Juno Recommends Techno: August 2022

Review: The latest on Helena Hauff's Return To Disorder label sees Hamburg based producer and Schulverweis/Cher Fassbindermember LFT really kicking hard with four proper electro shocks from the underground. Having previously provided similarly uncompromising Zement, Mechatronica Music, Mannequin and Holland's Acid Avengers, as well as a well received 2019 outing for Return To Disorder, LFT's quality is not under question, and these four bangers only go to back that up.
'No Masters' has a seriously marauding atmosphere to it, a hoover bass sucking up the bass end and the sound of strange monsters in the background, all set to ,a machine funk backbone 'Radiosick' revolves around spiralling high frequency arpeggios, and a simpler, more electropop drums and bass arrangement. 'Nest of Bones' sees Rosaceae adding haunting, punky vocals making it evocative of a more dancefloor-slanted Chicks on Speed, then 'Hashima' completes the package with a more four-to-the-floor approach and alongside a dreadnaught bassline. Terrifically terrifying all round.

Review: Finally getting around to celebrating their 30th Anniversary, Orbital here serve up a whopping deluxe boxset of exclusives. Built around their fabled live show, this veritable cornucopia of material contains reworks, remakes, remixes and reimaginings of all your favourite tracks, including Satan, The Box, Impact and Belfast. Jon Hopkins, Logic1000, Yotto, ANNA, Shanti Celeste and - yes - Stephen Hawking all feature.

Review: Deadbeat and Sa Pa are pleased to present their first collaborative album on the anniversary of BLKRTZ's 50th release, and defer to Albert Camus to describe the "Whys" and "Whats" of it:

" I leave Sisyphus at the foot of the mountain. One always finds one's burden again. But Sisyphus teaches the higher fidelity that negates the gods and raises rocks. He too concludes that all is well. This universe henceforth without a master seems to him neither sterile nor futile. Each atom of that stone, each mineral flake of that night-filled mountain, in itself, forms a world. The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man's heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy."

Review: A limited edition 12" vinyl with two extension cuts of Obergman's new album on Pariter! Vinyl only - No repress! Dreamy synths wash over the listener, analogue bubbles heading for the surface - imagine Drexciya in 'Wavejumper' or 'Sea Snake' mode, only with its restless electro foundations replaced by something more regular and reassuringly solid in the beats department. All in all, oozing melodic techno class.

Review: Iceland's top export and collaborators Ohm & Octal Industries come together for another fine release once more here on the Lempuyang label. This time they turn up the heat just in time for summer with a trio of fresh, super-deep yet driving cuts. Each one brings its own sense of dance floor magic with 'Venezuela' layering up the dub chords, 'Mexico Tripping' having a more shimmering house vibe and 'Argentina' getting more raw and heavy in its onward march. Anton Kubikov provides a remix then smooths out the edges and sinks you into a zoned out deep and dubby roller.

Review: Steve Rachmad is of course the Dutch veteran behind the STERAC alias, which continues to be a source of great to delight to fans of classic era, scintillatingly soulful and warm, machine-made techno. His huge body of work gets pillaged again here for a new Ep of treats on Delsin who have oversee the most recent reissues. All the cuts have all been remastered and the sought after titles include the futuristic depths of 'Satyricon,' silky electro workout that is 'Hydroxy' with its twitchy synths and rubber bass and 'Draghixia', a melodic and eerie work out to close down.

Review: Klockworks label head Ben Klock is back on his home label, this time in association with Fadi Mom across four fierce cuts. 'Prefix' is an all out techno blizzard as flurries of drums, toms, fizzing hi hats and glitchy claps all coalesce into one powerful linear groove. 'Gateway' brings bleeping and pulsing synths over urgent drum funk while 'Hydrocarbon' is a head wrecker with warped lines and panel-beating drums. 'Prism' is the sublime and seductive seven minute closer that offers a more smooth and minimal techno sound. It's a fourth very different mood on this fantastic record.

Review: REPRESS ALERT: After strong turns from buttechno and label founder Pavel Milyakov, RASSVET makes one of its most decisive moves yet with this crucial slab of dance-wrecking badness from Shadowax. The Russian artist made her first appearance on a compilation on Nina Kraviz's Trip label, and now steps forward with some seriously badass techno that will draw in curious trainspotters and head-in-the-clouds ravers alike. "A & B" is a cover of 90s Russian hip-hop crew Pyanstvu Boys, and Shadowax's version is pure fire, her voice poising eerily over a punchy off-beat and droning bass. Buttechno delivers a simple, savage remix, while the B side presents an alternative mix and an acappella that should see lots of action from remixers and creative DJs alike.

Review: Drumcode roll out plenty of high functioning techno EPs, and every now and then drop special one -sided 12"s that they, presumably, think are worth of the sole focus of a slab. This latest one comes courtesy of long time scene mainstays Kaiserdisco. This act has been at the heart of the move towards big, astral, melodic techno taking over but here they keep it fairly raw and paired back. 'Together One Time' rolls on heavy drums, with coarse hi hats and blasts of industrial synth adding the brain frazzling texture. A big sample from an iconic St Germain tune adds the only colour but is surely enough to make sure floors go wild.

Review: The latest addition to M Plant Us' remastering series, the 2000 EP by Detroit DJ, producer and Underground Resistance co-founder Robert Hood is being brought back to the masses two decades later. A classic piece of minimal techno, a genre which he arguably invented, 'Technatural' certainly has the signature 'unnatural' sounds that Hood found solace in. We've all heard the stories from his perplexing live sets during his earliest days in the scene, and how counter-culture it was back then, but nobody at that party in '95 would have known how influential his sounds would be, carving out new realms in techno. 'Pattern St' should be legally protected as a national treasure with its writhing industrial whirring, not to count out how incredible the other 4 tracks are. 'Teflon' is a piece of art that probably sounds like an out of tune organ to the untrained ear. I wonder if Hood still has that bow tie in a box somewhere...

Review: For "Spectres", a 6-track split release, Buttechno teams up with DJ Speedsick, a Chicago-based artist, famous for his raw and uncompromising approach to sound. Together they explore sonic and textural possibilities of the extreme forms of dancefloor music employing distinct ways of sound manipulation. Buttechno's side features highly saturated textures being torn out, dissected and sewed back together with a wicked use of spectral processing. On the other side, Dj Speedsick, known for reamping his material with guitar amplifiers and cabinets, puts out tracks that bear unique sonic qualities and transform the usual sense of space and distance. The underwordly sounds and high-speed beats presented on this split go beyond the common bounds of dancefloor music, exposing the spectres that dwell between the genres.

Review: Detroit Electronic Quarterly serves up the latest volume of tracks in their ongoing series and it is another crucial one that starts with a particularly potent spoken word. Nandi's 'Detroit Tells Its Techno Story' speaks about how the genre is often referenced by huge stars of the music world but never itself gets much credit. After that A7MC drops a nice raw hip hop beat and Shawscape Renegade offers some slippery analogue electro to make your ass wiggle. The ever underrated Eddie Fowlkes also contributes a vibe-y and dynamic deep house cut amongst other great tunes from Luke & Jeff Hess and ADMN which all show the varied and vital nature of the Motor City's output.

Review: Considering his prominent presence in the modern techno scene, it's sometimes surprising just how few solo releases Pariah has put out since breaking through more than 10 years ago. A lot of his time is taken up with his Karenn collaboration with Blawan though, and together they've shaped out the sound of their Voam label with a string of EPs and the 2019 album Grapefruit Regret. Now it's time for Pariah to step out on his own, and he's presenting a sound which aligns with the playful twists on techno Karenn are known for, but there is a different energy at work here, too. Slightly more measured than the madcap stylings of his collabs, on Caterpillar Pariah takes us into a precision tooled techno dungeon without losing that spark that makes so much of his prior work so hugely popular.

Review: Rodolfo Abrao Wehbba is a leading light of Brazil's techno scene, although he's truly an international concern after more than 15 years in the game. He's put out a lot of music over the years, but more recently he's been aligned with labels like Hotflush and the monolithic Drumcode. It's Adam Beyer's empire he returns to for this, his first EP in three years. The sound on Dynamo is as massive as you would expect, full of that precision engineered arena-filling thump and sky-scraping synth lines, but all shot through with the seductive darkness which makes the Drumcode sound so appealing to such huge crowds of people.

Review: Third part of Gary Martin and Yossi Amoyal's DET project. Re-issue of proper wild mid-90's Gigi Galaxy classics - Killer 12"

Review: Gesloten Cirkel was hero worshipped for a whole by hardcore techno nerds and for good reason. Years after his time in the spotlight he continues to turn out cutting edge techno sounds. 'Cryformechicago' has and old school Windy Cit house feel but with more muscular drums, 'Pkbday' then cuts loose on broken beats and frosted synths for another world. 'GPU_Didit' (Turbo mix) is tightly coiled and loopy, fractious and relentless and 'Detoon' rounds out with the EP highlight - a big, bold electro stomper with fizzing textures and real machine soul.

Review: There's an irresistible machine funk and chest-beating sense of attitude to this EP from Maara. It draws on proggy techno history and trance inducing electronic futurism to make for ritualistic dances that feel at once ancient yet modern. 'Spiral 2 The Other Side' is a mind-melting tunnel of psychedelic sounds, 'Take The Wheel Miss Sweetie' is similarly but more edgy and unhinged and 'Forget The World' then gets brilliantly bouncy. Closer 'Doom Quest' rounds out on skittish rubber kicks and freaky alien voices. A sublime EP for sure.

Review: Few if any artists have a sound as wacky yet wonderful as DJ Fett Burger, so having him remix anything is always going to be worth hearing. Here he turns his attention to a couple of tunes by Jennifer Loveless for his Sex Tags label outta Norway. First up he heads to the stars on waves of acid, astral melodies and prickly deep techno drums. On the flip is a more spaced out sound with tumbling toms looping in a hypnotic fashion beneath sustained chords that bring the soul. These are two out there sounds for late-night dance floors.

Review: Roger Gerressen is someone who has mastered the art of making super reduced and dubbed out gores that you never want to end. He does so with anything from house to dub to techno as the building blocks and here draws on all three to launch the new Diurnal label. 'Bloodflow' is supremely atmospheric, with wispy chords peeling off a super sleek groove. 'Fluctuations' is even more streamlined, seductive and horizontal. 'Tangible Feeling' closes down with a slightly more relaxed and upright groove but still one that has bottomless bass and sine tingling chords.

Review: Flug returns to Drumcode subimprint Dcltd for a courageous meander through big room acid, carefully building a maximalized sonic scene of rumbles, 303 licks, and cavernous bloops. 'The Punisher' appropriates the name of the disgruntled cop-turned-vigilante for a moody concert-hall slow-burner, while 'The Purple Landscape' gets heavenly with it, fusing tripletting acid with kicks and hats in regular time.

Review: Two key pushers of New York tactile ambient-techno, Anthony Naples and DJ Python, here present a fittingly named compilation (and the third in the series) curating only the best found in that style and scene: 'Air Texture VIII'. Spurred on by a cost of living crisis in Manhattan, areas further afield in neighbouring Brooklyn have become much more central to artists such as Beta Librae, Downstairs J and 5AM, spurring their rise and that of producers like them. Don't miss this important chronicling of the scene, which still unfolds in real time.

Review: The Planet Rhythm White series is all about serious dance floor business. It now welcomes back Senh for four cuts of well designed and stripped back but effective techno. Opener 'In Version' is a dubby one that leans into the wind as well crafted synth smears bring scale and mood. 'One Night In Athens' pairs things back even more to an icy dub, with perfectly frictionless drums, airy pads and echoing claps that are brilliantly wet. 'Rainbow Dub' is more spangled and high tempo in its onward journey though no less hypnotic and 'The Healer' closes on a classic Maurizio style vibe.

Review: Token's label head Kr!z has been busy recently - only back in May did he serve up some of his headwreckinh techno on the legendary Blueprint label. That was his second ever solo EP and he backs it up in quick fashion now with another great offering, this time on SK Eleven. 'The Tunnel' is super edgy and sleepy, then 'Havoc' gets more dark and intense with searching synths and train-track beats. On the flip, 'No Return' layers up rave energy and huge hi hats with pummeling linear kicks and 'Decoy' then cuts loose on scattered perc and pulling bass.

Review: First and foremost, big up to Delsin, the quiet Dutch workhorse of the global electronic underground, a staple of the last 20 years now an incredible 150 releases deep. They mark the occasion in the only way they know how - with some damn good and timeless music. Voiski is the man behind the beats and this EP opens with a lush wall of falling melody and crispy techno grooves. Unreality is another archetypal Delsin cut with dusty machine grooves, emotive synths and the night amount of past, present and future all in one track. 'Ideodelika' brings deeper, more streamlined and hypnotic techno sounds while 'Hazy Suns' mixes up Detroit and trance styles.

Review: Formed as the collaborative project of techno legends Mark Broom & James Ruskin, The Fear Ratio was created as a means for the pair to explore their more experimental urges, away from their usual house and techno, through which both found success in the 1990s. Their new album under that name, 'Slinky', features British rapper King Kashmere, and a one-off vocal cameo from London singer Ella Fleur on the track 'Lacovset'.

Review: Remco Beekwilder crafts unrelenting techno for main room experiences. He is now back in that mode once again with his Moortgat EP on EMERALD. It manages to strike a balance between cold mistily remembered sounds and a heart-warming practical feel and across the four cuts there is a constant state of rhythmic flux. Driven by stark drum programming using the right amount of funk, all cuts share an underlying signature sound and are sure to clear your mind of all but the groove.

Review: Broken Techno / Electronica label Theoretical Rhythms is taking it to the next level with their first vinyl release. Label boss Nickel Eye is honoured with the production duties and come up with a beautiful album which can be described as an audio Sci-Fi poem. Rich textures and pads are present in all tracks giving the album trippiness bringing the listener on a cosmic excursion. Steady broken beats keep the things on a dancier side and the listener can have a dance while watching the stars listening to the album.
Space Child is an album that would work equally well at home on an individual journey as well as on the dance floor where each party goer can take their personal trip.

Review: Fresh from exploring the more downtempo side of their musical inspirations on Contemplate (a mini-album credited to Octave One presents Never on Sunday), the Burden brothers return to the dancefloor with their first full-throttle techno release of 2022. A-side 'The Blue Drift' is faintly foreboding, with typically intergalactic lead lines rising above a moody, sci-fi-fired Motor City techno groove. While it very much sounds like an Octave One release - with low-end weight to match - it's arguably more atmospheric and clandestine-sounding than much of their most celebrated material. They continue with this vibe on the more dense and percussive flipside cut 'It-Just-Is', a sweat-soaked affair full of metallic-sounding percussion hits, echoing melodic refrains and breathless sub-bass.

Review: A_X opts for electro at 140bpm on this subdued new one, harkening to a pre-Millennium era when broken beat, electro, drum n' bass and proto-dubstep all coalesced into one nice primordial stew. 'Ceramic City' whirls and sloshes about, hardly differentiating between drums and synth, and basking in pads that sound not far off from whale song. 'Rei III', meanwhile, goes weird halftime, piercing the ears with echoic hi-hats and brittle glass sonics. Music for headrushy halls of mirrors.

Review: New music on Germany's Ornaments this week by Urban Force, a new alias of veteran Leipzig-based DJ/producer Daniel Stefanik, known for his collaborations with local legend Matthias Tanzmann, as well as Mathias Kaden and Stefan Wesemann aka Chet. 'Lost Traxx #3' is a cavernous and glacial dub techno journey into the deep that's right in line with the label's distinct sound, followed over on the flip by a more restrained redux by Berlin based Martin Mueller aka YouANDme.

Review: Following a recent release with Roza Teranzi on Berlin's Delicate Records, Sophie Sweetland aka D. Tiffany returns for another collaboration as Ambien Baby here with Montreal-based producer Nap. On Taste The Bass, the duo step up their songwriting skills with added vocals and stay true 'to their heady primal sophistication' across four tracks. Beginning with the tripped-out deep groove of 'Engendrx', they venture into cerebral minimal techno territory on '101 We Love You' (said to be a tribute to the favourite synth) before the strobed-out peak time banger 'Anger Management'.