Back catalogue: Electro

Review: After the meteoric impact of his self-released singles and spots on Hessle Audio, Power Vacuum and Bleep, the electronic music world has been waiting patiently for TJ Hertz to step up and share a wider vista of his sound world. This debut LP for PAN does not disappoint, channelling the electronica quality of his most crushing club music and giving it a chance to roam that bit more freely. The beats still hit hard on the likes of "Ratchet", but that's not their only purpose. With sound design and general production fireworks at the forefront, whether you can dance to this or not is unimportant; what matters is how completely edge-of-your-seat thrilling it is to listen to, from every space age sweep to each grubby reverb impulse. We always knew he had it in him, and Objekt has more than delivered on that promise.

Review: Kern Volume 3 is Objekt's first commercially available mix and it's clear that he invested an inordinate amount of time and effort into it. Despite being limited to 70 odd minutes, he has crammed a total of 36 tracks into the mix, but it never sounds rushed or frenetic. If anything there is an inordinate amount of space, with Objekt breaking the mix down midway through with the glitch dream textures of Anna Caragnano & Donato Dozzy's "Love Without Sound". Before that happens, there's the abstract woozy intro, supple metallic rhythms, throbbing bass-heavy steppers and atmospheric synth-led electro and the ebm of Jeff Mills' Final Cut band to contend with. Kern also includes a number of rarities, like Kirk De Giorgio's 1992 deep techno classic "Nebula Variation" as Future Past and the jittery 808s of Pollon's "Lost Souls" a one-off release on the short-lived Scopex label. These showcase Objekt's ability to bring forgotten gems to the fore, but would mean little without his masterful programming. This is evident throughout the mix, but is most notable when he moves from The Persuader's foggy techno through Oliver Ho's Birdland edit of Blaze's "My Beat" into the aforementioned Pollon.

Review: With the likes of Damn Funk, James Pants and Krystal Klear re-igniting interest in original 80s electro and electrofunk jams; it was only a matter of time before someone revisited the little-known work of producer Dwayne Omarr. Long a favourite with synth-funk heads, Omarr's has hitherto remained uncelebrated. "Multi-Funk" gathers together some of his best 80s jams underground dancefloor hits like "Save The Children" and "This Party's Jam Packed" alongside a slew of unreleased cuts. For those who like talk box and vocoder vocals, snappy electro beats and warped synth-funk basslines, it's pretty much essential if only for the next-level space age 808 grooves of "Multi-Funk" and "Annointed One".