains at 5am in the club or get you lost in the deepest recesses of your own mind if you listen intently on headphones.

Review: Tracing The Future Sound of London's back catalogue right back to 1988, when 'Stakker Humanoid' blew minds with a blueprint that would go on to define the standard formulas for British electro and breakbeat before either had been drawn, you quickly realise the journey back to where we are today involves passing landmark after landmark. It's hard not to consider Rituals as another. Marking a return of the outfit's Environments series, which already had six innovative instalments preceding this, hit play on opening number 'Hopiate' and you're immediately transported to every great morning after a night of amazing hedonism before. Pretty, reflective refrains and warm, Earthly details parting for a moment of silence before unifying rolling drums kick in - soundtrack to the best rave at 9AM you've either been to or not. Cue another 12 tracks that are equally transportive and explain so much about why, decades after these tones first hypnotised youth, we're still lining up for more.

Review: Penguin Cafe's A Matter of Life album is 10 years old in 2022 so gets this loving assembled anniversary reissue on clear wax via Erased Tapes. This was their debut album after the band was formed by composer Arthur Jeffes to commemorate his late father's own avant-pop project, Penguin Cafe Orchestra. It has been remastered for this edition and has an all new recording of the lead single 'Harry Piers.' It is a joyous record that is run through with British charm and pastoral feels. Tracks like 'Finland' are beautifully melancholic.

Review: Italy's cosmic adventurer Tagliabue packs his synths, drum machines, and science fiction literature, ready for another excursion into the great black beyond by way of a record that packs as much nostalgia as it does ideas for future sounds. Following in the footsteps of pioneers like Franco Battiato, Klaus Schulze, Boards of Canada, and Plaid, it's a place where lights blink in rhythmic time, basslines warble enough to satisfy dance fans, and nothing is quite as it seems.

Below the electronica flight deck, things are even denser and more difficult to unpack. Ethereality makes itself more than known on tracks like 'Galassie Lontane', nodding to label rosters such as 4AD back in the day. A psychedelic adventure into vivid, colourful universes, slow motion trippy weirdness constantly visible through the ether.

Review: This remastered 10th anniversary edition of Penguin Cafe's debut album A Matter of Life reminds us why the band went on to become so well admired. Alongside all the original tracks this version includes a brand new 2021 recording of lead single 'Harry Piers', which is a tune written as a way of commemorating Arthur Jeffes' late father, and avant pop outfit Penguin Cafe Orchestra founder, Simon Jeffes. It is a joyous record that is run through with British charm and pastoral feels. Tracks like 'Finland' are beautifully melancholic.

Review: The gloaming allure of Coil's Musick To Play In The Dark albums hasn't dulled one jot in the 20+ years which have passed since their release. Dais recently reissued the first volume in the midst of a steady stream of Coil works - classics like Love's Secret Domain sitting alongside niche artefacts from the cutting room floor. There's something sparkling and bright about the sound Sleazy and Balance sculpted at this point, despite the creeping unease which lingers in the distance wherever you are in the Coil back catalogue. On Vol 2 the subtly twisted balladry and spectral sound design gives rise to yet more spine-tingling musical experiences - 'Ether' and 'Where Are You?' especially wriggle under the skin with that uncanny sensation only Coil can conjure.

Review: COIL is just one of those cult outfits whose reputation and hero worship amongst fans will likely never diminish. That said, perhaps only dedicated avant-garde electronic heads will know about The New Backwards, the final project from the seminal industrial band Coil. Last year it came as a particularly gory reissue splattered with the murderous blood of listeners who didn't survive the album's first incarnation from beginning to end, as well as containing eight additional tracks. This version is simply a straight reissue of the original for those who are a little queasy.

Review: Drum & Lace, aka Sofia degli Alessandri-Hultquist, is an Italian composer, sound artist and performer that writes and creates music for film and media. 'Natura' is her debut Past Inside the Present release, in addition to it being her first formal full-length album. Natura pays homage to intelligent electronica and will no doubt be a defining album in the ambient/IDM genre.