Back catalogue: Electro

Review: It is hard to overstate the impact that Etienne de Crecy had on the global, but specifically French, electronic scene. His debut album in 1996 brought all new sounds and references and set in motion a revolution that spawned everything from classic French touch to jazzy deep house by Saint Germain via what went on to become the Ed Banger-aligned electro house of Justice et al. It all started with the first volume of Super Discount and carried on through further volumes such as this third one which is as searing and vital now as ever.

Review: Super Discount was the hugely influential 1996 debut album by Etienne de Crecy. Several more volumes came and helped to define the French scene of the ear and they remain great inspirations to this day as De Crecy's work very much propagated certain other genres, from scratchy filter-house a la Daft Punk to the jazzier house genre of St Germain. This second volume is packed with plenty of names who helped to define the early French electronic scene such as Alex Gopher & Julien Delfaud, Philippe Zdar and DJ Mehdi. It's raw electro house that fizzes and spits with potent dancefloor scuzziness and energy even now.

Review: Denial of Service's new album comes after a series of impressive EPs such as 2015's Sensou and 2017's Contour & Shape. The expanded format allows for a more adventurous and expansive sound, however, so across 15 tracks we really hear the producer open up. It is still the machine driven electro-funk sound you would expect, but with a broader array of moods and grooves and influences from IDM, techno and even EBM. There are widescreen cuts that free your mind next to more intense and claustrophobic cuts. Either way, it's a real masterclass.

Review: Digregorius is back on the My Own Jupiter label with an adventurous double album that features plenty of rather epic electro workouts. Many of them even have adventurous track titles such as opener 'Morfogenesis Incluye Yachay & Monada Y Pleuroma', which is a dark and broody scene setter that drops you deep into outer space. 'Vegetal' has intriguing melodies and busy rhythms flecked with Latin percussive flair and soundtrack motifs. 'Invierno Mesmerizing Incluye Nocturnalia Y Session De Espiritismo' is a mind warping mix of talk box vocals, chattery drums, busted kick and wonky synths. The hard to define madness continues across a land more wild and wonderful electro experiments.

Review: If you love a good old game of musical guess who then get your ears around this, the second of three Diner's Club International records that dropped on our laps under a shroud of mystery. All we have been told about the project is that is a collective of artists from Joy Rd on the West Side of Detroit who are keeping the city's rich ghetto tech traditions alive. The tracks on this, Part 3, are all super short but super compelling - elements of juke, footwork and electro make up the bumping rhythms with smart r&b samples and diffuse synth soul all adding heartfelt charm to the irresistible dancefloor chaos.

Review: Introducing Diner's Club International, a new and anonymous collective, we have been told on the low down, that is here to keep clubs bumping. They hail from Joy Rd on the East of the city of Detroit and are here to keep the ghetto tech scene going strong with a vast array of breathless new rhythms across three different records. Their MO is to get in and out quickly with each track - short, snappy sketches packed with attitude, cut-up vocals and spongy drum and bass patterns. As physical as all these cuts are, they also have a real human heart thanks to the warming pads and well-deployed r&b stabs. These are red hot so do not sleep.

Review: If you like acid, and you like it deep, then keep reading. Dircsen has put together an album of just that for Gated across four sublime sides of wax. Helical Structures operates at the intersection of those sounds and more, with a range of different tempos explored from the unhurried 'Fragments' which spits out random hits and has a nice lo-fi edge to the more high pressure acid of 'Helical Structures' with its undertone of bass lead menace. 'Jack In The Head' is a more classic acid cut with nods to the Chicago pioneers and 'Synthetic Rhythm' (Know Where mix) is perfect for both body and head.

Review: DJ Panthr is the "shadow self" (or, as we'd put it, alternative alias) of Hunter P Thompson, better known for his genre-bending ambient house and ambient techno releases as Akasha System. 100% Silk describes 'Jade District' as a 'technoid night ride inspired by the fern-shoruded neon streets' of South Tabor in his home city of Portland. It's an atmospheric and fairly accurate description all told, with Thompson combining his usual dreamy chords and colourful sonics with grooves and musical motifs more often associated with electro, acid, sci-fi techno, 'Artificial Intelligence' style IDM and hypnotic dub techno. What unites it all, aside from the colourful stylishness of the whole thing, is a pervasive sense of loved-up, wide-eyed tactility.

Review: Legendary Rephlex alumni and electro mainstay DMX Krew revisited a Minneapolis sound with boogie and freestyle elements in this timeless 2005 Japan-exclusive release. After almost 20 years it finally gets a vinyl issue over there in Europe thanks to Cold Blow and is a surefire way to kick start your day no matter the mood you are in. As ever, the studio wizard cranks up through the gears, gets the most out of his array of machines and explores rhythm and sound from many different angles, sometimes seemingly all at once. This remains a great record despite its vintage.

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: Gerald Donald's Dopplereffekt is by all measures one of the most influential electro groups of all time. A bunch of their music is being reissued at the moment including the long overdue debut album.But now comes a new one, Neurotelepathy, their second album and fifth overall release on on Leisure System. The duo of Rudolf Klorzeiger and To-Nhan had a special live magic that always informed the music that made it onto record and that is the case here. The album has a real precision of groove, with wiggling basslines and modulated synth sounds that find them at their very best across these tunes.

Review: Considered by some to be one of the greatest IDM albums of all time (though we'd argue that it's really an electro set), Drexciya's 2002 set 'Harnessed The Storm' has been given the 20th anniversary reissue treatment. Pressed to striking silver vinyl and housed in freshly redesigned packaging, it's certainly an alluring album. It was part of a series of conceptually linked sets the pair recorded in 12 months (most of the others were subsequently released under other aliases after the surprise death of member James Stinson), and it has a typically atmospheric, other-worldly sound - underwater sci-fi electro that twisted standard Motor City tropes into a variety of futuristic directions. Highlights include the fizzing 'Digital Tsunami', the beautiful and widescreen 'Under Sea Disturbances' (a freakishly sub-heavy affair) and the clandestine shimmer of 'Lake Haze'.

Review: The definition of a seminal work, Drexciya's Harnessed The Storm gets a re-release from the one and only Tresor. Part of their special editions series offering re-releases of the illustrious Detroit duo's entire catalogue, this album is jam-packed full of Drexciya favourites from 'Digital Tsunami' to 'Under Sea Disturbances'. Individually and as a catalogue, these releases represent key moments within Tresor's long and influential history. And the mythic soundworld of Drexciya is undoubtedly at the height of their iconic output, inspiring generations of artists in its wake.