Back catalogue: Electro

Review: The Exit Planet Earth series continues with the first ever collaboration between two undisputed electro-funk heavyweights Egyptian Lover & Soul Clap. Egypt knows how to rock the TR 808 like no other and has been a true player on the LA electro scene since 1984. While Soul Clap have forged their unique E-Funk sound coming out of New York City as part of the Crew Love collective. The resulting track 'Hai Karate' is a slice of superbly produced classic electro designed to rattle bass bins from Miami to Mars.
Following form in classic electro directions, Futurenauts present their debut track 'We are the Futurenauts' that brings a slower based groove reminiscent of 'A Love from Outer Space' into the cosmos and delivers a powerful message to humanity. The flip sees a welcome return to 20/20 Vision from the Maltese magician Sound Synthesis who continues the vocoded vocals but adds a state-of-the-art assault on the senses with a slamming track aimed firmly at the discerning dancefloor. EPE 08 is finished off in fine style by Mick Wilson & August Artier with 'Akira's Cry', which fuses a deep house bassline and chords with tight break beat programming and powerful lead strings.

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: 20/20 Vision continue to celebrate their renewed electro vigour with the third part in the Exit Planet Earth series, once again calling on a crack team of machine funkers to deliver the robo-goods. Radioactive Man is up first with 'One Out', which finds the original Lone Swordsman on impeccable form teasing and testing his rubbery synth flex around a needlepoint groove. Annie Hall follows up in fine style with the dreamy lilt of 'Invisible Dust', while Sansibar locks into something a little dirtier on the dungeon boogie of 'Tamagotchi'. VC-118A's 'Moss' completes the set in a spellbinding fashion, dropping the tempo for something a little more exploratory with plenty of mystical atmospheres and tweaked FX fills marking out an evocative soundscape.

Review: James Shinra has been previously spotted dropping quality electro-tinted sonics on the likes of Furthur Electronix, Craigie Knowes, Feel My Bicep, null+void and more. Now he comes to 20/20 Vision with a vivid new EP of productions that cement his place in the contemporary electro firmament. "Route 909" pivots between classic techno and emotive electro, with cinematic results. "Flyby" is a more crafty broken beat excursion with a nimble lead line that flutters over lingering piano lines. "1111" is rowdier affair that sets out a gnarly acid line front and centre, but not at the expense of Shinra's tendency for refined production. "On & On" reaffirms this point with a smart balance between growling low end and sophisticated top line melodies, rounding out a sterling EP.

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.