This Week At Juno
Long players from Omar S, Matt Karmil and Interstellar Funk, to electro from Mesak and Shipwrec, curios from The Trilogy Tapes and some sumblime deep house from Duckett.
From time spent wielding junglist elements on Keysound to early mutant dubstep trysts on Frijsfo Beats, Sully has done a fine job of skirting multiple scenes while adhering to a distinctly UK-sounding palette. Recently he has stepped out on Astrophonica and Rua Sound, and now he slides over to Black Acre with a confident swagger that reflects nearly a decade of busting out inventive soundsystem belters. There’s a whiff of the new grime wave about the tracks on Vamp, although there’s a more detailed approach to the production to ensure the tracks remain Sully’s own. “Arco” moves with a lighter touch accented by snappy trap drums, and “Bronze” heads into more obscure, delicate territory, once again proving that Sully is a producer capable of many different shades of contemporary electronics.
Listen/buy vinyl
Matt Karmil – IDLE033 (Idle Hands)
In three years Matt Karmil has achieved a lot, from an appearance on Beats In Space to an album on PNN and so on to the mighty fine Fight single on Endless Flight last year. Having already struck up a relationship with Bristol bastion Idle Hands with the none-stricter Play It / Say It single, he now returns to the label with an album that reveals different sides to an artist who often seems more concerned with straight up club tackle. There are many moments of scratchy, dusty sample based reverie as on the wonderful “So”, while a penchant for insistent looping creates a strangely dreamlike quality to these productions, even in the case of the strangely feisty “Freeform”. There’s a real depth at work in the considered combinations of sounds Karmil reaches for here, making this an album in the truest sense of the word.
Listen/buy vinyl
Duckett – The Balsamic State EP (Greta Cottage Workshop)
After seducing hearts and minds with the otherworldly strains of his pair of EPs for UntilMyHeartStops last year, Welsh wizard Duckett returns to the fray with a new record of equally sumptuous quality. Greta Cottage Workshop makes for a perfect fit for the unconventional elegance of Duckett’s music, where meandering synth lines writhe in keys from other places and the drums fall far beyond the standards of most earthly techno. There’s a warm optimism lingering in some of the melodic work, even if titles like “I Ain’t Seen The Cat For 3 Days Now” sounds like it should be a morose reflection. The real gem of the EP is surely “Jackdaws On Astroturf”, which plies a reflective trade while managing to slide in subtle notes of classic deep house and make it sound like music from the stars.
Listen/buy vinyl
Hi & Saberhägen – Qzyland EP (Proibito)
Always a trusted source of quality grubby techno with an imaginative twist, Anthony Naples’ Proibito label calls upon the lesser-known talents of Hi & Saberhägen to deliver its sixteenth transmission. The duo were formerly spotted on Huntleys & Palmers last year, and they bring heaps of flair to their hardware focused productions, coming on like a breath of fresh air in a somewhat saturated market. “Tom Party” kicks proceedings off with a cheeky tribal roll underneath some grade A robotic electro bleeps like momma used to make, and somehow the deftness of production makes the track fizz with an addictive energy. “Qzyland” takes things deeper, slowing down the pace and letting some coldwave creepiness seep into the synth lines, while “Jardinez” finds its own crooked groove and spirals out into a fine and exotic creation. With its well-tuned dynamic shifts and imaginative arrangements, the Qzyland EP is a mighty fine achievement for two relatively new producers.
Listen/buy vinyl
Carl Gari / Abdullah Miniawy – TTT039 (The Trilogy Tapes)
After all the rowdiness of recent offerings from The Trilogy Tapes, it’s good to be reminded that Will Bankhead’s label also has leanings towards other more experimental concerns as well. Carl Gari is an intriguing proposition, made up of emergent German artist Jonas Friedlich alongside Jonas Yamer and Till Funke with ties to the occasional Molten Moods label. On this first proper release for the group, they have teamed up with noted Egyptian vocalist Abdullah Miniawy, and the results are simply spellbinding. There is of course an inherent beauty and mysticism that emanates from traditional Egyptian music, and Carl Gari respond to this by creating a claustrophobic backdrop of kosmische flavoured instrumentation. Where cross cultural collaborations can sometimes fall into the trap of sounding stilted or hackneyed, here the blend is a smooth and intoxicating one, loaded up on dub effects processing and brooding textural work that suits the situation perfectly.
Listen/buy vinyl
Lost Tracks – Flatliner (Shipwrec)
Following turns on contemporary bastions of good electro, Tabernacle and SCSI-AV, the anonymous Lost Trax project surfaces once more. Jumping aboard Shipwrec seems the logical thing for Lost Trax to do considering their lineage of records so far and they do so with a four-track EP that covers all manner of electro; acid heavy, warehouse large, dubbed-out and dreamy. There’s an undeniable quality to all tracks here and each cut plays out like its own chapter, with Flatliner telling stories of deep sea journeymen (“Renderer”) to grumpy gravel pit workers (“Flatliner”) and crazed alchemists (“Faith”) . One of this year’s best electro records, no doubt.
Listen/buy vinyl
Mesak – Bessemerbirne (Klakson)
A double dose of electro this week in the TWAJ column thanks to a somewhat unsung patriarch of the genre, Tatu Metsätähti, aka Mesak. Largely known for a slew of 12”s on Klakson’s first-coming throughout the 2000s, Mesak returns to Steffi’s rebooted label with a four-track EP following a turn on Mono Junk’s Dum Records. Mono Junk is invited to remix the choice cut of this 12”, “Romu”, which he turns from a funky number of subtle squeals and distortion into a deeper, beat down techno beast with grace. Rhythms get a little more frenetic on the B-side with “Sula” sporting that stripped-back Drexciyian vibe. Check it.
Listen/buy vinyl
Gavin Russom – Psychic Decolonization (Lux Rec)
In five years Swiss label Lux Rec have stamped their gritty authority into the world of machine made techno and highlights of the label’s catalogue so far have come from Frak, Helena Hauff, Savage Grounds and earlier releases by CCO, Echo 106 and Jared Wilson. Lux Rec’s second record of 2016 comes from man of wonder, LCD Soundsystem and Black Meteoric Star-fame, Gavin Russom. In among the clamouring siren-like synths of “”In Wolfskins” and militia drums of “Blood Codes” you’ll find the one industrial ambient track “Let The Bones Speak”, and for some undeniable machine funk it’s all about B2 cut “The Shelter Of Palms”.
Listen/buy vinyl
Interstellar Funk – Electric Park Square (Rush Hour)
Olf Van Elden’s music as Interstellar Funk has yet to make it outside of The Netherlands, however with high calibre labels likes Rush Hour and Dekmantel biting there it doesn’t really need to be. This six-track Electric Park Square EP could almost be considered a mini-album through the sheer variety of productions on offer, with the Gerald Donald, Der Zyklus-isms of “Ama Dive” the record’s highlight. Other sub-aqueous electro can be found in “Prototype” and we’re teased with a stomping techno climber that only lasts one and a half minutes with EP closer “Poly Evolver #2”. Here’s to hoping Rush Hour’s vault raiders rustle up an extended edit like they did with Aardvark’s “(Just Washed) That Pig”.
Listen/buy vinyl
The fifth Omar S album has landed and it’s The Best, obviously. Cast your eye over the tracklist and you’ll see a smattering of Detroit heads feature like Norm Talley who mixes down album open “Time Mo 1” to sound as hot as his iconic house number “Cosmic Waves”. Furthermore you’ll find vocal contributions from Big Strick, Amp Fiddler (whose Gil Scott Herron cadence is uncanny) and Divinity, to John FM who was last heard on a killer 7” FXHE released toward the end of last year. Acid as gnarly as his mid-’90s 12” from 2010 can be found on “Bitch,,,,,I’ll Buy Another One!!!” next to downtempo production “Smash” with bit crushing effects that sound as if they’ve been lifted from an Atari video game. There’s club tracks abound too, plus some sequenced funk in a collaboration with Tom Buggs, “Buggin Out”. There’s no denying Alex O’ Smith this time, he’s delivered the goods for The Best.
Listen/buy vinyl