Silent Servant At Juno Download

Review: The latest Mote Evolver release sees a collaboration so obviously perfect its amazing its taken this long, as Stroboscopic Artefacts boss Lucy and Sandwell District alumnus Silent Servant team up for two tracks of precision techno which supposedly sees the pair using digital and analogue elements together to combine Lucy's ability to tell a story with Silent Servant's mastery of noise and distortion. "Dormancy Survivors" sees a steadily rolling rhythm slowly layered up with bright dub chords and echoing chimes, while white hot noise swells in the background. "Victors History" takes a much moodier approach from the off, as a dubby bass deflects bouncing stabs while clockwork percussion drifts in and out of range, before progressing into full blown cinematic techno towards the finish.

Review: Juan Mendez pushes the largely abstract approach on his debut album towards the dance floor. Ironically though, the LP version of "Strange Attractor" was more brutal and upfront. On this version, Mendez lets the chain mail groove throb beneath layer upon layer of eerie chords, abstract whispers and what could be an angle grinder running in the background. This version of "Invocation of Lust" has an eerie, garbled vocal in the background, but fused with spiky metallic percussion and a thumping kick drum and throbbing bass, makes for a compelling club record. Finally, "Utopian Disaster (End)" is the most Sandwell-esque track on offer, its slamming rhythm, droning sounds and reverberating, doubled up claps sounding like a sequel to the Negative Fascination EP that was released on the seminal, now defunct techno label.