This week at Juno
Record by Herva, IVVVO, Gonno and Tessela, a remix EP on Semantica, Surgeon and Drexciya reissues, the new Rhythm Section International 12″ and John FM’s debut on FXHE.
Herva – Dreamers Of Unknown Tales (Don’t Be Afraid)
With each release the intriguing Herva puts out, there’s only one thing we’re sure of what to expect, and that’s, to put it simply: weirdness. That’s definitely become the allure – and trademark – of the Hervè Atsè Corti’s music, which has found homes labels Bosconi, Delsin and most recently All City Records with his How To Mind Your Own mini-LP. Debuting on the hardworking Don’t Be Afraid label, Herva delivers four experimental sessions of spangled house music that brings to mind the atmospheres of Actress and beats of The Trilogy Tapes, and there’s plenty of squashed acid, stamped drums and rusty hi-hats to immerse yourself in, and our pick of the EP is “Nice and Crisp”.
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IVVVO – Mark Leckey Made Me Hardcore (Crème Organization)
Since IVVVO’s podcast for Juno Plus two years ago we’ve enjoyed watching the gradual rise in profile Ivo Pacheco has achieved by hooking up with labels like Public Information, Fourth Wave, Danse Nior, and now Crème Organisation. This Mark Leckey Made Me Hardcore 12” (which references Leckey’s Fiorucci Made Me Hardcore) marks the Portuguese producer’s full debut on Crème following a contribution to the pay-what-you-want digital compilation There Is No Authority the label issued in January. Beats across the three-track 12” are heavy, and atmospheres, temporarily cleared by scrappy hi-hats, are as thick as a dust storm from Mad Max. That artwork too.
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Gonno – Obscurant (International Feel)
Gonno’s form this year is a pleasure to witness and it’s highly likely each record the Japanese producer releases in 2015 will make its way to This Week At Juno. It’s his second mention here following The Muddler EP released only recently on Endless Flight, and here for International Feel, Sunao Gonno delivers another singular take on a form disco and techno he can call his own. Gonno’s music, taking into account his early releases appeared on Perc Trax, possesses the ability to appease the disparate tastes of disco DJs and techno heads alike, and he’s blazing a trail across the electronic music landscape in the process. Disco-bods check: “Obscurant”, techno people check: “A Life With Clarinet”, everybody else, check Call Super’s Inna Loft mix of the title-track.
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RP Boo – Classics Vol. 1 (Planet Mu)
It may only be early April but the contender, already, for label of the year looks to be Planet Mu. Everything the trusted operation has put in 2015 so far has been dynamite, and for a quick run down there was that great John T. Gast LP, Jlin’s hyperactive Dark Energy album, an Ekoplekz 12” with an album to follow, label owner Mike Paradinis’s extended XTEP LP as µ-Ziq, and now comes more bona-fide goodness with the return of RP Boo. Classics Vol. 1 looks to document Chicago’s ghetto house scene of the late ’90s, and the six-track release features RP Boo material that’s never been officially released, replete with the Ol’ Dirty Bastard sampling “Baby Come On” that’s said to be responsible for spawning the frenetic footwork genre.
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By today’s standards the word ‘rave’ is a post-ironic term for heavy clubbing, however there are producers out there bringing it back into relevance. It’s artists like Tessela who are rejuvenating the genre’s hallmarks (worth talking about) and reshaping them to fit a contemporary mould, or more specifically, the makeshift clubs, spaces and venues of London. Since the release of Tessela’s Hackney Parrot, Ed Russell has been developing his ‘ravey’ sound that’s an extension of his initial 12”s on Punch Drunk, All City and 2nd Drop. Bottom Out provides Russell with his third outing on R&S and again this marriage between the two parties makes complete sense. This three-track 12” provides the one slab or sparse industrial strength acid (“Bottom Out”) – given a DJ-friendlier rubdown by Kowton – while “Total Music” is a beatless yet pulse-heavy and atmospheric cut of dusky rave music circa-2015.
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Drexciya – Black Sea (Clone Aqualung Series)
The music of Drexciya will forever be immortal, but it’s Clone who have taken it upon themselves to keep the seminal Detroit group’s legacy alive. It’s niche releases like this revived Black Sea 12” that highlight the lengths Clone will go in maintaining the legend of subaquatic electro pioneers Drexciya remain at the surface of everyone’s conscious. Slightly enamoured with the finely embossed sleeve design, this record had Juno Plus staff recalling the soundtrack of Playstation game Gran Turismo (this is a good thing) when hearing the punk synth-line of “Black Sea” (Aqualung version), and die hard Drexciya fans should note the ‘infamous skip’ from “Wavejumper” has now been removed.
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Surgeon – Communications (SRX)
Last year Surgeon created the SRX label, a platform he’s launched to rebuff his earlier productions which at the time weren’t susceptible to the mastering ideologies of today. It’s also a label that gives life to music from Surgeon’s discovered DAT tapes that never got a release. This Communication double pack is the heftiest release the label has put out so far, and it’s a six-track reissue of the original album Downwards released in ’96 (“Atol” and “Reptile Mess” from this LP made SRX001 and SRX002 respectively). This 2015 update gives retrospective insight into the variety that took place in Child’s rigid ‘90s material, and raise your hands to “Syllable” or get down to “Wire” – it’s all good.
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Abdulla Rashim & Axel Hallqvist – Sorunda Remixed (Semantica)
It’s not uncommon for people to roll their eyes at the sight of a techno EP remixed to sound like more techno. When it comes to this sort of fare, however, Semantica are an operation you can trust to deliver something worthwhile time and time again, and for this remix EP they’ve pulled out a choice selection of names to rework an intriguing record. To date the Sorunda 12”, co-produced with Abdullah Rashim, is the only release Axel Hallqvist has to his Swedish name, and it dates from 2013. Seeing Dozzy’s ‘cave man’ remix on the line up is obviously eye-catching, and the Italian does deliver a sublime cut of bottom heavy techno, but for the Juno Plus editorial it’s all about the arctic reimagination by Northern Electronic’s Korridor that makes this record worth owning.
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Local Artist – Feelings (Rhythm Section International)
Most producers whose music appears intermittently tend to earn themselves the affectionate ‘enigmatic’ term used by us music writers, but for whatever reason, we feel as though Ian Wyatt’s Local Artist alias is one we’ll be seeing more of, hopefully this year. His first record provided Tony Napoli’s Probito label with a second release in 2013 and this follow up for Bradley Zero’s Rhythm Section International is one we’ve been feeling this week as Spring in London has sprung! It’s a house record that bypasses the gamut of deep house pastiches that pass through these corridors on a weekly basis, and it does so by embracing elements of dub and instrumental funk that’s wrapped in a warm, lo-fi bed of hiss that makes records by the likes of SUED and Acido so appealing.
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John FM – Where My Roots Lie (FXHE)
FXHE brandish a new name we’ll be following closely from now on and that’s John FM, and as far as we know that’s him on the record’s label. John FM is the latest artist to debut on Omar S’s label following the introduction of charismatic character OB Ignitt, and it’s a confident debut, with FM pulling out what’s been billed as a New Detroit Anthem in “Where My Roots Lie”. “White Church Bells Be Like” a banging club track, while some artistic flavour graces the B2 in “Solace” which sounds like a murky James Blake duet done the Detroit way – check out the switch up at its end too.
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