Electro Recommendations November 2013

Review: Ed Upton's prolific nature across his numerous aliases has really been shown in devastating fashion this year. Having already issued album length releases on Power Vacuum and Rush Hour Distribution's No 'Label,' Upton adds Abstract Forms to his impressive collection of labels with a jam packed release that sits snugly in the interzone between EP and LP. Eight tracks deep, Micro Life is filled with the quirky electro Upton has made his own under the DMX Krew banner, adopting a modernist approach to a classic sound. From the opening track "Undesirable Element" there is a sense of melody and innate funk that few others currently engaged in flying the electro flag can match. The contrast between "Hexadecimal" and "Knights Of The Eastern Calculus" alone offer a telling example of Upton's range.

Review: Clone presciently dips into the sizeable archives of Gerald Donald and pick out two prime slabs of pure Detroitian electro from his Der Zyklus project. Finding a perfect home on the lesser spotted Aqualung sub-label, both tracks here are lifted from the Der Zyklus II EP released on DJ Hell's International Deejay Gigolos back in 2001 with that edition out of print for a long, long time! Lead track "Elektronisches Zeitecho" is taut, simple yet emotionally satisfying electro at its finest, with the spectrally haunting nature of the A Side complemented by the more playful rising melodies of "Mathematische Modelle". More please Clone Aqualung!

Review: Frustrated Funk boss Klen dons his Ovatow alias for In Loving Memory Of Juvenile Jay a three pronged workout on sub label Harbour City Sorrow. As the title suggests, this 12" is presented in honour of Juvenile Jay, a South Rotterdam based DJ who played an important role in shaping Klen's own path as a DJ. Musically, this is represented in three "extremely deep journeys into the fog of endless re-verb and delay applications" that fit ever so snugly into the defined Harbour City Sorrow aesthetic. Both "Flame" and "A Thought" occupy the crawl space between Motor City themed electro and techno preferred by the Lowlands troupe. Sandwiched in-between is "Visitation Dub III" a new stripped down version of "Visitation_v4" the Ovatow track that previously featured on the Viewpoints Chapter One compilation which is evocative of Basic Channel at their finest.

Review: French artist Victoria Lukas steps aside from her Jauzas The Shining work with Heinrich Mueller for this solo journey into the iciest, most expansive realms of the electro galaxy. Highlights include the thumping weave of uptempo rhythms and counter melodies on "Superpartners", her angular, cosmic subversion of ghetto-bass on "(Death Doesn't Exist") and the blissed out arpeggios of "Potentia" and the almost operatic vocal delivery on "Human Terms". Delivered with LKT's iconic artwork and pressed to white vinyl, serious attention to detail has been paid on every aspect of this release.

Review: Former M_nus cohorts Marc Houle and Click Box join forces to deliver this four-tracker on Houle's Items & Things label, and the results are naughty, synth rich jams that follow on neatly from Houle's career to date in bringing a little touch of Italo to modern dance music. There is a palpable amount of fun being had within these tracks, from the tongue-in-cheek vocals to the on-the-fly tweaks and wobbles, but the tracks that emerge from the melee are sturdy enough for any floor. "Freaky Baby" holds down a deadly, bass-laden groove, while "Cable Line" calls to mind the work of mid-00's Soma tech-funk.