Detroit’s native sons Lawrence and Lenny Burden, collectively Octave One, have returned once again to entrance listeners with their own brand of robotic funk. Regarded as true pioneers of the dance genre, these two have traveled the world hypnotizing crowds from behind their stacks of equipment. Their latest opus, Summers on Jupiter has the duo returning with the droning electro-sex their known for while polishing their sound to near perfection.
Going into this one you already know that the duo is about to wear the pads off their drum machines. Thumping drum sequences coupled with a rotation of stabbing synthesizers and rolling bass leads listeners on a 55 minute walk through outer space. Tracks like ‘One People, One Planet’ and ‘Between Dreams’ showcase the groups’ flexibility by adding a little tribal to the mix while keeping dancability at an all time high. Though this duo’s reputation as electronic gods precedes them, there are definitely moments where the album lacks in overall originality. Take ‘Rachel’s Prayer’, a track full to the gills with brooding bass and sinister synths, though not necessarily a bad track, its downfall is that it’s unnecessarily slow and simplistic. When you tuck a track like that between two joints set at hyper speed, you create speed bumps for listeners, meaning you’ll have to make up for lost momentum elsewhere.
Minor qualms aside, the band of brothers has definitely set the high bar for artists looking to excel in the crowded club of electronic producers with Summers on Jupiter. The brief missteps are graciously compensated elsewhere on this galactic journey.

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