LIES US At Juno Download

Review: The Long Island Electrical Systems imprint has really stepped up its game this year with crucial twelves from Steve Moore and Willie Burns in recent months. Their endeavours go up several notches in our affections with their latest release positing the ever excellent Legowelt at the helm for a triplet of his distinct cross city house pollinations. The title track "Sark Island Acid" sets the tone in glorious form with rapidly oscillating streams of acid twirling around expert layers of drum machine energy. It's indelibly marked with the sonic identity of Legowelt and is both a beautiful slice of electronic music and a potent dancefloor shaker. On the flip Wolfers digs deeper into the machine with "Backwood Fantasies" an expert example of mind altering jack heavy on the twisting synth scapes, whilst "Sea Of Nuhuhu" contrasts heavy bass turns with glistening key refrains over basic constructed drums. A pleasure from start to end!

Review: Long Island Electrical Systems come through with their third release - enlisting the clearly quite talented Steve Moore to provide two visions of techno futurism. You might know Moore as Lovelock, the Mindless Boogie artist who delivered a superlative Tubular Bells edit - or as Gianni Rossi, the Giallo revivalist who released an album's worth of slasher horror funk for Permanent Vacation in January. He's also part of Zombi. This, however, might be his best work to date, as "Zero Point Field" effortlessly shifts between dystopian and utopian sensations throughout the nine minutes. This is complemented by the sprawling washes of "Frigia", from which gentle chord flutters emerge to set the scene for the deftest of beats. The ease with which all elements lock to forge one gentle yet increasingly hypnotic pulse is quite brilliant!

Review: Long Island Electrical Systems come through with their third release - enlisting the clearly quite talented Steve Moore to provide two visions of techno futurism. You might know Moore as Lovelock, the Mindless Boogie artist who delivered a superlative Tubular Bells edit - or as Gianni Rossi, the Giallo revivalist who released an album's worth of slasher horror funk for Permanent Vacation in January. He's also part of Zombi. This, however, might be his best work to date, as "Zero Point Field" effortlessly shifts between dystopian and utopian sensations throughout the nine minutes. This is complemented by the sprawling washes of "Frigia", from which gentle chord flutters emerge to set the scene for the deftest of beats. The ease with which all elements lock to forge one gentle yet increasingly hypnotic pulse is quite brilliant!

Review: Arriving in the digital realm after a sold out run on vinyl we have the return of Jason Letkiewicz to LIES under his Steve Summers moniker - pop pickers will know he was responsible for the debut LIES release as Malvoeaux. As Summers, the producer has priors on Clone with a couple of killers for the Jack for Daze offshoot, and the four tracks on In The Mode For Love ensure the L.I.E.S high standards are more than maintained. "Nethermead Arches" in particular is a real highlight, as a raw sinewy bassline tinged with malevolence is pinged by swinging drums - the intermittent drum fills that sound throughout are thrilling, whilst off key synth modulations are spectral in their intent.

Review: More potent bodyjackers arrive with the recognisable LIES stamp thanks to the smart curatorial eyes of label overseer Ronald Morelli. There's a nice story to this release too - it marks the culmination of a five year plan to release material from Svengalisghost after Morelli was introduced to his undeniably dystopian techno as his previous Below Underground incarnation via the NYC legend Pork Chop. Now reborn as Svengalighost, the three tracks here are culled from those archival sessions Morelli was so impressed by, with "Deep Into Memory" a suitably epic opener. Creeping up from the murkiest recesses of machine funk, Svengalighost gradually fills your dome piece with relentless elasticised analogue patterns flushed with increasingly ominous intensity. The crystalline tautness of "Mars Out Of Range" and the abrasive Dance Mania from outer space pressure of "Marathon" demonstrate the intent of Svengalisghost and LIES to ensure the gleeful energy of Real Chicago Jack remains alive today.

Review: Having finally unleashed that EP of dystopian techno brilliance from Steve More last month, Long Island Electrical Systems waste little time in following it up with something equally special! Willie Burns is the latest alias of Brooklyn's William Burnett, proprietor of the WT Recordings imprint and a producer with labels such as Supersoul and Disco Capablanca in his armoury. Across five tracks Burns delights in a disjointed approach to house rhythms perfectly typified by the opening swirls of glowering analogues that run through "Fantasy MD". Elsewhere raw piano stabs cascade brilliantly around your senses on "Key Horizon", a track which wouldn't seem out of place on Mathematics! On the flip the jerked out simmering electro heat of "Dr Monkey" is a highlight amongst three further examples of rough round the edges machine funk brilliance. Fans of the aforementioned label run by Jamal Moss or the esoteric sounds of Future Times should be all over this!

Review: LIES 008 introduces us to a producer whose name will become ever more recognisable as the year veers onwards. The clearly quite talented Xosar is wrapped in the sort of nautical intrigue Drexciya invested heavily in, however her three productions here demonstrate there is a prowess to justify the mystique. "Tropical Cruize" sets the tone, ascending to the misty heights of your full appreciation via the lofty synths, rippling tom patterns and heavily opiated vocals that smudge the lower recesses. It sounds perfectly at home on LIES, as do the accompanying tracks, with the wonderfully creepy "Voodoo Castle" bristling with vaguely camp Giallo energy and powered by those stabs of various texture, whilst "Xephyr" adopts a more streamlined rhythmic jakkers approach which is embellished with lovely dubby puddles of synths.