DJS: MOST CHARTED - MINIMAL / TECH - MOST CHARTED IN MAY 2013

Review: XDB makes a welcome return to Sistrum with Frocks, a 12" offering that demonstrates quirkier side to the Greek producer's palette than Espac, his 2008 debut for Patrice Scott's label. Lead track "Frocks" commences with some wonderfully angelic chords and unintelligible vocals before veering into a hypnotic tunnel of droning bleeps that touches on infinity before those chords re-emerge in unison with some rigid claps. Just as your senses become adjusted to this about turn into dancefloor territory, XDB elects to end the track in all too abrupt fashion. On the flip "Modula" opts for a more stripped back approach, with some insidious acid licks dominating proceedings whilst Patrice Scott adopts a reflective mood himself on a seductive remix of the title track.

Review: Whilst it might seem initially surprising that Actress has contributed these remixes for the new Jack For Daze release, Danny 'Legowelt' Wolfers has spoken widely about his admiration for Actress; calling his work "futuristic and advanced", it makes perfect sense that Clone should now extend an invitation to the Werkdiscs boss to remix material from Legowelt's recent album The Paranormal Soul. Actress has offered up two versions of "Elementz Of Houz Music," a track that perfectly encapsulates Legowelt's mastery of melodic, part-mysterious, part-cheesy synth lines. The first remix has Cunningham shuttling Legowelt's arrangement through a cloudy car wash of hissy mist, chopping up the original into his trademark cubist techno; this dovetails nicely with his second 12 minute offering. Markedly more drastic, this offering slows down the synths, kicks and percussion to a drunken stupor, with the results not unlike playing a 45rpm record incorrectly at 33rpm.

Review: Norm Talley of late has traded his housey sound for a dub techno sonic, and joins fellow Detroit house-head Rick Wade in contributing to the German Minimood Extra imprint (sub-label to Minimood). His Analog XTC EP is reminiscent of something Fachwerk might produce, with steely-tinged dub chords, junky percussion clatters and a clipped vocal sculpted in a Dehnert style. Sascha Dive supplies a Deep Echo Vibration dub, which rolls in grungy perpetual motion, fathoming deeper by the bar into spacious and sunken sub-sonics.

Review: Ben Westbeech's Breach alter ego continues to frolic wildly in the lush pastures of low-end house music with "Jack". The bassline swings like an acid house pendulum while the beats shuffle nonchalantly in the background and a sultry staccato vocal delivers concise instructions on how to unleash the sexual potency of the groove. "Let's Get Hot" continues the timeless less-is-more jack magic but does so with much more of a techno twist. Getting hot is not an order... It's a promise.

Review: Frankfurt's Rajko Muller has been responsible for some timeless dancefloor moments as Isolee since his emergence on the iconic Playhouse in 1996, chief among them the iconic "Beau Mot Plage". Having resurfaced earlier this year with that 3 track drop for Koze's Pampa label, Isolee delivers another contemporary contender for his canon of personal classics with this release for Ripperton's Tamed Musiq. "Dennis" is filled with all the warmth and production intricacies one comes to expect from an Isolee production and is complemented by tweaks from Ripperton himself and Berlin artist Baikal.. The former's self styled 'Eight Wheels dub' adds a lot more percussive groove to the mix whilst Baikal opts for a hypnotic rework that's all about the labyrinthine bassline.

Review: Turning tricks with ever more prolificacy, Roman Flugel is back in business once again with some decidedly rough stylings for Clone's Jack For Daze series. "Even More" is a taut and responsive floor worker shot through with that quintessential Flugel quirk, in this case defined by a funky guitar lick over the booming machine drums. "More & More & More" gets even wilder, bringing in a loony lead synth that calls to mind the primal production style of UK Funky over a rugged box-jam jack. With some classic Dance Mania flavoured vocal samples flown in for good measure, a crowd-busting belter is born.

Review: The Comeme juggernaut gathers pace with the label's fourth release of the year, veering off from the impressive full artists release schedule set by Barnt, Ana Helder and Phil Gorbachev for one of their trademark split releases. Featuring no less than six tracks, El Untitled offers an equal share of artists resident to the Comeme cause and newcomers. Buenos Aires DJ and production duo Carisma (Carolina Stegmayer and Ismael Pinkler) fall into the latter category but feel perfectly at home on Comeme on the basis of opening track "Muerte Instrumental" which pairs chunky almost stadium rock drums with wavering sinewave stabs and skittering radio interference - if Mr Oizo was born in South America he might make music like this. Columbian Gladkazuka debuts proper a remix on the label's recent compilation with the detuned and dusty twilight sojourn through Medellin that is the title track, whilst Lechuga Zafiro offers some Uruguayan flavour to the Comeme cause for the first time with the chirping Candombe rhythmic of "Sapo The Manga". The flip pairs together new cuts from Aguayo, Paz and Christian S which in no way overshadow whats come before.

Review: Established last year, Lisbon label Assemble Music has been making ripples in minimal circles with their output from Dorian Paic, Daze Maxim and St. Joseph. This fourth release should engender something akin to a wave of appreciation as Ricardo Villalobos continues his fruitful collaborative streak with the two track Veric 12" in conjunction with Vera Heindel. The pair are known to frequently share the decks at her home town club in Frankfurt and the chemistry between them translates to the studio, with both "Rambutan" and "Take Me" masterful examples of extended, hypnosis inducing minimalist productions.

Review: Rekids signal a change in focus after the raft of Nina Kraviz related remix releases and instead turn to a classic from the archives of label boss Matt 'Radioslave' Edwards for a pair of fresh remixes. It would be hard to find two more diverse remixers than Mr G and Prins Thomas, but both turn in superb reworks of the 2008 Radioslave bumper "Tantakatan". Mr G calls shotgun and his self styled Nighttime Dub is a wonderfully dirty analogue groover that takes Edwards' original production into notably darker territory with those deep dubby chord stabs overshadowed by rumbling bass. Naturally Prins Thomas takes a different approach, implementing an acoustic guitar to replay the stabs and using live drums for a loose, laid back groove. There's a notable dose of reverb and delay used throughout that lend this Diskomiks a real druggy feel.

Review: Berlin based Cobblestone Jazzer Mathew Jonson precedes the release of a second solo LP, Her Blurry Eyes, for Crosstown Rebels with this two track 12" for Damian Lazarus' towering imprint. Jonson is no stranger to Crosstown, releasing numerous 12"s through them since his debut appearance in 2004, and his return with Automaton highlights the Canadian's penchant for intricate and nuanced beatwork. This is most apparent on the title track "Automaton" whose percussion is almost tribal in execution and augmented by some truly hypnotic weaving analogue lines. Complementing this, "In Th Stars" offers some insight into Jonson's more abstract and esoteric leanings, it being a fluttering journey through worming analogue textures and rippling percussion that's strangely reminiscent of an early Royksopp B Side.

Review: With fewer appearances on wax in the last few years, it's always a cause for celebration when Baby Ford crops up with a slew of new wares. This time he's doing the business for the Ugold Series, and he's in fine fettle continuing to explore the minimal abstractions that have characterised his output since becoming aligned with the Perlon imprint in the 00's. "Snakes & Ladders" even sports the trademark weirdo vocal treatment that you would only find on a BF record, while the subtlety of the melodics slowly creeps up on you through repeated listens. The micro shuffle of the beat itself takes no time to work out, so sublime it is in its simplicity. "Last Call" comes on more spaced out, with a whisper of 90s leftfield techno about its disembodied machine bleeps.

Review: Though his career has taken many turns over the last decade, DJ Koze has remained that most illusive of creatures: a minimal-minded producer with an ear for a melody. This fourth full-length, packed to the rafters with big-name collaborations (Apparat, Caribou, Ada and Matthew Dear all feature), continues his move towards the home-listening sphere. So, while many of the heady rhythms and shuffling grooves hark back to his stripped-back past, Amygdala impresses with its woozy songs, genre-straddling fusions (see the modern soul meets deep house of "Homesick" or the steppy, tropical vibes of "Marilyn Whirlwind") and homely atmosphere.

Review: The Modular RZ EP is an excellent rough edged material from Naples pair Rio Padice and Massimo De Lena, founders of the Early Sound Recordings label and well acclimatised to working together as part of The Early Sounds Collective with fellow Neapolitan Leskin. The three tracks here are a perfect fit for Clone's irregular Royal Oak series, nudging themselves nicely in the fuzzy grey zone between house and techno and focusing on a tooly approach that keeps the beats straight whilst they work through a raft of bleep laden, analogue movements. The title track has immediate qualities that will appeal to many, but the rugged charms of "The Octave Lord Of Ring Mode" really stand out for us, with dirt encrusted bassline and semi malfunctioning fx lending the production just the right dash of wrongness.

Review: Oliver Ho has been on fine form as Raudive since he relaunched the project gracing Running Back, Get The Curse, History Clock and more with some machine made music blessed with human idiosyncrasies. his Ruins 12" marks the welcome return of Raudive to Stefan Goldmann's Macro imprint following the 2010 LP Chamber and the two tracks sit steadfastly within the boundaries of his new creative direction. There's something a bit DAF to the title track, with Ho's own manipulated vocals seeping through the cracks of his juddering rhythms formed from cascading elements and the nascent proto techno vibes continue on the mutant machine funk of "Visitor".

Review: One of the leading lights in Lithuania's house and disco scene, Mr Basanov is no stranger to the esteemed climes of Needwant Records, and after the pop-embracing tones of his Journey album last year the Eastern European producer is back with an EP of unabashed club cuts that shimmer with late night allure and punchy dynamics. "Bill" is a dramatic cut full of amelodic arpeggios and monstrous stabs from the netherworld, but strapped to a rock solid beat. "Tor" meanwhile lets the beat slip to the background so that fuzzy synths may reach skywards with a hint of vintage electro about them, and "Give Me Back" goes further into the comforting blanket of warm musical arrangement as expressed through classic equipment.

Review: Dormant for some five years, the Sud Electronic label continues it's resurgence after returning last year welcoming the sounds of Manchester's Ruf Dug into the fold with The Headcleaner EP. One of the city's finest selectors, Ruf Dug has quietly been fine tuning his production technique through the Ruf Kutz label he's overseen (as well as dropping some great straight to tape mixes via his must check blog) Having contributed to a Use of Weapons release late last year, the Mancunian clearly has his sights set on expanding his production discography and a full debut for a respected hub like Sud is quite a statement. Musically, the four tracks here tread (or chug down) the same path that you'd expect to hear atManchester institution Wet Play one night, taking in hazy boogie and warm house.

Review: German house abstractionist Isolee makes a welcome return, surfacing on Pampa with his first new material since dropping his album Well Spent Youth on Koze's label back in 2011. Creative batteries recharged, Isolee is in familiar form on the three track Allowance 12"; the title track adopts his trademark bare bone approach with soothing lines of melodic intoxicants gently pulsing with intent over the soft edged house groove. This hypnotic opener hogs the A Side, leaving the chiming minimalist rhythmics of "You Could Do Your Memories" to duel for your attentions with the far too playful "Wobble".

Review: Last year saw the birth of the label and artist Birdsmakingmachine. Its tech-and-micro house sound files neatly into a minimal clique stemming from the far eastern reaches of Europe (and the eastern parts of Germany). The second EP, simply titled Birdsmakingmachine 2 sees four tracks of petit and sophisticated grooves, beginning with "Wild Carrots" which sounds like the techno soundtrack to Alice In Wonderland falling down the rabbit hole in slow motion. The broken rhythm of "Lost Inside" sway with the type of swing heard in Justin Drake's remix to Schatrax's "Champagne Dancer", while "Nest Rocking" burrows deep into brittle sound design. The EP comes full circle with "Recipients", which features the live, dubby and off-kilter instrumentals heard in much of Giegling's back catalogue. A great tool for the record box when bridging the gap between house and techno.