Electro/club 2021

We'll dance again, we'll sweat on the dancefloor again, and it seems we'll be able to do so fairly soon. And if the selection proposed here is any indication, producers and DJs themselves aren't just counting down the days to return to their ideal dimension — they fully intend to do so in the most elliptical and surprising way possible. From electronic/dance hubs all over the world, a collection of the best EPs/12” heard over the past three months, more eager than ever to be played in their context of choice. Until then, dance, dance, dance till you drop, in the comfort of your own living room!

Cygnus – 100% Dope (Central Processing Unit)

Central Processing Unit built its fortune at the crossroads of techno, electro and bolder experimentation, gathering a host of producers with a similar approach and an equal desire to explore the boundaries of a territory still rich with potential. A longtime contributor to the label's fortunes (which marks its hundredth release with this "100% Dope"), Phillip Washington is an artist who knows how to move nimbly through such explorations, having honed a personal electro aesthetic that can be glacial and heartfelt, robotic yet full of human pathos. It's a game of contrasts and shifts that closely follows the compositional complexity of 90s IDM while also carrying a satisfying pop intensity: the vocoders of "CPU Records" lend an almost funky touch to the basic ambient scansions, while "Float Back To The Surface" loops its vocal line against sharp, quasi-industrial scansions. Even setting the voice aside, there's still plenty to be fascinated by: tonal variations, mood shifts, micro-melodic loops (a softer Actress peeks through the techno effusions of "Bad RGB Controller") make clear the synthesis of languages of a producer fully at ease with himself, unafraid of heterodox approaches. Electro, when done with intelligence, will never stop sounding contemporary.

Delano Smith – Deeper Fundamentals 2 (self-released)

Partly overshadowed by subgenres that have enjoyed greater fortune, deep house has doggedly kept to its own path, pairing itself with musicians able to carry its language into the chaos of the 2020s. Delano Smith is certainly among its finest standard-bearers. With almost two decades of releases behind him (and experience going back to the late Seventies), he boasts a substantial catalogue that has let a minimalist, almost tactile approach to the source material flourish, often hybridizing it with careful techno streaks. The second chapter of his fundamentals (which nonetheless reveals the full personality of its author), this EP presents a trio of tracks that perfectly exemplify the assumptions underlying the Delano Smith style: technoid twists over lush outlines bordering on funk ("Twisted Dreams"), atmospheric, floor-filling pulses for the late-night hours ("Anything"), dub melancholy, just enough to give the basic propulsions further layers of meaning ("Constant"). No further superstructure, no production complications: with just a few elements, the three tracks perfectly build their own world, letting a simple yet refined house music speak for itself, endowed with just the right personality to stand out. Masterclass stuff.

Emkay – Now We're Fucking Doing It (Post Bar)

With venues only now timidly beginning to reopen, remembering the joy and pleasure of a packed dancefloor can be a tricky business, yet Maria Korkeila, aka Emkay, resident DJ at Helsinki's Post Bar, hasn't lost sight of the euphoria that comes from that kind of communal experience at all. With a touch that at times sinks into the depths of certain 2000s minimal-techno (think The Field), yet retrieved through the vintage modulations of Helena Hauff, the Finnish producer builds tracks with a sinuous, bouncing touch that look to the rich electro tradition without forgetting the eccentricity and effervescence of so much contemporary bass music. Seductive hypnosis barely sighs out a few words before synth lines shift the entire mood towards a weird-house ride that would be the envy of Nina Kraviz ("Bootiesong"). It's a strange euphoria, one that echoes in the less excited tones of "Rapid Oxidation", though interpreted with a deeper underlying moodiness, almost hinting at a late-night use. Much closer to a certain abstract-house of the last decade, while never losing sight of the rhythmic clarity of the other tracks, "Housche" takes on an atmospheric quality, a digital gloom not so far removed from certain rainy productions out of the Studio Barnhus camp. Unmissable is the remix by fellow traveller Sansibar, which speeds up the pace while keeping the gloomy, moody coordinates of the original intact. As a launch for the Finnish label, there's a lot to be hopeful about.

Funkystepz – This Is Not A Tech House Ep (self-released)

Funkystepz don't beat around the bush: introducing their first work in eight years with a title that's practically a mission statement, the British trio who wrote uk-funky history ("Dirty Dutch" is a genre classic) come back doing what they do best, moving between daring percussive syncopations, precise bass constructions and a sense of rhythm that doesn't hesitate to cross-pollinate with the most disparate sonic contexts. All without ever forgetting a taste for melody, for a mood that shifts with extreme variability from track to track. The sinister liveliness of a track like "Ninjaclart" brings into the present the flourishing synergies once belonging to the purple sound of Boxcutter and co. And so "Pulse Loco" also advances Latin hypotheses, with looped pianos lending the trio's funk a renewed sensuality, anything but understated; if "Grimey" draws elements from the genre named in its title, it still does so by toughening up the underlying brooding darkness, letting the progression rely on a stubborn garage groove in a breakbeat vein. There's also room for melancholy and intensity, in a clever reuse of "Hurt" by Christina Aguilera that takes you straight back to the golden years of Hyperdub. All killer, no filler, in short, for this new venture from the funky trio. And if the dedication to Scratcha DVA on the opening track means anything, it's that this comeback is no one shot: new releases are waiting at the door.

Golden Kong – Quatro faces do house (Wile Out)

Sometimes all it takes is a flash of intuition, a simple deviation from the main path, to end up with something interesting in hand. Not that baile funk is unfamiliar with paths off the beaten track or heterodox approaches, yet it's rare to find it paired with worlds like house and disco. Perhaps it's because its thematic abrasiveness and irreverent use of samples often make it hard to reconcile with the more velvety, easygoing touch of the genres mentioned above, yet the fusion, when carried out with the subtlety of "Quatro faces do house" (the latest effort from Fernando Simões aka Golden Kong), with a euphoria that creeps through and underlies the whole operation, proves electrifying. And so even the more aggressive tones of "Jiu-Jitsu", marked by openings that spill into footwork and ghettotech, never lose touch with a dance aesthetic that permeates the whole quartet of tracks, capable of appropriating subtle deep echoes for the sonic bed of "Ecsed" (just lightly sprinkled with euro touches), but also of playing with the funky flourishes of a Jun Kamoda or a Luksek for a riveting "Olha o que ela faz". There's no shortage of sexier shades either, even if scattered across a sea of far more combative tracks: "Kitado" even provides ballroom support for the melody's baile assaults, successfully pulling off yet another exciting combination between mismatched contexts. Simply a triumph.

Hypna – Nylon Hood (self-released)

Hypna's productions aren't built to take prisoners. Sharp as ice, pure auditory pressure, "Nylon Hood" exemplifies this perfectly across five tracks (three originals and two remixes) that know how to reconcile beat and atmosphere, tension and release. Grime, bass music, toxic, corrosive club sound: this is the set of ingredients the Belgian producer uses to turn the dancefloor into pure chaos and frenzy, a merciless game that spares no element put into play. From the refined post-techno alchemy of "DRM//BLL", almost like an Elysia Crampton put through a hallucinated industrial treatment, to the refined exercise in abstraction that stirs the foreground of "Beam Reflector" (before a more regular beat sets the progression around a smoky, Anthony Naples-like groove), there's not a single moment that lowers its guard to convention, that settles for familiar paths. And so the remixes too know how to make the most of outside contributions to render the originals even more eccentric, if anything (yet incredibly club-ready): from a brilliant kuduro phrasing that further inflames "DRM//BLL" (it wouldn't have been out of place on a Príncipe release) to the underwater layers that mask the electric fervour of "Beam Reflector", revealing the great sensitivity, the instinct of a producer able to modulate his own language through a distinctive sonic lens. His evolution is not to be missed.

Luca Durán – Noche de rosas (TraTraTrax)

By now it's clear that there's growing interest in darker, more elliptical takes on reggaeton and its surrounding territory, and a label like TraTraTrax has become one of the main standard-bearers for the movement. After the excellent "Negro In Negro" project (covered in a previous issue) released last February, the Medellín label doubles down with "Noche de rosas", another Ep of dark, muscular Latin electronic music, not only reinforced by metallic industrial streaks (the titanium nerve of "Metal Parce"), but also capable of warping its melodic hooks with all due creativity, without a single misstep. From the psychedelic keyboard touches of the title track (in its own way strongly drawn into the skewed orbit of Kelman Duran), things dissolve into a melancholic midtempo reflection that the title "¿ntelligent Dembow Music" does full justice to. Slow-motion scans, jagged melodicism in constant evolution, a glacial build of the ambient backdrop: every element plays its part, and the track wastes no time seducing with its charm. Closing out the listen are an irreverent remix of the title track by Ikonika, who knows how to lean into the track's singable accents while further crowding the mix with interesting housey touches, and the bouncy, flexible rework of "Metal Parce" by BADSISTA, less shiny than the original but no less nervy, if not more so. The future of reggaeton is starting to reveal its formidable potential.

Nikolay Sunak – Uje no bol'no (Noservice)

Nikolay Sunak's touch may well be devoted to great simplicity, but that doesn't rhyme with banality, nor with boredom: endowed with shimmering melodic contributions, yet with a remarkable grasp of breakbeat's rhythmic function, the Russian musician's house music resonates with pleasant serenity, leans on its own luxurious minimalism, and never overdoes it in either length or austerity, letting the excellent cohesion of the final result come through. In just three tracks, the producer invites us into his world of small enchantments, loose enough to be charmed by a subtle bassline ("Obernis'"), before the underlying framework rediscovers a marked taste for sharper, more acidic nervousness. When "Betelgeuse Forever" gives off greater tension, an electro geometry quite close to certain recent boogie revivals, it takes little for hazy support pads to make the atmosphere far more eccentric and lunar. It's the title track that gets to color the synthetic patterns with voluptuous soulful brushstrokes, however hidden behind the brisk rhythmic loop underneath. In the end, you don't need to raise your voice too much to be noticed: just nail the right combination, and every doubt sorts itself out.

Piska Power – Thermal Cycler (Voam)

It's a nervousness charged with electricity, an adrenaline rush that takes up every inch of available space: that's "Thermal Cycler". Not that the title promised sun-drenched seaside landscapes, but the energy Piska Power pours into his tracks certainly takes no prisoners, becoming downright all-consuming, a concentrate ready to detonate. With obvious industrial echoes, though never really close to the aesthetic of Acteurs or Sandwell District, the German producer's techno moves between threat and release, between raw matter and collateral humanity (the vocalizations piercing "Taxon" and especially the Kraftwerk-style irony of "Vokoka"), minimizing rhythmic content and contemplative moments in favor of a pure 240-volt frenzy that hums, whirls, and creates eddies impossible to escape. Techno as certain electro pioneers might have imagined it, but with an added edge of danger, a taste for short circuits ready to wipe out anyone who gets too close. The dancefloor? It's always there, never left unattended, but this is certainly not music to unwind to: even in its seemingly more subdued moments, "Pica Pica" knows how to meet urgency head-on, devouring basslines with a violence that Jasmine Infiniti would be proud of. Released on Blawan and Pariah's Voam, a label already specializing in high-explosive techno, this Ep is ready to give you a shock.

Tondiue – Painted Creature (Secondnature)

There's nothing generic about the five tracks that make up "Painted Creature": not in the progression, not in the production choices, not in the tone, which refracts into a multitude of contexts and moods. From Seattle, Cameron Kelley aka Tondiue is a sharp mind, a soul attuned to detail and fine craftsmanship, reflected in a delicate, meticulous techno capable of surprising with every beat. Muffled yet insistent beats, elusive evolutions (the breakbeat pulse introduced in the serene ambient-dub opening of "Frog & Dog"), atmospheric refractions that draw the best from the Nineties but with a thoroughly contemporary bite (the heavily digitized, shimmering Banco De Gaia echoes of "Tondiue"): there's room for a wealth of detail in the producer's animated constructions, which know how to adapt and dress themselves in different scenarios while keeping the same underlying delicacy. Even the title track, with its pronounced fourth-world percussiveness, knows how to converse in open continuity with what comes before and after it, evolving into a teeming dub celebration that manages to draw a line between the techno depths of Donato Dozzy and a more psychedelic, adjacent strain of house. And while the floor will have its hands full with the tight trance beats of "Magic Animal" (never anything less than elegant even when using such patterns), "Sunshower" closes things out beautifully, with a jagged breakbeat motif that in turn links back to the alluring opening landscapes. Flawlessly structured on every level, an Ep like this leaves you anticipating great things from a much more expansive (and certainly, here, hoped-for) full-length.

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