Artist: Rude 66 Title: Two Worlds Label: Crème Organization Genre: Electro, Techno, Ambient Format: 2xLP, Digital
Crème Organization has released a sprinkling of compilations and albums over the past few years from the likes of Legowelt, Bangkok Impact, Alexander Robotnick and, perhaps most memorably, a tribute to Robert Moog – often in uber limited CDR form. This double 12” sees them change tack slightly and issue a neat ‘best of’ compendium of the 90s DJAX and Acid Planet output of Rude 66, aka Ruud Lekx, wrapped in wonderfully Gothic artwork.
Lekx initially rose to prominence in the 1980s halcyon era of noise and EBM, playing keys in Dutch noise band Kamika6, whose sound is forever lost in the Dutch underground save for those who picked up a copy of their only release; a limited demo cassette. As the 90s dawned Lekx moved into more fertile musical pastures and soon became associated with The Hague acid house sound alongside Unit Moebius and I-f. From here he dabbled in a myriad of other related genres; ambient, lo-fi acid, soundtracks, electro, even disco – all produced with an idiosyncratic layer of darkness.
Over the two clear 12”s that make up Two Worlds we’re treated to a captivating journey through vintage acid, techno, electro ambient and industrial sounds. What impresses most is the sheer breadth of musical styles on offer, considering this release only showcases his output from 1992-1998 (arguably the most prolific and creative portion of the producer’s career).
Highlights on the first vinyl are plentiful, drifting from the straight up filthy electro jack of “Two Worlds” to the dread-filled 4am techno of “Rude 66″ and squelch ‘n claps acid of “Acid Trip Soft”. It’s all incredibly dark stuff, yet the use of vintage synthesisers and drum machines gives the music a bubbling warmth buried deep beneath the icy exterior.
Head straight for the industrial wallop of “Minus 8 Remix” on the second vinyl, which also contains some sweat-drenched Chicago house (“No Cure”), dubby broken beat techno (“La Route”), swirling, atmospheric cyberpunk ambience (“Images”) and ethereal electronic soundscapes (“Smog”). It all serves as a fascinating look into one of Europe’s most intriguing underground production talents.
Artist: Jay Shepheard, Matthew Burton Title: Retrofit #5 Label: Retrofit Genre: Deep house Format: 12", Digital
Since launching last spring, Jay Shepheard’s Retrofit label has earned a reputation as a sure bet for high quality deep house. The label’s success has largely been down to Shepheard himself, who seems to have enjoyed a new lease of life since moving back to the UK from spells in Berlin and Poland. Whereas his early work was notable for its fusion of rock-solid, late night deep house and stylish nu-disco elements, his Retrofit excursions have offered a more organic approach to deep house, with neat use of live instrumentation. His progression has been impressive.
This fifth instalment in the series sees Shepheard team up with pal Matthew Burton – the man responsible for the first cut on Sammy Dee’s new imprint Ultrastretch - for four more decidedly organic excursions. Lead track “Liberal Zee” is outstanding in its combination of floor-friendly deep house groovyness and addictive late night funk. With live electric bass, deep keys and brilliantly layered percussion to the fore, it’s sparse but exquisite.
“Just You”, meanwhile, goes deeper still, crafting an hypnotic afterhours groove from the rawest of elements. There’s little more than an organ, beats, a straightforward bassline and the simplest of spaced-out vocal loops, but it works wonderfully. “Merked” treads a similar path, but is noticeably “bigger” in its sound – a reflection of the use of loose-wristed jazz percussion (hi-hats to the fore) and more pads, chords and melodic elements.
The EP is rounded off by a decent remix of “Just You” by Matt N Kate – aka Burton and regular Shepheard chanteuse Kate Rathod. It comes on like a megamix of elements from all three tracks – an “everything but the kitchen sink” rub that somehow manages to retain an atmospheric deep house feel. Like the rest of the EP, it’s superb.
We’ve got two tickets to give away to next month’s Francois K party in London, which will see the New Yorker indulge himself and the crowd with an unmissable six hour set.
An Audio Interface is the missing link between a DJ’s laptop set-up, the club’s sound system and, ultimately, the dancefloor. As such, a solid, reliable and easy-to-use interface is essential for any digital DJ who wants to play consistently trouble-free sets; we’ve all seen the nightmares that await those who roll into a gig unprepared. To ease you along this potentially hazardous path, the Juno experts have selected the five best DJ audio interfaces on the market across a range of prices…
British techno producer Surgeon has announced the details of his first album in 10 years, entitled Breaking The Frame, set to be released via his own Dynamic Tension imprint.
Electro funk technician Jimmy Edgar will headline a stellar looking line-up as Berlin party promoters Leisure System host a one-off party at South London venue Corsica Studios in April.
The unexpectedly announced Four Tet/Burial/Thom Yorke twelve split the Juno Plus office right down the middle with some of the comments too ripe for publication; clearly the guilty party was in the minority as the twelve spent less than an afternoon in stock before completely selling out. Read the rest of this entry »
Artist: Mike Dehnert Title: Framework Label: Delsin Genre: Techno Format: 2xLP, CD, Digital
Mike Dehnert and his Fachwerk and MD2 labels have been at the forefront of 90s-inspired techno for the past few years – but will his consistently high strike rate translate to a long player? Thankfully, Dehnert sticks to what he knows best, resisting the ill-advised urge to position himself as a versatile all-rounder. Apart from the brief, abstract “Intro”, the dreamy ambience of “Kontextfrei” and the hissing static noise of “Outro”, the album centres on the dancefloor, but manages to avoid repetition.
Indeed, Dehnert fans expecting rehashes of the dense, dubby Fachwerk releases may be surprised by Framework, but those who have followed his releases on MD2 and his “Many Roots” release on Deeply Rooted House will notice that his approach to the dancefloor is broadening. So while the dubby bass, scuffled beats and clanging percussion of “Infix” is indicative of the Berlin producer’s abeyance to the Basic Channel/Chain Reaction axis, Framework widens his scope; “Beatmatching” is an uplifting vocal-sample heavy groove and this new-found playfulness is also audible on the rave riff sampling “Teilfolge” and the purring bassline and synth melodies of “Quattro”.
However, Dehnert moves quickly to dispel any doubts that he is mellowing out, but does so in an unexpected manner: the title track, fuelled by snappy, Klock-style percussion, is more pumping than is his wont, “Klartext” sounds like an update of Dan Bell minimalism, reinforced with industrial rhythms and an extra layer of claps, while “Pallindrome” is his most intense track yet, a dense wall of sound and visceral bass building into a droning, acidic meltdown. Dehnert may be operating in a new format, but Framework proves that when it comes to techno functionalism, he is peerless.
Kalamazoo native Fanon Flowers has been releasing music for over 15 years, yet he is one of the few dancefloor artists who manages to get the fusion of Detroit techno and Chicago house down to a tee. That said, Flowers’s recent output for Studio Sound alternated between pure 909 drum mayhem and acid freak-outs – “Acid Kush” - and despite its title, the deeper techno of “Chicago-Detroit”. So what next for Flowers, now that his latest release has been snapped up by Sect, a label that has been excelling of late (most notably with a recent Jolka 12″ that boasted remixes from Silent Servant and Surgeon)?
Oddly enough, part one of “Maschinenhaus” sounds European rather than American – a looped dubby chord playing out in the unflinchingly hypnotic Basic Channel manner. Indeed, the only real hint that it is a US production comes as the thunderous, precision claps kick in. The second part sees Flowers set out a more distinctly American feel: the same heavy claps are present, but this time so too are deeper, more textured chords and a discernible swing to the tracky, DJ-friendly groove. Coming from a place that’s neither Detroit nor Chicago – geographically Kalamazoo is halfway between the two – and audibly influenced this time by a German aesthetic, Maschinenhaus is a product of the best of bits from the troika of dance music’s capital cities.
Artist: Blawan Title: Bohla EP Label: R&S Records Genre: Techno Format: 12", Digital
The recent success of R&S can be measured by the sheer volume of magazines adorned with a wind swept picture of James Blake. If there’s any disappointing by-product of this revival, it’s that the critical acclaim for releases from the likes of Blake and Space Dimension Controller overshadowed perhaps the label’s best release from Untold.
In “Stereo Freeze” and “Mass Dreams Of The Future” the Hemlock boss delivered a punishing dancefloor update on the legendary label’s long established template of techno, and crucially refused any kind of simple genre classification. There’s no post whatever’s you can tack on the tracks, it was simply raw, unadulterated music geared for the floor.
Hailing from Barnsley, Blawan becomes the latest rising talent to appear on the iconic Belgian imprint, and he takes his cue from Jack Dunning, fully embracing the 303 sound that characterised the label in its pomp. Those that only know Blawan via his debut release for Hessle Audio might be surprised at the swerve in direction shown on the three tracks that make up Bohla, but as he disclosed in a recent interview with Dummy, the 130bpm range is where his head is at now and it’s a style he executes with a real swagger.
Lead track “Bohla” sets the tone, crafting a menacing rhythmic swing from a titular growl and smudged bass drums, with intermittent upwards swirls of 303 constantly building and dropping off. “Kaz” proves to be brilliantly schizophrenic in its approach, with intricate drum rhythms cascading around whilst acid lines are twisted in ten different directions across almost seven freakout-inducing minutes. What really impresses with Blawan is his innate talent for unique rhythms and it’s most apparent on the abrasive delight of “Lavender”, with rattling percussion covered in a thick viscous bassline truffle shuffle.
We’re very pleased to announce a Juno Plus hook-up with Parisian label My Love Is Underground, with the imprint’s main players set to host their first London label showcase in May.
Artist: FaltyDL Title: You Stand Uncertain Label: Planet Mu Genre: Dubstep, Garage, House Format: 2xLP, CD, Digital
The title of Drew ‘FaltyDL’ Lustman’s sophomore album could easily be a cheeky swipe at genre-obsessed reviewers; it’s true that many have found it hard to categorize his far-sighted take on electronic music. While firmly rooted in dubstep and electronica, Lustman’s music has always taken in a dizzying array of musical influences. Add to this a skip-load worth of great ideas and a distinctive production sound that marks out dance music’s greats, and it’s easy to see why Lustman’s music has got critics in a spin.
On You Stand Uncertain, he’s stepped up his game. If anything, Lustman has cast his net even wider, throwing two-step garage, UK funky, jazz, ambient, slow house, old fashioned rave and ARP 101-ish synth jams into his musical melting pot. It still sounds like a FaltyDL record (those weird slowed-down vocal samples, quaint musical touches and sneaky cut-ups are still present), but it feels like he’s moved from standard definition into glorious, crystal clear HD.
Aside from the usual array of brilliant instrumentals – check the floor-friendly future rave anthem “Lucky Luciano”, two-step rinse-out “Tell Them Stories”, 808 State-sampling “Open Space” or picturesque slow house bliss of “Tell Them Stories” – Lustman has included his first full vocal outings. These are invariably excellent, with the opening and closing tracks – “Gospel of Opal”, featuring Anelka, and “Waiting Patiently”, featuring Lily McKenzie – perfectly demonstrating his ability to write next-level, emotion-rich electronic music. The other Lily McKenzie collab, “Brazil”, is thrillingly upbeat. From start to finish, You Stand Uncertain is a delight to listen to. For the most part, the music is nothing less than stunning.
Italians Do It Better are seemingly no closer to releasing Into The Black, the much vaunted follow up to their breakthrough compilation After Dark, but label boss Mike Simonetti has unveiled details of his first solo production endeavour which is set for release on the label next month.
Artist: Genius Of Time Title: Drifting Back Label: Clone Royal Oak Genre: House Format: 12", Digital
A lot of house music comes through these doors – rarely though does anything reach out, slap you in the face and grab your attention as much as this 12″ from young Swedes Genius Of Time. After two auspicious releases on the Swedish label Aniara Recordings, the production duo have made the step up to Clone’s Royal Oak series, previously graced by the likes of Space Dimension Controller, Reggie Dokes, Marco Bernardi and Gerd. Taking this esteemed company into account, we don’t take it lightly when we say this record is as good as anything we’ve heard on Royal Oak, with A Side offering “Drifting Back” a jazzy delight imbued with softly pumping chords and twinkling piano lines, making for a jam that wouldn’t seem out of place in the KDJ back cat.
It’s the two flipside offerings, however, that really capture your attention. “Houston We Have A Problem” is one of those tracks you know is going to be a killer within the first four bars, with an insistent beat soon complemented by two female vocal samples played off each other to enchanting effect. A thumping house kick then enters the fray, before congas and a languid funk bassline join in the on the fun. It’s page one, chapter one of the ‘how to make a house track’ handbook – but rarely is it done this well – and the calming synths that undulate gently as the track progresses lend “Houston We Have A Problem” a reassuringly snug and cosy feeling.
The shares the B Side with “Juxtapose”, which could almost pass for David Kennedy in Maurice Donovan house mode such is the nature of the tough, raw drum programming that underpins the track, although the soaring strings give it a nice classicist bent. With some intriguing projects on the horizon, including a remix of the unholy Amsterdam trio of Tom Trago, Young Marco and Awanto 3’s new material, 2011 promises much for this duo.
Since the Drop Out Orchestra began in 2008, the project has grown from one man and a sampler to a three man team consisting of a music teacher, a studio engineer and a music tech writer. What has remained constant is the cloak of mystery regarding their true identity with no names or pictures, ensuring the focus remains on their music.
And the Drop Out Orchestra certainly know how to make music of the disco persuasion, eschewing some of modern technology’s shortcuts by using real instruments to craft vintage discoteria which have seen innumerable releases, including two albums on their own Drop Out imprint as well as remixes for Ilija Rudman, Beatfanatic, DJ Agent 86 and :Kinema: The latter remix, an 11 minutes plus epic, is small change for the ambitious Drop Out Orchestra who harbour plans to record a 25 minute disco monster likened to Kraftwerk’s “Autobahn”.
In addition to these official releases Drop Out Orchestra delight in reworking some of pop music’s “most iconic” figures into something inimitably danceable with the likes of Rick Astley, Robyn, Craig David and The Sex Pistols already treated to the Drop Out magic.
The troupe have just launched a new imprint called Drop Out Sounds to showcase their talents at edits and you can also expect to see Drop Out Orchestra remixes for the likes of Needwant, MB Disco and the newly minted Tigers On A Leash imprint set up by Brooklyn disco devil Munga. To get an idea of what to expect at a Drop Out DJ gig where they go so far as to rope in live bass and trombone players we invited them to curate the latest featured chart.
Darren Cunningham returns to the business of releasing records for the first time since his stunning 2010 long player, Splazsh. Releasing on Instra:mental’s Nonplus for the second time, almost a year to the day since his first 12″ on the imprint, Actress drops two tracks of his idiosyncratic brand of muggy electronica.
The thick compression and hazy, undulating Detroit chords on “Harrier ATTK” sees Cunningham once again succeed in creating a dense soundscape in which deft samples and effects-laden instrumentation throb and pulse almost of their own accord. It immediately carves out an eerie, introspective, cavernous soundscape with little embellishment or sonic adornment save for a few creaks and crackles. Instead, it’s got that heavy, hazy atmospheric pressure, and this seems to dominate the track for the duration, coupled with a deeply hypnotic pull and humming electro synth riff.
In contrast, “Gershwin” flips the proverbial lid with a decidedly more lively venture, characterised by intricate drum programming, experimental sci-fi sounds and flurry of textured SFX which fidget around, colourful in a Night Slugs way, and never sitting still for more than a moment. It’s certainly more sketch like in quality, shorter in length with fuzzy, muffled drum programming flung around with reckless abandon beneath distorted synths. A glorious return for Actress.
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