Electro Recommendations November 2016

Review: Zeta Reticula is one of the many aliases used by Slovenian DJ and producer, Uros Umek. In fact, you might well know him under the latter name, simply as Umek. Zeta Reticula, however, is his vintage dub techno-electro project form the early 00s, one which he hasn't returned to the infamous Electric Records label until now. This return to the much-coveted series marks the fifth since 2003's EP 4, and it's some straight-up electro nastiness. "Electric Blood Complete" sounds like a fire alarm going off amid a laser war in an industrial power station, and "Euphonious" strays towards more harmonic pastures thanks to its sublime synth work. On the B-side, "Encroach" breaks out the dub tricks and goes for a sleeker, more contained techno approach, followed by the equally straight and mechanical, minimal house jerk of "Radiate".

Review: For the fifth release on her Return To Disorder label, Helena Hauff has turned to Hamburg duo Fallbeil. Known for their trippy, analogue-heavy take on techno and electro, the twosome has previously impressed via appearances on Contort Yourself and New York Haunted. Ultima Ratio is another solid selection, with Fallbeil variously exploring distorted, industrial-influenced techno (the post-apocalyptic paranoia of "Secret Codes"), mind-altering electro-acid (the Cabaret Voltaire-meets-Phuture moodiness of "Kontrolled Madness", and straight-up acid business (the hard-edged TB-303 lines and skittish TR-808 style beats of "Orontius"). All three tracks are blessed with that sparse-but-heavy feel that's quickly becoming the duo's trademark.

Review: After impressing with a vibrant debut album on Rephlex back in 2011, David 'Monolith' Barnard seemed to lose his way. Happily, he returned to action at the tail end of last year, and here delivers an expansive, triple-vinyl set for Belgium's admirable WeMe imprint. The simply titled Trax is a typically vibrant affair, with the British producer gleefully hopping between skittish, kaleidoscopic electrofunk, giddy 'braindance' rinse-outs, bleep-influenced jack-tracks, body-poppin' electro, hard-wired acid, and curious, hard-to-pigeonhole IDM. Given that it's 21 tracks deep, it can take a while to get your head round it all, but it's more than worth the effort. Put simply, Trax is one of the most entertaining electronic albums you'll hear all year.

Review: DJ Di'jital is Detroit legend Lamont Norwood, who originally joined local legends Aux 88 as their DJ in the early '90s before releasing his own jams for their esteemed Direct Beat imprint, DJ Godfather's Twilight 76 and his own Di'jital Axcess. Rawax Motor City Edition re-issue his 2013 release The Mind Of The Master II - Clone EP, originally made available in digital format but now seeing the day on vinyl. For anyone with a new found interest in the electro sound; this guy's the real deal and you need to check this out! Starting out with the breakneck aquatic electro-funk of the title tracks on the A side, the B side offerings are "Mind Of The Master II" (sounds reminiscent of early Cybotron and with clever sampling of the film Hellraiser) while "7 Interference" is for the most part a raw drum machine workout and great DJ tool.

Review: He calls it Electronica Afro-Cubano, we call it soulful electro. Taking the genre's classic sci-fi synthetic aesthetics and coding them with his own Cuban musical heritage, there's a real funk and spirit in Armando's machines. The carnivalian drum frenzy of "Afriba", the tipped humanized elements of "Shake", the hypnotic house headnods of "Black Mermaid" the roomy reverberations and lean make-up of "Whale Memory" and plenty more comprise a unique melting pot that references all points past and future.

Review: They don't come more authentic to the original craft than Novo Line: a man who uses nothing but pure 88/89 materials to make his compositions (even down to the floppy discs) While in some hands this could just be ridden as gimmick, the freeform jam-style natural state of each compositions a much deeper relationship and understanding with the tools - especially as the production hits with contemporary weight and textures. From the spaced out synthetic soul of "Shepard's Stone" to the slo-mo ghetto funk of "Three Forces", this genuinely is a unique document that allures and makes you consider how much potential we've lost in mankind's perpetually rapid technological race.

Review: Since 2011, Julien Mercier and Christophe Le Gall's Glass Figure project has been responsible for a number of impressive, but largely overlooked, digital-only singles. Nowhere marks their vinyl debut, and sees the duo serve up six suitably inspired, analogue electronic explorations. It's easy to spot their influences - "Arpegiozo" sounds like a lost John Carpenter composition, "Nowhere" is a near perfect electro/Italo-disco hybrid, and there's something undoubtedly Drexciyan about "Losing Control" - but their composition and production skills are such that they easily steer clear of hollow pastiche. The EP's more ambient-minded moments - and in particular short opener "Love Me" - are also sublime.

Review: It's taken KOOAAD Music 18 months to deliver a follow-up to their inaugural release, a fine EP from Joe Drive. We'll forgive them, though, because Nemesi - a collection of tracks by composer Filippo Diana that were originally intended to be part of the score to an unreleased movie of the same name - is pretty darn good. Seemingly created entirely using vintage synthesizers and drum machines, the seven tracks are undeniably atmospheric and cinematic. Diana seems to be a master of mood and melody, effortlessly blending rhythms and melodies inspired by the throbbing quirkiness of classic Giallo soundtracks, the soundtrack work of John Carpenter, vintage Detroit electro, and the darker end of Italo-disco (see the fantastic "Sequenza Inseguimento".