Svetlana Industries At Juno Download

Review: Ben Thomas aka BNJMN released an impressive debut album on Rush Hour earlier this year, and it's fair to say that 141 is a worthy follow-up. Mixing up warm Detroit-style textures and melodies with broken beats, BNJMN comes across like bass music's answer to Convextion or John Roberts. "One Sea" is a beautifully dreamy, mournful soundtrack that is every ounce as melancholic as John Roberts's recent album, while "We Are The Weather" nudges BNJMN towards the dance floor, with a rippling bassline underpinning the atmospheric textures. Thomas's willingness to flirt with different tempos and rhythm structures is audible on the drum and bass pace of "Inout" and on the aptly named "Hybridisation", where a shuffling groove calls to mind the middle ground between Berlin techno and dubstep. However, throughout this journey the one constant remains his love of atmospheric moods and tones. Essential.

Review: For the latest release on Svetlana Industries, London-based producer Brey delivers an EP that curiously straddles a number of genres. While clearly rooted in the eclectic, post-dubstep world of bass music, there are all manner of influences at play that make Brasil hard to define. Opener "Bengela", for example, has a rhythmic intensity that recalls the tribal drums of South America. Throw in sharp horns and chiming melodies, and you have a track that simply oozes carnival flavour. "Juno" is looser if no less celebratory, while "Double A-Side..." sounds like an uneasy if impressive combination of UK funky and classic, Brown Album-era Orbital. "Monies", meanwhile, offers a quick blast of Ninja Tune-ish UK hip-hop.

Review: Kelpe returns to Svetlana Industries with a ferocious mixture of futuristic beats and bleeps. "Bags Of Time" is a grinding, twisted, quasi 4/4 bass track engineered specifically for all your boogie needs. Next up, "Double Punt" is a surprisingly daring number, where a lazy, disjointed mass of a beat is reassembled into place thanks to powerfully mutating basses and a spine-chilling organ melody. Neon Jung's remix of the title track sees quick-firing snares and hi-hats circle hysterically from side to side, only to be engulfed by the smooth chords that accompany it. Kelpe rounds things off with the aptly named "City", a fuzzy, hip-hop influenced beat verging onto the stranger and more subdued strains of electro. Audacious electronic blends.

Review: Making his first appearance on Svetlana Industries, endearing beat-botherer Kelpe has a full-bodied EP to share that extols the virtues of toasty synth lines, ramshackle beats and wild sample arrangement. "I Felt Fuzzy" has a definite sun kissed quality to it, as soothing coos provide vital melodic content before getting drowned out by psychedelic arpeggio washes, while the percussion rumbles and tumbles over itself in an easy funk. "Cola Mine" is more jagged, taking a heavy-edit approach that leaves plenty of space for all the elements in the track to get down. There's a beat-scene quality to the music, but with a clearer groove to align the dizzying detail to.

Review: Slowly appearing on the horizon with this release for Svetlana Industries, Microburst is set apart from most modern producers with his clear electronica leanings. While the rhythmic structures hold weight in a world that has experienced dubstep, the deployment of samples, synthesisers and found sounds has more in common with the engrossing detail of Bola or early Four Tet. This is also reflected in the melancholic nature of his tracks, which mournfully intone their message across six separate studies in advanced digital craftsmanship. Carefully balanced and intricately detailed, this music sits comfortably on its own in a mass of music concerned with the dancefloor.

Review: Maya Medvesek cuts loose her former 8Bitch guise with this release for Svetlana Industries. The first two tracks in particular have a bold, anthemic quality to them that is both instantly accessible and satisfying. The production itself is weighty, with a rumbling bottom end and a healthy dose of dirt, but it's the optimistic, reaching-for-the-skies feeling that "Night Bird" especially has which will see this tune explode. Unknown To The Unknown meanwhile delivers an abrasive remix of "Night Bird", which finds a groove and slams it hard, matching the chunkiness to be found elsewhere on the EP.

Review: Ssaliva and Wanda Group are already affiliated to a certain extent, thanks their respective releases for Vlek, with the latter also having previously appeared on both Opal Tapes and NNA Tapes - two of the most interesting labels around at the moment. This time, they go head-to-head for a split release on Svetlana Industries, a young and vibrant label comprised of a diverse spectrum of electronic sounds - from deep, deranged techno to fuzzy machine drones and experimentations. "Fantasy 33" sounds like the beginning of a dream, where watery synths collide to form a meditative cluster of harmonics and chirping melodies, whereas "Arcadia" takes us on a seductive disco ride through sci-fi landscapes and retro-filtered sounds; "Die Gem", on the other hand, re-inserts the electronic sensibility which opened the EP and forms a rather gorgeous arrangement of sequenced basslines and soft, dreary-eyed pads. Finally, "Commencement On Slavery With A Gender Perspective" is the filthiest of the lot, sounding something like Kevin Drumm on a heavy dose of downers, where the minute crackles and noise infusions are balanced against a relatively tranquil, aqueous soundscape.

Review: Having previously released on Planet Mu, Tropics man Chris Ward is clearly a talent on the rise. Here, he brings his brand of soft-focus, densely layered, near-Balearic electronica to Svetlana Industries for a four-track burst of dizzying positivity. The title track, with its drawn out chords, shuffling rhythms and yearning vocal, is probably the standout, though there's loads more to enjoy. Check, for example, the piano-laden 21st century electronica-funk of "Invitation", or the off-kilter, dreamy synth-funk of "Ophelia". As if that wasn't enough to get the juices flowing, there's also a perfectly pitched remix from DC Recordings man Kelpe.