Juno Recommends Experimental: November 2022

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: 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: 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: 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: This cosmic electronic offering comes from Greek musician Yannis Veslemes. Opening track 'The Oracle Freaks' is somewhat reminiscent of the more avant garde side of British glam rock and synth pop - think Pet Shop Boys if they were from the moon. The industrial twinge Veslemes puts on his downtempo electronica gives it a slightly odd, retro futurism feel like on 'Psycho Thermo' that wouldn't be out of place in a dystopian video game - something like F-Zero or, point and click adventure games. His echoing vocals against the liquid bass is intrinsically fantastical, and 'The Well' as a whole just feels like a soundtrack. To what is up to the listeners imagination, and you will need a big one to decode the multi-layered and avant-garde 'The Cure'. In short, 'The Well' is a record that is hard to put in to words and best listened to yourself - an shareable experience.

Review: Daniela Lalita grew up in an apartment in Peru with her mother and grandmother. That apartment gives its name to her debut EP, Trececerotres, which is an exploration of experimental electronic music rooted in magic, healing and ritual. Lalita's vocals feature throughout, and she first came to realise their power when she learned to do different voices for TV commercials as her first job. They mesh with distorted drums and Buchla synth to make for off-scale tracks where rhythm is implied, culture is explored and moods range from bleak and intense to more heartfelt and assured.

Review: Japanese punk/avant-garde legend Phew's 'Vertical Jamming' was originally recorded at Phew's place in December 2015 and put out only on CD. Now it gets expanded across two sides of clear vinyl. The artist himself says that 'Cheers' and 'Encore' are basically sequels to 'Drone'. They expand on that already epic track's heavy and greyscale atmospheres as they skit through a series of alien vignettes. This is a truly rare treat for fans of this sound and artist and brings to mind a lo-fi and DIY take on Einsturzende Neubauten.

Review: Leo Kupper is synonymous with the genealogy of Belgian electronic music. Working with Henri Pousseur, the pair manned their country's first electronic music studio, Apelac, from 1959-62, and Kupper would go on to found Studio de Recherches et de Structurations Electroniques Auditives and Sound Domes in Roma, Linz, Venice, and Avignon before the 1990s hit.

Here we're given a collection of - as the title suggests - work and voices from that latter period, and it all could easily have been made a moment ago. Capturing everything from sweet bird song to looped human chants, there's definitely a purity here but no naivety. 'La Revere Au Sourire Passager' taking things into slightly distressing places with its cut and chopped recordings of conversations coming in and out of earshot, 'Aerosons' brings an air of the fantastic to the opening. Musique concrete, ambient, field recording, and a few other terms besides.

Review: Although barely known outside of experimental electronic music circles, Simon Crab has been making avant-garde and cutting-edge music since the turn of the '80s. His latest album, and first for Leeds-based Space Ritual, delivers sci-fi daydreaming by the bucket-load, with the Hastings-based producer gently leading us on a journey through symphonic electronic ambient ('Headless Day'), shuffling ambient techno ('Invisible Cities'), gorgeous beat-free soundscapes ('Edgelands', 'Phantom Power'), low-slung IDM-dub fusion ('Battle of the Trees'), illbient influenced ambient dub ('Invaders') and bubbly-sounding, modular-powered electronica (the pin-sharp and wonderfully melodious 'By Product'). It all adds up to an immersive, evocative and emotive collection of vivid electronic workouts that more than stands up to repeat listens.