Back catalogue: Electro

Review: Annie Hall has been on a blinding run of late, appearing on the likes of 20:20 Vision, CPU and many other bastions of quality modern electro. Now she's landing on Orson with another four track which spell out why she's one of the most essential talents in the contemporary scene, laying down a captivating MO on 'Kellner' in which the kinetic rhythmic elements are offset by some frankly staggering synth sweeps. 'Nagler' keeps the drums tightly packed while exploring a parallel universe of atmospheric textures, and 'Erfle' dips into a pool of nervy lead blips with an almost jazzy quality. 'Plossi' rounds things off with some of the most expressive synthesis on the whole record, confirming Hall's distinctive qualities as an artist bringing something fresh to the well-worn electro template.

Review: Some three years after making her first appearance on Central Processing Unit, storied electro star Annie Hall (real name Ana Artalejo Moreno) returns to the Sheffield-based label with another fabulous four-track missive. It's a pleasingly varied affair, with the sometime Semantica contributor confidently striding between deep, melodious, laidback, IDM-influenced fare (the undeniably emotive, occasionally bittersweet 'Memories That Never Happened'), shimmering and sparkling, sci-fi-seeped 21st century electrofunk ('Problematic Tape Recorder'), Autechre-influenced glacial IDM excellence ('Subsequent Experiments') and warm and dreamy downtempo electro bliss (the sustained chords, gentle melodies and slipped hip-hop beats of 'Unparalleled Comfort').

Review: "Way back in the 1990s, Mark Hand, Neil Iceton & Jez Nicholl channelled their love of sci-fi-fired Motor City techno into a string of inspired releases under the alias Cubic Space Collective.

After reuniting for a memorable machine jam at Freerotation festival in 2016, Hand & Iceton headed back into the studio for a one-off session and recorded 'Holiday in Beta Centauri', a musical love letter to Mad Mike and the rest of Detroit's most militant futurist techno crew.

Sending us surging skywards via 'Binary System', where lilting lead lines, fizzing electronics and enveloping chords dance atop a snappy, cymbal-heavy drum machine rhythm, before 'Arps in Hyperspace' sees them step things up a notch via layered waves of synths, sparkling melodies and a driving, hyper-speed groove.

The North-East-based twosome then attempt to warm us to the core in the shape of 'Rigil': restless organ stabs, undulating Michigan bass, alien electronics, psychedelic acid lines and Galaxy 2 Galaxy style chords catching the ear. Bringing us gently back down to earth, they complete their deep space mission with 'Beyond The Nebula (Holiday in Beta Centauri)', a bustling electro number full of stabbing analogue bass, star-burst electronics, meditative ambient chords that shimmer full of night-sky melodies.

A fine return to action for this Teesside UR-loving techno twosome... 3,167 miles away in Detroit, their achievement will be noted."

Review: YUYAY Records chief Robyrt Hecht from Leipzig presents the label's next release in the form of Yskayan Knowledge, an extended EP featuring some intelligent takes on the electro sound. There's bass heavy computer funk as heard on 'Don't Sell Our Knowledge' and some minimal night moves for showroom dummies ('Earnings') on side A, while over on the flip there's the mandatory futurist epic in the form of 'Exploitation/Liquidation'.

Review: Bordello A Parigi is back with more of their sublime electro jams this time from Heinrich Dressel. The EP kicks off with 'Galatograd', a slow and steady jam with shimmering chords and lazy baselines. 'Eden Olympia' then picks up the pace a little with still skill drums and celestial keys that take you on a jaunt through the cosmos. 'Remoria' brings many layers of lush and futuristic synth work and timeless electro rhythms that are comforting and subtly celebratory and 'Mylos' shuts down this most lovely EP with another classy sound.

Review: Following on from last year's impressive Redlight debut, Scott Hess is back on his Adeen label with another selection of warm and inventive house cuts splashed with colour and analogue wobbles precision-engineered to catch your ear. Lead track 'Sirius City' leans on a harmonically rich lead line and plenty of off-kilter wriggles to appeal to those who want some cheekiness in their tunes. 'UFO' sports a tasteful acid tweak running in between plush pads and snappy drums, while 'Call Me, Acid' plays around with telephone tropes to make a bleepy jam that will have the ID requests flying in. 'Stars' offers something sweeter to complete the set, spacing out the beats to leave the synths plenty of room to cavort around a celestial name-checking session for deep house dreamers.

Review: Although he rarely speaks about the project in public, His Master's Voice is the itechno alias of underground deep house producer (and sometime Raw Soul label contributor) Jaines Bomt. Carry On In My name sees the shadowy German producer return to Delsin for the first time in nearly three years. There's plenty to set the pulse racing throughout, from the breathlessly up-tempo, broken techno rhythms and filthy analogue bass of 'Lotek' and the '90s ambient techno-influenced deep space wooziness of 'Lion', to the Motor City electro-futurism of 'Bassline' and the Autechre-at-their-most-melodic flex of 'Carry On In My Name'.

Review: GIM Records is a brand new label that makes a superb start to life with this debut release. It's a limited edition EP from the Italian pair 'HP' or House Pleasure. They offer up three effortlessly cosmic grooves that take us on a trip through the stars. There is a motorik kick to 'Mare Imbrium' (part 1) that starts off in sleek fashion with delightful melodic patterns, then 'Mare Vaporum' has a more broken beat with rubbery bass and funky lo-fi and dry hi hats akin to the Mood Hut crew. 'Mare Nectaris' is star-gazing deep house with dusty aesthetics and dreamy chord work. The two remixes head off into ambient and then deep dub territory. Deffo a label to watch on this evidence.

Review: Swiss label Creaked has decided to give over a full 12" to remixes of HRDVISION's 'Captivated Heart' and the results are varied and impressive. It is the cultured electronica of Nathan Fake that kicks things off with some widescreen synth drones, She Spells Doom then brings some twitchy tech house and Shanx goes for something laced with alien effects, gurgling synths and swampy beats. Efemme brings some acid laced minimal funk and Sinistarr brings compelling broken rhythms and icy urban metropolis vibes. HRDVISION himself also steps up with a Hrdvsiovsiivosvsiosvin remix to close out in mad fashion.

Review: Hizou Deep Rooted Music is one of those quality-assured imprints that is always well worth checking in with. This latest platter is another on that truly matters with Huerta opening up with 'DAYL' which showcases his distinctive blend of spaced-out breaks and silky tech house. Jacksonville's 'Data Log' is ahems down and deep late-night cosmic excursion and Nlxlb's 'Gravitate' keeps you afloat on mellifluous astral lines and twinkling melodic stars. 100Hz shuts down with 'Ggg', a unique mix of floating pads and barely-there rhythm that grow in stature as your journey to the certain edges of the galaxy unfolds.

Review: Human Behind Pluto, johnfaustus and VSO all contuse to this new split red vinyl from Zodiak Communte. Human Behind Pluto goes first with a warp speed, electro-tinged techno track that has a knack-snapping beat and brilliantly mangled acid line. Johnfaustus's 'Red Sonjia' is dark and twisted electro from the underworld and VSO offers two sick jams: 'Sinking' is a bumping and coruscated bit of electro-crunk and 'Complacency' is a dense full flavour cosmic assault with fearless drum programming and plenty of suspenseful synths. This one takes no prisoners and comes with its own unique insert.

Review: Organic Analogue makes it to double figures with a sublime new split EP from HVL and Gacha Bakradze. The A-side is opened up with 'Infinitesimal', a stripped back and icy bit of minimal dub techno, then 'AgneffC01' gets more rhythmically physical with scattered beats and hits and 'Collective Genius' is tense, kinetic techno with a real sense of paranoia. 'Routes' is the first B-side joint with Gacha Bakradze bringing some direct but economical drum machine grooves under meticulous percussion and then 'Chain' layers smeared cosmic pads with twitchy details and 'Widow' ends with a heavy heart. No wonder, then, that a host of eminent DJs like Ben UFO are all over it.

Review: The second part of the Remember The Future series from the Greek label To Pikap is another 12" packed with electro goodness form an array of exciting artists. LEGACY opens up with 'Nom De Guerre' with its magnificently lithe and chrome plated rhythms dancing about over crunchy analogue drums. Future Draft rides a more zoned out and celestial electro vibe on 'All That Remains' and The Jaffa Kid gets into some intricate synth programming and off-grid beat work. Three further cuts on the B-side bring funky, dark and joyous tweaks to the electro format.

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Review: This archival release on Organic Analogue digs back into the prolific '90s period of Swedish techno maverick Jean-Louis Huhta, aka Dungeon Acid. These days he releases on iDEAL, Fit Sound, Borft and Klasse Wrecks, but he cut his techno teeth on labels like Hybrid, Svek and H. Productions. Clad in artwork details by Swedish graffiti legend Nug, Wormhole Of Time comprises unreleased cuts and long out-of-print jams spanning many of Huhta's aliases. The release also comes with a zine featuring photographs and an interview reflecting on Huhta's multifarious life in music.

Review: Last year, Belgian imprint De:Tuned decided to commission a wealth of remixes of 'St8818r', Future Sound of London's 2019 re-make of their 1988 UK acid/techno fusion classic as Humanoid, 'Stakker Humanoid'. Kicking off with the peerless, breakbeat-driven, TB-303-riddled '88 original, this CD contains all nine commissioned reworks, plus a wealth of bonus material. There's plenty to excite those who love the intersection of acid, electro, techno, IDM and Rephlex-style 'braindance', with highlights including a murky and mind-bending Autechre rub, a storming, Phuture-inspired acid-jack interpretation from Mikey Dred, an impressively uncompromising breakbeat take from Plaid and a gorgeous, piano-sporting twist from Roel Funcken. Bonus cut 'Blue Beans', a psychedelic ambient acid excursion, is also superb.