Back catalogue: Electro

Review: Always a good week when some new RAND Muzik drops. The Leipzig imprint's brand of understated grooves are on fine display once again on this various artists EP. On RM 12015, feel the low-slung and funky dub of A2's 'Open Your Mind' which they follow up with some moody computer funk on the next track 'Entity'. Over on the B side, Andy Panayi serves up some dusty 303 shenanigans on 'Acidbend' in the vein of classic Cabinet Records and closing it out is Stopouts with the subterranean breaks of 'Pass Go'.

Review: Those with a deep knowledge of electro and techno will be salivating at the prospect of More Than A Machine: Part 1, an EP that boasts cuts from such legends of the scene as Sterac Electronics, The Advent and Christian Smith. All deliver the goods, of course, as does rising star Client 03, whose EP-opening 'Regression Container' brilliantly flips between shimmering, deep space ambient and warming, tactile electro dreaminess. Those looking for more rugged and robust club fare should check Sterac Electronics 'Reinstated', with its' out-there lead lines and machine-gun bass, and the sleazy, up-tempo futurism of the Adveny and Zein Ferreira's 'Seven'. Christian Smith's deep, Kraftwerk-influenced 'Pressure Drop' rounds off a predictably strong EP.

Review: Back in May, the first multi-artist missive from the freshly launched Hearse label sold out in no time at all. We have a feeling that this similarly formatted follow-up will go the same way. '90s survivor Cosmic Force kicks things off in style via the raw, angular riffs, spacey melodies, vocoder vocals and punchy electro rhythms of "Suckers Divide", before Manasyt takes us into industrial electro territory on the fuzzy and breathless "Sister Ping". Over on side B, Secret State ups the tempo on the undeniably Drexciyan "Dominant Narrative", while Brassica peppers a high-octane rhythm track with dystopian noises and malfunctioning computer electronics on killer closing cut "0898666420".

Review: The well regarded Avoidant hits a 20th release in superlative fashion here with some hefty names offering up hefty sounds. None other than techno pin up and Berghain hero Marcel Dettman opens up with 'Motorman' which is a dystopian number riddled with spoken words, bright metallic flashy and grubby bass. Scottish legends Slam pick up the pace with the knick-snapping drums and hits of sleazy electro banger 'Into The Light' and then Luz1e get you riding on rubbery, bumping ghetto-tech drums on 'Draw The Line' before last of all comes the coruscated intergalactic battle that is Sod-90's 'Vinyl Corset.' Tight as you like.

Review: 20/20 Vision are exiting planet Earth once again with the latest in their perfectly formed series of electro explorations, as Extrawelt leads the charge with an illustrious slice of braindance-tinted funk titled 'Hail The Whale (Coexisting Mix)'. Djedjotronic follows that up with a bold blast of mammoth synth work which hits pretty damn hard without being pointlessly brutal. Ste Roberts takes a break from his self-titled label run to offer up a freaky foray into acid-speckled territory, and Ivna Ji gets expressive with a rich palette of synths moving in harmony around a sharp and snappy beat.

Review: Introducing Wobbly Mob, a new independent label based between Germany and the UK. Their debut release is by rising producer Glockta (aka Popka) from York, who serves up a collection of diverse tracks on WMR001. Detroit meets 2-step on the wondrous opener 'Plastic Fiver' which receives a ravey remix by Shawn Cartier over on the flip later, there's also off-kilter late night mood music on 'No Diamonds' and the rolling low end theory of 'Next Year'.

Review: Trust is a long running Viennese electro label run by DJ Glow. Its latest release is a fierce four tracker featuring various artists, all undisputed luminaries of the electronic music scene. On the first side of Trust XY2 you have a true force to be reckoned with in the form of Microthol X Ultradyne with the sinister Detroit computer funk of 'Hostile Invasion' (Land Of Injustice mix) followed by the inimitable Peder Mannerfeldt's industrial-edged reconstruction of Clatterbox's 'Semi-Automatic'. On the second side, UK artist Second Storey provides a re-rub of another track from the Microthol back catalogue on 'Dissonanz' and finally veteran producer Alex Cortex delivers a minimal electro rework of DL-MS' track 'Last Smoke'.

Review: Bitterfeld continues to blaze its own electro trail with a seventh outing that again its top draw. This one is a various artistic collection under the title For A Bitter Tomorrow: Band 2 and opens up with Salomo's 'Bodytalk', a crisp and ice cold electro rhythm before Interviews bathe you in gloriously deft sci-fi melodies on 'Let Go' and Qwerty's 'Kisela Neman' then brings some madness with crashing hits and molten acid lines. Jonbjorn's 'Chica' closes with similarly high impact electro sounds and raw textures.

Review: Bangkok-based Sarayu is an artist at the heart of the electronic music scene in Thailand, and co-runs the label More Rice. His latest releases comes courtesy of local imprint Boiled Wonderland titled Intelligent Jump Rope Music, featuring four club focused tracks with a darker edge. On the A-side, there's the atmospheric broken beat techno of 'The Bag' and the mental 'E30 Track' . On the second side, the deep and entrancing title track's knackered feel is complemented nicely by Belgian producer Locked Groove's hypnotic rendition.

Review: Cristian Sarde is a resident member of the Italian crew Outcast Torino, but this time around he's deviated from his come-up crew with a stop-off release for fellow pushers Heko. 'Last E' is filled with organ, sci-fi organs and pulsatory bass licks, perfect for every neon-lit rave or future space-lounge.

Review: The latest one on Orson sees Daniel Savio teaming up with Mesak for some lean and mean electro gear. Stockholm's Savio has gifted us reams of flexible, idiosyncratic machine jams over the years, while Finland's Mesak has been on a rampant run of late across labels like Klakson. On this four tracker we get to run the gamut from pumped up peak time pulser 'Tungt Vatten' to downtempo braindancer 'Surt Regn', all powered by a smorgasbord of blipping analogue-isms and keen studio instincts. If you're serious about your machine music, you're absolutely going to dig this one.

Review: Scanone is a producer who has proven his versatility and so it's no wonder he's been tapped up for some killer tunes by the Reposition label. This blistering electro EP features three originals that mix up industrial textures with caustic drums and star-gazing synth work. 'Vivre' is an eye-watering opener with sheet metal sounds and frosty pads, 'Kraft' is then a slower more pensive electro soundscape and 'Vertabre' has a truly brutal groove that will rattle the walls of any club space, as well as dislodge brain cells. Sync 24 rounds things out with a remix of the same cut that becomes a sonic blizzard.

Review: Shawescape Renegade talk of 2020 a "reality-altering year", one that shattered the mirrors of perception that we call ordinary life. Perhaps 'Reconstruct Your Mind' is their attempt to rebuild a sense of; of course, the two originals and two remixes that make up this four-track EP are remarkably sturdy electro bits, peppered with the bloops of imaginary spaceship interfaces and robotic engines.

Review: There are few labels that have been as constantly excellent as Lobster Thermin, no matter the genre it turns its attention to. Here is it electro from Shedbug that gets us all worked up on a nice purple marbled vinyl. 'Ambroxitil' is a quick and crunchy opener steeped in cosmic tension with icy electro lines and dark bass. 'Timeframe' then has a lo-fi and sludgy feel with muffled drums and bass making for a distant cyborg rave. There is beauty and inward reflection in the sweeping melodies of 'Strive For More', angular grooves that make you jerk your body on 'Waouu' and a hyperspeed Voiski remix to close down.

Review: Carl Finlow has been a prominent name in UK electro since the mid-90s, releasing music at an astonishing rate under a variety of monikers. Silicon Scally defines his most strictly electro-oriented project, reflective of the Kraftwerk era and the emerging electro-scene, with releases on respected labels such as Cultivated Electronics, CPU and of course 20/20 Vision, with music from a variety of Carl's monikers being amongst the labels earliest releases.

'Crushed' is a sought after album project originally self-released on Finlow's Bandcamp during the 2020 lockdown. We felt the release was to important to be overlooked without a much deserved run of vinyl, so have pressed a limited run of records featuring futuristic electro highlights and the best unreleased cuts.

'Proton Mass' kicks things off with perfectly crafted robotic funk, solid mechanical breaks and mind bending glitches, setting the landscape for a journey into the abyss with Silicon Scally unshakeably at the helm. 'Centronix' follows up with razor-sharp rocking beats, squelchy bass and jarring grooves as if designed for high pace no nonsense club sets from the likes of DJ Stingray or Helena Hauff.

On the flip side 'Axiom' takes us deeper into the void with dark basslines, complex drums and unapologetically disorientating frequencies. A track that makes us question if Finlow has transcend to a future state where he is more machine than man, sending psychoactive messages in the form of killer electro cuts.

'Cascade Lasers' wraps up this epic dose of electro with interstellar energy, driving things home with deep bass wobbles, high octane breaks, wrapped grooves and tormenting yet playful synth licks. Yet another release that has us convinced the late great Andrew Weatherall was indeed correct!

"For quite a number of years now I have been convinced that Mr Finlow is a conduit for musical transmissions beamed from a parallel universe, sometime in the future" - Andrew Weatherall.

Review: Central Processing Unit welcomes back Silicon Scally for some reined and emotive robot music in the form of this Soft Robotics EP. This is of course an alias of Carl Finlow who is a master of making his machines sing with a sense of human realness. He pushes the boundaries once more here with four precision tooled cuts that come with plenty of vintage synth flourishes and thudding basslines. Bubbling melodies define each of the cuts as well as a cinematic sense of atmosphere that really takes you somewhere.

Review: WNCL is back to provide more high grade dance floor explosives here in the form of a potent 10" battle weapon from Skin Teeth. Up on the A-side is 'Void 93,' a terse mix of busted breaks, heavy bass hits and jungle energy that's run through with dark vocal snippets. It's a hard-ass cut that will fill the club with a caustic sound. On the flip is 'Knuckle Bone' with more dub-wise vocal elements and heavy, tumbling drums and neck-snapping hits. It's as physical and uncompromising a beat track as you could imagine.

Review: The Doo label hasn't been in a rush to relax music but when it comes we have always been all ears. It's once again SNP 500 behind this later batch of fresh beats and as ever they serve as a portal in a sublime techno universe. 'Purt' is the smooth, serene and loopy opener that transports you to a place far away and up amongst the stars. 'Splean Addition' then brings a whip-snapping mix of hits and kicks with lashings of sci-fi synth energy and 'Cord' takes it super deep. The minimal shuffler is warmed through with nice balmy chords and makes for quote the heady 5am trip.

Review: The cultured Movida label rolls out more of its tasteful tech and minimal jams with the Water Drop EP Part 1. Somfay opens up proceedings with 'Arborvitae' (A Voice Like Water) which is a zoned out roller with chords that encourage you to gaze off to the future. The b-side starts with Luc Ringeisen & Funk E's 'Treinta Y Siempre', a tender electronic lullaby with gently broken beats and then things get much more scuffed up and dubby with Polyfan Polyphenix's 'Polymorph 2' which is a languid rhythm that makes you want to move nice and loose.

Review: The Maltese machine funk specialist himself Keith Farrugia is back once more with yet more of his impeccable electro business as Sound Synthesis. This time the prolific producer is shoring up on Burnski's Infiltrate label with four cool and deadly cuts which build on his previous drops for 20:20 Vision, Furthur Electronix, Orbital Mechanics and more besides. From the nervy sci-fi flex of 'Motor Space Maps' to the playful fun n' games of 'Back In Time', Farrugia knows exactly what he's doing within the electro blueprint, and his tracks are reliably punchy warm - a true master at work.

Review: Following acclaimed releases on Dekmantel, Aus Music and Ninja Tune, Jack Hamill aka Space Dimension Controller is back this week with a fantastic new release of London's Hypercolour. The Cro2ma EP is a three-tracker featuring Detroit elements and bleepy bass that you've come to know and love from the Irish producer. From the contemplative electro of the title track, to the minimal hi-tech funk of 'IG00158' and the deep, acid-tinged techno of 'Highborne' which closes it out on an emotive tip - it's altogether highly accessible yet intricate in design.

Review: American label Peoples Potential Unlimited has cared out its own superb niche in the world of heart aching, lo-fi funk. But here a new catalogue number seems to suggest a new series. It kicks off with French collective Spaced Out Krew and their timeless, boogie driven disco funk. The music was written during 2020 by Spleen3000 and Marius Cyrilou of Ceeofunk and right from the first note of 'Doudou Bourbon' it is pure class. There are starry-eyed melodies, rasping basslines and curious vocals that all add up to a nice cosmic disco sound.

Review: Speakwave is a lesser-spotted alias from Frenchman Dynarec, who has been exploring the outer edges of electro on various superb labels for years. Here he builds on his famously melodic sound across a trio of cosmic cuts. 'Cartographic Venture' kicks off and is a ten-minute odyssey with cold melodies and tinny drums that have a retro-future feel. Distant vocals add an extra edge to 'Coming On Monday' which has wispy sci-fi lines darting about over more cold drums. 'Exposition To Revolution' closes out with an introspective feel but a widescreen sound that is clean and has lovely spiraling skyward melodies.

Review: The ever-excellent Ilian Tape label regular Stenny's 'Onda' comes as a limited one-time pressing "square wave homage" on 180g vinyl and as ever with this artist both tracks are devastatingly heavy and perfect for ultimate dance floor destruction. The title track takes up the A-side and is a crisp and snappy breakbeat underpinned by vast plunging bass notes and detailed with subtle electric fizzes and fills that are all-conquering. 'Quadra' is no less direct with its mix of physical low ends and microscopic details all warping mind and body in equal measure. Do not sleep on this one.

Review: NC4K's second hand-stamped 12" is more irresistible garage business from Stones Taro. 'Anywhere' (dub) has lovely warm woodblock hits and oscillating low ends with minimal drums and an aching r&b sample that brings the soul and draws you into the skeletal rhythm. Flip it over and you get something more fleshy and fulsome with 'Finally' (dub). Here the drums have more snap and are more prominent with a corrugated bassline down low and a heavily treated classic vocal sample the hook up top. Two killers that mix the old school and the new school in style.

Review: The fourth release of Barcelona-based label Kommuna finally lands after being teased late last year. It is a various artists affair that includes the opening gem from breakbeat legends Stopout. They ride rough and ready over a lumpy groove thats full of angst, then Pekkuliar & Driahn step out with a more cosmic bit of chunky funky on 'Dazed Transmission.' CMYK & Driahn servo up a beautifully sappy out mining affair in 'How's The Sauce?' with some great vocal snippets and Driahn's 'Tea Breaks' pairs cinematic ambiance and lush pads with tightly woven electro bass.

Review: Classic party starter by George Logions and Walter Gibbons. A hybrid of early 80s disco and electro. Feel the 808!!

Review: It's time to clock up more Air Miles here as the small but well-formed label invites Supreems for another excursion into emotional yet robust breakbeats. 'Being' floats above the dancefloor on perfect frictionless drum loops that lurch to and fro and 'Touch' is a deep space trip with pensive cosmic pads and delightfully delicate but dynamic breaks. There is more weight and crispy texture to the zoned out sounds of 'Running Back', then 'Soft Spring' brings a heart aching female vocal to a loose cluster of beats, breaks, hits and churchy chords. 'Yunnan' shuts things down with a dark yet alluring energy. There is great craft in these cuts as well as plenty of dancefloor clout.

Review: Dual-minded Frenchman Louis Pierret makes his debut on Karat as he continues to explore the extremities of his passions and interests over four crisp, forward-thinking tracks. 'Changes' eases us in with big swooning emotional tracks and a classically minded 808 electro beat before 'Davy Jones' eases us down a much deeper channel with dub techno soul and a jazz sensibility. Flip for the main attraction as 'Achab' shouts the orders by way of venomous acid, glacial chords and whale-like textures before 'Rhune' brings back ashore on a boat made in the heart of Detroit. Precision engineering. Bon voyage.

Review: Synapse's Get The Freaks And Get Some is an acid, electro and techno classic from 1996. The pair behind it - Jason Szostek and John Selway - dropped only a couple of EPs in the mid-noughties, then a couple more around five years ago, and this was their standout. Opener 'Get Some' is tense, electrifying stuff with lively synths, crunchy drums and pummelling bass. 'The Freak' is another edgy and hard hitting cut with frosty Detroit electro overtones and 'Set It Off' then slowing down to mangle your brain. 'Cosmic Connection' closes out with a deeper more astral exploration.

Review: Dark Entries is pleased to announce a deluxe reissue of Sexual Harrassment's 1983 opus I Need A Freak. Lynn Tolliver, DJ/Program Director at Cleveland's WZAK, adopted the pseudonym David Payton in order to keep his musical endeavors separate from his public persona. Sexual Harrassment (misspelled deliberately) was formed as a concept band, with members selected based on appearance and choreographic skill rather than musical ability. Tolliver's explicit lyrics focused on the central themes of desire and sexual relations. Working at a studio in Akron, he recorded an album of quirky-yet-lurid electro funk, which was released on Heat Records. Tolliver remarks, "I learned as a youngster, sex sells! The things that are rated the worst - violence, horror and sex - are the things people want to see or hear about." I Need a Freak was a surprise hit, selling over 100,000 copies.

Review: Electro lovers will be foaming at the mouth over this one - it is a super luxe reissue of some seminal UK electro from the late 90s. It channels plenty of Drexcyia vibes with its cinematic sound and sci-fi overtones and sounds as good now as it ever has. All of the tunes on it have been remastered from DAT tapes and included along the way is 'Original Flow' which wasn't on the album before and has never been released. It was only recently unearthed having been written in 2000.

Review: As one of the leading lights in Norwegian techno with guts, heart and soul, Skatebard has long skirted scene recognition to simply focus on slipping out his own strain of wayward machine matter. Given his track record with Sex Tags Mania, it's no surprise he'd trust DJ Sotofett with access to his archives, and so Spektral has come together as an exploration of long-buried recordings from the early 00s, edited by Sotofett and wrestled into a digestible form for this record. Capturing the best aspects of freeform jamming while cutting everything into shape, there's an inherent dirtiness to these recordings which instantly tells you it comes from an honest place.

Review: It is now a full three decades since Australian industrial trio Snog debuted with their still brilliant album Lies Inc on Machinery Records. To mark the occasion it gets a special 30th anniversary remastering and reissue on purple vinyl courtesy of Metropolis with all new artwork. Interestingly, not only is the searing, sarcastic, nihilistic electro contained within still relevant these days, but so too are the anti-establishment references in the track title from 'Corporate Slave' to 'Control' and 'Bank.' Some of those became rather unlikely global hits back in the day and their dark sense of humour and body poling rhythms will make just as much impact again now.

Review: DJ Sotofett is a cult hero with a sound that is never less than eccentric. This new album Braindance on Sued is a collection of material the mercurial one has written between 2002 and 2020. All of the tracks are short but high impact in different ways and despite some of them being the best part of 20 years old and pre-dating all the famous Sex Tags projects they still bang. Thrilling breaks, icy techno, mashed up jungle and deeper, more acid laced late night grooves all feature and offer a window into the mind of one of electronica's most vital talents.

Review: Wave Function is the brand new label from Maltese producer Sound Synthesis. Like many artists, he hit a fine run of form during the lockdown and has once out the other side just as on it. He's put out more than 12 releases in the last year or so and now mints his own new concern with a superb double album of timeless, spaced-out electro. This is the sort of sci-fi tackle that takes you on smooth groove cruises through the planets, with tipsy synths and heavenly pads all soothing the trip. Electro as emotive as this will always tune a place in our racks.

Review: Superski is a brand-new collaboration between Elliot Litrowski, best-known for his electro outings, and 'post-trance' sort Voiski. The pair bonded over their love of vintage analogue synthesisers, and 'Modo Moderne', their debut album as Superski, presents a variety of analogue-rich excusions marked out by a mixture of vivid aural colour, memorable electronic melodies, psychedelic soundscapes and surging dancefloor workouts. It's pleasingly tricky to tie down to one style, with their instrumental compositions variously doffing a cap to spacey electro-disco, ambient techno, Italo-disco, EBM, synth-wave and arpeggio-driven trance-not-trance. It's a fine collection of cuts all told that ticks an awful lot of boxes and, more importantly, sounds superb.

Review: London's Phil Bolland aka Sync 24 has been creating electro for over two decades via his Cultivated Electronics label, which he launched in 2007. The label has gone on to release music by Carl Finlow, DMX Krew, The Exaltics and Morphology, but now the spotlight is firmly on his solo work. Across its 11 tracks, Inside The Microbeat showcases many variations of the electro sound yet all delivered in his singular style. From the futurist beats of opener 'Oriental Sunset' and the brooding sci-fi aesthetic of the title track, to the dystopian bass programme of 'Haunt Times' and the hi-tech computer funk of 'Avoid The Ploid' - Bolland drives you through his own intimately constructed landscape.