Juno Recommends Minimal / Tech House: November 2022

Review: 12", 180g, Vinyl Only. Limited copies and no repess! Stripped down instrumentation, panther-like drums and bassline pairing, and the odd deep voice booming in the dark is what to expect from these thee handy, playable cuts, that clock in somewhere between the progressive and minimal markers.

Review: 'Emotive techno' eschews the term ambient techno on this new archival release from Nuron and Fugue, figureheads of the '90s subscene that took the world by storm. Lifted from archives of DAT tapes that were, as the story tends to go, inevitably found in some attic somewhere, these tracks are nostalgia-tinged jams that carry with them the hiss and saturation of 1993; but of course, stylistically, they belong in 2993. Nuron's 'Interior World' is a scratchy and restless early highlight, while Fugue's 'Contapoint' has a proto-dubsteppy angularity seeping off it.

Review: For a long time Gary Martin was referred to as an "unsung hero" of Detroit techno, but with the DET 313 label, run with Yossi Amoyal, he's finally cemented a fearsome reputation as one of the Motor City's finest. With such reputations come the exchange of the proverbial "silly money" for the more hard to find recordings, thus the existence of this double 12" which collects eight of Martin's efforts from the mid to late 90s into one package available for a slightly more sensible exchange of currency. Among the highlights are the Latin-enhanced beats of 'Manhattan', two mixes of the sublime 'In Rythem' complete with a gospel preacher in full flow and a seven minute extended remaster of 'I'll Be Back I Promise' from Yossi Amoyal. It's no surprise to see Martin's work picked up and played by the likes of Ben Klock, given his unique take on rhythm, but there's plenty of soulfulness going on here as well.

Review: London-based label Telum recently launched the offshoot label Aurum, that's into its second release which comes from Rominimal hero Nu Zau. On the A-side, you've got the groovy broken beat microhouse of 'Break Me' which is totally made for getting weird at the after hours, while over on the flip he goes for a couple more tunes which are more straight ahead. First up is the heady minimal funk of 'Everytime' which gets the job done in typically lean and subtle fashion, followed by the emotive Sunday morning sunrise vibes of 'R U Ready'. Tip!

Review: Taylor Freels, who made his name a decade or so ago as Urulu, has traditionally used the Liquid Earth alias to deliver more hallucinatory, tactile and saucer-eyed excursions informed by his love of ambient techno, early tech-house, and breakbeat-driven British records of the mid 1990s. He continues this tendency on his latest Liquid Earth outing, first setting his stall out with 'The Electronic Brain' - a 21st century blast-from-the-past that combines crunchy '90s tech-house beats and occasional blasts of breakbeats with deep bleep techno style bass, Psychic Warriors ov Gaia-esque electronics and decidedly trippy electronic motifs. The glassy-eyed, 6AM-at-Megadog feel continues on 'Vetcor Boy and the Horse With Three Legs', while 'Bubble Pop' has a mid-90s San Fancisco free party flex (especially when the acid lines come in) and 'Stingray Shuffle' is a killer slab of revivalist bleep weightiness.

Review: Jungle Generation is the third release on Outcast Planet, signed by its resident DJ Bakked. All the tracks are dance-floor oriented - characterized by dynamic drums, acid and trancy melodies matched together with a deep soul. Acid meets slap bass on 'Crush9', while 'Zion' describes the Kingdom of the Lamb through the mode of washy, spitty snares and glassy pads. All tunes serve to satiate, leaving you more or less chloro-filled with energy, much like the emblematic sunflower on the inner label.

Review: After the success of part one, the second half of this fabed Aspect double pack from 2000 gets a separate reissue by popular demand. M-Core's 'Get Down' starts proceedings, a slow techno burner that starts with spaced out eeriness but builds its momentum rhythm-wise almost literally brick-by-back. 'Evolved' by Soul Capsule Productions has a fresher, cheerier atmosphere to it, before the gloomy clouds gather again for closing track 'The Prayer' by Dark Boys.

Review: Brako continues to go it alone with self-titled releases on a self-titled label, and why not? When the tunes are this good you don't need the extra boost of a big name label. There are just two of them on this punchy EP, the first being 'Bandit' which has a snaky bassline and loose-limbed groove. It is run through with spaced out pads, gurgling cosmic lines and silky hooks that are finished to perfection with a great neo-soul vocals. On the flip, 'Police' is a more dubbed-out and stripped-back tune with elastic rhythms and heady pads. Great work.

Review: Matias Aguayo has always been a left-of-centre sound smith. His rhythms and grooves are built from infinite intricate loops, and are often steeped in his South American heritage. That is the case again here with his vocal sounds stitched into dark wave tech grooves. 'The Tiger' is menacing and snappy, locking you into the late-night atmosphere. 'Nightshift, The Red' is more loose and dark, with freewheeling and busted-up techno drums. There is a sense of yearning in the forlorn vocal of 'Show Me What You're Feeling' that brings something different to the dance floor and lastly 'El Propio Propio' gets heavy and off-balance.

Review: As London In Transmission declare themselves - run by two geezers, both frequent ravers on the London underground scene - you should have some idea of what to expect from this record. It's the fourth drop on the label following releases from the likes of Christian AB, and the vibe is trippy, bleepy, ravey strains of old-skool outboard house music with a little of the minimal era's cheekiness etched into its bones. That's especially true of 'SSC (21 Edit)' by MIDI Drifter, while elsewhere you might hear the odd wigged-out ingredient that gels with the contemporary trance-house phenomenon. Either way, this is crafty, chunky gear to get dirty dancefloors greased up good n' proper.

Review: Weirdo minimal tech soul, anyone? Any takers should be directed towards this oddball release from Melchior Productions and Paul Walter. Two tracks of serious strangeness: timestretched vocals and repetitious yeahs blossom between the beat-thickets of Melchior's 'Yeah X 3', while many more percussive hits and cuts and clicks and pops and booms come courtesy of Walter's B-side, 'Xvive'. It's an impressive first foray for Maria Newyen's new imprint Scious; let's hope future 12"s stay just as weird.

Review: Marc Romboy and Stephan Bodzin make for one of the most celebrated duos in techno. Here their 'Atlas' tune gets a remix from Ukrainian duo Artbat & Shall Orin on Systematic. They're artists at the heart of the modern melodic techno movement. Their remix here is a one-sided 12" that is designed for the main room. The percussive energy and sweeping synths build and build over the driving, rubbery beats. Its serene, well-designed, and a surefire standout cut that will get hands in the air on plenty of the world's biggest stages.

Review: Silat Beksi's Modeight label continues to fly the flag for minimal tech house with this latest drop from Dubfound, aka Moldovan producer Dima Kulakovsky. Given the artist's long and winding background in the scene, it's no surprise to hear a classy, refined strain of club cuts twisting their way through this 12". 'Mishkitsunami' is dripping in surrealist sound design without deterring the steadfast groove, while 'Clouds Are Flying Down' revels in pinging synth tones wriggling around the drums. This is tripped out late night business for those who like to tweak out the tweaked party people just that little bit more.

Review: The self-titled Coast2Coast production outfit are doing a fine job of rolling out useful, functional, but characterful tech and minimal sounds, The label emerged during the earliest days of the Covid-19 pandemic and has come out the other side in fine fashion as it now hits its fourth EP in two years. This latest 12" kicks off with the shimmering synths and thudding kick-drum funk of 'Byn'. It's a pumper but with lush pads and sci-fi motifs to bring plenty of cosmic atmospheres. The flip side 'Gsm' is a funky proposition that pairs machine sounds, synthetic textures and serene strings to make for a weird and wonderful new take on tech.

Review: There's a high-concept story attached to the TerraFirm label that is intriguingly well formed and thorough. It goes like this: "TerraFirm provides the desiccated, toxified, irradiated or otherwise uninhabitable planets of this sector with a suite of services to rectify any environmental challenge." Taking the reins for the seventh outing is Spandrel who serves up bendy, rubbery, body-popping house-cum-techno. 'Floaterz' is a deep cruiser, and so is 'Night Winds Eternal' but with trippy melodies. On the flipside, 'Ornithological Studies' gets more bristly in its cosmic excursions and last of all is the superbly hooky and loopy dub tech roller 'Colonizer Appreciation Day.'

Review: Chicago extraordinaire Jamal Moss aka Hieroglyphic Being's third solo album is titled There Is No Acid In This House, and sees him return to Soul Jazz Records. Using his idiosyncratic electronic sound, Moss takes influence from the experimental minds of fellow Windy City innovators such as The Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, The Art Ensemble of Chicago and Sun Ra, through to icons of his hometown's house music scene like Ron Hardy, Marshall Jefferson, Lil Louis and others who have defined Chicago's musical universe over the last half a century.

Review: UK tech house hero Seb Zito returns to Eastenderz with a killer four tracker. The Fuse London and Seven Dials stalwart kicks off ENDZ 051 with the bleeped-out boompty groove of 'Bounce' on side A that's aimed squarely at the main room dancefloor pre-peak time, while over on the flip he's got the afterparty strictly in mind on the bass-driven back room dub of 'A Rhythm', followed by more Sunday morning tackle in the form of hypnotic minimal house cut 'You Can Dream It'.

Review: Agents Of Time are a unique Italian dance duo whose poppy dance music blends well with a live 3D show that has dazzled punters the world over. Here they debut their first album, Universo, which plunges into the cosmos through a distinctly lo-fi dance lens. With a slew of vocal performances from Audrey Janssens to Vicky Who?, our favourite track has to be a tie between 'Vocal Ghost' and 'Liquid Fantasy'. Perhaps comparable to Bicep for cosmonauts.

Review: Kompakt's Total series of compilations is described by the long-serving Cologne imprint as a kind of 'yearbook', with each edition - including this 22nd volume - serving as a keepsake of the label's last 12 months. The latest edition therefore boasts material that was mostly signed and released during the lockdown phase of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, though you'd not know given the club-friendly nature of the material on offer. From start to finish, it's packed with genuine aural treats, from the undulating acid bass, dreamy acoustic guitars and ethereal vocal samples of Voigt & Voigt's 'Why' and the shuffling, opioid warmth of Rebedello's 'The Sharper Image', to the sleazy spoken word vocals and head-nodding hip-hop beats of Jurgen Paap's 'Le Monde a Change', and the deep, hypnotic, spaced-out brilliance of Jonathan Kaspar's 'Where Am I'.

Review: Le Loup continues to offer up some of the fiercest tech house grooves, and after a two year gap he's back on Cabaret with more absolute heat for the dancefloor. 'Ascent' is a bouncy, 90s-flavoured cut with bashy 909 drums and spaced out synths, while 'Transit' takes a trancier direction like it's the early wave of the Frankfurt sound all over again. 'You (Just)' maintains the retro theme with rich leads and a sexy, throbbing bassline, and then 'Power Source' completes the set with a creepy, trippy finisher which leans heavily towards psy-trance.

Review: Following some great releases by Barac, Traumer and Ion Ludwig, the sixth release on Swiss imprint Adams Bite comes from Rominimal stalwart (and Amphia co-head) Cristi Cons. He presents two tracks featuring his unique sound signature on this one. At once ethereal and hypnotic, A side cut 'Black Swan' will move you with its bass-driven groove that's intertwined in a rich tapestry of hypnotic textures, while over on the flip 'Ahead Of The Curve' will work its magic on you in a similar fashion, as this one too is highly engineered minimal tech house aimed squarely at the main room dancefloor. Tip!

Review: Romana Records 006 has got Arteform Records from Ukranian head honcho JOSS on a split ep with Romana's own Magnus Asberg expect some deep house & some minimal goodness..

Review: Italian newcomer Adam Oubkou aka Direkt is sure to turn plenty of heads with this new EP on RE.FACE's limited edition vinyl series. He soon licks you in with the lovely dubby vibes and horizonless chords of 'Way Back' then get you more upright with the silky smooth loops and far-sighted chords of 'Kaleidoscope.' The flip side opens with 'Groove 2' which is another one to get your head amongst distant planets and soft-focus chords. Closer 'Lent' is a much more tense groove with lumpy drums and jumbled rhythms run through with freaky sci-fi sounds and muttered vocals.

Review: Future Tones fourth release introduces us to a gaggle of 'Tourists From The Future': electro explorers with frayed spacesuits whose musical adventures tend towards the timeless. Check first the two contributions from Just Someone - the twisted electronic bass, crispy 4/4 beats and Kraftwerkian melodies of 'Test One' and the foreboding, TB-303-sporting electro-goes-techno shuffle of 'The Tyrant' - before moving on to the two tracks from 'On A Jet Lag'. The first, 'Many Dreams', is an atmospheric, acid-flecked, sub-heavy bleep & bass shuffler similar in ethos to Richard H Kirk and Rob Gordon's work as XON, while 'Dia28' is a deeper and more intergalactic take on the turn-of-the-90s bleep sound. Throw in quirky 'Intro' and 'Outro' tracks from Iron F43C, and you have a fine EP of tasty retro-futurism.