Juno Recommends Techno January 2019

Review: Having set our world alight with his third Ilian Tape 12", 2012, back in the spring, Munich man Skee Mask delivers another essential collection of loose-limbed, broken techno workouts. Typically, he's on point from the word go, enveloping swinging, off-kilter techno breakbeats with swirling chords and cascading melodies on brilliant opener "Inti". His love of African-influenced polyrhythms is explored further on the ghostly, percussion-rich club cut "Kappelberg Chant" (which, incidentally, makes great use of choral chants), while "Routine" is a warm, loved-up and evocative tribute to rave-era British breakbeat-house. His debt to British dance music's formative years also comes to the fore on killer proto-jungle jam "Skreet Lvl Dub".

Review: Given that Star Marked is a new sub-label from legendary Detroit Techno stable Axis, it's perhaps fitting that boss man Jeff Mills presents the debut release. Mills has yet to fully explain the ethos behind this new spin-off imprint, though by the sounds of the four contained tracks we're guessing a sharp dancefloor focus is part of the blueprint. There's plenty of variety on show, too, with the slamming, hypnotizing intensity of opener "Albali" - think metronomic kick-drums, sci-fi sweeps and a restless, minor key motif - being followed by the deep, melodious and dreamy, house-tempo goodness of "Patterns In Nature". There's a similar approach on the flip, where the dystopian techno throb of "Helix Nebula" makes way for the off-kilter deep space electro of "Aquarius". It's all superb, of course, but we expect little less from the masterful Mills.

Review: REPRESS ALERT: Stephen Lopkin made an impression when he landed on M>O>S, and now he follows up that star turn with this arch tribute to the archetypal techno sound on Distant Worlds. The "Imitator EP" may be brazen about its influences and intentions, but that's no disservice to the quality of the techno on offer here, which shows Lopkin to be incredibly well-read on the studio techniques of the past masters. From the Detroit stable to the UK torch-bearers, the reference points come thick and fast, but more telling is that fact these tracks fit right in with a lot of techno being produced at the moment. If you're feeling that classic 90s sound right now, then there's an embarrassment of riches to be enjoyed on this release.

Review: Three-quarters of the way through 2018, Ricardo Villalobos finally serves up his first solo release of the year. The Chilean has said very little about the two-tracker, merely serving up sound clips with no fanfare or fuss. Fans will enjoy "Wispa", with the producer's signature buried spoken word samples and intoxicating audio textures playing second fiddle to a driving kick-drum pattern and druggy, TB-303 style acid line. "909 Track" is, if anything, even bolder. While it's as hypnotic and trippy, the beats bounce, the acid lines pop and the main riff - a relentless, warehouse-friendly affair - drives the cut forward with restless energy. An impressive departure from his tried-and-tested blueprint.

Review: For the uninitiated, Dawl is the alias of one Darren Woollard - a London based producer in charge of Tone Dropout since 2013. He has also served up some great releases of late on Berlin imprints Libertine and Klasse Wrecks. His new Infected System EP is for Shadow Play, a Paris based operation run by veteran DJ Le Loup (aka Hold Youth) and Pura. Classic UK rave aesthetics of yesteryear are catered for on "Bring It Back" with snarling 303 acid accompanied by fierce breakbeat action. On the flip are he pays homage to Yorkshire techno on the tunnelling banger "Parranoia" which uses more of that signature TB-303 sound and the deeply emotive hypnotism of "Cosmic Drift".

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: Russ Gabriel returns to Ferox with another round of classy, thoughtful techno excursions that point to his decades in the game. "Peace For Thought" stretches across the A side, its forthright rhythm section carrying an elegiac line in synth work. "Archipelago" is a snappier, Detroit-tinted workout defined by its catchy organ leads. "Finches In Flight" sends the B2 tripping off on a downtempo selection crafted with the chillout room (or some other non-dancefloor situation) in mind, and sounds utterly magnificent with it. Once again Gabriel proves his deft touch as well as his diversity on this sterling new entry in the Ferox canon.

Review: With this release, the Zenker Brothers' Ilian Tape label has delivered something of a curveball. It sees experimental D&B producer and all round bass head Djrum join the party, sharing space with unknown quantity Struction. Djrum begins with broken techno gem "Untitled 9", cutting up sweaty broken beats, heavy basslines and deep techno electronics. On the flip, we are treated to the sounds of Struction, combining punchy breakbeats with ambient-influenced electronics on the rolling "Don't Blame", before moving further towards beat-less, end-of-night territory with the acid-flecked trip that is "Struktur".

Review: Originally released by Music Man in 1990, Lhasa's "The Attic" is an unusual rarity: a Belgian record that sounds like it was influenced by the then popular British bleep movement. It's not a bleep record per se, but does include subtle nods to some of the biggest bleep records of the period (including a chord sequence that pays tribute to the biggest of the lot, "LFO" by LFO), as well as a chugging, saucer-eyed groove that sounds like new beat sped up. It remains a fine record, as this timely reissue proves. Interestingly, this time round it's backed by previously unheard jam "Sexxor", a bouncy, acid-fired chunk of loopy techno that boasts one of the most rush-inducing chord sequences we've heard in a while.

Review: Fresh from serving up some savage "Rave Reworks" on an ultra-limited 12" single, techno's leading number crunchers return with an EP of fresh studio jams. As usual, what's on offer is intense, full-throttle and mind-altering in the extreme. Check, for example, opener (and title track) "000000005", where increasingly ragged, wayward and psychedelic acid lines surge forwards over a stomping, kick-drum dominated beat, or"000000006", an acid techno onslaught that waves a glow-stick towards the Halcyon days of German techno-trance. The acid-fired '90s techno revivalism continues on the flip with two more chunks of sweaty, mind-altering peak-time insanity. Not one for the faint hearted.

Review: Munich-based mystery man, Skee Mask, remains at the top of our Ilian Tape favourites. While we love the work of brothers Dario and Marco Zenker, the two label founders, we think that this guy's sound is the creme de la creme of contemporary, dub-filtered techno. Serum and Junt were both absolute killer EPs, and the Shred album was also on our list of the best releases of 2016, so we're pretty psyched about this new single, the curiously named 2012. The opening "Kordman Return (Swing mix)" is Skee Mask up to his naughty break sampling and techno wizardry, all broken and loose, whereas "Palo Alto" sees the producer in a surprisingly sturdy, head-first mood driven by solid bursts of 4/4 and wondrous synths. Over on the B-side, "Fjorward Flex Dub" swings its mighty swarms of drums over a minimal flurry of melodies, in what feels like a sublime reinterpretation of heavy, 90s power-house; "Glass Museum" closes with a real twist thanks to an abstract, wide-eyed landscape of dissolving, jazzed-out percussion and moody ambience. Excellent material, as per usual.

Review: "Clear Drive" marks Mix Mup man Lorenz Lindner's first outing on The Trilogy Tapes in nearly four years. Thanks to Will Bankhead's impeccable A&R skills, the showcased material is also some of Lindner's best in years, too. Check first opener "Clear Drive", where melancholic, alien-sounding sustained chords, pulsing sub bass and razor-sharp TB-303 bass stabs cluster around a deliriously snappy drum machine groove. Next doff a cap to the hypnotic, off-kilter techno deepness of "Flair 2", before rushing your way through lo-fi stomper "Pa Toppen", where fizzing rave riffs giddily dance atop spaced-out chords and distorted drums. Should you require a bit of a breather, the beat-free dub techno wooziness of "Clear Dub" should put you straight.

Review: Imprints is a London-based label run by Domenico Rosso and Riccardo Buccirossi - the latter serving up their next release here titled Social Positive Effects. Indeed the benefits as promoted by the title could work well - ideally on the dancefloor. Across the three tracks here, Buccirossi gets deep in a bleepy/retro/analogue fashion, similar to 'it' sounds emanating out of Berlin at present (Time Passages/Cabaret) or local label Art Of Dark; from the trippy bleep-funk of "Purema" and its wacky vocoder antics, the deeply emotive "Humanlove" which uses breakbeats effectively to closer "Faraway" calling to mind the early days of classic Chicago label Alleviated.

Review: Lately, interest has been growing in the turn-of-the-'90s work of Stefan van Elsen, a Belgian producer arguably best known for his ambient-leaning work with brother Dimitri as Trans4m. Now Stroom has decided to reissue two more dancefloor-leaning cuts from the van Elsen production line. On side A you'll find "Dilemma", a solo cut Stefan produced as Sound Mercenary that layers glassy-eyed, life-affirming synth riffs and Inner City style stabs over a breakbeat-tinged, bass-heavy Belgian techno groove. Over on side B you'll find another 1991 gem: the van Elsen brothers' response to bleep-heavy British bleep and hardcore, "Switch (Techno Mix)". Built around booming sub-bass, Kraftwerk bleeps, dreamy pads and electro-fired breakbeats, the track remains a timeless dancefloor workout.

Review: Drumcode's first big release of 2019 comes courtesy of Julian Jeweil, a relative newcomer to the Swedish label who originally built his reputation via years of releases on M_Nus, Plus 8 and Cocoon Recordings. "Transmission" is not only his long-awaited debut album, but also a far more spacey and intergalactic proposition than much of Drumcode's output. Of course, the majority of the tracks are still underpinned by relentless techno rhythms and gnarly electronic stabs, with plenty of darkness amongst the stargazing grooves. Intriguingly, there's also a little more variety than you might expect, with the deep and woozy "Planet X", acid-fired heaviness of "Astral" and glassy-eyed early morning ambient of "Final" catching the ear.

Review: Jurek Przezdziecki first appeared on Synewave back in 2014, and returned in 2017 alongside label boss Damon Wild for some appropriately immersive deep techno head twisters that fit right into the label's MO. On his debut album, the Polish producer best known as Epi Centrum presents his unfiltered vision for ranging, nagging techno crafted with delicacy to match its intensity. Try resisting the zippy refrains of "Blaming Others" or the looped up acid bleep-out "Association" - with a consistently tough sound palette and foreboding atmosphere, this is hardline machine music to get well and truly lost to.

Review: Ste Roberts continues his productive run of white label drops with another handful of boisterous belters imbued with a rugged, underground finish. "White & Cold" is an uptempo jacker which maintains an uneasy atmosphere thanks to some swirling loops lingering in the background behind taut drums and a film sample about psychedelic drugs. "Pumpkin Seed" is a scuffed groover built up of densely packed beats and bleeps that harks to the spirit of swinging minimal techno but with some serious girth on its bones. "Elevate" has a more house-oriented outlook, but still the murky mood prevails to keep things consistent and nicely left of centre.

Review: Fresh from the runaway success of his all-star collaboration with Adam Beyer and Green Velvet, "Space Date", Layton Giordani returns to Drumcode with his first fresh solo material since 2017. All four tracks are formidably floor-friendly in the "big room techno" style that has turned the Drumcode crew into global stars in recent years. Giordani begins with the tribal drums, atmospheric chords, acid stabs and bleeping synth melodies of "New York City To Amsterdam", before doffing a cap to Italo-disco on the electro-techno chug of "Enter The Stratosphere". Over on side B, "Body Language" is an angular, acid-fired peak-time thumper, while closing cut "Black Mirror" sees him fix gated, trance style riffs to a typically throbbing, bass-heavy techno groove.

Review: Poly Kicks, the London based label run by brothers Tessela and Truss (aka Overmono) now present mysterious newcomer Glyn Hendry for the imprint's ninth edition that follows up a slew of killer releases by the brothers themselves. We're loving A side Escape Club 99, a frantic polyrhythmic stepper that is the title track, but "Dexy" on the flip with its tough rolling, bass heavy bounce is just as good too.

Review: Some eight years on from his Hessle Audio debut, Blawan has finally got round to releasing his debut album. Predictably, it's rather good, offering an eight-track assault on the senses built around his now familiar clanking, industrial-tinged polyrhythmic techno rhythms, foreboding electronics and paranoid, claustrophobic aural textures. Most of the sounds - including the percussion hits - were created using modular synthesis, which gives Wet Will Always Dry a particularly atmospheric and otherworldly feel. There are nods towards the likes of Surgeon and Livity Sound, as well as Rhythm & Sound/Basic Channel style dub techno, but the album's greatest strength is that it never sounds like anything other than a fine set of Blawan club tracks.

Review: The term 'idiosyncratic' is flippantly bandied about these days, but can be used more appropriately to define legendary producers such as Ann Arbor's John Beltran. For nearly 20 years, Beltran has created some of the most seminal and timeless expressions in hi-tech soul music. It is classic Beltran on The Musical Storm EP, as heard on "Ascending" which harks back to the sounds of his treasured Ten Days Of Blue album on Peacefrog back in '96, the life affirming ambient journey "Barely Beating Within My Chest" is a fast forward to the present and is similar to his work on recent Delsin efforts like Everything At Once or Espais. Always one to surprise us at times, Beltran goes for a more lo-fi and gritty analogue approach to jackin underground house on the gritty "Confuse You" on the flip.