This week at Juno
Records from Minimal Wave, Rush Hour, The Trilogy Tapes, Livity Sound and Avian were among the highlights of the past few weeks.
The Easter break may have reduced the number of records coming through the doors over the past few weeks, but there have still been more than enough to keep our ears satisfied. This week Minimal Wave continued to put the competition to shame, coming through with three essential titles alone. For us the most eagerly awaited was the debut album from the Further Reductions duo of Shawn O’Sullivan and Katie Rose. Although O’Sullivan is most widely known for his techno productions on Avian and L.I.E.S., the Woodwork LP for Minimal Wave’s Cititrax imprint is a varied trip through vocal synthwave and strung-out rhythms with a skewed pop sensibility. It was well complemented by the Want Need EP from Regis and Silent Servant’s Sandra Electronics guise, which explored their interest in industrial and post-punk through their own unique lens. Finally, there was the reissue of ’80s Brooklyn act Soma Holiday’s Shake Your Molecules EP, which saw the label haven’t forgotten their unerring commitment to unearthing lost gems.
This week’s house axis was characterised by a number of left of centre releases. First up was a reissue of some prime Larry Heard material. Although primarily known for his classic contributions to deep house, one of Heard’s most interesting works is 1996’s Alien album, originally released on Black Market International. Seeing Heard exploring his sci-fi influences in a range of deep and emotive styles, it’s not just of interest to fans of Heard’s work, but to those who are partial to a bit of cybernetic Detroit-style techno minimalism. Similarly strange was the latest Jorge Velez release, Ausland, the producer this time gracing Rush Hour with two tracks of delicate analogue house in the mould of his MMT Tapes tracks which surfaced back in 2012. Meanwhile, on Live At Robert Johnson, Philip Lauer teamed up for three melodic house excursions with his younger brother Jacob under the Hotel Lauer alias – check the artwork on Brudis for the most striking set of family photos on a sleeve since Blawan’s His He She & She was released on Hinge Finger a few years ago. Capping things off was the Dancing Hindus 12″, a killer debut from Pedro Vian, one half of sometimes Hivern Discs act Aster, complete with superb remixes from Hieroglyphic Being and Madteo.
This week saw perhaps the biggest name to date hitting The Trilogy Tapes, with the release of A Made Up Sound’s Situation 12″ on Will Bankhead’s label. Although this may seem like an intriguing choice considering Dave Huismans is an artist who has released on Clone and 50 Weapons, it shows how much clout Bankhead’s label has these days, and in terms of sound it’s a good fit for TTT, offering four productions straddling the line between broken techno and scuffed house music – look out for the unexpectedly trippy Bowie sample on the title track. Having chosen Huismans to helm their last set of remixes, Livity Sound looked to the talents of Beneath and Ron Morelli and Svengalisghost’s Ghost-202 for the latest 12″, with both lending their dark production styles to Kowton’s “Jam01” and Pev’s “Livity”. The anonymous Itinerant Dubs also returned with Non-Material Space, their fourth essential 12″ of rough dub and raw techno fusions.
The week’s techno releases were capped off with two very minimalistic visions of the genre. Sigha made his debut proper on Shifted’s Avian with The Purification Loops, which the label describe as “blurring the lines between the dance floor and the ritual chamber”. It’s easy to hear in the six tracks, each of which utilise a frenetic tempo and almost psychedelic rush of monochromatic textures. Meanwhile the Dystopian label presented Red Rising, its latest 12″ release from Berghain golden boy Rødhåd, who delivered three tracks pitched somewhere between the straight-up minimal fury of Robert Hood and the complex atmospheric sound design of the Stroboscopic Artefacts family.
In the experimental sphere, the big record was Fennesz’ conceptual follow-up to his 2001 classic Endless Summer, Becs, released on Editions Mego. The perfect blend of harsh processed tones and delicate melody, it’s easily one of his best works to date, with the glassy ambience of “Pallas Athene” and brooding sonic maelstrom of “The Liar” both standout tracks. Dominick Fernow’s Hospital Productions delivered something of a wild card in the form of the Novos Misterios LP from Ninos Du Brasil, seven tracks of tropical percussion which are quite unexpected given the label’s appreciation of the noisier side of music.
The seemingly omnipresent Bass Clef also found time to release two records; one, the brilliant Raven Yr Own Worl EP on PAN under his primary alias, and the second a stranger collection of tracks under his Some Truths alias for Mordant Music, the brilliantly titled Some Friends I Left To Bedlam, Others I Abandoned There. Finally, beautiful illustration and sumptuous sub-aquatic beats came together on Sea Levels, the new Styles Upon Styles release which came from Melbourne-based producer Kloke.