August: 8 electro releases you need to hear this month

Cardopusher 'New Cult Fear' (Boysnoize Records)

Cardopusher (aka Luis Garbàn) returns to Boysnoize Records with the follow-up to 2015’s ‘Manipulator’. Embracing the eerier end of the electro spectrum, ‘New Cult Fear’ is teeming with depraved synths and distressed rhythms. There’s no pandering to the electronic zeitgeist here, just a producer with a laser-like focus on trying to freak you out. ‘Dreamjumping’ and ‘Crystal Nightcap’ are both straight-up electro, combining occult-ish soundscapes with noodling acidic leads, while the horror-inspired ‘Mind Eraser’ and ‘Drunken Incapacitants’ sound like the dying embers of a John Carpenter soundtrack. There are more straight-edged cuts too, with ‘Idol Worship’ and ‘Just One Fixx’ swapping the filmic atmosphere for a more groove-based sound. It finishes with a trio of tracks that showcase Garbàn’s ability to fuse acidic motifs with a range of timbres, rounding off an LP that’s big on scary bangers but lacks real emotional weight.

7/10

Danny Daze & Shokh 'Aire' (Kompakt Records)

Danny Daze continues to impress with his knack for finding the interesting intersections between differing genres. Here, he and Shokh deliver a cut of sweaty, propulsive electro-techno for Kompakt’s latest Speicher release. Think rib-rattling basslines, frantic hi-hats and icy pad work set against screeching stabs and dystopia sirens. On the flip, Patrice Bäumel offers up some dubby progressive house that’s great too, but it’s Daze and Shokh’s banger that’s the real star here.

9/10

Costello 'Dotcom' (Bad Life)

French upstart Costello returns to Bad Life Records after a string of releases on esteemed electro-facing imprints such as Boysnoize, Fool’s Gold, Bad Life, Dim Mak, Boxon, Southern Fried and Lektroluv. Brought up on a strict diet of house and techno in his native Bordeaux, Costello’s productions embalm a decade of electronic culture but with his own low-key twist. His latest release, ‘Dotcom’, features hazy soundscapes wrapped around brittle kicks and cyborgian leads. With support from Danny Daze, Laurent Garnier and Maceo Plex already in the bag, you’re going to be hearing this banger a lot in the coming weeks and months.

8/10

Jinjé 'The Finest' (Different Recordings)

Jinjé is the solo alias of Lee J Malcolm, who’s also part of the post-rock band Vessels. For his latest solo effort, he’s joined forces with Bonobo vocalist Szjerdene for a tasty remake of SOS Band’s seminal funk classic ‘The Finest’. Flipping the original into a cut of fuzzy electro, Szjerdene’s cool vocals are cleverly paired with jangling leads and pulsing 808s for some throwback electro.

9/10

Solid Blake 'Mario' EP (Outer Zone)

Outer Zone is a new label from well-established Glasgow basement venue La Cheetah Club, and for its debut release its enlisted club favourite Emma (Solid) Blake.Having previously worked as one-third of Apeiron Crew, this is Blake striking out on her own – and there’s no getting away from the fact that it’s straight electro fire. ‘Mario’ is the sort of electro that would scare small children, as Blake wraps thwacking percussion around grizzly synth work on a proper club cut. ‘Lens’, on the other hand, is a little lighter, but don’t be fooled: it still sounds like it was concocted in an abandoned cabin deep in the woods. ‘Yagharek’ is probably the dark horse of the three, based around a bleeping hook that sounds like R2-D2 pining for his long-lost friend, C-3PO. The only remix comes from La Cheetah Club mainstay DJ Stingray (who was the first ever artist to be booked by the club). He doesn’t disappoint, delivering a cut that’s bristling with bad intentions, as off-kilter kicks do battle with caustic stabs and barbed synth work.

8/10

Il Est Vilaine 'La Regla Del Juego' EP (Lumière Noire)

Only a French duo would use a clip of them high as kites on helium as the intro for a track that sounds like it was cooked up in a hipster’s potting shed. But Parisians Il Est Vilaine clearly don’t take themselves too seriously, which is refreshing in an era where there’s far too much of that going on already, and thankfully they’ve got the tracks to back up the silliness, too. The brilliantly titled ‘Violent Vacuum Cleaner’ is all bouncy disco drums and electro hooks, while ‘Golden Shower’ has militaristic vocals, snarling growls and a metronome that’s intent on scramblingyour brain. Closer ‘Rocket Fire’ (which comes in two versions) brims with punkish sensibility, as the duo combine rasping rock à la Phoenix with grungy, Black Strobe-like electro.

6/10

Various 'Rave Or Die 08' (New Flesh Records)

For five years, Lyon-based imprint New Flesh Records (which is run by Umwelt and his graphic design partner Chris Nexus 6) has created a small, loyal following with its brand of warehouse-ready French electro. Releasing solely on 10” vinyl, there’s quite literally no space for flab or wasted opportunities. Its latest endeavour features some serious club heaters from The Hacker, The Mover, Minimum Syndicat andUmwelt himself. There’s another outing for The Mover’s 2009 electro-techno oddity ‘Invisible Space’, which still bangs to this day. Minimum Syndicat delivers a cut of crazed acid, while The Hacker arguably steals the show with the demonic ‘Waves Of Darkness’. To finish, Umwelt does what he does best, combining rave motifs with an old-school electro thrum for a cut that’s worth the entry fee alone.

7/10

DSC 'Coming Round' (Rex The Dog remix) (Me Me Me)

We’ve been besotted with Man Power’s Me Me Me imprint throughout 2017 so far, largely thanks to strong cuts from the likes of Elliot Adamson, Pional, Pale Blue and Last Waltz. Rex The Dog (aka Jake Williams) is set to make his full debut for the label later this year, but gets the ball rolling here with a frenzied remix of DCS’s ‘Coming Round’. Our favourite pooch continues to impress with his stripped-back aesthetic as he chops, loops and distorts the original’s vocals into a frenzied electro house jam that’s an early contender for remix of the year (yes, it’s that good).

9/10