Minimal / Tech House Recommendations July 2011

Review: "Positive Noise" is the immense new release on A Wave featuring remixes from Detroit techno ledge Carl Craig and leading Japanese techno artist A.Mochi. The original mix sees crisp and crunching sounds twisting through percussive beats and extravagant sound samples inspired by Berlin's raw club scene - opening the door for two very different but equally mesmerizing remixes. Carl Craig strips down the original with twists and turns for the dancefloor, giving it a dubby deep techno charm. A.Mochi's remix is a darker interpretation with a long breakdown featuring shimmering System 7 trademark sounds and a solid breakbeat build-up.

Review: Emerging in 2001, Aybee has spent more than a decade gathering respect from all corners of the electronic music scene. Releasing music under a wide range of monikers over the years, Aybee's versatility is genre defiant and seamless in its quality. Tsuba score a coup here, coaxing him to remix "Reflexions" from Ethyl & Huxley not once but twice. The dub mix plays with a lonesome but bad ass bass loop and organic hand claps - coupled with the electronic melody Aybee shows us that simplicity is key. His second remix gets deeper and warmer as stretched synths roll and elegant wind instruments flitter along the top line. On the B-Side we have Ethyl and Huxley's "Slims"; dark, evolving and intense, the track is strewn with eerie recordings, chopped shakers and a creeping and spooky bass roll.

Review: Ben Watt's Buzzin' Fly is without doubt one of the most successful UK labels when it comes to pleasing both fans and DJs. Their output flies off the shelves and into record bags, garnering respect from the industry while their label nights pull in heavy headliners and big crowds. The deep house label shies away from trends and focuses on elegant, refined and pounding records; their latest, "Birdsong" from Abyss, falls smack bang into that realm. Warm beats and crisp shakers kick off "Birdsong", making it danceable and percussive. But it's the downtempo atmospherics and spaces in between the groove that make it stand out as momentary silences are dropped, beats removed and acoustic piano arrangements and breathy vocal snippets left to shine. Snoretex's remix sees some subtle but intriguing changes to the arrangement, whilst on the flip Flowers And Sea Creatures strip things down to ambience, fusing electronic blips and scratches in the most bewitching manner.

Review: **RAUM REPRESS** The pairing of Ricardo Villalobos & Roman Flugel on Raum Musik is hardly a surprising one. Both are venerable members of the electronic music scene, and we've witnessed both artists visit minimalism, techno, house and ambience within their careers on numerous occasions. Together on Raum, "RIRom" embodies a collection of all of the above genres in one. Minimal clicks and cuts of glass are met with raw housey claps, hollow techno kicks and gentle acoustic piano chords. Chugging and never dull on the ear, it's a concoction of intelligent, stripped back structure. On the flip side "RoRic" treads slightly more theatrical boards with dark rumbling keys and twisted crackles and creeks. An ever pushing bounce of dry drums and the odd stab of keys and warped vocals keep things interesting. Very much suited to both of these artists, if you're a fan of one or both, this won't disappoint.

Review: For their 86th release the might, mighty Perlon bring on board Margaret Dygas with a self titled EP. Working her way through sparse and cosmic minimal spirals as we expect, "Missing You Less" shows her delicate edge with light piano keys and muffled strings giving a feminine touch to her otherwise driving style. "Soon" reverts to Dygas as we know her, with hitting drum patterns and reverbed tech goodness from the start. "Country Way Of Life" on the second disk is meandering and spooky, with indecipherable vocals popping up intermittently as a heavy kick and syncopated drums rise from below. "Ocbinh's Groove" meanwhile is dark and moody, as pads swoop and samples howl. Diverse, quality, pure minimal techno... Perlon live on.