Juno Recommends Electro June 2018

Review: Second time around for D.I.E's The Man You'll Never See Part 2, a near legendary set of bustling, funk-fuelled electro cuts that first surfaced on Clone back in 2003. This new edition includes five of the EP's six original tracks, replacing "Space Travel" with the similarly sought-after "Programming" - a Drexciya-esque workout rich in fizzing drum machine beats, rumbling sub-bass and deep space acid lines - which originally appeared on 2002's Keep Hanging EP. It remains a superb set of tracks, all told, with the Motor City duo flitting between deep and melodious cuts ("Other People"), vocal-laced Cybotron tributes ("Keep Hanging"), decidedly intergalactic fare ("Out With Tha Old") and quirky, glassy-eyed gems ("U Can't See Us").

Review: Australia's Jensen Interceptor and the more enigmatic Assembler Code land on Cultivated Electronics with a kick-ass new EP, full of badboy industrial vibes that will surely provide even the most satiated of ravers with some killer material! "50/50" is a chilling electro stomper of the Detroit variety, while "Battery Assault" retains a similar palette of sounds via a harder, meaner set of beats that have more in common with the EBM spectrum. On the flip, the sounds of "Hyper Reality" fill the room with a mystical, almost hazy glow that wraps around sharp-edged bass, leaving Sync 24's remix to bang out the techno beats harder...and harder. Solid material.

Review: Given that Finnish twosome Morphology are amongst the most consistent artists in the electro scene, it's little surprise to find that their latest outing on Cultivated Electronics is little less than superb. They set the bar high from the off, via title track "Mind Stealers", a spacey but heavy electro club cut that mixes Kraftwerk style vocoder vocals with Drexciya aesthetics. Sync 24 wisely uses the duo's robotic vocals - cut-up and manipulated impressively - on his remix of the same track, which sounds like Kraftwerk's numbers dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century. Elsewhere, "Fluid Dynamics" is a lilting and melodious chunk of 4/4 intelligent techno, while closer "Wages of Sin" is a foreboding and nightmarish chunk of electro dancefloor science.

Review: I Love Acid overlords Posthuman divert from their usual jacking course to lay down a pair of surprisingly sleazy and far-sighted jams for Holland's consistent Shipwrec imprint. Naturally, their ever-present TB-303 lines make their presence felt on gnarly A-side "Netflix and Kill", but this time they're stretching out above a bouncy, tribal-tinged backing track rich in wide-eyed rave stabs and hip-house style sampled whoops. If you're in the mood for something a little looser and more laidback, we'd recommend the spacey synths, undulating acid bass and picturesque deep house flourishes of flipside title track "The Damocles Syndicate", which thrillingly just gets heavier as it progresses.

Review: Re-Release: Released in 1997, the sound of electro / techno came to a point where it had to evolve into a new and more
grounded entity, keyed into funk / space & rooted origins that reflected an ever-changing landscape throughout Detroit
and the 'Aux-Quadrant'. The bouncy bass line soul of 'Posatronix' project emerges in silence among several platforms
without hint of a proper biography or introduction. Later on the guard would be let down that an original lineup
member from AUX88 (William 'BJ Smith) either produced or inducted A spin-off group over seen by AUX...No video,
photos, or interviews accompanied the music...Now in 2018, we re-introduce these dance floor/ dj crate mainstays that
have continued to be cherished classics from the very men that not only too rhythmically-funky electro by storm, but
raised the bar and took matters into their own hands. 100% Mechanical Electronic Funk.

Review: We were initially rather taken aback by the glistening bliss of the '80s synth-pop style melodies brandished by Komarken Electronics on "And Again", the punchy and occasional alien-sounding electro cut that opens the producer's first EP for Between Places. In hindsight, we probably should have expected it, as while his previous releases have undeniably been heavy and dancefloor focused, they've always tended towards the attractive and melodious. It's the same for the majority of the other tracks on Humanity Plus, from the acid-laced electro melancholia of "AGI", to the pitched-up, intergalactic rush that is EP highlight "Perpetual Paradox". He can still do dark and moody, of course, as the fine "Humanity Plus" proves, he just seems more at home moving the head, heart and feet.

Review: Rawax Motor City Edition is just one more great move to have come from the parent label, Rawax, as it offers us new and exclusive house and techno from the best emerging talents out there; the reissue game can get a little political at times, so we always prefer to hear the goods from the source direct. Polyfan Polyphenix comes through with a certain confidence that has been lacking form the recent elector onslaught, touching down with plenty of thick beats, dusty breaks and, of course, an unlimited supply of rumbling bass lines that recall the likes of Drexciya and anything Gerald Simpson-related. However, tunes like "Polyfanatic" or "Polytics" are very much grounded in their own mystique, blending up German tech with all sorts of elastic electro aesthetics from both the US and EU spectrum. BOMBS.

Review: Aside from being one of the hottest prospects in contemporary electro, French producer Unwelt is also running not one but three of the most consistent imprints around at the moment. His fourth studio LP comes through on the New Flesh subsidiary, breaking out into a deafening storm of industrial electronics from the get-go! The album, Abandon In Place, feels like it should be part of the larger 'dance' category but, in fact, it is very much grounded in experimentalism and abstraction, launching copious waves of hard-edged ambient, often guided by sparse percussion loops and rhythmic bass. The flipside contains the most energetic moments, and as the album progresses, so does Umwelt's thirst for movement pace. A masterfully composed cascade of sounds.