Juno Recommends Electro April 2019

Review: When it comes to electro, Carl Finlow has been doing it longer than most. The machine funk specialist rocks up to his regular stomping ground of 20/20 Vision with another slab of crucial beats for body poppers to get frisky to, kicking off with the crisp, future-noir stylings of "Electronic". Things take an even darker turn on the murky "Side Effects", while "Vortices" weaves a more mystical message out of the intricate threads of synths and drum machine hits. The EP closes out with "Flaw", a blown out and irrepressibly funky workout Drexciya heads will lap up.

Review: Following the series of Drexciya retrospectives on Clone, Tresor has dug their own sizable archives to revisit some of the work James Stinson and Gerald Donald committed to the Berlin institution in their time working together. Having already reissued the Drexciya LP Return To Neptunes Lair, Tresor now present a reissue of The Opening Of The Cerebral Gate, the 2001 LP from the late James Stinson's Transllusion project. Initially released on Tresor offshoot Supremat, this new triple LP edition from the label includes three cuts that were not present on the original vinyl version. Given how much og copies command on the second hand market, Drexciya fans without a copy should consider this an essential purchase!

Review: ** REPRESS ** Following the series of Drexciya retrospectives on Clone, Tresor has dug their own sizable archives to revisit some of the work James Stinson and Gerald Donald committed to the Berlin institution in their time working together. Having already reissued the Drexciya LP Return To Neptunes Lair, Tresor now present a reissue of The Opening Of The Cerebral Gate, the 2001 LP from the late James Stinson's Transllusion project. Initially released on Tresor offshoot Supremat, this new triple LP edition from the label includes three cuts that were not present on the original vinyl version. Given how much og copies command on the second hand market, Drexciya fans without a copy should consider this an essential purchase!

Review: Latvian label Blind Allies have been on a roll since first committing to their various artists series to wax two years ago. On their latest release, the A side is given over to UK producer Dexterous Numerics, who offers up two tracks of dark and emotive electro heavy on leads and atmospherics. On the flip, Lectromagnetique takes a freakier turn into sparse, dungeon-ready acid electro that should appeal to fans of Bunker Records et al. Davide Piras has a lighter touch on "Arcade" that draws from the Drexciya school of thought, and DVS NME's "Song For The Doomed" rolls out an expressive strain of braindance as considered as it is punchy.

Review: Paris-based Hard Beach Entertainment (aka Marcel's Drive Studio) are back, following up great releases by DJ SCSI, Reflective Souls and Corporation Mindfuck. They now introduce Pyramid Of Knowledge - an enigmatic project that explores 'introspective breaks - to remind you that you know only what the pyramid wants you to know' - sure thing! Starting off with the fierce electro-acid of "The Elevation" which is reminiscent of early Underground Resistance, the murky and bass-driven underwater vibe of "Secret Order Of Jaresiwald" and ending with the bleak dystopian sci-fi funk of "Son Of Edjo".

Review: Originally released in 1990 on obscure Canadian imprint Big Shot Records, Hi-Bias' second EP is one of those well-regarded underground records' that has become something of a cult classic in recent years. As this reissue proves, the hype is more than warranted; put simply, its four tracks remain timeless slabs of high-grade electronic music that sound every bit as intergalactic today as they did at the dawn of the '90s. While there's one slo-mo foray into dreamy, tactile, loved-up house territory (the sunrise wonder of "More, More, More"), the majority of the EP brilliantly joins the dots between far-sighted futurist electro and moody, atmospheric period techno, with the Canadian duo brilliantly putting their spin on sounds and styles more often associated with Detroit, London and Sheffield.

Review: Although Clone's series of remastered Drexciya retrospectives are excellent, it's nice that Tresor have decided to reissue the majority of material the Detroit pair released through the Berlin label in its original format. This way you get the music in the manner Donald and Stinson originally intended. The four tracks on Digital Tsunami were drawn from the same recording sessions that resulted in the sublime Drexciyan document Harnessing The Storm and thankfully got pressed on an addendum 12" after not making the cut for the double LP. With Tresor having just reissued Harnessing The Storm it seems only fair Digital Tsunami should be granted the same treatment. Some 13 years after it's original release and all the music here still sounds like it was drawn from the future, with Donald and Stinson excelling at rapid fire bursts of abstract subaquatic electro, such as towering highlight "The Plankton Organisation".

Review: It would be unfair to label Mikey Melas aka Jensen Interceptor as anything less than a contemporary electro king, both in terms of the labels he's released for and his own personal brand of industrial tech. The producer is up on Australia's Power Station, run out of Melbourne, marking his debut with the opening "Route E", a classic electro bruiser that sails at a mid-tempo but bangs harder and harder with each new verse; "Delayed Response" is the perfect companion, featuring Kirin J Callinan and a supremely industrial slew of techno lashings. On the flip, "Emulator" strips the melodies down to bleeps and focusses on forming off-kilter drum breaks, while "Tunnel Chase" forms a new, strange variety of acid tech, and "Saudade" trods along to a faster tempo, recalling the likes of Cabaret Voltaire at their most beat-centric. Killah!

Review: London/Berlin-based Itinerant Dubs resurface with their first release in five years since their Itinerant Club EP - and not long after their terrific Juno Plus podcast, actually. Featuring three new dance experiments that cross the boundaries and join the dots with brutal simplicity on "Human Emulation", there's some seriously booming electro bass from the dark side on A side cut "Dub This", while on the flip you've got the restrained sci-fi drama of the title track followed by the tunnelling vibe of "Three Four". Fierce!

Review: Point B has a mighty fine discography behind him, although he's been a little quiet on the release front in the past five years. Rumour has it he's been busy with other projects, but his return to the club 12" format finds him in searing form. "Jack Knife" kicks proceedings off on a twitchy, electro-indebted tip, with deft splashes of IDM synths to match the beats. "Out Of Flavour" has a more manic feel, with some seriously warped lead tones to twist minds left right and centre. "Video Vault" drops the tempo a touch, but the feisty sound design and brooding atmospheres remain at the heart of the track. "Smash Hits" finishes the record off with a playful electro funk cut that wouldn't sound out of place alongside classic DMX Krew.

Review: The latest must-have EP on Rawax's always on-point Motor City Edition series comes from Simon Hamelin AKA A-Sim, a producer who has previously impressed via No Suit Records and Rawax's main label. He begins in confident fashion via "Disaster Theory", a Drexciya-inspired workout wrapped in cybernetic motifs and deep space chord sequences. "Dub Bells" sees him wrap blissful bleep melodies and starry chords around a tougher, chunkier electro beat, while "Human Disease Network" is a deliciously angular and analogue invitation to dance bristling with heavy electronic bass, ghostly pads and crispy machine cymbals. To round things off in style, he once again reaches for the bleep melodies on the sparse but heavy closing cut "Ting Ting".

Review: With only 200 copies floating around, you'll have to move fast to secure a copy of this Weapons Of Desire missive from prolific electro/techno fusionist Jensen Interceptor. It is, though, well worth grabbing, not least because "Smoke" is one of the Australian producer's purest dancefloor workouts for a while. The electro beats are tough and tight, the synths alien, the chords spacey and the main motif - a cross between a bassline and a lead line - is deliciously addictive and mind-altering. Over on the flipside Timothy J. Fairplay gives his interpretation, successfully dirtying up the track while adding Drexciya style levels of intergalactic funk.

Review: Original music from Vancouver based producer NAP has been intermittent on the electronic music scene, but now the Isla boss has finally dropped a 12" of deadly, textured and fresh-sounding electro for our bodies and minds. "Transhumano" features ZDBT and has all the hallmarks of Stingray-friendly future shock machine funk, but the particular approach to pads and melodies has a distinctive, moody slant that chimes with the hazy sound of Canada's West Coast. "Anestesia General" is another needlepoint, uptempo workout that packs layer up on layer of darting rhythms and blippy synth lines into the mix. "Sin Sistema" completes the set with a more subdued but no less detailed box jam workout.