Back catalogue: Minimal/Tech House

Review: Cabanne, Agnès, Seuil, Ultrakurt, as unyielding Minibar bedrocks, offer new deep and shaky cuts. Inviting John Thomas & Barbara Goes for an exceptional funky time that will surely sparkle in 2008. Cabanne, digging up the woods on Zip and Dan Bell's lands, met amazing inhabitants. You'll love Your Mad Friend and Linc's fine and striking funksters. Only Spasm, Copacabannark, Ditch and Gregorythme were missing for 'compléter' La Cène (1)! It's all about house, minimal twists and tricks Minibarians love. Put a hand on the first minibar cd release. You'll enjoy the free bonus cd home-mixed by Cabanne, and really cool illustrated Minibarians' stories!

Review: With a name like Global Underground, we're left starry-eyed at a fanciful idea: a vast, interconnected network of tunnels, reticulating every nightclub in the world. Who wouldn't want that? While the possibility of such a thing is most likely inexistent in our human lifetimes, the eponymous international record label at least aim to make a "global underground" real in spirit with their City Series of mixes. Their latest full-length from Montreal native Joseph Capriati captures this fervent mood: with the initiate DJ repping the jubilant Canadian city, the mix segues between Ame, Len Faki, Deetron and Louie Vega highlights, and is a modern house and techno showstopper.

Review: Argentina's Hernan Cattaneo has long championed deeper, mellower sounds, and here Balance Music invite him to give full rein to those laidback tendencies. CD1 starts out in deep house/minimal pastures, then moves closer to the prog/melodic end of the spectrum as it goes on, and that's where we stay for most of CD2 (bar the inevitable downtempo close) - though, to be clear, we're talking about the very deepest of prog here, with not a cheesy Euro synth riff in sight! It's an album that's really best enjoyed in full, but if you want to know where to dip your toes, try Mike Griego's 'Headspace' or Kevin Di Serna & Graziano Raffa's 'System Era'.

Review: Following acclaimed contributions from Mandy, DJ T, Dixon and Jesse Rose, the fifth instalment of Get Physical's "Body Language" mix series comes courtesy of Chateau Flight (aka Gilbert Cohen and Nicolas Chaix). "Body Language Vol. 5" is a discerning, rich and tasteful celebration of the best in disco, techno, electro and house in all it forms and it's a joy to listen to, from start to finish. This is one Get Physical chartered flight you should not miss.

Review: The fully mixed version of Confidence Man's debut Fabric mix record is here on CD. In contrast to the selectors' LP version - also sold by us - this full version is a seamless, singular slab of optical laser-read musical licence, espousing the central vibe-theme of Confidence Man's message: have confidence. Well, except for want of a receiving ear, we find ourselves tentatively able to confide in Confidence Man's Fabric mix ("better than therapy" joke happily dodged) as a substitution in the meantime; for it too shows us that real, authentic, and boundless confidence can, believably, indeed, be found in bouncy dance exclusives available on CD only. Among these are Patrick Prins' kitsch chipmunk banger 'Fiesta Conga' and Cygnus X's steezy-cheesy trance stutterer 'Positron'03'. With both many a throwback and a present promo in tow, Confidence Man dice up and dole out a small slice of their huge stash of their patented auricular confidence dust.

Review: As a paid-up member of Seth Troxler's extended Visionquest family, it's perhaps no surprise that Detroit new-schooler Lee Curtiss's contribution to the Watergate club's mix series is brimming with warm, touchy-feely tech-house. From start to finish, Watergate 08 sounds like an audio advert for the Visionquest sound; that pleasingly melodic fusion of heavy low-end, off-kilter synth pop posturing and tactile, MDMA-friendly electronic grooves. It's the sort of effortlessly delicious sound that lends itself well to a mix album, and as a result Watergate 08 is a lovely listen. With superb contributions from Footprintz, Maceo Plex, No Regular Play, Kim-Ann Foxman and Curtiss himself, there's plenty to get excited about.