 | |
|
MP3, WAV, FLAC
 SECURE SHOPPINGJuno Download offers over 2 million dance tracks in MP3, WAV & FLAC formats, featuring genre pages, advanced audioplayer, super-fast download speeds.
 Visit Juno Download
|
 |
 | |
 | |
| |
|
DJ & STUDIO EQUIPMENT
SECURE SHOPPINGMassive range of equipment and accessories for DJs and studio use.
 Visit Juno DJ
|
|
 | |
| |
| |
|
VINYL & CDs
SECURE SHOPPINGThe world's largest dance music store featuring the most comprehensive selection of new and back catalogue dance music Vinyl and CDs online.
Visit Juno Records
|
|
 | |
| |
|
|
Here we launch the first instalment of a new regular feature entitled Scratching The Surface. Each month one of the Juno Plus scribes will look through the most intriguing vinyl releases and give a selection of under-the-radar missives some richly deserved column inches. First up is our Deputy Editor Tony Poland.
To say that Anthony Khan ― aka The Twilite Tone, Master Khan, Great Weekend, and Ynot―is a jack of all trades is both a little unfair (he pores himself into every endeavor he pursues) and inaccurate (he’s not as prolific as some of his peers, at least in terms of sheer number of releases), but it tends to be the simplest way to explain his career.
Starting off in the mid-80s as a house and hip-hop-obsessed Chicago teen, Khan quickly moved from casual observer and hobbyist to creator, shacking up with the likes of Lonnie Rashid Lynn, Jr. (better known as Common), Dion Wilson (No I.D., often noted as Kanye West’s mentor), and others. As Ynot, Khan produced tracks on Common’s first three full-lengths and recently reconnected with his old friend to become, once again, his touring DJ as well as his production manager for live shows. Simultaneously, Khan ― who prefers to go simply by Tone ― was, and continues to be, deeply involved and embedded in the world of house music, from its early days in Chicago thanks to DJs and clubs like Ron Hardy and the Muzic Box and Frankie Knuckles of the Power Plant and the Warehouse, to its current state, putting out records on NYC labels like The Wurst Music Company and UNO, with further releases on Throne of Blood and L.I.E.S. slated for 2012.
Juno Plus scribe Nik Mercer sat down with Tone at the Ace hotel in New York City for an extended interview – it was nearly four hours in length – so settle in for what we consider to be one of the most―if not the most―definitive Q&As the man has ever offered up.
The name Milo Smee will have registered on the radar of most electronic music consumers in one form or another in recent years, either consciously or unconsciously. Hidden beneath some bizarrely brilliant pseudonyms in Binary Chaffinch and Kruton, Smee contributed a sizeable portion of the Dissident back catalogue and it’s here where his work first became apparent to these ears. However, his production work stretches further back as part of 5 Mic Cluster with Mark Broom, Chris Baker and Fergus Purcell and preceding that, Kactus, a collaboration with his brother Leo.
Each month us Juno Plus scribes are privileged enough to see a range of sumptuously designed records pass across our desks. For this reason we’re launching a new monthly feature in which we compile our favourite sleeves (and the odd picture disc) for your viewing pleasure.
Pinch, otherwise known as Rob Ellis, occupies a position within the history of dubstep that has been oft recounted. After watching Kode9 DJing at FWD>> at London’s Plastic People in 2003, he returned to his hometown of Bristol with the desire to start a night that would capture some of the essence of FWD>>, resulting in the inception of Subloaded, the dubstep night that arguably made his name as a DJ and made a mark on Bristol’s musical psyche that still resonates today.
“I’m not into stuff that’s over-produced, it’s very uninteresting to me.” So states Al Green, the man behind some of the most distinctive, visceral electronic music to grace our ears in recent times. One listen to any of the plentiful Boddika tracks that have been released for labels such as [Naked Lunch], Swamp81 or his own Nonplus, and you can instantly feel where he’s coming from. The kickback against crisp and clean digital production that typified last year’s dance music output is no more apparent than on the raw, abrasive drums n’ synths that characterise the Boddika sound.
Jason Letkiewicz’s Discogs page places him somewhere between Howard Marks and Lionel Hutz in the fake identities stakes. In addition to the Steve Summers, Confused House, Malvoeaux, Rhythm Based Lovers, Sensual Beings and Alan Hurst solo endeavours, there are the Innergaze, Two Dogs In A House and Manhunter collaborative projects. Although this has allowed the New York based producer to work unencumbered by the restraints of a single moniker, it also means it’s taken longer for people to appreciate Letkiewicz’s true talent; the same can indeed be said for fellow analogue house fetishist Danny Wolfers aka Legowelt.
He has a close affiliation with many of the most promising artists and labels emerging from across the US; Ron Morelli and his Long Island Electrical Systems imprint, Andrew Field-Pickering and Ari Goldman aka the Beautiful Swimmers, People’s Potential Unlimited chief Andrew Morgan and Daniel Martin-McCormick (aka Ital) are all friends, and in some cases, collaborators. With Letkiewicz finally starting to get his dues – especially with his work as Steve Summers – we thought it was time to send our man in NYC, Nik Mercer, to chat about the unexpectedly important role professional dog walking has played in his musical development, and much more besides.
(Scroll to the bottom of the article for a gallery of images taken around Jason’s apartment by photographer Shawn Brackbill).
In the middle of the summer a few years ago, a record by an act called Orphx was released on Sonic Groove. Orphx was not a household techno name, but the fact that Division was released on Adam X’s label and contained a remix by Surgeon brought them to the techno community’s attention.
Another New Year’s Eve is almost upon us, and once again it looks set to be a massive night in terms of choice for the discerning clubber. London residents are spoiled, with one of the most diverse selection of parties anywhere in the world, whilst residents of Europe’s other clubbing hotspots have much to get excited about.
When The Please’s rather uniquely titled ’s-Gravendijkwal EP landed in our inbox a few months ago, we knew that we were about to be exposed to something rather special.
Delving into the sounds and emotions that have filtered out of Detroit in the years following the birth of techno via the handiwork of the Belleville Three will always remain fascinating, especially for those on the outside looking in. In the current climate, where the internet offers you a gateway to other ideas and sounds instantaneously, it’s provided fascinating to see how rising musicians based in Detroit and the surrounding areas choose to reference both the colossal shadows of Atkins, Parrish et al and other strands of music. One such producer whose talent and wide reaching influences have caught our eyes is Coyote Clean Up.
To round off our Best Of 2011 coverage we called on our team of writers and asked them to come up with a personal list of their choosing. From the finest track titles to the best Bristol bangers via untitled jams and reasons to get excited about next year, here’s what they came up with.
This year we decided to expand our best tracks of the year list from 50 to an admittedly bulging 100. The simple fact is, listening to records as we do, day in, day out, we hear a lot of good music. Some great music, in fact, and in our top 100 we have specified exactly what drew us to each title – was it the quirky B-Side, the anthemic opener or, as with our number one selection, the entire EP? Read on to find out…
We’ll save you the usual rhetoric that surrounds these lists – that of it being hard to translate electronic music into the traditional long player format – and we won’t bother dissecting the argument that the modern consumption of music lessens the importance of albums; for our money there’s still nothing more rewarding that settling in and listening to an LP in its glorious entirety.
What we have done, however, is hand pick our 20 favourite albums from the past 12 months. Those of you who traverse these pages on a regular basis will see a liberal sprinkling of the artists and labels we’ve supported all year (and hopefully a couple of surprises too).
We have endeavored only to select albums that have truly moved us, ones that we find ourselves returning to again and again. In our minds 2011 was a vintage year for albums – the wondrous breadth of style and substance in our top 20 testifies to that – and we’ve included detailed descriptions of each release in our list for your reading pleasure.
Judging the best record labels in any given year is not an easy task. The necessary combination of established labels reaching their peak and fresh imprints flourishing in their infancy is not an easy one to reach; inevitable comprises in the age old quantity vs quality debate are liable to be discussed ad nauseum. This year’s list came together slowly but surely, and we believe it provides a neat snapshot of all that is good about electronic music right now.
The aforementioned upstarts are visible in force (Hivern, Long Island Electrical Systems) as are their more established counterparts (Clone, Planet Mu, Honest Jon’s). Their combined reach is truly global, with our selected labels based in cities as diverse as Barcelona, New York, London, Glasgow, L.A. and Bristol – their respective rosters have an even broader reach and they collectively touch on too many genres to mention.
Anyone with a finger on or someone near the pulse of electronic music right now won’t need us to tell you the importance of record labels these days. They serve as what Andrew Weatherall describes as a “cultural filter”; the best labels wade through oceans of sameness to illuminate the interesting corners of music, earning our trust and admiration in the process. There are, of course, many, many more labels worthy of end-of-year coverage, but here is the Juno Plus selection of the labels that impressed us most in 2011.
At a time when podcasts are available for every day of the week it seems even harder for the commercially released mix album to remain a viable entity. The majority who still see reason in the endeavour are doing themselves little favours in endlessly commissioning triple CD mixes put together on Ableton with little ingenuity when there are similarly accomplished, if soulless, efforts available for free for the nuisance of subscribing via iTunes?
Equally, the art of a finely curated compilation with a central concept that intrigues and a tracklist that excites becomes ever more difficult to pull off in age where the New Boring permeates deep into all reaches of electronic music. Aside from the more thought out label showcases, perhaps the most interesting compilations to surface this year have been those that take their cue from reissue culture. In an age where retro-futurism has become a standard term, it’s perhaps labels taking the time and patience in acquainting new ears with sounds from days gone by that helps provides the necessary context.
Thus this list draws together ten of those releases over the past twelve months whose approach has side stepped the aforementioned problems facing the two mainstays of electronic music, and perhaps provide an insight into how others could follow suit.
Call us Luddites, but the editorial team here at Juno Plus still places great importance on the amount of love and care put into a physical record release, and we’re liable to swoon at the very mention screen printing, hand numbering or obtuse run-out groove inscribing. For that reason we’ve decided to commence our Best Of 2011 fiesta with a gallery devoted to our favourite record sleeves from the past 12 months. Each week we are privileged enough to see and listen to dozens of new records, and it has become increasingly apparent that vinyl is now a boutique medium. The pretenders have long since departed, leaving only those who care passionately about their music and art putting out 7″s, 10″s and 12″s. In our list you’ll find inclusions from imprints well known for their stylish design principles (Minimal Wave, Swamp 81, 4AD) as well as a few that may just have slipped under your radar, with Fine Art Recordings, Acidicted, Public Release, Baud and Pacific Wizard Foundation among those represented.
If you were asked to reel off the most revered clubs in electronic music history on one hand, you’d get to Tresor well before you reached the pinkie. The club, originally situated in the vaults of a disused department store occupied around the time of the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, helped shaped the sound of contemporary techno. The likes of Jeff Mills, Juan Atkins, Robert Hood and Blake Baxter left their Detroit homes to become part of the musical revolution; many more were to follow. Berlin of course remains a bastion for techno, thanks in no small part to Tresor’s ongoing legacy, and this year the club’s record label celebrates its 20th anniversary. To celebrate they enlisted Detroit’s Mike Huckaby to curate and mix a compilation showcasing some of the label’s finest moments, with some of the aforementioned Motor City luminaries featuring alongside other Tresor stalwarts such as Surgeon, acid legend Bam Bam and Drexciya. To mark the compilation’s release here at Juno Plus we called on two of Tresor’s most influential figures – club founder Dimitri Hegemann and in-house record label chief Carola Stoiber – to select their five favourite Tresor releases, in no particular order, and discuss the stories behind them.
Luke Slater is a techno survivor, one of the few UK producers to emerge during the early 90s whose contemporary output sounds relevant. While his back catalogue boasts music as diverse as the windswept ambience of 7th Plain, through the nosebleed severity of his X-Tront releases and the widescreen techno of his Morganistic project alongside his more recent dubby outings as LB Dub Corp, it’s Slater’s Planetary Assault Systems project where his creative genius is most pronounced.
The name Alex Israel first came to our attention when we popped the Walking To Guntersville 12″ on the Juno Plus office turntable earlier this summer. Arriving via Spectator’s WT imprint – which had previously introduced our ears to the sounds of Berlin-based South Korean Hunee – the four track EP of drum machine funk inspired us to track down the Detroit-bred producer for a chat. What’s more, we also managed to coax an exclusive mix out of Alex for your aural pleasure.
Watch: Midnight Davis – Letting ...
John Talabot – ƒin reviewPremiere: Bob Chance – Wild It’s...Juno Plus Podcast 27: PhotonzCorrosion Control with Milo Smee & ...Native Instruments Maschine Mikro reviewMoodymann announces new albumXosar – Ghosthaus reviewThis week at JunoEglo take over Fabric for 3rd BirthdayBasic Soul Unit – Northern Height...Blondes – Blondes review Objekt – Cactus review Featured DJ Chart: JD Twitch (Optimo) Interview: Jeff Mills Interview: Nicolas Jaar 10 Best DJ Headphones Interview: James Holden Interview: Hieroglyphic Being Featured DJ Chart: DJ Qu Interview: Flying Lotus Interview: DJ Harvey Ones to Watch (No 2): Canyons 
