Items & Things At Juno Download

Review: The latest release on Magda and Troy Pierce's label focuses on Italo, electro and acid trax. The title track features a neat vocoder vocal over a slinky funk bass and sad synths. "Astronewta" explores this terrain further, only this time the robot's voice sounds more paranoid and confused and the bassline is tougher, more direct and in your face. "Disconsolated" also does a neat line in eerie synths and pulsing bass licks, but Madato changes tact on "Cheater" and "Claire" to deliver stripped back, acid-laced minimalism, while "Sam Collingway" resonates to the sound of bassy Detroit electro. It's a long way from hiccupping mnml.

Review: Magda, Marc Houle and Troy Pierce's newly revived Items & Things labelopens 2012 in fine form with Houle's Undercover EP. The title track features some neat vocal vs instrumentation interplay, with a chuggy bassline and tough drums marking it out as a certified fabric floor filler circa 4am Sunday morning. "Triple E" is bouncier, with cheeky bass stabs and vocal stutters leading into more perfectly tweaked low frequencies. There are two fine remixes of "Undercover" to choose from, with Miro Pajic beefing up his version to paranoia-inducing effect, while the Bruno Electric Blanket dub goes subterranean with deep-as-you-can-get bass bringing the most out of that vocal line. Recommended.

Review: After years of making the most stripped back music imaginable, Undercover sees Houle go back to dance music's roots. Inspired by Detroit electro and Chicago house, the album is the ideal antidote for those tired of hiccupping, stuttering rhythms and white noise FX. "Juno 6660" and "Hearing" offer tripped out takes on classic electro with shufflimg 808s laying the basis for time-stretched basslines, woozy synths and muffled vocals. The title track sees Houle deliver his verison of jack, albeit cloaked in icy synths and brooding robo vocals, while "Mooder" offers an alluring combination, as heavy claps and a nagging rhythm support brooding synth sequenes. As reinventions go, it's up there with Dylan's conversion to the electric guitar.