Juno Recommends Techno May 2019

Review: First released back in 1997, breakbeat-driven techno jam "Love" remains one of Luke Slater's most rush-inducing moments. Here the classic has been given a new lease of life via a swathe of fresh reworks. Fittingly, Slater provides cuts under two of his more familiar alternate aliases: an ultra-dreamy, glassy-eyed breakbeat take as The 7th Plain and a thrusting intergalactic techno revision as Planetary Assault Systems. The other revisions are all superb, too. Burial serves up an ultra-deep, super-dusty 4/4 interpretation full of his usual crackling samples, Lucy re-imagines it as a bouncy techno slammer, Marcel Dettmann gives it a clanking, metallic techno feel and Silent Servant offers up some carnival-ready drums and rising symphonic strings.

Review: Released on 1989 on Canadian imprint Big Shot Records, the "Blow Out Dub" of Landlord's sole single, "I Like It", cannily combined Bleep and bass style heavy sub business with the kind of bounding riffs and warehouse-friendly piano stabs that were popularized by early Inner City records. It's aged rather well, as this 2019 reissue proves. It feels like a current club record rather than one made 30 years ago. It comes backed by a fresh remix, with The Maghreban offering up an epic journey through rave-style breakbeat madness that builds, drops, builds again and then goes crazy over nine sweaty, mind-altering minutes.

Review: MDA Analog's scant discography points to just a few essential items from the mid 90s and one 12" in 2004, but those records made enough impact to now be highly sought after. Having returned earlier this year with the welcome reissue of "Shine", now they're turning their attention to "Pride", another 1996 jam that originally appeared on Nova Zembla. "Pride 2019" does a fine job of updating the original into a slower, funkier house framework, while the original "Pride 1996" has a pleasing rowdiness to offset the melodious harmony of the synth work. "Choose To Live" is a new production that applies a full-fat frequency range, from powerful basslines to swirling chords up top, while "Running Away From Home" creates a heady brew of hi-tech soul for astral travelers.

Review: The first missive from freshly minted Spanish label Tribe is a multi-artist affair, with a quartet of producers serving up some seriously good material. Barson kicks things off via the psychedelic acid lines, bustling TR-909 drums and early LFO mannerisms of "Inertia", before self-styled "ageing B-boy" Freddy Fresh surprises with a stomping, bass-heavy chunk of early '90s techno. Over on side B, Artes impresses via the dreamy but energetic techno-funk of "Chromatic Life", while Sheffield-based John Shima steals the show with a killer slab of intergalactic Motor City techno with distinctive ambient influences.

Review: Deep, Detroit influenced techno.

Review: The latest missive on leading Rome-based techno label Danza Tribale comes from the mighty DJ Red, one of the residents of the fabled Goa club. As a leading light in Italy's techno scene, Red has years of killer releases behind her, and she demonstrates her incredible instinct for trance-inducing rhythmic workouts in fine style here. "The Prophets Smile" is a masterclass in understated submission, creating a tactile environment out of unrelenting beat programming and artful atmospheric sound design that takes on an organic quality to offset its cyclical nature. "Moon" is a more mechanised construction that uses interwoven synth lines to keep things moving, and it's just as accomplished and engrossing. Italian techno veteran Lory D steps up for a remix of "The Prophets Smile" that keeps things chilly while working a more pronounced beat into the track.

Review: D. Tiffany's Planet Euphorique is back, following up some great freak outs by the likes of Nite Fleit, Reptant and Big Zen, with this retroverted trip by Ambien Baby: comprised of the label boss herself and Dan Rincon aka NAP. "Tack" is their sophomore effort after debuting on local tape imprint Isla last year, and as you'd expect, it borrows from house and techno's yesteryear, reinterpreting it with a modern edge as heard on the warped tunnel vision of "El Kesh" (which calls to mind the late German innovator Christian Morgenstern's finer moments), the dystopian electro funk of "Stab Me" and its unashamed Detroit influence plus closer "Sacrifice", which further explores Sophie Sweetland's love of intoxicating breakbeat sounds.

Review: REPRESS ALERT: MDA Analog is the brainchild of Colin McGraw, and first came to light in the mid '90s in Belgium with a seminal self-titled released on Nova Zembla. Now, after years being coveted by devout techno diggers, the project is back in action with a new label, MDA Labs, seeking to present classic and sought after tracks as well as new unreleased gems from the vaults. "Shine" is an original MDA Analog track from 1996 that comes on joyful and invigorating with its bold lead synths and hopped up beats, while equally classic track "Paris" appears here in a newly mixed form. Brokn Mind's edit of "Shine" is a slightly clubbier twist on the original, and "Good Morning" completes the set with a rampant slice of technicolour techno for the fist-shaking masses to get delirious to.

Review: REPRESS ALERT: Following on from his killer album on Organic Anaolgue, HVL presents an EP for movers, with work that draws together a refreshing variety of styles on an upbeat selection.

Review: Somewhat later than initially intended, Pinkman serves up the second volume in its celebratory "Five Years of Tears" series (the first landed back in April 2018). As was the case with its predecessor, the six-track set is made up entirely of previously unreleased material. This time round, the majority of the material is inspired by EBM, industrial, coldwave and other skewed, left-of-centre electronic sounds from the 1980s. The material is uniformly strong, with highlights including the sweaty, percussive, all-action insanity of "Al Batard" by Jann, sleazy, mid-tempo EBM pulse of Kris Baha's superb "Beatthemachine" and the pitch-black, DAF style intensity of Retrograde Youth's "Final Days".

Review: Blackhall & Bookless have been pursuing a fantastic strain of house and techno via their Jaunt label for many moons now. They're back and celebrating 10 years with a series of fantastic remixes that highlight the scope of their artistic vision, and that of those close to them. Inland leads in with an oceans deep version of the label bosses' "Spirit", which is smartly followed up by Jonas Kopp's equally submersive take on Hiver's "Itria". Jasper Wolff and Maarten Mittendorff lets the swooning "Meandering Rivers" by Kaelan burst its banks and fill out an expansive landscape, while Stojche pings Gian's "The Exchange" out into an electro-speckled cosmos.

Review: Serbian twosome Tapan has previously released a handful of singles and a fine album - January 2018's "Europa" - on Malka Tuti, so this belated return to action should warm the cockles of all those who enjoy their esoteric brand of dancefloor exoticism. "Ghana" is a particularly potent example; a chugging chunk of mid-tempo heaviness that uses undulating acid lines, hypnotic electronic motifs and densely layered percussion hits to create a particularly mind-mangling mood. The track's inherent darkness is explored further on Front De Cadeaux's loose, percussive and thrillingly wayward remix. Over on side B, Tapan original "The Beast" - another trippy, bleep-laden experimental acid cut - is accompanied by a hypnotic, dub disco influenced revision by Odopt.