ALEX FONT Vinyl & CDs

Review: Alex Font is charged with serving up the MINIMALER Factory label's first release and an ambitious one it is too - Cross The Limits: Chapter 1 (we wonder how many chapters there might be?) is a minimal and tech house triple pack that offers a wealth of club-ready sounds. They are embellished with all manner of abstract details and creeping sound designs, from trippy pads to whispered vocals. Each one is intricately designed and carefully arranged to be in a constant state of flux that very much keeps you locked from start to finish. A trio of fine remixes from Dubtil, Franco Cinelli and Alexis Cabrera add further gravitas to this strong album.

Review: The endlessly fertile scenes that are minimal and tech house yield more essential DJ goodness here as Bread & Butter assembles a selection of talents for this ninth various artists' release. Alex Font & Aron open up with 'Walking On Clouds' which is not as airy and dreamy as it might sound, but does lay down a nice deft minimal groove. Beiger has a more sunny outlook with the mellifluous synth clouds of his 'Audible Illusions' and Mihai Pol then brings ouse late night jazz house cool to his 'Bip Bip.' Iuly B completes a varied package with the heady loops and wispy cosmic synth motifs of 'Bouncing Lights.'

Review: The good early work of the Third Stream label carries on with this seventh missive and it's a various artists affair featuring some top talent. Alex Font gets things underway with 'Keep Moving', which is aloof, rolling minimal tech defined by a billowing lead which does what it wants. Kyle&Sam's 'Chapter 36' is an ice-cold and deft, steel-plated tech cut a la Melchior's best and Altarf & Backhauser -keep the synthetic, abstract aesthetic going with their occult machine whirs and loopy drum funk on 'Yeah.' Dumi & Nopau's 'Time Measurements' is like a long-lost Ricardo Villalobos cut from his most famous album.