Electro Recommendations July 2015

Review: Fresh off releasing one of the best Frustrated Funk 12"s in some time, West Coast electro explorer Chris Roman aligns with another respected vessel of the Dutch scene in Shipwrec for his latest album North Bend. Roman has been plying his trade for well over a decade now but has really found his creative groove of late. North Bend arrives some 13 years after his debut album, Esemplastic, and its nine tracks find a producer fully confident in the kind of electro he's now producing. Rich in atmosphere and futuristic texture, North Bend is an album that demands your attention from the off and feels quite at home on Shipwrec.

Review: Something is stirring deep down beneath; after lying dormant for some time, Clone's Aqualung Series is revived in order to facilitate another round of Drexciya-related goodness. Dedicated solely to the various works of Drexciya man Gerald Donald, the Aqualung label has been used sparingly by Clone since it was established in 2009 so the arrival of a new release is somewhat surprising and, more to the point, most welcome. As the title suggests, Black Sea / Wavejumper (Aqualung Versions) presents alternate takes on the Drexciya favourites and wedged inbetween is a brilliantly grotty unreleased track in "Unknown Journey XI". Another fine Drexciya document from Clone.

Review: Seattle-based producer Chris Roman has been an active contributor to the international electro scene for well over a decade but has found renewed vigour since he began to operate under the 214 alias. A 2010 debut on Andrea Parker's Touchin Bass label introduced 214 and since then Roman has racked up releases for Car Crash Set, Harbour City Sorrow and its parent label Frustrated Funk. Ahead of a second 214 album due on Shipwrec, Roman lands back on Frustrated Funk for the Lyle At Dawn 12". Those electro fans who like their music to be a bit twisted and abstract will be all over this four tracker with the title cut and "Ektes" particular highlights. A fine precursor to Roman's upcoming album.

Review: The latest release on the long-running Electrix sub-division of Tortured Records comes from Fleck ESC, aka Tokyo based, French-born producer Franck Collin. With everyone from the Advent to Phil Keiran via Sync 24 and DynArec having previously lined a Electrix release, Collin is keeping good company on the Nice Guy EP. Up top there are two Fleck ESC gems that bristle with unpredictability and it's the darker title track that just swings it for us. On the B-side Electrix turn to Pip Williams and Carl Finlow to remix "Nice Guy" with the razor sharp kick drums on the former's effort particularly satisfying.

Review: Oh yes, it's another Super Rhythm Trax affair and you know that means hybrid technoidism for all y'all! It's Cha Os and Bassing Guild who appear this time around, the former coming through with the rappy hardcore vibes of "This Is Too Much Bass (UK Edit)", the similarly frantic "Party People (You Must Follow Us)" and its Scratch edit, while Bassing Guild goes for the straighter approach on "B-Boyonik", a bit of a head-banger, if you ask us!

Review: By the time Biometry was first released in 2004, Der Zyklus has developed from an electro supergroup featuring Anthony Shakir and members of Dopplereffekt, to a solo project from Drexciya member Gerald Donald. At the time, it was hailed as one of Donald's finest moments, and 11 years on has lost none of its' ability to inspire and entertain. Now freshly re-mastered, it pops, whirrs and confuses with a claustrophobic intensity. It's notably less dancefloor-focused than much of Donald's work - a couple of frisky work-outs aside - and gains its' allure from a ghostly mix of wild electronics, melancholic melodies, fizzing textures, intergalactic ambience and off-kilter IDM. As a study in 21st century paranoia, it's unsurpassed.

Review: Madrid's Fundamental Records not only release a high volume of contemporary electro, but they do so in fine style thanks to their overloaded packs and comprehensive compilations. This time they really done a number on us with this 808 Box release, a jaw-dropping fifty-tracker sealed in a trendy DJ shoulder bag tagged with the most infamous of all drum machines on the planet..! The music comes from all corners, and we see familiar faces laying down some truth on those beats; check the gear by Patronen, CPU, Alex Stark, Luke Eargoggle, Sync24, Tau Sagittarii and UHU. This comes as eight transparent 12" and twelve white ones. Bang!

Review: Absent from the record shelves since her fine 2013 album Joy One Mile, Christelle Gualdi returns triumphantly with a four track 12" of jacking new Stellar Om Source material in the shape of Nite-Glo. Again issued through New York label RVNG, the record hones in on a focussed exploration of the luminescent power of the Roland 303 and is undoubtedly the French artist's most dancefloor-concentrated body of work to date. The label suggest Gualdi was moved to produce this music as a means to deal with loss, and the four tracks suggest she has channelled this sense of grief in the most positive manner.

Review: Vivod rescue some Gold Blood material from the archives for their latest hand stamped 12" release, pairing up an original track by the duo (The Chariots and The Good Wife frontman Emile Bojesen and Brassica producer Michael Anthony Wright for the uninitiated) with two remixes. In original form, "The Intruder" finds Gold Blood channelling Liasions Dangereuses with a dash of Trent Reznor attitude thrown in, as Bojesen yelps angrily over a spiky guitar riff. Scottish techno icon Neil Landstrumm remixes "The Intruder", embellishing the track's synthier intricacies wonderfully whilst on the flip the dramatically named Banished To Frigia turn in a snarling remix of "The Friction" which would probably have scared the Nag Nag Nag crew right through back in the days of electroclash.