Rawax Germany Vinyl & CDs

Review: There's seemingly no end to the mind-blowing vaults of UK tech house titan Mark Ambrose. Even after the extensive three-volume run of reissues on Repeats, Rawax have found more of the South Coast legend's late 90s material that hasn't been reissued yet. Sharks be damned, the Cat Groove 12" is back within reach and remastered to bring the best out of the tracks. The title track is one of those artfully squashed, funk loop-riding jams that turns the heat up without any need for studio showboating - just the right ingredients. 'Floating Around' is a heady tripper crying out for the morning, while 'Hook Up' finds another soulful lick to place at the centre of a groove so crunchy it just has to come from an MPC. Hold tight for 'Warehouse Blues', which injects some nasty, pumping techno energy into the mix with a metallic bassline that comes on like Mr Fingers dipped in chrome.

Review: Interplugreaction is a track from Beroshima's 2007 album Real To Reel, but it's wasn't until 2023 that we (now get to) hear the cream of its reinterpretations. If only every track in the world could hear a remix from the likes of Marcel Dettman and Rodhad! Perhaps this calls for an entirely new industry - in fact, let's lock the artists in a room just so they can churn out the music and nothing else. Actually, a whopping four techno heavyweights (also including Frank Muller and Henning Baer) to reinterpret the classic track, with the new mixes ranging from stuffy and oppressive to airy and stark. Certainly not one to miss.

Review: Fresh & Low started out as a production partnership between Calum Walker, David Robertson and Julian Dembinski, three deep house heads in the UK with something to say. It's telling they ended up synonymous with Guidance and that wave of dreamy, gritty groovers from the likes of Callisto and Dana Kelley, but their first record Little I arrived on West Side in 1997. The sound was already fully formed, hitting a seductive, nocturnal mood perfectly captured on the dubby sensuality of 'No Going Back'. Dirty drums, subtle swing and synth hooks you could just melt into - this is surely some of the best deep house ever made, reissued by Rawax and sounding better than ever.

Review: Bucharest-based producer Guy From Downstairs is ten years deep in releases at this point, having graced the likes of Robsoul, Neostrictly and Pleasure Zone in recent times. Fresh from a razor-sharp collab with Nu Zau, he sidles over to Rawax for a blissful trip through emotionally charged club tracks ranging from deep, bumping house to fluttering electro. 'Time Is Short & Love Is' pins you down with its fulsome bassline, but there's plenty of space for shuffle and slide in the smooth, seductive groove. Meanwhile 'Kitkat Sessions' comes on with more than a little influence from the glory days of ambient techno and electronica thanks to its skittering drum machine programming, expansive pads and melodious acid lines.

Review: Since moving from Europe to Canada last year, Jordan Czamanski AKA Jordan GCZ has been relatively quiet, release wise, with just one solo EP and a collaborative album (Recreational Kraut, with long-time friend and studio buddy David Moufang) appearing. This return to Rawax, then, is a welcome development. Title track 'Polyphonic Glide's is particularly potent, with Czamanski combing tight, impactful drums with deeply spacey pads and chords, jazzy bass and his usual stoned, mind-mangling sound design. Elsewhere, 'Why So Serious' is a bouncy, hypnotic, acid-flecked box jam smothered in ghostly pads and echoing synth solos; 'Sunny Side Up' is snappy, out-there and intergalactic in equal measure; and 'Undercurrent' sits somewhere between Detroit tech-jazz, Reagenz style ambient techno and dubby deep house.

Review: Jordan GCZ is back on Rawax in quick fashion after the Dizzy Dizzy Dizzy release from earlier in 2023. The machine-jamming maestro is at his best dealing in cosmically-charged techno, and that's exactly what he delivers on this latest record. 'Polyphonic Glide' is swathed in mysterious pads and soulful leads which offset the steady-trucking drive of the drums beautifully. 'Why So Serious' is a subtly bumping cut with a hazy, after hours atmosphere, while 'Sunny Side Up' deals in squashed funk and sparkling arps before 'Undercurrent' takes us home on a bed of celestial synth tones and submerged rhythms. The consistent feel of the record makes it a true delight to melt into - a techno record for sure dreamers.

Review: Rawax call on some contemporary big dogs for this new EP which features two Wareika tracks, both of them made in collaboration with various other artists. First up it is Lost Souls of Saturn aka Seth Troxler and Phil Moffa who step up with 'United'. It's a dubbed out cut awash with glistening and cosmic electronics and a funky minimal rhythm that has a cool vibe. It is perennial underground minimal favourite Sonja Moonear who then appears on the flipside joint 'That Conga' which is busier and more indebted to decor with its shimming synths and crispy rhythms.

Review: Sakro's sound has always been expertly designed a perfect blend of form and function. Now in collaboration with Max Jacobson the same can still be said on the evidence of this new three-track offering on Germany's constantly excellent Raw imprint. It kicks off with 'Walking Into Mirrors' which is a full-throttle tech house cut with nice rubbery kicks and busy melodic patterns swirling about the mix. 'Planet Arium' sinks into a deeper, more heady atmosphere with the kicks still driving but the synth work here is more muted and late night. 'Chapter 16 - Remember To Go Home' is an almost ten minute B-side trip to the stars.

Review: Silat Beksi returns to RAWAX with his new release, 'Keep It Real'! On the A -Side we hear Beksi's trademark minimal techfunk with 'Impress Me', which delivers lilting stabs against a skeletal yet weighty beat backdrop. 'Keep It Real' errs on the breaksier side, while the B-Side hears a team-up with Aman aka. Marc Philipp & Florian Meffert for 'Rise' and 'Blondjob', two cloudbound numbers of the dreamy, luxurious, richly-detailed variety.

Review: Unbroken Dub has always struck us as an artist who deserves far more credit for what they do. The artist's past mixtures of dub techno and hard techno, for example, have amounted to wild concoctions few others thought to indulge at the time - the tracks 'I Want To Make This Louder' springs to mind. But this new one for Rawax, 'Highway Sleepers', also serves to preserve said keenness. Beginning on an ambient-acid note with the not-a-gabber-track 'Gabba', the EP moves slowly into stickier and gooier dance oceans, ending up completely immersing its beats in spitty acid ectoplasm on 'Murky' before rinsing itself off and drip-drying in the ambient gusts of 'Spectral Wind'.