Back catalogue: Minimal/Tech House

Review: The remix has long been a staple of underground dance music culture and for its next release German label The Other Side has pulled together a whole album's worth of them. They find various key talents all their own minimal spin to tracks by Pheek and Kike Mayor. Up first is Audio Werner with the first of two remixes of 'Caveat' that is all silky tones and waves of rippling synth. Elsewhere 'Red Square' (Flabbergast remix) is a curling and rubbery rhythm with dry hits, 'Mad River' (Lowris remix) is a curious and lumpy roller with tripped-out spoken words and 'Matcha Breaks' (Mihigh remix) is a late night wonder.

Review: Cabale Records is a Parisian label that has, for the last few years been exploring the minimal techno world. It now branches out with its first various artist release featuring some tasteful tune makers starting with Pheek. He brings some loose percussive energy and wonky drum funk to his opener then Mod303 layers in dreamy and immersive pad work to deft, subtle drums on 'Paris City Zoo.' Night No Tori Vs Hubble keeps it deep and dubby with the late-night introspection of 'Deja Vu' then Sten's 'Slope' is a trippy afterhours sound with tumbling synth smears and percolating dub tech beats.

Review: Photek's masterpiece for the new millennium Solaris catches a repress on Proper recordings. From propulsive, metro-setting opener 'Terminus' to the elegiac, trouble-in-paradise closing synth meditation 'Under The Palms ', Rupert Parkes casually shakes off all expectation with a flurry of infectious head boppers channeling everything from the fragmentary half-step of the nascent broken beat stylie- read: 'Juno' (sic), to the snarling Valve-era techstep of Dillinja and Lemon D on 'Infinity' via Larry Heard's late 90s deep lounge leanings on the peerless 'Mine To Give' (note the similarity in artwork with Heard's Genesis). Solaris is very much a product of its time, the highest praise possible given the early 00s was one of the most amoebic and fluid periods in UK dance music history. It speaks to the undying british dancefloor tendency to allide tempo and atmosphere, casually felling boundaries in genre to create something as reverential as it is innovative. Classiq.

Review: Truesoul is the little brother label of Drumcode, a label founded sometime this decade by international megastar DJ Adam Beyer. Welcoming their latest signing Pig & Dan to the imprint, their latest LP Soulcatcher hears the pair hears a thorough scouring of the wondrous limits of progressive house, melodic techno and all styles in between. Layers of kick-driven rhythm, filtrated texture and sublime rapture coalesce to form a monolithic body of work here.

Review: ***B-STOCK: Sleeve damaged but otherwise in excellent condition***


Truesoul is the little brother label of Drumcode, a label founded sometime this decade by international megastar DJ Adam Beyer. Welcoming their latest signing Pig & Dan to the imprint, their latest LP Soulcatcher hears the pair hears a thorough scouring of the wondrous limits of progressive house, melodic techno and all styles in between. Layers of kick-driven rhythm, filtrated texture and sublime rapture coalesce to form a monolithic body of work here.

Review: Back in 2021 Adam Pits heralded the start of the On Rotation label with his own debut album, A Recurring Nature. Now he's back with a follow-up which finds him stretching out as an artist ever more - a fact which is absolutely evident from the gorgeous ambient swathes of opening track 'Lost In The Ether'. Even when the drums kick in on 'Sleepless', they're more tilted towards fragmented patterns and organic tones rather than rote drum machine sounds. There's space for peppier electronica and steppy heads-down gear, but throughout Pits imbues his sound with the richest synthesis imaginable. In that sense, you can track the path of development from his earlier work while enjoying the adventurous new terrain he's exploring as an artist.

Review: South African Portable is one of those cultured artists who doesn't release a lot, but when he does, it is more than worth hearing. And this is a bumper new drop from him on Circus Company in the form of Augmented Dreams, a new double album that takes its title from the use of everyday technological advancements "to achieve what were once only dreams or visions of past generations." He goes deep into minimal, techno and ambient to fuse totters the synthetic and the organic, the real, the imagined and the unreal on a richly rewarding album that makes for a complete listening

Review: Bruno Pronsato has always operated at the fringes of the electronic world and draws as much from the inventiveness of jazz as anything else. Now he is back with a new album Rare Normal that is his most adventurous and ambitious yet, and it was made at a time that he was, we're told, "immersed in the work of Charles Ives" and that the eight tracks are a result of him experimenting with mixing dissonance and consonance, tone rows and twelve-tone theory. The result is deft and abstract minimalism with supple rhythms that rise and fall next to mending pads and deft sampled vocal whispers. Its intimate and late night and hella moving given how quiet and unassuming it is overall.

Review: Berlin tech house heavyweights team up here on 'You Are Safe' a collaboration between &ME, Adam Port and Rampa on their Keinemusik imprint. The city natives hand in a collection of deep and evocative cuts, that are brought to life by some exceptional studio engineering, sitting somewhere between the sleek late night grooves of local imprint Souvenir as much as it does Innervisions with its melodic and futurist edge. Highlights on here include the hi-tech soul of "Civilist" calling to mind the sonic grooves of Toto Chiavetta or Ame, the sultry r'n'b of "Up & Down" featuring London songstress Chiara Noriko or the slinky moodlighting of "Bumper" featuring frequent collaborator Nomi Ruiz of Hercules & Love Affair fame. Keinemusik came to life in 2009, naming an existing friendship linked by the interests of six members - five DJs and one graphic designer/painter. Five releases per year have been released ever since, solely laid down by members of the crew.

Review: Mexico's Rebolledo has played an important part in Comeme's development over the years, and his nutty strain of electronic dance music fit perfectly in line with the label's tone of voice. Never straight enough to be categorised as house but always too structured to be labelled simply as ambient, Rebolledo is one of the few artist's truly making 'outsider' music these days. This latest album, Mondo Alterado, is perfect for anyone wanting something deep and mystical but that still carries enough weight and shape to be played to other human beings. In fact, a big part of the tunes on this LP verge onto the 'dance' side of things, but the producer has a distinct knack for making that sound constantly surprising, a sort of perennial sonic morphing that steers clear of any concrete genres. TIP!

Review: Percussion, rhythms and intricate polyrhythms have always laid down the foundations of Reboot's music ever since he first arrived on the scene three years ago. Since that debut, "Be Tougher / Letters" from back in 2007 on Luciano's Cadenza imprint, the talented German has made a fast and steep rise to becoming one of dance music's hottest properties. He has seen single and EP releases on Cocoon, Below, Love Letters from Oslo, Motivbank, Below and Ricardo Villalobos' Sei Es Drum imprint in addition to highly acclaimed mix CDs for Cocoon and Cécille. Shunyata, his first ever LP marks his return to Cadenza and keeps his ever flowing, tribal polyrhythms at the centre of its sound.


Its title is loosely translated from its Buddhist origins as ‘emptiness’ which is not used here in a negative sense but as a reference to the album’s state of impermanence and constant state of flux. Utilising the album format, Reboot manages to make the individual tracks start at one point and lead to somewhere completely different, keeping the entire record moving in a constant and kaleidoscopic motion. He builds these spiralling grooves or intricate polyrhythms by interconnecting instruments such as congas, bells, cymbals, woodblocks, shakers, steely drums and aluminium barrels, binding them together to weave an evolving groove. Added to that, stranger sound elements such as field recordings, cut up, distorted vocals, pings and gurgles permeate the percussion layers whilst a spongy bed of compressed bass fills the low end.


The focus is once more on the dancefloor as tracks like the peaktime "Hermano," the deepness of "Dreliach" the hypnotic "Me Show," and the darker vibes of "Save Me" all play testament to. However, there are also some more unexpected moments such as the skipping and melodic "Rambon," the spiralling "Down Pantha," the sedate opener "Uruana" and the sampled guitar that appears on "Sanchez Says." It's very structural nature makes Shunyata an album in the true sense of the word, demanding full and repeat listens to fully appreciate its beauty.

Review: The freshly minted Occult Vision label has a distinctively different ethos and approach. It was established to release full-length excursions (that's albums, kids) only, thus offering producers they work with the chance to stretch their musical legs (so to speak). For the label's debut, they've turned to long-serving Frankfurt producer Frank Heinrich. His first LP since 2016, On A Grind sees the German frequently blur the boundaries between tech-house and deep house, with solid and sub-heavy grooves being overlaid with a mixture of heady sonic textures, glassy-eyed vocal samples, glitchy percussion, twinkling keys and tipsy, mind-mangling musical motifs. Highlights include the jazzy tech-house dustiness of 'Tombant Jazz', the deep and heady shuffle of 'Sweat', the ragged, acid-fired hedonism of 'Outwork' and the sweat-soaked peak-time pump of the nostalgic title track.

Review: Retrouve retrieve eight new future house retroversions for their resident PIV label, bringing brilliant syntheses of 80s inspo, speed garage, and hard dance groove-dynamism. So far having rocked dancefloors from Amsterdam's Thuishaven to Miami's Space, an electrifying past two years have fed the febrile fan anticipations going into this one. The sound is distinctive, with no pulse missing the mark, though the experimental ante is upped as the record progresses, as on the dark jacker with Midas Field, 'Gravel', whose textural palette hears the duo cross into an uncharted otic darkness.

Review: One of the "Godfathers of UK tech house" (there are many contenders for this unofficial crown), Eddie Richards began the Time Travel series to reposition this snappy sound in its most modern form. Ironically, this means travelling back in time, then revisiting the present with older, better tools. Tech house was born in London, and yet in terms of popularity and influence, it has transmigrated to the furthest-flung regions of Europe and Asia in quicktime. How can we possibly reintegrate its original sound, let alone refind it? A veteran of the unstoppable waterwheel that was Camden Palace, Richards makes as honest an attempt as you can hope for. He doesn't bother with track-titular profundity, instead embracing names like 'Dream2', 'Moody' and 'Eightone8', suggesting tech house, despite the "tech", should be an off-the-cuff sound, one not chiselled and burnished to perfection. 'Danger' and 'Tease' are proper blemished tech house mother-genes, while for the 'Love Is (Dub)' crosses into u-chambered dubtech territory, with a bespoke, rebarred hi-hat to boot.

Review: Luc Ringeisen makes his long-player debut here with Page Blanche, which includes plenty of his surround sound experimentations converted to stereo and ranges from beatless sound design to peak time bangers. 'De Velours' is a quick standout with dub undercurrent and wispy drums and pads, 'Walking Stuck In A Giant Cosmic Bubble Gum' is a trippy piece with undulating synths and a deeply buried rhythm and 'Je Vais Compter Jusqua Trois' is a lush late night sound for the comedown.

Review: Fresh from serving up his first 12-inch single for almost eight years, Studiotek founder Darren Roach - an underground aggravator since the late 1990s - pops up on Limousine Dream with his most expansive release yet. Low Ranger is the long-serving producer's debut album and, in keeping with his previous output, keeps both eyes firmly on the dancefloor. It's a wise move, because there are plenty of genuinely peak-time-ready cuts on display, from the low-slung punk-funk-meets-tech-house flex of opener 'The Truth' and the bumpin' heaviness of 'Pier 23' (whose bassline and beats recall the original 1988 version of '3AM Eternal'), to the deep tech-house shuffle of 'Low Ranger Don't Stop', the dubby and spacey shuffle of 'BB' and the sparkling tech-funk headiness of 'Augusto'.

Review: Rubicon marks the first physical edition of Galcher Lustwerk's driving-themed alias, Road Hog. Collecting tracks from seven releases spanning from 2014 to 2021, Rubicon serves as the project's Greatest Hits (for now). Including tracks from the Cleveland-dedicated album 'Tour De Hog' as well as the sharp toothed 'Spares' and 'More Spares' the pithy 'Haul Ass' plus some cinematic favorites from 'DWB' and 'On The Lam'. Originally meant to be digital only and listened to while driving, demand for certain tunes to be pressed to vinyl has risen with each release. From the Road to the Club, Lustwerk's got you covered.

Review: Frenchman Rodriguez Jnr moved from his native Paris to the sunny climes of Miami not long after the pandemic. He had already started recording the music that features on this new album before he left, and finished it off in the US. You can hear the influence of both settings as he cuts more loose than ever before. His signature synth craft and elegant melodies remain, but there are also collabs with hip-hop's Stereo MCs, his own partner Liset Alea who is an esteemed vocalist, and Giorgia Angiuli. It adds up to a super smooth and sophisticated album with plenty of earworms.

Review: Techno mainstay Marc Romboy has always made sounds that betray his love of space. He recently made that more explicit that ever with the start of a new compilation series titled Music From Space and after a fine first volume comes a second, called Dimension B. It features the music he has used to open his latest podcast and radio shows series, eight tracks in all from artists such as Thodoris Triantafillou, Til Fussman, Nicolas Masseyeff and Romboy himself. There is plenty to love her from sleek and serene outings from Captain Mustache to Kiberu's lush 'Your Eyes.'

Review: Rone's debut album made a big mark when it landed back in 2010. The record now celebrates its 15th anniversary with a special reissue on neon pink transparent bio-vinyl that will surely mean original and and plenty of new ears will once again fall under its spell. The groundbreaking record launched the French artist's career with its playful, dreamy journey through simmering techno and lush synth-scapes. Gentle rhythms and woozy melodies fill the stereo field to create an immersive experience perfect for sunny and hazy afternoon alike.

Review: Sakro has long been turning out his expertly designed and highlight impactful minimal house and tech cuts, so it's about time we finally heard a full length from him. Psychophonies is the name of his debut and it arrives on his own label Bon Vivant with a signature palette of dark grooves and ghostly synth atmospheres. 'Unicos' soon draws you in with just that sort of vibe before the hurried drum funk of 'Loneliness' and freaky minimal-jazz-house stylings of 'Psychophony'. This is pure dancefloor music that is both perfectly functional but also full of delightful forms.

Review: Anja Schneider has been at the heart of the Berlin underground for decades. Famously she headed up the Mobilee label which was a powerhouse of, well, house, and now she revisits her sizeable back catalogue for a bumper triple album of remixes, works and updates. If nothing else this collection shows what great range she had as all styes are covered from dark and driving tech to more blissed out deep house. The likes of 'Turning My Head' show great percussive flair and 'Dubmission' (Julian Muller remix) is quick and slick, stripped back minimal. Vocal delight 'Rain' is a real classic amongst many here.

Review: EXPERIMENTAL/ELECTRONIC: M=Minimal come through with an excellent vinyl accompaniment to their recent CD of reworkings of Conrad Schnitzler's Zug from Ricardo Villalobos and his Fisherman's Friend, Max Loderbauer. At over 19 minutes, the Aktion remix just about fits on this twelve inch and sees Max and Ric adopt a club ready approach with a stripped back, heads down groove driving forward through a slightly unnerving, guttural re-appropriation of Schnitzler's alien synth textures. Adopting a more ominous and wholly experimental tone, the Sorgenkind mix sounds vaguely like a heavy breathing bull pondering the surrounding expanses of shifting dronal textures as you wait in vain for anything approaching a beat to surface. Download codes are included.

Review: Asad Rizvi, known as Silverlining, presents this white hot three-vinyl set showcasing his collaborative work with fellow artists. This collection spans the genres of minimal and tech house, tagged with elements of tech house, minimal, and breakbeat house. Some of the highlights include 'If You Were A Cat You'd Follow Me' by Appleheadz with its jazzy downtempo future jazz vibe, evoking a smooth and melodic atmosphere. Followed by 'In My Sky' (instrumental), delivering smooth melodic tech house adorned with jazz guitar and soft keys. The set continues with 'Taken Over,' a melodic house gem from Bluegoose Vs Silverlining, exuding infectious rhythms and melodic hooks. 'Tuesday Morning Milkman' by Impossible Beings takes listeners on a deep techno journey, perfect for late-night sci-fi vibes. Another excellent additions is 'They'll Never Get It Right Them Two' by Two Right Wrongans, a dynamic banger that tears the roof off the dancefloor. Overall, this triple pack is jam-packed full of excellent dance music.

Review: New Interplanetary Melodies is a great name for a label and it also sums up the sounds of this new album from Sindaco. It's a beautiful mix of exploratory soundscapes, organic percussion and lush melody that unfolds in charming and captivating ways. Found sounds add more real world details to these tracks which range from lazy downbeat jaunts on a wide open savanna to more dynamic deep house trips through the cosmos. Worldly percussion, exotic melodies and unique instruments are all deployed to mark for multi-layered tracks that work equally on brain and body. It makes for a triumph of a record that is experimental yet aborsbing and packed with great detail.

Review: ***B-STOCK: Creasing on corner of outer sleeve, product unopened and in excellent condition***


SIT, short for Sideways Invisibility Theory, is the collaborative project of Vlad Caia and Cristi Cons. As two scene leaders of the Romanian minimal phenomenon, both artists have proven over many years to have a unique vision for creativity and fresh approaches in what can be a homogenised scene. Of their many achievements, on their Amphia label as much as elsewhere, this album on Sushitech stands as one of their finest moments. As with all the best Romanian minimal, it's also still hotly in demand, making it a welcome addition to Sushitech's 15th anniversary pressing marathon. From dub tech laced rollers to gossamer-light trippers, this is the classiest end of the minimal tech house game from two artists with the vision to push things a little bit further.

Review: Norm Talley returns to his Upstairs Asylum label alongside fellow US house pioneer Delano Smith for Straight Up No Chaser, an eight-track opus featuring four solo cuts each. Talley's gritty, dubbed-out, low-rolling house style is present and correct throughout with the loopy chords of 'Blak Bottom' getting things going, 'The Flip' getting more cavernous and aqueous and 'ISO Vision' leaning into dub techno. 'Believe It' is a soulful deep house looper, while Smith gets bubbly with 'The Bassline', lays down thumping kicks on 'Travels 23' and his trademark synth smears on 'The Drive' while 'Remembrance' is a heady dub house cut that locks you into a state of perfect hypnosis.

Review: Dutch industrial techno producer Parrish Smith created Light Cruel & Vain over the course of nearly three years. Each track on the record was originally conceived solo, then further realised with the assistance of contributing musicians Sofiane Brahmi and Javier Vivancos. The collaborative where no studio sessions occurred due to the pandemic - the full collaboration conducted remotely. Notable tracks include the seething post-punk swagger of "Black Scarlet" or the brooding industrial rock of "Sway", to the industrial strength breaks of "Never Break Faith" and a frantic techno banger towards the end "I Wanna Be An Idol".

Review: After being commissioned to produce several 'interlocking' ambient pieces for an art gallery piece in LA, Brian Foote and Sage Caswell decided to take the concept of 'audience crossfading' to the next level, creating an entire ambient album using a particular sonic technique. Over five long pieces from 'Waterwheel' to 'Smiley', their aim was to evoke the feeling of bodies moving in thoroughfares. The tracks are long-exposed movements captured in ambient space, blending rhythms and soundscapes for chillout rooms that exist only in memory now.

Review: Sarah Sommers' inaugural album HeartCore was captured live at Princess Tower Studios in Berlin. Clocking in at 74 minutes, it's a vibrant fusion of dance music genres fuelled by Sarah's profound passion for electronic beats that span various eras. From dub to techno, house to dubstep, and drum & bass to breakbeat, the record showcases all that and more across nine tracks extracted from Sarah's live sets and previously performed across Berlin clubs in 2022 and 2023. A testament to her lifelong love of the music, this LP epitomises authenticity and comes on lovely gatefold neon pink wax.

Review: This is Freestyle free from any style.
There is no need for the disembodied voice telling you THIS IS HOUSE.
It is simply felt and known.

{Every kick.
Every arpeggio.
Every bass note.
Experienced through the prism of now.
Ribs rattle from the heart center to the endless reaches of consciousness.}

The racks are stacked high beyond the heavens as the Filter Queen speaks of love without words.
Bound to no earthly constructs, beholden to no laws.
This is the joyous sound of overground resistance.

Review: Peter Kersten, better known as Lawrence, is the veteran deep house producer and gallerist who many of you may know as chief of Hamburg's Dial Records and who made external outings previously on Japan's Mule Musiq where he released several lauded long-players. His latest one comes courtesy of Berlin's Sushitech entitled Earthshine, a 3XLP featuring 12 tracks written and produced by Kersten over the last five years. All in all it's a diverse selection put together by one of the scene's most highly regarded artists.

Review: ***B-STOCK: Sleeve damaged but otherwise in excellent working condition***


Peter Kersten, better known as Lawrence, is the veteran deep house producer and gallerist who many of you may know as chief of Hamburg's Dial Records and who made external outings previously on Japan's Mule Musiq where he released several lauded long-players. His latest one comes courtesy of Berlin's Sushitech entitled Earthshine, a 3XLP featuring 12 tracks written and produced by Kersten over the last five years. All in all it's a diverse selection put together by one of the scene's most highly regarded artists.

Review: Stiroll's Sofia marks the Ukrainian artist's return to Greyscale Records with his first full-length album, painting a sonic portrait of a day in the life of a suburban area. The album invites listeners to experience the subtle intricacies and layered sounds of a community awakening, bustling, and finally resting as night falls. The journey begins with 'Intro - Dusk,' a brisk and atmospheric opener that evokes the early morning stillness before a city stirs to life. The full chord remnants and distant echoes set the stage for the day ahead, capturing the anticipation of the morning. 'Standbye' follows, offering a more airy and purposeful vibe, moving away from minimalism to suggest the first signs of activity, as if the world is slowly beginning to wake. 'Foundamental' continues this progression, riding along with gentle sounds punctuated by flares of static, hinting at the humidity and energy building in the air. The track flows effortlessly, mirroring the natural rhythm of a day gaining momentum. As the day matures, 'Sequence To None' introduces more serious, conflicting chords, perhaps reflecting the push and pull of daily routines and interactions. The crisp production and deep bassline ground the track, offering a sense of structure and direction. Midday arrives with 'Vidlunnia,' a sparse, downtempo piece that feels like basking in the warmth of the sun. The chords wash over the listener like rays, creating a relaxing, chill-out atmosphere with a broken rhythm that invites reflection. The pace slows with 'Interlude - Fall Moon,' where a churning, almost mechanical heartbeat drives the track forward, building tension as the day begins to wane. The ominous mood that emerges in the second half hints at the challenges that often accompany the close of a day. 'Nulle Part' shifts the mood with a more pronounced beat, offering a straightforward yet catchy rhythm that feels both harmonious and conflicted. The hypnotic quality draws you in as it moves toward a positive, yet complex resolution. 'Fall Control' then soothes with heavily processed sounds, offering a brief moment of respite before the album's closing tracks. 'Hope' stands out as the most original dub track on the album, blending strings with a lofty melody that soars before plunging into deeper, more uncertain territory. The track feels otherworldly, capturing the complexities and contradictions of hope itselfia fitting theme as the day begins to wind down. Finally, 'Outro - Dawn' signals the end of the day and the album, with ambient washes that gently alert like a clock, leaving the listener with a sense that it is time to close. Sofia is a meticulously crafted album that encapsulates the ebb and flow of daily life in a suburb, bringing together the sounds of different people and languages into a unified, sonic narrative.