Search results: JK

Review: There's a slightly different feel to the latest instalment of the fantastic "Africa Airways" compilation series. While previous instalments have largely focused on heavy Afro-funk and Afro-soul, this fifth edition showcases material recorded during the disco and boogie era (1976-82). The ten included tracks are superb, with highlights including the fuzzy, Clavinet-driven thrills of "Sweet Sidney (Edit)" by Black Bells Group, the heavy grooves and dancing synth lines of Gyedu Blay Ambolley's "Highlife", the spacey Afro-boogie badness of Fotso's "French Girl" and the flash-fried disco-funk celebration that is Jide Obe's spacey, Moog-sporting "Too Young". As the old cliche goes, this is all killer and no filler.

Review: For their latest flight on "Africa Airways", the Africa Seven collective has decided to treat us to some in-flight "Mile High Funk", all of which was recorded between 1974 and 1981. In practise, that means a mixture of disco-funk, boogie, Blaxploitation-style heaviness, Afro-disco and slap-bass-propelled goodness from across the African continent. Highlights are plentiful, with our picks including the Hammond-sporting heaviness of Akwassa's "Be Yourself (& Don't Let Nobody)", the synth-sporting highlife style revelry that is Eko's "Ndolo Embe Mulema" and the horn-heavy voodoo funk-soul cheeriness of Jude Bondeze's "Ndomo".

Review: If there's one collaboration that we have bowed down to over the last few years, it's most certainly this new found friendship between London's Kevin Martin aka The Bug, and American doom metal guitarists, Earth. One wouldn't immediately make the connection between inner-city future-grime music and suburban stoner rock, but the two styles were in perfect unison, and this is because they're both fascinated with dark, looming clouds of bass. Whether that's through virtual synths or badass bass guitars, it doesn't matter, because the mood is mightily present. Concrete Desert is the alliance's debut LP, and it's all guns blazing from start to finish; tunes like "Snakes vs Rats" or "Metal Drone" represent exactly the sort of freshen-up that each respective act needed - on the one hand, The Bug could have done with some more external influences to the melodic constructions, while Earth needed a new framework to enter the minds of a new, European audience. We've dubbed this style 'metal drone', and we're pretty sure that it's gonna stick after you've played it out for a few minutes. A blinding collab, right here.

Review: The sixth album from JK Flesh, Sewer Bait is a slo-mo, lo-fi, noise-inflected journey through the dirtier, grittier side of techno. The opening track, 'Soaked to the Skin' is a corroded, corrupted chugger - pulsing demonically, brushing against increasingly rougher textures, this is a track where everything is obscured yet each component comes together to create a groove that is intensely hypnotic. The titular track 'Sewerbait' feels more closely aligned to the industrial techno tradition - slamming drums meet searing synths to create a track that is powerfully alluring. The final track, 'Washed Up', is driven by a relentless, propulsive core - like an engine revving up, this track feels ready to take off. JK Flesh has a masterful skill for making the rough shine and highlighting the delicate amongst the rubble.

Review: Intense, rave-fired big room techno is all the rage these days, and Amelie Lens is the undisputed Queen of the sound. It makes perfect sense then that Global Underground has got her to deliver the latest volume in their long-running mix series. It's named in honour of the Belgian's home city of Antwerp and, as you'd expect, it's an exemplary two-disc romp that perfectly captures the sound and style of Lens' club sets. She eases us in gently (by her standards, at least) on disc one, which features more melodic excursions from the likes of ARMA, AIROD, Luca Eck and Farrago. Both the tempo and intensity markedly increase on disc two, where Lens opts for a full throttle sprint through heavy techno slammers from herself, SWART, Lars Huismann, Elise Massoni, Max Rossi and many more. Brutal and brilliant in equal measure.

Review: Modal Analysis affiliates Pi Electronics welcome back Justin Broadrick in his JK Flesh guise for some industrial-focused techno abstraction outside the usual formulaic confines of the genre. The opening track has some guttural mono synth pulses guiding the deathly drum beat, but it's instantly noticeable how slow and sinister these rhythms are. The second track follows suit, as Broadrick's long-proven penchant for textural noise manifests around the squashed clamour of the kick. 'Track 3' is even more formidable as a low-tempo tool for nihilistic dance parties, but then Ancient Methods is on hand to flip the script with a slide back up the pitch range and a different approach to noise-led techno.

Review: The vast array of Depeche Mode originals cover plenty of ground and many years of hard and critically acclaimed work. As such they're a gold mine for artists looking to add their own spin and plenty of the most ear-grabbing of those radio, dub and club mixes are collected together here on a rather epic seven slabs of wax in one bumper box set with a poster and digital download. Works by contemporary artists like Trentemoller and Justus Kohncke sit next to techno titans like Ben Klock, trance mainstays such as Sander Van Doorn and even EDM stars like Laidback Luke. A varied mix with something for everyone.

Review: J.K.'s 'You & I' is something of a classic and hard-assed hose workout form 1994 that has been remixed and reissued and number of times since. Real name Marta Simlat, the project was made up by Italian producers Larry Pignagnoli and Davide Riva and this was their biggest success. This latest release of it kicks off with 'You & I' (Bliss Team remix) which is seriously heavy and dark with dystopian synth fizz. The Guitar Mix is even more frosty and all consuming then the Classic '95 remix is beatdown techno with a dark, menacing heart and the club 95' remix is all about unsettling synth blasts and scratchy noise.

Review: The eclectic Canadian superproject New Age Doom are pretty un-pin-downable, with their contributing band members including Bowie Blackstar bandleader Donny McCaslin, and bassist Tim Lefebvre. While their last album was a drone metal epic known as 'Himalayan Dream Techno', their latest is a dub-inflected curveball, dedicated to the mastery over space and atmospherics commanded by the late producer Lee 'Scratch' Perry. Remix The Universe is a compilation of new perspectives on their final collaborative album, 'Lee 'Scratch' Perry's Guide to the Universe'. If ever we needed a spiritual guide for space exploration, Perry would be our go-to; it's evident from this short LP that Perry's influence is felt much further and wider than merely dub music, with gross-genre remixes from the likes of Daryl Palumbo, Quicksand, Tuvaband, Nick Reinhart and Andy Morin all in tow.

Review: A bumper double LP of hyper modernist techno shrapnel from an all star cast of remixers working with JK Flesh's 2022 debut on KR3 records, 'Veneer Of Tolerance'. Prime cuts include Rrose's snarling, overtone-laden remix of 'Empty Words', with reese bass glissandos lacerated by a clattering percussion and hollow harmonics, London-Detroit superhighway technician Steve Bicknell's stroboscopic, swampy spin on 'Veneer Of Tolerance', and Samuel Kerridge's hotwired amen lengdown of the same track. And that's just the first three tracks! Trust us when we say there's something for every dark techno diehard in this one.