Juno Recommends Electro October 2020

Review: Having established himself many moons ago on Alphabet Set, Cignol has gone on to become a firm fixture in the contemporary electro scene with drops on labels like Lunar Disko, Furthur Electronix, Seagrave and many more. Now he appears on 20:20 Vision with an EP that slots perfectly into the electro direction the label has been exploring in the past couple of years. 'Past Futures' pivots around a nagging acid line, a pitched-down vocal hook and an easy tempo, while 'Virtual Array' swerves for the plushest Drexciya-indebted territory. 'Gantm' brings forth more 303 action, matched with all kinds of other playful synth strokes and a tumbling beat. 'Lessened By Lessons' completes the set on a plaintive note, but with a similar palette of expressive synth lines and a keen sense of harmony powering the track.

Review: 20/20 Vision's electro mission continues unabated with this second compilation drop in the Exit Planet Earth series. The record opens up with Jensen Interceptor working alongside Assemble Code for a darkside workout heavy on the details and rude around the low end. Carl Finlow and Keith Tucker form a mini-supergroup for a new partnership CKFT, displaying their formidable chops with the body-rocking dystopia of 'Coder'. Voigtmann keeps things closer to the 4/4 spectrum on 'Subtopia', but with plenty of machine funk tropes woven into the mix. Cignol completes the set with a widescreen sound that's steeped in emotion and sci-fi noir from a dazzling array of finely tuned synths (including some essential 303, of course).

Review: For Those That Know step up with another exquisite choice of underground hero to boost with a retrospective release - ADJ. Andy Jaggers has been a lynchpin to the UK electro scene since the 90s, and his Pyramid Transmissions label (run with Pathic) is rightly lauded and unsurprisingly hard to get hold of after release. This release gathers together some of Jaggers' finest work from recent years, including some previously unreleased tracks and highly sought after album cuts that have been out of reach for too long already. If you want high grade, forward thinking electro with a braindance tint, this is an album you won't want to miss.

Review: Electro might be having a big moment in the spotlight but for Anthony Rother, it has been his way of life for decades. Here he serves up a crisp and kicking single 'Stellarator' that's built on booming analogue drums and has molten, Millsian melodies rippling through its core to mind altering effect. A Plasma mix makes even more of those magically modulated synths. On the flip, Sync 24 gets more aggressive with his frazzled 'Hyperway', which rough rides on slapping hits and alien synth life forms. Also included are a pair of tense, teeth clenching intergalactic electro loops.

Review: Although the single that followed it, 'Blue Monday', remains New Order's most significant and influential club cut, 'Confusion' is every bit as impactful. It was recorded with Arthur Baker and John Robie, and mixed by John 'Jellybean' Benitez, and saw the Manchester band turn their hand to the then brand-new sound of New York electro. As this re-mastered reissue proves, the track still sounds superb, offering a unique mix of the band's usual hazy, post Joy Division guitars, evocative Bernard Summer vocals and ultra-tough beats from Baker and Robie. As it did first time around, the full-length mix (A1) comes backed by two dub-style club revisions ('Confusion (Instrumental)' and the sparse, effects-laden B-boy classic 'Confused Beats'), as well as the demo version (the 'Rough Mix').

Review: By now, Dopplereffekt has released so much music that we feel almost guilty in having to introduce it to you. But, perhaps it's a good thing to highlight just what this project is about, and what it has achieved throughout all these years. Founded by Gerald Donald of Drexciya, and now sidekicked with the help of the lesser known Michaela To-Nhan Bertal, Dopplereffekt has been the only real electro outfit to push the genre beyond the confines of its 80s inception. While many other electro projects repeat the same tried and tested formulas on a weekly basis, these two minds have produced some of the most singular and explorative deviations of the style. This new album, Cellular Automata, comes through for Berlin's Leisure System at a time when the scene is in real need of a fresh perspective, and by that we mean the electronic sphere as a whole. These nine tracks cannot be classed as 'ambient' music, there is too much movement and energy amid its pensive waves but, at the same time, it would be difficult to class it as a dance album. There, right in at the core of it all, Dopplereffekt plant their energetic waves of electrifying bass into vast and desolate soundscapes that transport you into a strange and complex world. A planet we'd very much like to visit more often.

Review: Over the last few years, Interstellar Funk (real name Olf van Elden) has become one of the Netherlands most enthusiastic collectors of what he calls "wave music" - that hard-to-define, synthesiser-heavy style that first emerged at the turn-of-the-80s and has been evolving ever since. Artificial Dancers, his first compilation, continues this trend by gathering together personal favourites and rarities spanning 40 years of wave music. It's a brilliant collection, with highlights including the moody dancefloor brilliance of Clan Of Xymox's 'Stranger (Demo)', the Human League's exceedingly rare 1979 tribute to JG Ballard ('4JG'), a killer live recording of 'Dias Cortas' by EBM kings Liaisons Dangereuse and the Norwegian eccentricity of Det Gylne Triangel's wayward post-punk synth-pop classic 'Maskindans'.

Review: When ambient soundscapes and electro design combine as well as they do on the opening track here, 'Il Tempo E Lo Spazio', you cannot fail to be impressed. It's a scene setting opener from Roberto Bosco and Il Cornonauta that immediately wins you over before 'Accelerazione' takes you to a higher level of electro funk on 'Velocita' Costante' which might just be the EP highlight. The high speed and high tech electro soul of 'Wolf 359' sure does give it a run for its money, though.

Review: Motor City artist Detroit's Finest doesn't do things by half - his electro is turbo-charged, with big booty bass and rave sirens underlining hard raps and streetwise swagger. He now finds himself on Casa Voyager outta France, laying out a double 12" vision that is varied and vital. After the urban opener 'Hands Behind Your Back' that is all about snapping snare loops and impromptu block parties, 'Undefeated' veers towards jungle madness. There are also sci-fi excursions, sample heavy and jazz tinged rollers like 'Blaxploitation' and pure ghetto bangers in 'Dis N Dat'. This one might be the mysterious producer's best yet.

Review: Alien Recordings has decided to launch a new sub-label, Alien Imprints, which it says has been created to, "showcase various artists from around the globe". Fittingly, the new offering's debut release - a collection of electro-breaks themed excursions from newcomers and rising stars - is called First Impressions. It seems right and proper then that Juno Laser Machine's EP opener is a starting, ear-catching slab of raw, angular and spacey, acid-powered electro/breaks fusion, while the cut that follows, Marocs Coya and Cosmonaut's 'Ultimatum', is a deeper and hazier, but no less impactful, peak-time electro workout. Elsewhere, Paddy Thorne's 'Coll' is a pleasingly bubbly, intergalactic affair rich in deep bass, enveloping chords and metallic percussion hits, while Peshka's 'Spacecraft' is a deep, rumbling, sample-laden treat.

Review: Detroit electro legends Dopplereffekt return to Leisure System for their fourth release on the Berlin based imprint. Athanatos is named after the angel of the planet Mercury in ancient Greek mythology, but that isn't so much the theme. Here the duo again explore subjects related to genetic conditions and chromosomal influences that define mortality across the EP's five tracks. After the brooding sonic landscapes of the title track , it's classic Mitchell & Nhan all the way on the majestic electronic funk of "Hayflick Limit" while devilishly enchanting slow burners like "Telomere" or "Mitosisin" lock you in with their hypnotic grasp. Raster-Noton founders Carsten Nicolai (who did the artwork) and Olaf Bender are said to have collaborated with the pair on this release.

Review: Specimen's latest 12" is heavyweight both metaphorically and literally. It is a talent packed four tracker that opens with the dark wave electro sounds of 'Extererri'. The kicks are rigged, the bass is frazzled, the synths circle around you with an ominous presence. Datawave's remix is more liquid, bulbous and fluid, as well as being riddled with acid, while 'Smooth Vibrato' a weird and wonky ride on unbalanced drum loops as steps melodic sequences that seem to get faster. Federico Leocata closes out with a twitchy groove filled with mystery and deep space atmosphere.

Review: Former City launch what will presumably be new various artist sears here with Volume 1 of Ghettoboom. It features two tracks each by three different artists on a super limited 12" that has a healthy dose of streetwise swagger. There are rave samples and big breaks on 1905's 'Recorddeals' while DJ Pirna gets for a more soul soothing and loved up vocal vibe on his super sweet bumper 'Booty Snapper. Bringing a third different sound is 'Get Your Head Bust', a high speed, lo-fi techno cut with turbo claps. The flip also features footwork style club tracks, lush deep house and urgent floor pumpers. This one covers lots of ground in real style

Review: 
Four years on from putting this EP out digitally, John Selway starts his own new label with a first ever vinyl pressing of it. He is an artist with a history that dates back to the nineties and takes in some high class minimal and electro funk on a range of labels, as well as plenty of production credits with Deep Dish, and this EP is one of his best. 'Shimmerdown' is super cosmic deep house with a synth based soul straight out of Detroit, while 'Solas' shows off a more high speed techno sound that is riddled with trippy motifs that keep your mind working. 'Recollect' is more stripped back, darker and pensive and completes an EP rich in stylistic variation.

Review: Portugal's Conversion is the latest new imprint to chuck its hat into the ever growing electro pool. The label is run by an artist of the same name who is also known as Jorge Caiado, who runs the Carpet & Snares label and shop, as well as doing A&R for Chez Damier's cult Inner Balance Music. It's been two years since he serve up the first release but the wait was well worth it - these are five more tracks of serene and cinematic electro. There is sparse, ambient laced dreaming material, more driving and punchy dance floor tackle and futuristic soul searching of the highest order.

Review: Move quick on this one as its a super limited red vinyl of rugged and ragged electro sounds from French label Radio Mars. It finds Red Arremer exploring new ground on some distant interplanetary body on 'La Forge D'isengard'. Busted kicks scuff along the ground while circling synths ride up and down the scale, while 'Masters Of Steel' recalls 90s video game soundtracks with its pixelated melodic rain. The variation continue on 'The Dark Mines Slave', a naught bit of bass driven electro with oversized sounds jumping from the speaker before a closing bonus takes off on a serrated bassline and crisp, crashing hits.