Dusseldorf's Lorenz Rhode makes an alluring cocktail of '80s-influenced electro-funk, electrohouse and all-out pop. This is quality electronic dancefloor pop from the outset, and all the various sub-genres Lorenz tackles are injected with a winning quirkiness: He blends Italo retroism with playfully proged-up synth lines to great effect, while he strips the instrumentation right down to a bare-bones sound that's pure, krautrock-inspired synthesizer fun. "Imagine Rick James dating Chaka Khan, dancing to Daft Punk and Technotronic, making sweet love to a Stevie Wonder ballad, when suddenly a group of German robots and a Yellow Magic Orchestra come rushing into the hotel suite and....they all decide to go to France instead." That's how Dusseldorf's Lorenz Rhode describes his sound and it's pretty on spot. Following a tasty EP for Compost Records a few years back, Rhode was signed to the excellent Exploited Records label, where he has been busy producing a slew of brilliant cuts, including "Motor Cortex" (single of the month in Mixmag) and the new "Something Hot"-EP, which is absolute dynamite and already gets love from Top-DJs as A-Trak, Sinden, DJ Mehdi, Aeroplane, Hudson Mohawke, Breakbot. Watch out for his remixes for Strip Steve (Boys Noize), Moulinex (Gomma), Malente&Dex (Exploited), Staygold (Magnetron) and Schlachthofbronx (Man Recordings).