Electro Recommendations August 2015

Review: Hands up who remembers Dutch producer Fatima Yamaha's "What's A Girl To Do", which first appeared on wax way back in 2004? Those who do certainly cherish their copy of the EP on which it initially appeared, A Girl Between Two Worlds, which now goes for dazzling sums of money online. Thankfully Dekmantel has decided to give the highlight from that EP another airing, packaging them with a trio of cuts that were previously only available as downloads. The title track itself is thoroughly gorgeous - a sparkling chunk of electrofunk-influenced deep house blessed with some sublime melodies and makes great usage of a Lost in Translation sample. The more rhythmically dense "Half Moon Rising" is similarly impressive, while ambient number "Plum Jelly" is as beguiling and evocative a track as you're likely to hear all year.

Review: It's been some six years since Caroline "Miss Kittin" Herve and Michel "The Hacker" Amato last delivered fresh material together. While we await further news of their long-mooted comeback, there's this tasty EP of previously unheard archive material to enjoy. Made up of tracks recorded between 1997 and '99 - when their production partnership was in its' infancy - The Lost Tracks Volume 1 contains a number of fuzzy, stylish, floor-friendly bangers, from the S&M-themed madness of opener "Leather Forever" and stripped-back electro gem "Nightlife" (a tribute to Berlin clubs of the period, apparently), to the high-tempo acid-loaded freakishness of "Loving The Alien". Top-notch sleaze.

Review: One last call of business before a well-earned summer break sees Antinote introduce Leonardo Martelli who's Menti Singole 12" again proves what a vital and interesting label the Paris concern has become under the tutelage of Quentin Vandewalle. Leonardo Martelli is a relative newcomer from Foligno in Italy, with just one prior cassette behind him, which appeared on Drvg Cvltvre's New York Haunted label. There is a distinct electro flavour hovering over Martelli's Antinote debut, placing it in stark contrast to the breezy pop of the Domenique Dumont release or Paki & Visnadi's poised ambience. Of course there is still plenty of room for the kind of leftfield meandering that Antinote has made its name on, but with a more forthright club purpose beating at its heart.

Review: Those with a passion for heavyweight electro and Drexciyan sounds have long held French producer Franck Kartell in high regard. He's been working away on the fringes delivering high-grade material for a decade, and finally got round to dropping his debut album, Afterlife, last year. Here he delivers a swift follow-up, effortlessly flitting between icy ambience, Vector Lovers style electro-IDM, creepier compositions, and the kind of oddly symphonic, soundtrack-inspired fare that exists to stir the emotions. It's a far more fragile sounding set than some might expect, but no worse for it. While there's little dancefloor material on show, Kartell's downtempo fare is a cut above most of his contemporaries.

Review: Johnny Dillon returns on Sheffield's Central Processing Unit with some fun loving, feelgood electro that doesn't take itself too seriously. Testament to this is first track "Aromatic Toasty Hits The Town" sounding like something on the soundtrack of an '80s Commodore 64 computer game. "The Life Parochial" is a homage to the same era albeit this time a b-movie soundtrack style that Giallo Disco fans would love. "The Parish Hotline", the standout track here; could be assumed to be an old Italo disco gem unearthed. Lastly the tongue twister that is "The Twofold Exaltation of An Acid Called Tinfoil Hat" calibrates Dillon's style finely with an absurd psychotherapy derived monologue over a sleazy little 303 ditty.

Review: Emika continues her impressive new independent direction on her eponymous label, with the Berlin artist seeking out some great remixes to complement her most recent album Drei. There's the legendary The Black Dog turning in a stellar remix of "Battles", The Exaltics do a great rework of "What's The Cure" injecting a smooth late night flavour which sounds great. Otherwise there's Emika herself with Borai doing another version of it that is pure electro pop bliss of the darkest kind. Finally, Irish Techno stalwart Eomac turns in another dark atmospheric rework reminiscent of The Haxan Cloak.

Review: Undisputed British electro don ED DMX has made a fine return to form of late and still showing us all how its done on his nifty 7" release for the Fresh Up label. The title track on the A side is sleazy electro funk with all the right elements at work; vocoder vocals, boogie bassline groove and sleek funk guitar. On the flip we have "Space Fonk" offering up more of the same as he proudly proclaims "come on baby and funk with me, together we can touch the sky". Truer words have never been spoken!

Review: If you want to judge the current health of electro, the Brokntoys label is a very good barometer. From their London base, Brokntoys have stealthily assembled a small but desirable discography from some of the genre's masters current masters. A second release of the year, quite rare for Brokntoys, finds the label returning to Sweden's Ronnie 'Rutherford' Johansson, who debuted as part of the excellent v/a 12" Guests Of Reality. Singularis represents one of the rare occasions the Gothenburg-based artist has released outside of Luke Eargoggle's Stilleben label, and features some proper icy electro productions as well as more abstract fare.

Review: Following great releases by Bintus, EDMX and Objekt, Power Vacuum look to veteran UK IDM producer Cylob who serves up some freeform Drexciyan electro summoning the ghosts in the machines. "Concrete Corporal" bleeps and screeches all over the place while a broken, booming beat soon turns four to floor and all hell breaks loose. Next "Granular Psychosis (ECT Mix)" presents a breakneck beat that ploughs away beneath more absurd modular madness. "Zattrday" is a beautiful beatless affair with lush strings and sweet analogue harpsichord sounds. "Rosetta" gets serious showing off his ear for restrained straight up electro. "Ticking Over" almost sounds like "No UFOs" by Model 500 played on the wrong speed. "Mission to Mercury" is another four to the floor stomper with razor sharp arpeggios and soaring EMS leads. Lastly "Pulp The Bass" is the sound of a Eurorack having an epileptic fit. Highly recommended!