Back in stock: Minimal/Tech House

Review: Deeper shades of a finely sifted pedigree. Irish label Appian Sounds, helmed up by Al Blayney, champion only winnowed techno sounds, not threshed. A welcome international team huddle in, with these six artists from locales as far-flung as Amsterdam and Valencia contributing the likes of 'Tsuneo' and 'Persist'. The tunes verge melodic as they move through and beyond jankiness, distending die-cut acids and subtly synthetic humanisations, especially in the percussion department. 'Fuego' is the zen roshi's choice, its gaffered, glass-smithed pads topping off a naturalistic percussive surging forward, one best experienced with your eyes closed.

Review: Mark Grusane presence on Disctechno brings with it a compilation of five unique house tracks from Chicago and Detroit-based producers, as you will probably have guessed from the title. The A-side features DJ Slush's synth-driven 'Memory Blank' and Deon Jamar's bass-heavy 'AYYYO' which offer different but both killer sounds. The B-side opens with Jordan Zawideh's reverb-drenched 'Axolotls' followed by Grusane's intense, atonal 'The Recoil' and concludes with Thomas Xu's groovy 'School Street.' All of these are the sort of off-kilter sounds you would expect of these revered and enduring electric hotbeds. Raw, stripped-down and authentic, this is the contemporary Midwest underground.

Review: Locklead has been laying down classy house music for the likes of Pleasure Zone, Rawax, Unknown To The Unknown and Hot Haus, so you know he means business. After this sterling run of singles he's stepping to Up The Stuss with his debut album Square One, which deals in eight richly rendered cuts of contemporary tackle that sum up everything he's achieved to date. There's a pervasive deepness at work on 'Light Of Day' which draws you in from the get-go, while 'Bumpin' Headz' revels in shimmering, bouncy chords and Detroit flavoured strings pads. 'Hunting' has a more inquisitive quality as it courses through minimal-tinted grooves and synth riffs, while 'Plants & Astronauts' takes a more cosmic approach to the tech house formula. We could go on but you get the idea - this is house music through and through, presented in pristine technicolour for maximum satisfaction.

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: 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: ?aru is a non-profit label from Romania that sits at the sharp edge of the minimal underground. This new double pack of striped back tech gems will see all proceeds donated to dog shelters and NGOs supporting stray pups. Sensek opens with a slithering and groaning groove, 'Machine Morality,' for shadowy afterparties and Gringow brings a haunting melody to 'Towards The Dark & Cold.' Broascka's 'Epitelius' is an abstract affair with microscopic details scattered over a deep, dubby grove and Dragomir closes with two cuts - 'Alone With You' is a woozy late-night roller and 'Illusions feat Adina Oros' is a blissed out downtempo sound for the post-club hours.