New releases last two weeks: Minimal/Tech House

Review: B.Love is next up on Leeds legend Ralph Lawson's 20/20 label having come to his attention on Record Store Day 2024 with his Music Dance Experience EP and then later that day when playing as a resident at the Bizarre Trax party Lawson was en route to play. Here he showcases his electro sound across four cuts starting with 'Rhythm Freq', a celestial and disco-tinged sound. 'Movement Feeling' is a party starting cut with old school style and plenty of percussive lushness, then 'Soda Junior' brings louche, low-slung disco funk before 'Bisous' shuts down with more cosmic playfulness and vibrant synth colours.

Review: He's the original (and maybe only self-proclaimed?) house gangster and he is back in 2025 and sounding as good as ever. Puerto Rico by way of Chicago's DJ Sneak makes beats as raw as the meat he likes to chuck on his BBQ grill and UK house legend Nail must be a fan cause it's his label he lands on now. This is a solid four-tracker that ticks all the boxes with its killer grooves and smart loops. 'All I Need In Life' is a playful opener, 'Das Gud!' gets more intense and trippy with its bleepy melodic refrains and 'Help Me Somebody' then sinks back into loose and dusty, disco-tinged drums with classic cowbell hits. 'What You Expecting From Me' is a sweaty and gritty warehouse banger to close with aplomb.

Review: Formerly known as AI Robot, Calin Dumitrescu refound his human side under his own surname as alias, having found residence in local labels Atipic, Particular and Unutrei since 2020. His debut for Myriad Records finds the third EP in the UK label's catalogue, with the headshaking chords and feverish acids of 'Acid E' helping synthesise a pharmaceutical drug we didn't know could or should exist, while 'Lucid Dream Gone Fucked Up' implies the necessary disturbance of a dream we'd never want to wake up from, by the intrusion of mechanic breaks, spy-vs-spy basses and creepazoid pads. The final two, ending on the perc-heavy 'Play Pause', contrast the A with a celebratory mood.

Review: Per Hammar and Berlin-based label Sushitech are a match made in heaven as both have long since proven their credential in the world of dub techno. As the label turns 20, it kicks off its year with an album that has been two years in the making and features a top-quality array of dub techno sounds. Malin Genie features on two of the more kicking and propulsive cuts, while Jannik Jivung adds an organic touch to two more. In between those sounds are percolating slow-mo jams like 'Representant Dubb' and more kinetic sounds like 'TX Files' with its fresh kicks and rolling bass.

Review: The now 20-year-strong Sushitech have been working on this one for two years and finally it drops - a new album from cultured dub techno don Per Hammar. This is a seriously deep journey into his signature sound that melds the genre's most classic side with a fresh modern twist. Cuts like 'Generation Drive' have a nice crisp sense of motion as well as lovely warped pads, while 'Juvial' brings a sense of curiousness with its undulating drums and bass. 'Defender' leans into sleek techno styles and will have you cruising in no time. An instant classic album, for sure.

Review: Hastings-born prog/tech veteran Danny Howells' latest foray into the world of house music proves once again why he's a staple of the scene. Lead track 'Powershow' is a sprawling 12-minute exploration that encapsulates everything great about houseideep, soulful, yet endlessly driving. Following that is 'Stereodrama,' which shifts gears slightly, upping the ante with a raucous, percussive workout. It's a perfect reflection of Howells' deft touch for crafting emotionally resonant yet unrelentingly danceable moments. Finally, there's 'Earthlings X,' a track that might have been created years ago but still feels entirely of the moment. Despite being Danny's first release for Selador, it's aged like fine wineiits ever-present freshness matching its ability to still sound like a future classic. It's the kind of cut that seems to embody everything Howells stands for, the perfect intersection of intelligence, energy, and soul. Sounding both timeless and cutting-edge this is another feather in his already many-feathered cap.

Review: In signature cinematic melodic techno style, Mind Against and Cay bring 'Cant U Hear Me / Trust', laying thick a hi-tech fusion of soulful house and synthetically squeezed sound-energy. The thrumming heartbeat of UK club culture is heart sifted through a harsh cyborg grate, reducing things to a metallurgic, pulmonary pulp. Crystalline percussion, cascading synths... 'Trust' makes particularly pristine use of untainted pluck design, with peaking plucks wriggling in the mid-high layer like buds on a mecha-euphoric flower (just look at that front cover).

Review: Owen Ni invites us on a sonic exploration with this ten-track release, a journey through the realms of ambient electronica and deep listening techno music. 'Beyond Flyhigh' sets the tone, its expansive soundscapes and hypnotic rhythms drawing the listener into a world of introspection and wonder. The Raytek remix injects a pulsating energy, transforming the original into a dancefloor-ready odyssey. Elsewhere, tracks like 'Mover' and 'Arqs2600' delve deeper into hypnotic textures and intricate sound design, creating a sonic experience that's both arrestting and thought-provoking. 'We Are Here' and 'S7lverbox' offer moments of quiet contemplation, their delicate melodies and atmospheric soundscapes inviting a sense of peace and reflection. The release closes with 'Epilog', a fitting conclusion to this immersive journey through sound and emotion, leaving the listener with a lingering sense of wonder and possibility.

Review: Long-serving Italian producer Marco Passarani continues his newly minted Studiomaster label project with its second instalment, serving a quintet of typically floor-focused jams on 'The Temple' EP. Arguably best known for being one half of the looped-up disco duo Tiger & Woods, Passarani is also known and loved for the more techno-tilted offerings he turns out from his hometown of Rome. His latest work sits somewhere in between his two trademark sounds, starting with the throbbing sleaze of opener 'The Empty Temple', with its purposeful bass, paranoid synths and dirty vocal whispers. The fierce, snare-driven rhythms of 'Night Walker' power grubby bass and glistening synths, while the descriptively titled 'Rotten Disco' offers a brilliantly wonky glimpse of future Italo. The distorted percussion and jagged bass of 'Dirty Hands' are aimed squarely at the floor, while the storming closer 'Cheater's Smile' bangs as hard as nails to complete a suitably stirring and tightly produced set.

Review: DBH welcome Mihai Popoviciu & David Delgado the the Pleasure Zone series with the 'Evolution' EP. Bringing jazzy, sloshy, jerking flavours to the tech house palette, 'Evolution' and 'Shifting' evolve and shift, convoking a delegated moot of propulsive chords and forward-driving janks, conveying the mood of a finely tuned closed clockwork system chugging away like the central engine of a wider contraption. Closer 'Black Light' operates more readily in the lower regions of things, proving unafraid of sounds that lean towards the more peripheral and umbral.

Review: Rick 8 is the techno alias of Italy's Riccardo Falsini, and here he revives the pioneering spirit of his iconic Interactive Test label with this early gem, which offers an essential slice of trance, techno and progressive house history. Known for reshaping genre boundaries, the label was a beacon of innovation, as this EP shows. Each track is a potent club tool, designed for transcendental dancefloor moments and sonic ascension from the chunky tribalism of 'Hypernotes Velocity' to the standout remix of 'C'Mon' by Sound Metaphors affiliate Trent, who injects progressive firepower. 'Born To Sinthetize' is a deeper, spiritual sound with flashy synth work married to loose drum loops.

Review: Deep house fans can rarely go wrong with the work of Praising mainstay Frank Rodger. He's on a good run of late and now he keeps the going with a return to Seasons Limited that again taps into his signature and timeless sound. A side 'Deep Squares' is one of those long and winding sounds that slowly but surely seduces you and sinks you into its deep, evocative groves. 'Sandton Skys' then brings heavy kicks and subtle pad work while rickety percussion brings off-balance goodness. The highlight might well come last with 'Come Together', which is playful and louche, smartly sampled and underpinned by a dusty deep house vibe.

Review: German label Telum's sister label Aurum marks a return to wrecker rekids with another light-set payload, this time enlisting the aid of the talented Silat Beksi for chapter five in the so-named series. Through hypnotic, minimal grooves, deeper-shades bass and a life-before-your-eyes nostalgia - going heavy on the filtered samples on the likes of 'Sefirot' and 'Dao' - Beksi reproves those who'd doubt his craftmanship, submitting to the ancient way of the tao.

Review: Lisbon's Hubble Recordings present their sixth release so far, keeping firm to their artist-specific EPs approach following brilliant releases from Kaesar, Costin RP, Miroloja, Octave and Alex Pervukhin. The latest is from tech house hurler Sublee aka Stefan Nicu, whose flight-booking impulse is as strong as ever, here having stopped over from far-flung Romania. After a string of both digital and vinyl stopovers, 'Personal Universal' appears as the pendular follow-up to 2024's Rawax debut 'Simple Two', bringing hugely doubled vocal cantata to a fervent acid build on the title track, while ensuers 'Simple One' and 'Laculesdesample' bring fidgety synth double bass and unorthodox percussions. A personal universe we'd never want to leave!

Review: Swayzak is a micro house, minimal and techno duo, aka James S Taylor and David Brown from the UK, whose name alone will get many older dancers hot under the collar. Their craft was second to none during their peak and here we get a reminder of that with a new outing on Rawax. 'Floyd' is a jazzy dancer with live claps, spinning hi-hats and louche grooves all topped with synthetic synths that never quit. 'Doobie' is a more deep sound with late-night headsy vibes. The drums are supple, the synths squeal and spoken word mutterings add a human touch. Two well-realised and effective cuts from Swayzak.