Juno Recommends Techno Best of 2020

Review: Not all types of techno suits the album format, though that's not an accusation you could level at Derek Carr's particular brand of melodic, sci-fi-fired retro-futurism. "Pursuit Part 1" (a second volume will drop shortly) proves this point, delivering a suite of mostly club-ready cuts that can easily be listened to from start to finish in the comfort of your own home. It's full to bursting with warm, melodious, bass-heavy tackle, much of which combines his usual starry synths and deep space electronics with grooves which are far more influenced by dub techno than much of Carr's output. Highlights include the two-part "Not Tonight", the TB-303 powered "Acid Bath", and the glistening ambient/IDM lusciousness of "Nightfall".

Review: An absolute future classic album of the incredible Derek Carr on Sushitech's sub label - Pariter.
A long journey of 15 tracks that starts with some deep and dubby chords, acidic grooves and ends up with lush string based ambients.
For the fans of Convextion, Schatrax and of course Derek himself! Huge release!

Review: Phantasy Sound's main man Daniel Avery has linked up with modular wizard Alessandro Cortini for a debut full length, "Illusion Of Time". It came together over many years, with no real concept or constraints but it has still managed to make a powerful impact despite its spare, lo-fi, ambient vibes. There are heavier, darker tracks like "Inside The Ruins" that are brilliantly bleak, but also thoughtful meditations like the title track, which has some magical piano playing at its core. It's the rays of light amongst the darkness that make this such a beguiling and beautiful listen, and a perfect soundtrack to long lost days at home during lockdown.

Review: Canadian minimal veteran Tomas Jirku has been a little quiet of late, but now he makes a welcome and unexpected return with something quite different for Silent Season. You can hear echoes of his earlier work in the soundscapes he's sculpted across Touching The Sublime, as high-definition sonic manipulation draws on his experience and eye for detail in wielding music technology, but rather than creating pointillist rhythmic structures, he's more concerned with billowing clouds of ambience. It's easy to draw parallels with the likes of Tim Hecker, but there's space for more techno-oriented productions in the midst of the maelstrom. Epic in scope and powerfully rendered, this is an album that will feed your head for a long time to come.

Review: Fresh from launching their Voam imprint via an EP of clanking, mind-mangling industrial techno workouts, Blawan and Pariah don the Karenn alias once more for their first full-length outing. In keeping with their fuzzy, hardware-based approach, "Grapefruit Regret" is fiendishly forthright - a buzzing, crackling collection of club cuts built around armour plated kick drums, creepy and dystopian aural textures, chunky basslines and hypnotic, opaque lead lines. Occasionally it sounds like the product of two guys banging bits of metal against towering Brutalist buildings, at others the breathless soundtrack to illicit raves in car parks beneath crumbling Soviet-era municipal buildings. Throughout, it delivers some of the most intense and intoxicating techno jams of the year.

Review: Earlier this year, Jeff Mills decided to don his occasional Millsart alias for the first time in 17 years, in order to release the fifth volume in the long-running "Every Dog Has Its Day" series. The Motor City stalwart is obviously in a rich vein of form, because he's now ready to serve up volume six, which at nine tracks deep is the series' most expansive release to date. There's much to set the pulse racing throughout, from the hybrid deep house/Detroit techno warmth of opener "Phoenix Rising" and the summery, sun-kissed tech-jazz of "What's So Funny", to the Robert Hood style Motor City minimalism of "Six By Six By Nine" and the classic, sci-fi-fired futurism of "World Wide Whoops".

Review: In recent years, David Sumner's music as Function has tended towards the dark, lo-fi, industrial and minimal. "Existenz", his first solo album in six years, is an altogether more melodious, thoughtful and ear-catching affair. Of course, there are still some suitably mangled, mind-altering club cuts on show - see the buzzing, shape-shifting heaviness of "Ertrinken", the spaced-out hypnotism of "Kurzstrecke" and the Berghain-ready "Vampire" - but these largely play second fiddle to more playful and tuneful expressions of electro, Detroit style techno, dreamy fusions of deep house and early UK style tech-house, and ambient cuts so lovely you'll want to bathe in them. He even makes room for a couple of vocal collaborations with Robert Owens. It all adds up to a stunning set that's undoubtedly one of the most instantly arresting techno albums of the year.

Review: 2020 marks the 30th birthday of Network Records, a label that did arguably more than any other in the early 90s to champion both US and UK techno. As part of their celebrations they'll be reissuing some key singles and albums from their catalogue, starting with this 1991 compilation of key Derrick May productions. Now stretched across two slabs of wax rather than one to guarantee a louder cut, "Innovator" contains a wealth of vital early Motor City techno classics, from the acid-powered insanity of "Nude Photo" and the rushing, piano-heavy rush of "Strings of Life", to the thrilling sci-fi futurism of "Wiggin" and the deep techno warmth of "Hand Over Hand".

Review: After the expansive run of eXquisite CORpsE EPs on Platform 23 last year, Robbert Heijnen and Debbie Jones' project gets another fresh airing under the XqST guise. The seductive rhythmic incantations gathered on this release were largely recorded in 2003 in Vancouver, once the couple's children were in bed. Quite what the junior XqSTers would have made of the transcendental drum loops emanating from their parents' studio is anyone's guess, but the quality is remarkable. Dense and foggy in atmosphere, but with a sharply defined percussive angle at every cycle of every loop, this is another wonderful document of the often overlooked work of this singular pair of drum obsessives.

Review: Helena Hauff's distinctive musical vision has made her one of techno and electro's most unique and celebrated selectors, and it's this side of her work that's showcased on "Kern Volume 5: Exclusives & Rarities", a triple-vinyl set that focuses on the numerous hard-to-find and previously unreleased tracks featured on her new DJ mix for Tresor. As you'd expect the quality threshold remains thrillingly high throughout, with Hauff focusing on fuzzy and scuzzy heavyweight slabs of electro, techno, ghetto tech and industrial-strength hardcore. Amongst the unreleased highlights are tracks from Umwelt, Machino, Galaxian, L.F.T and her good self (alongside Morah), while crate diggers will note the inclusion of rarities from Esoterik, Andrea Parker and David Morley, and DJ Godfather and DJ Starkski.

Review: Features the original Maurizio mix plus the classic Carl Craig remix. Berlin and Detroit combine with some amazing results. Timeless stuff.

Review: Having set our world alight with his third Ilian Tape 12", 2012, back in the spring, Munich man Skee Mask delivers another essential collection of loose-limbed, broken techno workouts. Typically, he's on point from the word go, enveloping swinging, off-kilter techno breakbeats with swirling chords and cascading melodies on brilliant opener "Inti". His love of African-influenced polyrhythms is explored further on the ghostly, percussion-rich club cut "Kappelberg Chant" (which, incidentally, makes great use of choral chants), while "Routine" is a warm, loved-up and evocative tribute to rave-era British breakbeat-house. His debt to British dance music's formative years also comes to the fore on killer proto-jungle jam "Skreet Lvl Dub".

Review: Originally released back in 2011 on two singles, Shades of Detroit is a journey of six deep and dubby house monsters! The new limited reissue includes both Dark and Light parts, marbled vinyl and a new updated artwork. Essential Detroit house classic!

Review: When Eric Prydz fancies offering up some forthright, warehouse-ready techno, he fires up the Mouseville label and dons the Cirez D alias. Clearly, he's in a rave-igniting mood right now, because this two-tracker is the first Cirez D outing - and Mouseville release - for almost two years. There's a definite "massive room" vibe emerging from A-side "Valborg", where decidedly foreboding lead lines and ghostly chords ride a chunky, Drumcode-friendly techno beat. The saucer-eyed, hands-aloft "festival techno" feel continues on flipside "The Raid", which cleverly peppers a house-tempo rhythm track with the sort of raw, razor-sharp riffs more often found in neo-trance productions.

Review: Having delivered one of the strongest electronic albums of 2018, Skee Mask AKA Bryan Muller returns to action with a tightly floor-focused 12" of broken techno rhythms and UK rave-influenced workouts. A-side "Trackheadz" is suitably weighty and forthright, with Muller wrapping drowsy deep space chords, hardcore style breakbeats and orgasmic vocal snippets around sturdy techno drums. Both B-side cuts are far more mellow in tone, with Muller underpinning swelling ambient chords and blissful chill-out room melodies with skittish, early IDM style beats. As with a lot of the producer's work, the vintage influences and inspirations are obvious, but the resultant cuts still sound warm, fresh and life affirming.

Review: For the latest missive on their fast-rising DET313 label, Gary Martin and Yossi Amoyal have dug deep into the archives of Martin's long-running Teknotika Records imprint. First up on the A-side is a re-mastered version of "A City At Night", a Martin cut from 1990 that mixes the futurist intent of Motor City techno with chunkier, UK style techno grooves and the kind of stabs and musical flourishes more associated with Robert Hood or Terrence Parker records. Side B boasts a freshly extended edit of another Martin gem - this time under the Gigi Galaxy alias - from 1994. "The Dream" more than lives up to its title, with Martin wrapping restless bass, starry lead lines, alien electronics and sumptuous chords around a hypnotic deep techno groove.

Review: 'Lyot' is a legend of a track. By now it is considered as a genre defining tune, reflected in the appearances on countless compilations with such a goal. Naturally the Maurizio mix included here doesn't stand behind the original version. The music here is a reflection of the huge impact the Detroit techno music of the early 90s had on the Hardwax camp.

Review: After two stunning rounds that featured the likes of Mark Hand, Lerosa and A Sagittariun, Bristol label Innate returns with another various EP of advanced techno ruminations from emergent talent and established names alike. Perseus Traxx leads in with a dense and expressive body popper that channels a little vintage B12, while Ewan Jansen takes things deep and aqueous with the gorgeous "Sinders". Rising electro star Reedale Rise serves up more of his sleek and refined machine funk on "Coral", and label boss Owain K unfurls a shimmering blanket of melancholic house with the sublime "Teifi".

Review: After making a splash with releases on Twig and Lumbago, Raphael Beneluz brings his classy machine music to Cartulis with the P 12". Things get off to a pumped-up start with the dynamic, detailed thrust of "Xzomet" before the night draws in around the tastefully creepy workout "Darkanethesie". "Hostile Planet" opens up the B-side with more eerie atmospheres and stout box jam beats, and then "System Down" completes the package with another thumping tapestry of nervy acid and old-skool jack. For all the familiar touches, this is music dripping with personality and attitude, bottom-heavy and sure to devastation in the dance, real or virtual.

Review: Roy Of The Ravers may be best known for his lysergic rave pelters, but there's always been a hint of grandiose melancholy in his synth work that suggested there was more to the machine botherer than tear-out acid beats. Emotional Response worked with the artist in trawling through a vast archive of material recorded between 1997 and 2017, rescued from hard drives once thought lost, and now gathered as a compelling ambient release with the full fat hardware veneer of Roy's work to date, but coming from a more reflective angle. From cathedral-quaking drones to deeply submerged aquatic excursions, this album has plenty to draw you into the inner world of an acid hero.

Review: Self-proclaimed "techno body music" duo Schwefelgelb seem a neat fit with Cititrax, the Minimal Wave sub-label set up to handle contemporary electronic music rather than reissues. There's something particularly muscular, robust and otherworldly about their label debut, which remarkably is their first EP of original tracks for two years. Opener "Die Dunne Hand" sets the tone, with the pair conjuring up a throbbing, mind-altering EBM-funk workout that sounds like an unlikely Nitzer Ebb cover version of the KLF's "What Time Is Love", while "Auf Die Erde" sees them wrap crunchy percussion and dystopian vocal snippets around a surging EBM bassline. Side B begins with the stripped-back metallic mutant funk of "Die Augen Gehen", before the duo dives into chugging, flash-fried industrial/electro/techno fusion on the mind-bending "Das Blid Das Wiederkehrt".

Review: Last year Skee Mask put the Ilian Skee Series on hold in order to release the brilliant "Compro" album on parent label Ilian Tape. Here he presents the second undeniably dancefloor-focused ISS EP of the year - a robust and forthright floor-tracker full of what the Munich-based composer calls "unstoppable fruity brain benders". It's certainly a vibrant collection of cuts capable of setting the pulse racing, with highlights including the mind-mangling analogue electro/techno/breakbeat fusion of opener "Juug", the deep two-step techno skip of "RZZ", and the IDM influenced shuffle of "Slow Music". Arguably best of all though is the teak-tough analogue electro wonkiness of "Play Ha".

Review: Having devoted much time of late to the release of fresh material from his Karenn project with Pariah, this solo single from Jamie Roberts AKA Blawan is long overdue. Roberts opens with the thumping intensity of "40 Spiral", where cut-up, nightmarish vocal samples buzz around a ten-ton techno beat, before skipping his way through the loose-limbed, lof-fi techno-funk of "Immulsion (Come To Me In Full Electric Mix)". You'll find an alternate version of that track - the "That Kind Of Kink Mix"- at the end of the EP, and it's worth a listen thanks to a quirkier rhythm, stranger noises and discordant riffs. B-side opener "Rain", a kind of production-line clang-fest underpinned with formidably redlined beats, is also well worth a listen.

Review: Ilian Tape overlords the Zenker Brothers have long been fans of Surgeon's brand of no-holds-barred, industrial-strength techno. While the Birmingham-born producer has previously played live at label events, this blistering three-tracker marks his first outing for the Munich based imprint. Interestingly, opener "The Golden Sea" is arguably a little dreamier and warmer than much of his output, with melancholic chords and bubbly electronic motifs riding a forthright and intergalactic techno groove. Elsewhere, "Aqua Marina" wraps more alien-sounding lead lines and shimmering chords around a more stripped-back, redlined rhythm track and "Hostages Of The Deep" sounds like a far-sighted fusion of classic Surgeon, Drexciya and Livity Sound.

Review: Well Street keep up the heat as one of the most inventive labels operating in the liminal space between techno, dub and rhythmic mysticism. These various artist releases are also a perfect introduction to some essential new talent, and that's clear from the off with the snaking, echo chamber pressure of Box 5ive. Keppel's "Taken For Granted" is a distinctive slice of crooked 21st century soul that sports a whiff of early Kimbie / Blake in the vocals and overall attitude. Henry Greenleaf's "Snide" is a taut drum track that teases as much as it delivers, and Formant Value trips out into a meditative soundscape of pattering percussion and spacious atmospherics.

Review: In the space of just a few years, Luca Lozano has made a busy schedule for himself. Managing Klasse Records and Grafiti Tapes, he has released a load of music both form himself and a number of artists, such as Kris Wadsworth and DJ Fett Burger, among many others. This time he's up on the excellent Super Rhythm Trax with a little vintage flavor; "Outer Space" makes up the A-side and it's a gorgeous, break-ridden dance stepper in the same vein as stuff from the likes of Horsepower Productions, back in their day. On the flipside, "End Of Line" is a certified UK swinger, a grimey beast of a tune with a heavy percussion march and that inimitable London feel. Recommended.