Back catalogue: Electro

Review: Trident is dropping a couple of top EPs this month. One is from Derrek Carr, and one is this double white 12" that finds Deltamaxx and O En One join forces. They take us on a storytelling trip through cosmic techno that varies in mood and tempo. 'Conexxion' rides a nice rubbery, bumpy groove with incidental and wispy synth sounds, then 'Delta Pavonis' seems to soundtrack a beach party up amongst the stars. There are darker, more heady cuts like 'Donnager' and icy electro cinematics on 'Isonoe' to make for a worthy collection of sounds that work on the dancefloor and beyond.

Review: Aussie larrikin DJ WHPRSNPR is back on his very own Nerang Recordings with a motley crew of upstarts on this one. Fittingly titled Freaky Friends 2, it features DJ Swagger with some off-kilter UK bass on 'Hotice Water' and Low Tape with the NSFW booty bass of 'So Delicious' on the A side, followed over on the flip by Ole Mic Odd's sci-fi electro funk jam 'In The House' and Berlin's Nasty King Krule doing his best Dopplereffekt impression on 'Stop Talkin Boy' among others.

Review: The small but already well-formed Innate label offers up a superb split EP for its sixth outing. Gilbert opens up with 'Low Flying Objects', a widescreen and serene bit of synth-laden tendon with more than a hint of Motor City soul over the dusty drums. 'Unknown Entities' is a brain-cleansing and celestial electro-styled cut with dreamy pads and cinematic deepness. Bristol-born, Welsh-rooted Owain K then steps up to the flip with equally painterly sounds. 'Corona Borealis' pairs deep and rubbery bass with crisp electro drum patterns and far-sighted chords. 'New Horizon' then closes out with some delightfully dozy deep house that's laden with wispy chords and undulating bass.

Review: 'Frankfurt Bass' specialist O Wells has been associated with Die Orakel since 2016, though this EP - the artist's fifth in total - is his first for the imprint for two years. Wells goes in hard from the word go, adding ragged, mind-bending TB-303 'acid' lines and intergalactic aural textures to a punchy electro beat on opener 'Consico'. Focus switches on the following track, 'Rhytim'[sic], where outer-space melodies and bubbly modular motifs are layered over a tighter electro beat. Side-B opens with the tracky, hypnotic, otherworldly techno of 'Moldoom', while the EP's concluding cut (IDM inspired number 'Spectral') boasts deep sub bass, Aphex Twin textures, subtle bleeps and oddly swung beats.

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: Swedish producer Ola Obergman has been at the top of his game for over 20 years now, dropping superb electro on the finest labels. Last year he dropped a fantastic full-length album on Pariter, but now steps up to Infiltrate with a direct dance floor offering. 'Norma Cluster' pairs busy drums and bass with more atmospheric leads before 'Invariant Hyperbola' has a perfectly crisp boom-bap that is run through with synth sequences that get your head amongst the stars. 'Sterile Neutrino' is more raw and ragged with another irresistible rhythm and 'Dragonfly44' closes in a thoughtful fashion.

Review: If you were a fan, and wouldn't you be, of Blade Runner, then this new 12" from Oblako Maranta will be right up your street. 'Trance Beckenbauer' is the atmospheric open with futurist feels and rising synth arps that suggest drama is to come. There is more weight and rhythm to the dubby 'Putos Mosquitos' with its mosquito-style leads and rumbling bass and elsewhere things get more dark and menacing with the sound of malevolent robots in 'Congarella Di Luna' and pure paranoid dominates the mid-tempo chug of 'Analog Garbage.' Inigo Vontier adds a prying remix while Zillas On Acid keeps it trippy.

Review: Following a string of inspired releases on Craigie Knowes and Casa Voyager, Driss Bennis brings his OCB project to Juan Atkins' Metroplex label for the first time. He sets his stall out with the up-tempo, Rhodes-laden electro-funk wonder of 'The Sequel', before dousing gorgeous synthesiser melodies and ambient textures in atmospheric field recordings on sunset-ready delight 'Global Warming'. He puts Kraftwerk through the sub-heavy Detroit techno Ringer on the freakishly addictive 'Syntax Error', while 'B2' is an Atkins-esque, acid-flecked sci-fi techno workout. Rounding off a genuinely brilliant EP is 'Built In Time', a wonderfully emotive, jazzy and tactile chunk of downtempo electro lusciousness.

Review: LA's Ole Mic Odd certainly puts it about a bit - he's knocking the EPs out at very healthy rate and it seems there's a queue of eminent labels happy to put out the results too, with Zement preparing to follow this 12" with one of their own in January 2023. The title should give you an idea of what to expect, namely lots of vocodered voices and authentic sounding vintage electro swoops a la early Juan Atkins, over rock solid, sharpened beats. Kraftjerkz boss Kind Ginseng completes the four track package with a rolling, very beats-centred remix that straddles breaks and electro neatly. Nice work - or should that be 'werk? - all round.

Review: Zement welcome back Ole Mic Odd and Alonzo for another punch of high impact tunes aimed squarely at the floor. There is plenty of cosmic urgency to the electro-tech of 'B-A-D' and all its withering sci-fi aesthetics. 'Automate Your Mind' bristles eve more with brilliantly tight drums and hits and mystic pads up above. 'Body Rocking' gets busy with pixelated melodic arps and vocoder vocals with punchy kicks and 'Smoke Break' is a more mindful and slower jam for thoughtful reflection.

Review: FXHE maintain their monthly heat emission for 2012, with label boss Omar S displaying all aspects of his production prowess (as well as skill for a humorous track titles) across four productions - one of which features the button bashing assistance of one Patrik Sjeren. There's something icily brilliant about the restrained "Income Tax Refund Dance" melding a dark piano riff with snapping 808 kicks and rippling lo fi rhythms which only further justifies the title of Omar S's killer 2011 LP. It's complemented by the far rowdier box jam "The White Castle Song" which jackhammers a simple yet highly flammable key riff over low rent percussion for FXHE's most potent ode to the perfect warehouse moment since the all conquering "Here's Your Trance..." Given the lack of additional info, we presume the Patrik Sjeren that produces the B Side "Untitled" track is the same Patrik Sjeren that released in the mid 90s under a multiplicity of aliases, and his contribution is every bit as incendiary as the track preceding it, whilst "3c 273" sees Omar S slip into pensive utopian electro mode with aplomb.

Review: London-based Undersound Recordings serve up four janky, stanky new ones on their latest compilation vinyl, flaunting four tracks of deep, dubby and ploddy electro and hous. Omar Santis, Eversines, Dynamic Wave and Enrica Falqui all come to the fore. Omar's 'Quiero Bailar' sets the weirder tones on the opening track, with its new wavey jaunts and licks and slapdash feel, while Falqui's closing 'Divine Time' proving a neat counterpoint; a no more overthought exercise in wondrous, synaptic ambience.

Review: Hilltown Disco have been nurturing their own micro scene up in Dundee, bringing a punchy, gnarly strain of electro to the Scottish city and creating a strong community around it. Now that community comes out in force to celebrate five years of the label and club night, presenting a cast of underground operators singing from the same hymn sheet. Whatever stripe of electro you're into, you're sure to find something to sink your gnashers into here. Keep an extra attentive ear out for the opening track from W1BO, the sadly departed Wibo Lammerts, who the five-track release is dedicated to.

Review: This is the third full-length album by veteran Swedish producer Ola Obergman who has been producing since the turn of the millennium on respected imprints such as Skam, Borft and Futhur Electronix. A heavy collection of 808-based fusion in classic Pariter style, Mirror Counterpart is a cohesive effort featuring some truly impressive productions; from the early proto-house sound of the title track, to the Detroit influenced hi-tech soul cuts on the second disc - 'Indeterminacy' and 'Stellar Triangulation' respectively - going into 4/4 robot funk on the second disc with 'Alice Matter' and 'Uncertiny Principle' being the highlights. Superb.

Review: Last year, someone set up an online petition calling for Warp to re-release The Other People Place's brilliant Lifestyles Of The Laptop Cafe album on wax. Happily, Warp has responded to the strength of feeling from electronica fans - most of whom bristled at the high online prices for second hand copies - and re-pressed it. Drexciya man James Stinson's 2001 solo set remains a timeless electronic classic; a perfectly pitched and immaculately produced fusion of downtempo electro rhythms, spacey electronics and twinkling synthesizer melodies. In fact, you'll struggle to find a better electro album full stop, making this reissue an essential purchase for anyone not lucky enough to own an original copy.