Review: Following up her 2016 debut album for Michigan based Sounds Of The Dawn, Latvian artist and composer Agata Melnikova returns under the Sign Libra moniker. Closer to the Equator was composed for a contemporary ballet for the National Opera in Riga and explores Melnikova's appreciation of BBC-produced nature documentaries. According to the label, each song is a musical tableau which plays its part in a ballet - all carefully choreographed by the Latvian artist. Themes and concepts aside, these celestial, new-age ambient excursions merge with tropical and oriental aesthetics, plus hypnotic polyrhythms and utilising a lot of FM synthesis on these '80s styled soundtracks. Undoubtedly in the vein of John Hughes films as heard on "Mantodea vs Furcifer Pardalis" and even some romantic retro-futurism inspired by the original Blade Runner soundtrack like on the sultry "Victoria Amazonica". For fans of Vangelis Katsoulis, Visible Cloaks or John Roberts.
Review: Geena is Frenchman Nicolas Molina, who appears for Parisian purveyors of obscure and exotic oddball grooves Antinote for his fifth album. The album will appeal to fans of retro flavoured balearic house made popular at the moment by the likes of Black Spuma, Tuff City Kids or stuff on Paramida's Love On The Rocks imprint. The '80s pan-pipe preset on the groovy "KG Voice" is a great example, or the funk, Amazonian acid house vibes of "Blue Transfer" more particularly; think 808 State. "Keep" goes for some thumping early' 90s UK techno vibes but lush ambient passages like "Natural High" and "La Isla" balance out the EP nicely.
Review: Zaltan's eclectic Antinote label never fails to impress us here at Juno. This time the label is offering us a full length from delightful oddball duo Syracuse, which arrives after a 12" and a 7" on the label. Like those previous releases, Liquid Silver Dream is nothing short of delightful as Syracuse dip into deep house not deep house on "L'Eau Des Songes" (complete with an awesome farfisa organ), dreamy broken beat ( "On Desert Oceans") and slow burning pop nuggets. "Love" and "Le Coeur En Naufrage" both stand out, being as sultry as they are melancholic in a way only the French can do. The ten minute long epic that is the title track is an amazing slice of high tech soul that'd make even Space Dimension Controller stand up and notice.
Review: Nicholas 'Geena' Molina is becoming something of a go-to man for Quentin Vandewalle's Antinote label. The curiously titled On The Top of Deep Heated Fern is his third EP for the label in less than 12 months. As usual, it features tracks that blend raw, Chicago style jackin' beats with fluid, Balearic-minded electronics and a heightened sense of new age electronics. There's naturally much to admire, from the thumping, techno-style rhythms and woozy chords of "I Gotta Wear Shades", to the deep Detroit electronics and spine-tingling breakdowns of "Lunar Substance" and the curiously wide-eyed "Gamma Sector", whose dreamy, new age melodies mask an uncompromising groove.
Review: First introduced to the wider world via the DJ Muscle series from WT Records, Parisian producer Geena has since found a welcome outlet for his music much closer to home in the shape of the excellent Antinote label. Last year's fairly unpronounceable Surowych Utworow EP was described as the label's "first DJ friendly record" by founder Quentin Vandewalle and subsequent Antinote releases have suggested they are comfortable with leaving Geena alone to occupy this space. Some six tracks deep, Mental DJ's Land equally suggests Geena is up to the task too with a brisk collection of floor ready productions that once again feature a playful reverence for straight up Chicago house classicism. The aptly titled acid laden monster "Watch Em Go Mental" is a particular highlight.
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