Minimal / Tech House Recommendations March 2013

Review: The final vinyl volume of tracks from Ricardo's Dependent & Happy LP arrives and like the previous three releases, demand will surely outstrip supply. Adhering to the adage "let's save the best till last" Perlon cull our favourite two tracks from the album here in "Precox" and "Two Kids Set Off", the former's bassline takes on a cat purring quality as Villalobos locks into a stripped back groove that seems to dip into infinity before taking a pleasant deviation towards mid point obscurity. On the flip, the taut double bass strings and strange televisual sampling present the Chilean at his most willfully adventurous. Already prey to the Discogs vultures - don't sleep on these!

Review: Following their summer hit "Need In Me", Defected duo Flashmob return with something completely different in the form of two contrasting versions of "Pieces". While its predecessor was a slick piece of big room house with diva vocal qualities, "Pieces (Garage mix)" provides a 303 infused acid tech-house stomper combined with Kerri Chandler with a sultry spoken word vocal from Laila Walker. The "Panorama mix" meanwhile goes all out with the acid and brings back the spirit of '88 in its dark, club ready mood and twisting bassline crescendo.

Review: Sometime Guy Gerber cohort Clarian (also to be found in deep house duo Footprintz) makes a first release proper with this expansive EP on Visionquest, embracing a rich spread of styles but all driven by a love of warm, harmonious melodics. "Claire" is a link-up with Gerber, resulting in a sun kissed deep house cut full of plaintive piano and soothing synths, while "Destroy She Says" finds a curious position in between ambient techno and Detroit electro. "Renaissance" is a more mournful kind of deep house, working on minor chords and reaching for a full-on vocal turn, signalling a progression in the EP further towards vocal pop tracks. "Remove Control" has a touch of Italo about it, mixed with romantic strings and more perfectly processed singing, while there's a measured acid throb to "Through Your Mind". Rounding the EP off on a moody progressive tip, "U (Unfinished)" presents perhaps the clubbiest of all the tracks on this six track bumper addition to the Visionquest stable.

Review: With her steadily building back catalogue for the likes of Leftroom and Crosstown Rebels, it was inevitable that Laura Jones would gravitate towards Visionquest to deliver an EP of her seductive, undulating deep house. "Let Me In" shimmers with the mystery of Detroit strings, with Jones brandishing a groove that stays submerged but is impossible to resist. The layers of melody that chime over the top only accentuate the hypnotic qualities, only for the "Dub Rework" to reduce those elements into a gently simmering version. "Lose Myself" is a touch more uptempo, yet still predominantly moody in its demeanor, while "Every Thought" pulls off a more brooding, epic sound without ever getting harder on the production.

Review: This young DJ /producer is one of 2012's most promising new artists - take one listen to Water Jump and it's clear why he is so hyped. "Reception" uses a mutant, noisy take on Chicago house basslines to brutal effect, while "Drone Logic" also revisits the past to create a new vision for the future. There, heavy drums roll in and an old school progressive house bassline - one that sounds more Guerilla than Digweed - is chewed to pieces by bursts of electronic feedback. But it's "A Quiet Life" that really stands out. Underpinned by a splurging bass, haunting angelic voices breeze in as psychedelic drums that have little bearing to traditional house / techno structures explode through the speakers.

Review: Let's Play House duo Jacques Renault and Nik Mercer expand operations with the launch of Goodnight Moon, a lunar themed offshoot dedicated to more techno leaning output from a cast of unknowns and aliases. Almost helms the inaugural release and in a curious fusion, the lead track "Sandy" throbs on a menacing bass rub, while the upper reaching elements have a friendly tech house flavour to them full of light Detroit chords and vocal snippets. "Polyphony" has more surprises, laden with a predilection for trance in the brazen synthy breakdown, before "Bop" sets things straight with a smoother kind of deep dancefloor jam. "The Land Of Uncertainty" serves up more of the same, letting the rhythmic chords lead the way while a crooning vocal drifts over the top.

Review: Forming something of a creative collision on this new 12" for Life & Death, Tale Of Us have collaborated with The/Das and Clockwork to deliver three slices of almost-goth-tinged electro pop. The/Das guest on two of the tracks, with the results on "Fresh Water" being a paranoid but focused little mover anchored by a punchy bass arpeggio, while Clockwork bring a bit more space to the table with their contribution, as faint whispers of melody drift lost in a colourless room with no ceiling. Things are a touch warmer on the Tale Of Us remix of The/Das' "Keep This", letting emotive synth lines feed into a melancholic house cut.

Review: The fifth hand stamped issue on Plangent Records sees label boss Recondite invite RNDM and Kassian Troyer to remix their respective favourites from his small yet impressive canon of productions. According to an interview with Brooklyn record hub Halcyon, both Dial associates and Hotflush boss Paul Rose were big influences on the Recondite sound and all three were initially approached to contribute to this release. Scuba-less it may now be, but you can't fault the two remixes that line either side of this 12", with RNDM remoulding "Dawn" as a typically contemplative slice of melancholic deep techno and Troyer in full on Dial mode for his rendition of "Haptic".

Review: Often a worthy wildcat amongst more play-it-safe deep house pigeons, Axel Boman can now be found prowling to Hypercolour with an EP brimming with originality and vitality, taking the less trodden path through house music. "Television People" heads into a nervous state of uneasy synth lines, oddball speech and gently simmering drums, while "Cubic Mouth" goes straight in the opposite direction with a light and breezy refrain revolving around carefully treated piano chords. "Look What You've Done To Me" is a more sombre affair, but still boasting some developed dynamics to move the track, and then "Klinsmann" switches up altogether with a heartfelt, epic vocal track that gradually builds into a measured acid psych-out.

Review: Following on from his ventures into band dynamics with The Eyes In The Heat, Oliver Ho is back with a renewed vigour as Raudive, evident in the loose-limbed funk of "Obsession". Coming on like a potent cocktail of post punk and industrial with modern production values, the track sits stark in your ears, filling them with crisp slap bass, subtle electro bass stabs, bonkers sampling and raw drums. "Romantic Robot" is more of a proto house cut, but heightened by haunting strings and an unforgiving tension, lending it an almost cinematic quality. The Analogue Cops get into Xenogears mode for an abrasive remix indebted to Neil Landstrumm's mastery of wonky noise within hard as nails techno.

Review: Munich's excellent Permanent Vacations nudge towards a century of releases with a typically warm EP of huggable electronic grooves from the unpredictable Tevo Howard. Epic opener "Pump & Bounce" is the stand out cut. Built around a heady, intoxicating fusion of melancholic chords, tactile synths, stargazing melodies and seemingly cheap electronic sounds, it rises and falls for an impressive nine minutes. "You Have A Way With Words" spits and jumps with fuzzy machine rhythms and low-slung synths, while the hypnotic rhythms and crystalline arpeggios of "What Is Sound" are stunning in their emotion-rich simplicity. Bravo, Tevo, bravo!

Review: Drew Lustman has always been lumped in with the post dubstep contingent, but in truth his real influence lied in the broken stylings of West London that predated the "Great Dubstep Fracture" and was pioneered by the likes of Bugz In The Attic and 4Hero. This second remix 12" for the FaltyDL hookup with Ed Friendly Fires allows Lustman to indulge his love of that bruk style as 4Hero's Dego goes deep under his 2000Black alias. In his hands "She Sleeps" gets transformed into a wondrously bubbling analogue funker, not sounding dissimilar to the kind of soulful futurism Gifted & Blessed is noted for. Check the Martyn remix too, which retains only the line "I know that it's evil" from McFarlane's vocals; a neat trick that infers the sonic intent that the Dutchman crafts around it.

Review: Huntleys & Palmers introduced the wider world to the production talents of Sophie via his excellent Auntie Flo remix, and the same label offers further insight into this producer's clear understanding of how a good house track works on this killer 12". Sophie's statement that he tries "to make music which is fun to dance to-that should be the loudest voice talking" is very much evident on both "Nothing More To Say" and "Eeehhh". Already a long term favourite of everyone from Actress to Kode9 via the Numbers crew, it's great to finally have the chunky house business of "Nothing More To Say" on vinyl, whilst "Eeehhh" is even more impressive, literally exploding with vivid, colourful melodies.