Juno Recommends Electro August 2019

Review: Russian label Mosaique has thus far carried some serious heat from artists like JASSS, Caron and Savage Grounds, and now they're shifting their nightmarish electro tendencies back to the various artists format of their Universe series. Umwelt leads the charge on this second installment with the eerie machine snarl of "Fallen Empire", followed up by two versions of the devilish "Sleep When You Die" by Moralez & The Horrorist. Alessandro Adriani is first up on the B side with the driving, noirish techno pulse of "Cosmic Transmissions," and then Morah rounds things off with the squelchy, spiky workout "Track 5".

Review: Two years after making his debut on Blank State with the superb "Cherry Unit EP", Porco Rosso returns to the German imprint to showcase his "Pork Power" (snigger). He hits the spot from the word go, brilliantly wrapping echoing deep space melodies and starry synth chords atop funk-fuelled acid bass and snappy drum machine beats on four-to-the-floor opener "Cesar". Rosso indulges his love of sweatier, more bustling beats on all-action flipside opener "Iku Base Dance" - a fitting title, given the funkiness of the Syclops style bassline that propels the whole thing forwards - before offering up a chunk of weird-but-brilliant electro/IDM fusion ("Chiefmodus") to round off a brilliant EP.

Review: British legend Carl Finlow has always explored the darker, deeply charged realms of electro as Silicon Scally and he's feeling more dystopian than ever on this fierce four tracker for Sheffield's Central Processing Unit. Following up last years' terrific Projections EP, prepare to go deep underground on the brooding and cinematic drama of "Cobalt Blue", only to resurface once more on a serene note on the charming Kraftwerk influence of "Scintillation". On the flip, he's back to the program on the booming electro bass epic "Asynchronous" while the futuristic tension and suspense of "Protocol 2" closes out another fine effort by the genre's finest producers.

Review: Second instalment from Belgian electro-label ZwaarteKracht, once again assembling a dream team of international producers to bring together this extraordinary selection of dancefloor tracks with dark sci-fi moods. All dynamically mastered by Karel De Backer to keep those subs moving like they should. Features Arsonist Recorder with the hard hitting retro futurism of "Brain Mode",
Deemphasis going deep on "In My Mind" with its underwater acid, Datawave served up our favourite on the darkly dystopian electro bass of "Quadrant" while Francois Dillinger's "Moon Prison" provides the abstract and minimal vibes.

Review: Although Emile Facey has been producing as Plant 43 for roughly six years, the UK producer appears to be in a rich vein of form right now. Having debuted in impressive fashion on Dutch label Frustrated funk earlier this year, Plant 43 resurfaces on Semantica with this equally worthy five track 12" The Sentient City Awakens. No stranger to Svreca's label having first graced Semantica last year, this record will please Plant 43 fans no end, with "Inward Stream" and "Hydro Subway" showing equal reverence to melody and booming percussion that few other current electro practitioners can match. Concluding production "Frond Of Stars" is beautifully epic.

Review: For the latest release on her admirable Planet Euphorique imprint, Sophie Sweetland has gathered together a quartet of box-fresh club cuts from up-and-coming artists. As you'd expect, much of the material is psychedelic and intoxicating, reprocessing a range of vintage influences in a myriad of ways. Killer DJ's kick things off via the epic trip that is "Track 1", a saucer-eyed fusion of tropical house drums, ambient techno electronics and humid samples. Dj Donini raises the temperature further via the retro-futurist techno trip of "Donini's Dream", before CCL and Flora FM join forces on the bassbin-bothering tribal shuffle of "Liquify Interference". SMP rounds things off in fine style with "Natty Bop", a similarly bass-heavy fusion of skipping, post two-step beats, spacey sounds and low-end power.

Review: Frustrated Funk's latest missive boasts cuts from two of electro's most reliable artists: Convextion man Gerard Hanson (under the deep electro E.R.P. guise) and Rotterdam scene stalwarts Duplex. Hanson handles the A-side, delivering a punchy, club-ready electro workout rich in intergalactic electronics, Egyptian Lover style synth flourishes and restless drum machine cowbells. Interestingly, it's a far bolder and retro-futurist affair than we've come to expect from the dreamy and emotion-rich E.R.P. project. Ironically, Duplex's atmospheric and spacey "Molecular (Ovatow Reclock)" is undeniably deep and sumptuous, matching Hanson's most melodious and evocative moments.

Review: Fresh from another killer collaboration with regular studio sparring partner E-GZR on Wania, Laura "LNS" Sparrow goes solo and offers up the second volume in her ongoing "Recons" series. It's another confident and hugely entertaining affair, with Sparrow flitting between electro-influenced space funk ("Recon Two"), deep and dubbed out breakbeat shufflers ("Ecumene"), sunrise ready analogue deep house warmth ("Prahvist"), bleep and bass influenced machine techno ("Lehkist") and spacey ambient beauty ("To Be Continued"). Old pal DJ Sotofett is also on hand to remix "37th Degree" in a typically warm and woozy dubbed-out manner.

Review: The III Rivers crew have put out some serious heat since first transmitting out of the Manchester underground back in 2013. Kvetch X, also known as Voiceless and Ekeko, has been spotted on labels like UntilMyHeartStops before, so you know this chap knows his chops in the studio. Here he's in full deviant machine mode, swerving from the swinging, strafing thrust of "Tool Box" to bugged out boxy techno workout "Purge The Urge" before landing on the wave-riding arp beast "Blue Eyes" that courses through the B side like a noirish B-movie soundtrack joint on uppers, downers, laughers and screamers.

Review: With this sequel to December's brilliant, compilation style "The Orbitant" EP, FU ME boss George K is spoiling us. With a high quality threshold and five varied cuts to enjoy, it offers excellent value for money for clued-up electro DJs. Heinrich Dressel sets the scene via some wonderfully spacey, widescreen ambient electronica ("Sem Intro"), before Galaxian wraps 1990 style Yorkshire bleeps and fizzing, minor key electronics around a booming bassline and ghetto-tech style drums on "Source Reality". Foreign Sequence's throbbing, acid-laden "Negative Vibe" sits somewhere between surging Italo-disco and pulsating electro, while Lake Haze's "System Glitch" combines creepy, deep space electronics and ragged acid lines with a rolling electro groove. Arguably best of all though is the mutant funk overload that is Jenson Interceptor's techno/electro fusion workout "Faceless".

Review: Gabriel Reyes Whittaker is The Abstract Eye: an L.A.-based producer also known as GB (Gifted & Blessed) and Frankie Reyes. Regarding the dynamic pace of the music industry, he asks the question, what's real anymore? For him, it comes down to the feelings this music evokes. Last year saw the much needed reissue of his underrated 2011 opus Cool Warm Divine on Holland's Rush Hour, and this new record is another emotive release which explores classic electro and techno sounds - borrowing from the best of the genre's recent past but reinterpreting it in his own distinct way. From the old school deep techno bounce of "Land, Sky & Sea" to the chill groove of "What's Real Anymore?" or the mellow electro of "Butterfly Patterns" - thia is as real as it gets.

Review: The second release on Glasgow imprint Tremors is by Tom Livingstone aka Arctor. He has a way of making music for moments where the crowd has just melted in the palm of the dancefloor. His latest EP entitled Heartless bursts with kaleidoscopic melodies and streamlined percussion From the high octane electro bass of "Exploding Head Syndrome" with its respectful nod to greats like Drexciya or Dopplereffekt, or the more UK electro influenced "Bad Blood" with its heady booming acid vibe, to the emotive B side cut "United" showing the more contemplative side of his sound - the Glaswegian producer continues his run of sophisticated electro euphoria.