New releases last four weeks: Minimal/Tech House

Review: BT Gate X-138 returns to Greyscale with Gravitational Grooves, deepening his relationship with the label following 2023's kV Pylon. Ten sousing sonorities hear him reshape his signature dub techno sound with growth-mental finesse, emitting foggy atmospheres and slicing percs. 'Inertia' leans into soft chords and faint crackle before giving way to the stripped-down shuffle and understated melodic turns of 'Gravity', while 'Orbit' builds over and delay-heavy phrasing; 'Float' offers a breather with its ambient drift, while an embossed 'Mass' sears the ears with churlish mood-texture. Touchstones such as Konigsforst and In Moll are alluded to most subtly.

Review: Cracking the back window open, Sleep D aerate our inner herbaria with a gas exchange in progressive techno, letting us in again on their outdoorsy brand of photosynthetic dance music. Always deepeneing their connection to the natural world, the EP opens with 'Green Thumbs' before vine-whipping us into the curious perks of 'Mountain Ash'; both nail a blithe, fairylike spirit, and the flushed-out, unencumbered feel of braving a hike after a cucumber face mask. 'Acheron Cauldron' carries the listener to a volcanic peak, where relentless kick and pulsating bassline brings us to seismic climax, leaving only eerie whispers. Closer 'Magma Flow', finally, is a trance-inducing finale hearing a slowed but thicketed texture, as brambles and stamens cloud our vision of a synth aurora.

Review: Bonafide and veteran Japanese house legend Satoshi Tommie is back with a second taste of his upcoming new album Magic Hour alongside a selection of fine remixes. First is a Freund der Familie Reshape of 'N01' which is deep, atmospheric and mid tempo techno, while the album's title cut then becomes a swamp, deep, menacing rework from Andrey Pushkarev. Freund der Familie Rewire Fix of 'Phase Space' makes it into a deft, loopy, stuttering workout for the mind and the Satoshi Tommie's Alternate Cut of 'Fast Track' is a killer slow track steeped in dub dynamics.