New releases last eight weeks: Electro House

Review: Italian tech house DJ and producer Bakked is back on the case with another sure shot for his Outban label. Bakked's focus lies on seedy, sinewy tech house informed by Italo and Giallo soundtracks, so there's plenty of ghoulish soundtrack poise and throbbing arp action on the likes of 'Almost Machine'. The synths are thick and gloopy, the drums boxy and brash, and there's all the peaks and troughs you could wish for from a modern dancefloor filler, making this the perfect demonstration of future-past freakery. Look out for the acid flex on 'Abitudine' and the slow tempo sleaze of 'Channel8', which will get the chugger crowd hot under the collar.

Review: Sweat It Out Records kicks off their tasty Sweat Sampler series with their first volume, cutting niftily across four exceptionally sweaty bops, spanning tongue-in-cheek deep tech reworks and downtempo disco delights. First off is the dream team of Cid and Havoc & Lawn, whom together deliver a hilariously effective house version of America's 'A Horse With No Name'; this is shortly followed by Saturday Love, Kon and Furious's 'Come Out', a rejigged nu-disco samosa packed with some rare vocal spices; then there's 'Give It To Me' by Marco Lys and Ben Miller, a bass-driven bouncer unafraid of lasershot winddowns, injunctive vocals and risers; and finally, there's Set Mo's 'Could I Be', the anthem of the bunch, whose buildup and drop is alarming, affecting, cumulatively awe-striking.

Review: Much loved doom monger emo kids Depeche Mode have always been ripe for remixing by new generations of electronic music artists and so it is that there 'My Favourite Stranger' gets a series of re-rubs here on Columbia. Tech house mainstay Boris Brejcha remixes first and elongates the grooves with mournful pads up top. The Ela Minus remix of the same tune brings some extra textured and darker moods and the best is saved till the last if you ask us. The Lond Island Sound remix is high speed and tinged with electro synth work as the moody vocals echo about the mix to trippy effect.

Review: A quirky new ambient electro follow-up to the 'Quadrifonia' V/A from Positive Not Happy, with wicked contributions from The Lumens, AT, Floog and Paradise City Breakers. From the jump, we're hit with bursty bright arps and hard-hitting kicks on 'Transformazione'; gurgling, bitcrushed, yoying groundswells on 'Ga Ga'; lo-fi ruminative movements verging on speed garage with 'Deviate'; and creative, dynamic future swellups on 'The Butterfly Man'. Mostly breezy, hardly cheesy.

Review: The UK label Cartulis Music is celebrating ten years in existence in 2024 and we are happy to say, their 16th release might just be their best yet. PO's Satania's Diary is an otherworldly techno standout that seems to blend all kinds of futuristic genres into a sci-fi soundtrack that is their own. Electro, techno, trance, psy, IDM and some sort of 'wave' subgenre. Nu-Romantic perhaps? Technowave? 'L'etoile De La Mort' balances a cool sounding techno and electro edge that has a EBM tinge to it that we just can't get enough. Super spacey and eerie, this cut is too good to be true. 'Are You Sure' continues that similar motif, begging the question is goa-electro a genre? One of the most original records we've heard in a long, long time.