This Week

Review: L.F.T. makes a bold statement with his latest six-track release on Pinkman, following a string of acclaimed releases on various labels like Mannequin and Return To Disorder. With Electric Vampire, L.F.T. crafts a sonic journey aimed squarely at the dancefloor, blending tough drums and raw basslines with spectral vocals and percussive quirks. The result is a fusion of Dutch electro heritage and horror-movie soundtracks, creating a synthetic super-highway where bright lights meet solid concrete underfoot. With heavy acid electro defining the sound of other numbers like "Cattle Beast", it's straight up Vampire techno in "Asche (Vox by Nils Fock)" with reflections of a Simian Mobile Disco sound in "Demonic Toys". Gritty but classy productions all round.

Played by: Juno Recommends Bass, Luun (Locus Sound)

Review: Long live team Alpha Pup, an excellently organised project that have moved onto the third edition of their epic '20/20' compilation series, exploring the most lethal reaches of underground bass music. Featuring hard hitting originals from the likes of Ivy Lab, Dismantle, Rocks FOE, Bakey and more, it's clear that the team have gone all out on this collection, with sounds ranging as wide as the hardcore inspired mysticism of 'Naananaana' from Rohaan, to the industrial techno-flavours of Ila Brugal's 'Cynical'. The whole project packs a punch, but our highlights would have to include both the intense metallic madness of Deft's 'OKURTHEEXPERT', alongside Manni Dee's monstrous 'Wet Slide' creation. Top work all around!

Review: The latest compilation on Soma's offshoot label Avoidant explores compelling variants of the electro sound. DJ T-1000's "Three One Three" starts the collection in atmospheric mode. Featuring steely percussive crackles and robotic vocals, it is reminiscent of fellow Detroit producer Juan Atkins' Model 500 project. NiKiT's "Ice Wave" inhabits a similar territory as a powerful sub-bass underpins crystalline synths. Mechanoreceptor's "Invisible Dynamics" delivers a bass-heavy groove and ELEKTROTECHNIK serves up a dystopian vision of the sound on the chilling, Rother-esque "Parasit". The compilation veers closer to conventional 4/4 tracks thanks to the industrial-fuelled electro-techno of Bloody Mary's "Surrender". Overall though, the focus on Planet Reborn is electro's more esoteric forms, as DJ Astrobee's ERP-sounding "Synccc" so wonderfully demonstrates.

Played by: Damo B (Outta Limits)

Review: Amentec have done a great job in assembling this top level collection of new school breakbeat action, welcoming no less than 14 artists inside across 13 hard hitting creations. The exciting thing about the project is that it leaves no breaks-inspired stone unturned, featuring the likes of Sound Synthesis, Inkipak, DAWL, Flatliner and more. From the intense, arcade style arrangements of Sub Oscillator's 'Ketzer' remix from Difool, to the more abstract acidity of Bobo's bulging 'Club Proxima', we see such an exciting range on display. Our highlights therefore have to include both the classy club-ready bops of Ova Doce's 'Keep On', next to the cloud-lining euphoria of MOY's 'Jovian Sunrise'. A truly top quality collection.

Played by: Juno Recommends Techno

Review: Following the release of his latest artist album, Laurent Garnier has commissioned an exemplary set of remixes. Drawing on a group of emerging producers, this collection moves right across the musical spectrum. Works Of Intent's take on "Reviens La Nuit" is a dramatic, deep techno track that swirls and builds seductively. Remaining in esoteric mode, Voltaire's version of "Tales from the Real World" is an atmospheric electro roller. In contrast, 22Carbone drops a smoky hip-hop take of "In Your Phase". Avision focuses on the dance floor for a dense, looped techno interpretation of "Le Swing Du Pouleto" and a droning, hypnotic version of "Liebe Grusse Aus Cucuron". Each remix makes for a compilation that's as varied as Garnier's multifaceted DJ style.

Review: To mark the fiftieth release on his label, Moustache boss David Vunk teams up with Tafkamp. Inspired by Chicago house and electro, this three-tracker has a definite dance floor focus. "The Jacker" is a relentless percussive workout. Powered by rolling snares and featuring repetitive vocal loops, it's in the same vein as the output on Crème Organization's Jak offshoot. "Acid Party" has a more club techno focus, but even here, Vunk and Tafkamp populate its robust groove with spiralling acid lines. The sound of the 303 is also audible on "Interzone" - on this occasion, it unravels over an old school electro rhythm as the pair reach for the heights again.

Played by: Juno Recommends Electro

Played by: Dave Lee ZR, Juno Recommends Electro

Review: Over the years, Joey Negro has delivered compilations focusing on a wide range of styles and sub-genres, including soulful disco, Italo-house, early U.S disco-rap, and Washington D.C go-go. Now he's turned his attention to electro, the style that did more than any other to inspire Britain's first wave of DJs and dance music producers. This "personal collection" contains a mixture of stone-cold scene classics - Aleem's Leroy Burgess-fronted "Release Yourself", Hashim's scene anthem "Al Naayafiysh (The Soul)" and Dwayne Omar's P-funk influenced "This Party's Jam Packed" - alongside deeper selections such as Kosmic Light Force's brilliant - and hard to find - L.A electrofunk classic "Mysterious Waves", and The Russell Brothers thrillingly intergalactic "The Party Scene".

Review: Ed Upton has long been one of British dance music's most prolific producers, with his latest album on Hypercolour - the typically vibrant Spiral Dance - marking his 24th full-length excursion as DMX Krew since 1996. Its' 13 tracks are typically vivid, inventive and entertaining, with the Bedford-born producer rushing between intergalactic electro ('Always Hats'), sub-heavy UK techno futurism (the bleep-influenced 'Bathtime Bobby'), house-tempo dancefloor IDM ('Spiral Dance'), Spacetime Continuum style ambient techno (the chill-out room friendly 'Back To '92'), synth-laden analogue cheeriness ('Is This Normal'), heady beat-free soundscapes ('Hammer Slowly Forming'), early Autechre style electronica ('Ankle Grinder') and sweaty acid house ('FM Assembly').

Played by: Thomas Schumacher

Played by: Rolando, Juno Recommends Electro, Robert Cosmic

Review: Following a series of releases on Astrophonica, Client_03 lands on contemporary electro's mothership, Cultivated Electronics. "Sense Combiner" is an irresistible slice of electro; fuelled by powerful sub-bass and tight kicks, the track also contains ghostly synths and vocoder vocals. On "Morality Corruptions Splice Pointer", this fast-rising electro producer maps out a similar path, but this time the tempo is faster, with skipping drums and an ominous bass supporting atmospheric pads. Client_03 hooks up with label owner Sync 24 to deliver the acid-soaked, slow jam "Counterfactual Interaction History", while "You Have Been Notified" is a stepping affair, with a similarly dark, 303-led sound prevailing.

Played by: DJ Mau Mau, Juno Recommends Electro, Sikka

Review: Sonic Transmutations serves as a sonic odyssey commemorating the remarkable three-decade legacy of Clone Records. Celebrating its 31st year, echoing the Dutch national telephone code, and this 33-track mega-comp unites seasoned maestros with rising trailblazers, taking in a swathe of cuts from names like Aleksi Perala, DJ Sotofett and Dopplereffekt to John Heckle and his Head Front Panel project, Privacy, Steffi, Ryan James Ford and more. Dedicated at large to the electro genre, it's taken some three decades to bring this collection to life, standing as a testament to Clone's enduring musical legacy and unwavering commitment to exploring new sounds and structures. Extra tips include cuts from Legowelt, Keith Tucker's K1 project and Convextion's legendary E.R.P alias. Mega drop.

Review: Fabrizio Mammarella and Rodion deliver a momentous release with Musica E Computer - recorded in the legendary Marche Synth Museum in Italy. The opening track "Iris" sets an exceptional tone, exploring eerie, metallic tropical landscapes, while others like "A Corrente Alternata" and "Un Segnale Di Speranza" showcase Mammerella and Rodion's unmatched partnership, crafting enigmatic, timeless earworms with driving basslines and arcane vocoders. Throughout the album, the duo seamlessly blends synthetic and organic sounds, offering a geographic coda to the Italian region's rich musical history. Musica E Computer culminates in "Una Nuova Era", a transcendent homage to the recording synth drenched studio the album was recorded in which makes for some Italorama to the fullest!

Played by: Juno Recommends Electro

Played by: Juno Recommends Electro

Played by: Irregular Disco Workers, Juno Recommends Disco

Played by: Juno Recommends Electro

Played by: Juno Recommends Breakbeat, Juno Recommends Electro

Played by: Luke Slater, Alkalino, Juno Recommends Techno, Juno Recommends Electro, Random Alias

Review: With records for Ovum, Pets Recordings and REKIDS of late, Mathias Kaden's quintessential festival sound makes it back to Radio Slave's label following last year's Liberate Drums EP. Delving into synthy, dub techno territory with "Substance" (DJ Pete we hope you're watching), the rest of the record finds itself rooted in classic strands of bigger room Detroit techno and European minimalism, alongside a touch of electro and industrial synth wave in "Control Your Mind" - thinned down and stripped back by Marcel Dettmann's remix. Littered with tougher elements of rave and banging tech house alongside solid bassline progressions in "Conviction" and "Anticipation" too, Mathias Kaden helps us remember what it's going to be like when festivals resume once more. Downloaded for Richie Hawtin!

Played by: Juno Recommends Electro

Played by: OOFT!, Lexx, Juno Recommends Techno, Marco Giannini (Sticky Heat), Simonlebon (Luv Shack Records)

Review: Prins Thomas follows last year's Ambitions long player with a somewhat different proposition. Inspired by early 90s trance and wrapping this influence around a variety of tempos and grooves, Traens is an interesting departure. The foreboding bass of "Traens 2" and "Traens 3" are sure to appeal to those who want a big room take on sounds of a bygone era, while the pumping, acid-soaked "Traens 6" is a pure, old school track. This only tells half the story however, and on "Traens 4", Thomas draws on his love of sleek disco grooves to create a spaced out, cosmic affair. There are also traces of Balearic flair, and the deep, sensuous house of "Traens 5" shows that while Prins Thomas is caught in a trance moment, he remains rooted in disco.

Played by: Fear-E, Juno Recommends Breakbeat, Juno Recommends Electro, Juno Recommends Downtempo, AFTERLIFE, 4 Da People, Satin

Review: A legend in the house to be spoken in the same sentence as Ed Rush, Optical, Zinc and Roni Size, Bristol's own Krust takes it strangeways on Crosstown Rebels - and the label's third installment of album remixes. Diving back into that deep and hopeful sound of '90s drum and bass, breakbeat and soul is a rare UNKLE remix of "Hegel Dialect", that like Hodge's remake of "Constructive Ambiguity" lifts its inspiration of course from the halcyon days of hardcore, jungle and rave with ghostly atmospheres to boot. With a most fitting wildcard entrant to cap off this great remix series - that has so far included Masters At Work, Four Tet, Damian Lazarus, Batu, Calibre, LCY and Flynn - sweet New Yorkian house vibes and ambient percussion come through in DJ Nature's remix of "Deep Fields Of Liars". Krust & Crosstown equals result!

Played by: Juno Recommends Electro

Played by: DJ Mau Mau, Juno Recommends UK Hardcore

Played by: Juno Recommends Deep House

Review: "Nu Groove Edits, Vol 1" pays tribute to the iconic NYC record label that has enchanted music enthusiasts for generations. This release features a curated selection of tracks expertly reimagined by contemporary industry figures and celebrated curators, putting a well-deserved spotlight on the artists who shaped Nu Groove into a cherished and influential force within the music world. At the forefront of this compilation is Rheji Burrell, the champion of the quintessential New York house sound. Alongside his twin brother Rhano, the Burrell brothers played a pivotal role in shaping and defining the signature Nu Groove sound. Under various monikers, four of which are featured here, they left an indelible mark on the label and the house music scene at large. The journey begins with Bruise, aka Christian Campbell, an underground pioneer, taking on Burrell's 'Secret Code' released under his Jazz Documents alias. This re-edit breathes new life into the track, infusing it with contemporary energy while retaining the essence of its original form. Next up, the anonymous Berlin duo Acid Jerks tackle the deep house gem 'Tech Trax Inc.' by the eponymous pseudonym. Their re-edit embraces the essence of the original track, enhancing its hypnotic qualities and taking listeners on a mesmerizing journey through pulsating rhythms and immersive soundscapes. House purist Phil Weeks works his magic on Houz' Neegroz's 'All Night Long,' featuring vocals from Quiana. Weeks' rework showcases his dedication to preserving the soulful essence of the original, infusing it with his signature touch and creating a dancefloor-ready anthem that pays homage to the roots of house music. Rounding out this diverse collection of reimagined tracks, the unstoppable production duo of Honey Dijon and Luke Solomon takes on the iconic 'APT. 2A,' originally released by Burrell as N.Y. House'n Authority. Their reimagining of this legendary piece is a celebration of the past, present, and future, encapsulating the enduring legacy of Nu Groove.

Played by: Juno Recommends Techno

Review: Dave Angel had a huge impact on techno throughout the 1990s, and this reissue of his 1991 1st Voyage EP shows why he was so influential. Angel's main legacy will be his contribution to integrating deeper sounds with high-paced techno rhythms, and the origins of that approach are audible on the sweeping strings of "Mesmerize", which CJ Bolland co-produced. However, 1st Voyage also impresses due to the UK producer's ability to deliver knockout club tracks. "Poison" unfolds to menacing thunder claps and Beltram-esque dissonance, while "Planet Function" is a jittery, rave-infused roller. On "Velocity", the UK producer conjures up a visceral vision of what ultimately became his signature sound, as eerie chords are fused with a tight rhythm. It's testament to Angel's vision that 30 years later, 1st Voyage remains a fascinating journey.