Back catalogue: Minimal/Tech House

Review: After a three-year break, Swedish producer and DJ La Fleur is back with 'Vasen', her long-awaited debut album. The pandemic led her to pause her music career as she returned to Sweden from Berlin, putting her Pharmaceutical Science degree to work in Stockholm's hospitals. This significant life shift followed a decade of running her Power Plant label and accomplishments like being named Mixmag's breakthrough artist, releasing an Essential Mix, and performing at major festivals like Creamfields and Awakenings. During this hiatus, La Fleur reflected on her artistic direction through her challenging time. Originally planning to release her debut in 2020, she instead waited until the timing felt right. 'Vasen' is a sleek, emotionally resonant exploration of house and techno, a collection born from both personal and musical growth that finally feels ready for the world to experience.

Review: Daniela La Luz returns with her third album, System Reset, on her own label Dimension Of Being Human. Created after her long illness and her father's death, it parallels the planet's delicate state and the duality of joy and mortality in life. Written in Berlin and Munich, the artist connects past, present, and future as she sings in English, Polish, and Arabic. The AI-generated artwork complements her music's blend of light and darkness in a record that stylishly spans jazz, house, techno, pop, wave, electro, ambient, and dub while offering both dance-friendly tracks and beatless interludes. It's a poignant and personal work.

Review: It's 12 years since Dresden-born, Leipzig-based Martin Enke first made waves under the Trickform alias, and four years since he launched the Lake People project. Given his production vintage, it's surprising Purposefully Uncertain Field is his debut album. In turns uncomfortable, blissful, woozy and melancholic, it sees Enke confidently join the dots between shuffling Germanic deep house, early '90s "intelligent techno" (see the brilliant "Cooping"), yearning tech-house, aqueous ambience (the swirling "Bora" and glacial "Distance"), clanking drum tracks ("Glease") and loose-limbed IDM ("Drifting Red"). Throughout, there's a curiously distant sense of atmosphere, with detached melodies and ghostly pads riding tight, bubbling rhythms.

Review: RECOMMENDED
The DJ Kicks series has managed to outlast the vast majority of other DJ mixes we can think of - the good, the bad, the populist, and the plain cash cow. Even the mighty fabric compilations have rebranded and rethought, bringing the original legacy, FABRICLIVE included, to a respectful end at 200 outings. Strange, then, to think, that !K7's mighty offering to the world of "What should we listen to at the afters?" has arguably managed to become more relevant as the years have flown by.

There was a time when the series existed at the lighter end of club fare, with some examples barely even matching that description. These days, though, there's often a dance floor heaviness central to the selections, with Jessy Lanza's broken, bass-driven set a case in point. Pointless attempts to describe the music, and lazy track list namedropping aside, this is energy-packed, heads down, futurist stuff packed with infectious percussion.

Review: Originally released in 1995, Metaphor is Detroit second wave icon Kenny Larkin's sophomore full length under his own name. This is a truly timeless release which really captures the zeitgeist of the most seminal period in techno's recent history. For those that know, we know we're preaching to the choir, but to those who don't - get familiar! From the classic hi-tech soul of the title track, to the moody future funk of 'Nocturnal' and the driving Motor City energy of 'Catatonic (First State)' and more - Metaphor has certainly held its own 26 years later. Essential.

Review: Berlin via L.A. based Acid Test has a new one out this week on their Avenue 66 sub-label, which is focused more on leftfield electronics. It comes from esteemed German producer Jens Kuhn aka Lowtec, known for his releases on Out To Lunch, United States Of Mars and Playhouse who presents some rare and unreleased cuts from the vaults on Easy To Heal Cuts. As expected, there's dusty and understated fare aplenty on this one; from the contemplative night moves of 'Going Nowhere', or the low-slung mood music of 'Red Sparrow' (another alias of Kuhn's) to the bittersweet minimalism of 'Nature Thinks For You' and the sun coming through the blinds on Monday morning vibe of closing cut 'From Moment To Moment' - we're sure glad these tunes saw the light of day.

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.