Juno Recommends Techno September 2021

Review: It may have taken a while - his massive debut single 'Hyph Mngo' was released 12 years ago - but Joy Orbison has finally got round to recording his debut album. It's a highly personal affair, peppered with speech snippets from various family members (including his mum, dad, sister, cousins and famous uncle, Ray Keith). It's a narrative device that works well, providing a unifying thread throughout a woozy, musically eclectic concoction that sees the now veteran UK producer give his distinct spin on ambient, slow house, two-step garage, deep house, post-dubstep beats, dubbed-out soundscapes, British bass music, experimental electronica, cutting-edge deep D&B and much more besides. It's perhaps not the all-out assault on the dancefloor some may have expected, but it is a genuinely brilliant and entertaining album.

Review: Over a career stretching back almost two decades, Robag Wruhme has proved to be one of minimal house and techno's most unique producers, with a trademark sound that's become a byword for mind-altering, late-night quality. Fans of the Wruhme sound will love his latest outing on Kompakt extra. Our pick of the pair is driving A-side 'No', where mystical sounds, exotic percussion and sustained chords rise above a thrusting bassline and a rock-solid drum machine rhythm. By his standards it's quite "big", though that's not a criticism - 'No' genuinely sounds like a proper peak-time banger. B-side 'Frontex Freppant' is more in-keeping with his hazy, hypnotic sound of old, with stabbing electronics, looped aural textures and wonky electronics clustered around another tough, weighty techno groove.

Review: Given the recent rise in interest in early-to-mid 1990s ambient techno, IDM and melodic electronica, it was probably only a matter of time before Paul Smith dipped into the archives of his Likemind label and offered up a new collection of period works from Nurmad Jusat under the Nuron and Fugue aliases. The eight tracks scattered across this essential double-pack originally appeared on two separate EPs in 1993 and '94 respectively. The standard is exceptionally high throughout, with Jusat casually joining the dots between deep space electro, B12/Black Dog style IDM and bubbly, acid-flecked ambient techno. We expect this to (righty) sell quickly, so don't hang around if you want to snag a copy.

Review: Lately, Levon Vincent has begun to serve up especially long tracks. At the start of the year, he delivered the 14-minute techno opus 'Cyclops Trx', following it up with two more stretched-out dancefloor workouts ('Riding Alongside The Ocean' and 'So Good'). He's at it again on 'Enchanted Cosmos', a 13-minute slab of deep space techno in which echoing, dub techno style riffs ride a sweaty drum machine rhythm and a driving, acidic bassline. Turn to side B and you'll find the 'Reprise' mix, a stripped-back and even more mind-altering interpretation to adds glacial synth sounds and wilder acid lines to the long-serving producer's heavy techno beats.

Review: The first anyone heard from Robert Fleck was an early drop on Well Street back in 2018, and it's been quiet since then. Anyone following Well Street knows it's a hot tip for upfront artists in the fractured fissures of the UK underground, and Fleck makes a welcome return to prove the point. There's a lot of different touchstones you could point to on this release, from nimble-footed broken beat and a whiff of nu jazz orchestration, not to mention a bass music sensibility and an appreciation for deeper strains of UK techno. But more than all that, Fleck merges his unique spread of influences into something fresh and unique, comfortably slipping between conventional genre markings with the kind of flair we've come to expect from Well Street.

Review: It's one of the most iconic techno tracks of all time and no matter how many times it gets reissued, there will also be demand for it. This time it is on a clear, one sided vinyl from R&S and even decades after the tune was released it still sounds fresh, new, vital. Those crashing hits, the incendiary hi hats, the endlessly warped bassline - it's the sound of a rave, complete with flashing strobes and dripping sweat. Pressed nice and loud here, complete with a fine re-mastered by the legendary Matt Colton, it's always going to be a vital 12".

Review: With the last few releases coming from label head Matthew Oh, Russia's Outlaw is back with a new one that comes courtesy of Igor Arsenjev aka Gradient, who some of you may know from his impressive releases recently on labels such as Greyscale, hello strange and Space Of Variants. OUT009 features four densely atmospheric executions in dub techno: starting out with some deep mood music on A1 and going into Basic Channel territory on the hypnotic locomotion of A2. Over on the flip, we were really feeling the ice-cold and cavernous echoes of 'Contour Four' as well.

Review: Last year Joe Baker took his Forest Drive West project to legendary Dutch label Delsin for the very first time, in the process offering up one of his deepest and most picturesque to date. There's a similarly hazy and hypnotic feel about his latest EP, Dualism, which sees the East Londoner return to Livity Sound for the first time in the three years. He sets the tone via the EP-opening title track, a typical on-point combination of broken techno drums and drowsy dub techno style textures, before opting for more energetic Afro-tech beats and spacey, almost ambient chords on the equally brilliant 'New Day'. He further explores his love of polyrhythmic techno on feverish and mind-altering flipside opener 'Ritual', before joining forces with Lucky Pereira on cumbia-influenced, sub-heavy workout 'Scorpion'.

Review: Those Burden Brothers are back at it again, and you can bet the result will be stellar as per usual. For their long running and respected 430 West imprint, Octave One presents the next edition of Locus Of Control. The name is a psychological concept that refers to how strongly people believe they have control over the situations and experiences that affect their lives. Volume Three features 'Shameless', an adrenalised and hypnotic expression in proper Motor City themed hi-tech soul. Over on the flip, things take a moodier turn on the seething main room techno-funk of 'School Of The Seven Bells'.

Review: Two right legends of techno unite here for the latest release on Drumcode. Label chief Adam Beyer presents 'Restore My Soul' featuring Chicago hard techno veteran DJ Rush, their relationship stretching back nearly three decades from when they both started out in the' 90s. The title track is aimed squarely at the main room dancefloor; a seething, mental groove featuring Rush's stern vocal delivery atop, before taking the energy levels into the peak time on the adrenalised thrasher 'Control'. Over on the flip, you are treated to a rework of the title track by DJ Rush himself in his typically stomping and orotund style.

Review: In the lengthy history of UK techno, few producers have a stronger (or for that matter, longer) track record than old friends James Ruskin and Mark Broom. These days, their collaborative releases are relatively rare, but they're always worth picking up. As you'd expect, this second volume in their Basement Jams series is suitably frenetic and forthright, delivering a quintet of heavyweight tracks aimed squarely at peak-time techno dancefloors. They start as they mean to go on with thunderous, acid-fired stomper 'Latch', before cycling through thumping lo-fi jack tracks ('Twister'), intense bouncy techno (the breathless beats, fizzing electronics and raw riffs of 'Zone'), fuzzy late-night insanity (the deliciously warped 'Drive') and stripped-back drum tracks ('Arc', with its wayward acid riffs and slowly intensifying percussion).

Review: OHM Series is the brainchild of established Copenhagen-based techno artist Bjarnar Jonsson, founded in 2021. The imprint's inaugural release features a lineup of expert engineers in the dub techno field: Macedonia's Stojche kicks things off on the first side with the galloping and glacial groove of 'Cellar', then the label boss teams up with veteran Nordic producer Thor on the deep and cavernous mood music of 'Skuggahverfi'. Over on the flip, you've got Waage taking the tempo down a rather ghostly trail on the paranoid and tunnelling trip of 'B1' and closing it out with Yagya who delivers something more straight ahead on the surefire execution of 'Nebolous Egress'.

Review: Strap yourselves in for this one because the 29th EP from Eartoground is an absolute riot. Rove Ranger hits the ground running with 'Galactus' which is big room, unrelenting techno with giant drums, warped synths and pulsing synths that race along without a hitch at 100mph. Things cut loose on 'The Star Masters' with its hammering drums and twisted metal hooks, 'Hyperion' is back to tunnel vision techno that opens a door to another dimension and last of all 'Beyonder' explores the sort of mind melting, time warping melodic techno that Jeff Mills is so famous for.

Review: French producer Benoit B marks his debut on the Aussie label Animals Dancing with some super sweet FM synthesis and tight house rhythms here. It comes after head turning outings on the likes of Into The Light, Berceuse Heroique and his own Banlieue and opens with some wild melodies and layered synths on 'Drums Symphony.' 'La Retraite Des Rockers' is spaced out and star-gazing, 'We Come In Peace' pumps a nice cosmic house vibe and 'Dreelkrugz Conquest' is psyched-out slow motion electro with crisp beats and fluttering synth work from another dimension.

Review: Mindscan Tapes was an English label that was active between the late '80s - early '90s and responsible for the seminal Beatronic and UK Electronics compilations. A mixture of electro, techno, ambient, experimental, house and industrial music, they were made on demand with home tape decks, and circulated via mailing lists that were promoted via flyers. With label owner Robert Maycock's blessing, Parisian label Delodio selected their favourite tracks from both of the compilation series on UK Electronics 1988-1994. From the celestial new age mysticism of Pattern Clear's 'Dreamscape', to the sludgy acid breaks of M Nomized's 'Change Fuzz', or the lo-fi tribal funk of Youth Is Violence's 'Codex' - this compilation captures a true zeitgeist of early electronic music.

Review: Having spent much of the last two years delivering wild, rave-ready outings, Charlotte De Witte now finds herself sat atop the global techno tree. That wasn't the case when she first released Weltschmerz on Tiga's Turbo label way back in 2015. It was an assured debut, as this timely reissue reiterates. Deeper, hazier and quietly melodic, the five tracks on show tend towards the hypnotic rather than the wild, acid-fired sound she's become famous for. Highlights include the ghostly title track, where deep melodies and intergalactic chords rise above a lo-fi techno beat, the after-hours haziness of 'Damage Control', and the stripped-back, lo-fi techno oddness of 'Relatives of None'.

Review: Rave of Die offers up sounds as confrontational as its name. This time they look to the legendary Spanish techno titan Oscar Mulero and fellow mainstay Umwelt for a pair of true blistering cuts. 'Taste The Rope' has brutal, blistering and distorted drums pummelling away while mysterious pads up top speak of an astral voyage. On the reverse, 'Creature Obscure' cuts loose on a flaming electro breakbeat, with rave synths full of terror buzzing and ripping about to blow your mind and tire your body. There is no messing with these two.

Review: Sound Synthesis is Keith Farrugia from Malta who has had some standout releases this year on 20:20 Vision, Electro Records and Orbital Mechanics. This new one is for British label Distant Worlds titled Orbital Frequencies on which he incorporates "acidic electro and transcendent soul tinged brain dance sensibilities" as best heard on the evocative opening cut 'Planet Hope'. There's more emotive and introspective beats for you to ponder over on Thinking Of You', before Farrugia goes full force and depth charged on the bass heavy futurism of 'Transmission Of Life' and closes things out on a high-tech and soulful note with the spiritual acid trip of Spiral Reverb'.

Review: Belgian pair Asa Moto debuted on the legendary Soulwax label Deewee in 2016 and ever since then have been on an upward trajectory. Their mastery of their analogue machines is in full view here with the opener taking its cues from a night drive from Ghent to Liege. It is all tripped out with great vocoder work. Elsewhere, 'Missing Teeth' is said to "investigate the mystery of the duo's local bakery owner's teeth" and then there is some delicate synth work and modulating hardware loveliness on 'Veleda' amongst a load of other highlights.

Review: The Greyscale label builds on a fine first EP with a second various artists affair that showcases a fresh take on tech house. Francisco Aguado opens up with 'Vertical Time,' a warm, deep rooted roller for those early evening sets. Giacomo Pellegrino offers a much more heavy and grainy dub techno cit with some deft vocals samples hooking you in. Dubonautik's 'Lost' is a more twisted dub with late night energy and an underlying sense of menace before Heavenchord closes out with the most seductive tune of the lot. It has strident, kicking kicks but drowsy chords and a smoky basement feel that is truly magic.

Review: The leading business techno label in all of the world is back with more of its barreling sounds and big room beats. This time out it is Ramon Tapia on the buttons after a long career making all sorta of sou and techno sounds for a wide range of labels. He goes hard on bulky and muscular opener 'Future Of Mankind' and keeps up the pressure on the more twitchy and paranoid 'Screwdriver.' Things step up a level with the brutal and cantering kick of 'Song Of Sirens' and 'Hold On' then rounds out with a more stripped back roller for the dead of night.