Back in stock: All genres

Review: This release by two talented French producers delivers a refined blend of deep and soulful house music with two different versions to chose from. 'Ju' on Side-1 is a deep, groove-heavy cut, layering soulful chords with a rolling bassline and a sensual vocal touch. The jazzy inflections and swanky lounge vibe exude sophistication, making it a late-night essential. On Side-2, the Traumer's Sunset version injects more energy into the original, pushing it toward a melodic, instrumental-driven burner. It retains the deep essence but lifts it with fluid rhythms and hypnotic layers. Elegant yet club-ready, both versions show a sleek, polished minimalism rooted in groove.

Review: Omakase, which is the name of a style of Japanese dining that means literally 'I leave it up to you' and gives full control of a meal to the chef in question, is also now an ever more vital minimal label. This is its third outing and one with Antraum at the helm. It kick off with 'Hyaku' with its bluesy vocal samples and lazy, infectious drum loops, then has 'Shichi' has more silky and spaced out pads and smooth grooves. 'Rei' is a dreamy one with balmy chords making for a trippy late night day dream and is the sort of track that will zoned out dance floors at 5 am. A tasteful EP for sure.

Review: Antraum's latest record is an exemplary case of whispery vocal fry working hand-in-hand with autotune: 'Fukai' serves fullerine-sharp, atomic sheets of vocal sound, set against harder beats, reducing our eardrums to the consistency of butter. It's no wonder that each and every release so far on the self-run outfit Omakase is so raw, so slicing, so cutting. The label is named after a Japanese culinary expression of indifference, "i'll leave it up to you", which, in the context of sushi dining, refers to chefs selecting and preparing dishes for patrons for them, rather than letting them choose. We're sure Claude Levi-Strauss, author of "The Raw & The Cooked", would've had something to say about this release. Because 'Yume' and 'Kemono' are also served as two further itamae's specials, assimilating ideas of music production and food preparation: beats, stabs and vocals are sliced, diced, sampled, mixed, filleted, and rolled into shiso-leaved bites.

Review: Keeping firm to the now well-trodden "Scientist meets" formula, this release through Convent once again hears Joseph Alpern aka. J Gabriel absorb the dubbing wiles of Hopeton Brown into his own minimal techno laboratory. 'Fly Again' follows up the first Scientist collab 'Too Far Gone' from 2023 with yet another red snapper, and comes backed by heated reworks from Steve O'Sullivan and Bluetrain, each of whose generosities know few bounds (they offer two and three remixes each!).

Review: Dark tech house's current Olympic torch-bearer, Inermu, present the seventh edition in their very own vari-prod vinyl series. A polysemous production outfit whose guises vary, this new one from Dexter James and Dominic Aquila presents a hard-nosed heater from the lockoff London crew. With most of their releases having been housed on black labels so far, this one is an exceptional whiteout, with lemni-skating delays and conga-happy tribal drives resounding across 'Tougher & Darker' and 'Music For Dark Rooms'. 'No Other' completes the record with a downtime B-side, with subtle pad swirls and taciturn talking drums working well as substitute basslines.

Review: OGE White has released plenty of great slabs of wax by the likes of Philipp Boss, Hollow Fraud and Natalie Gardiner, and this time out it is the returning Enzo Leep who impresses with four tunes in collaboration with Giralda. 'Beat Goes On' starts things off in jazzy fashion with some manic chords dancing drunkenly about the piano next to a jumble of percussion and weird samples. 'Aroa T Lo Miro' then kiss it fresh with more breakbeats, steamy vocal samples, high-speed beats and a funky mood, then 'Hell Or Heaven' has a dry, percussive rhythm that is marbled with characterful vocal stabs. 'Conscious Of My Conscience' is a surefire winner with its seductive 80s soul vocals sampled from a well-loved duo.

Review: "Listen, man..." goes the schematic guiding voice on 'The Blueprint', the opening track on this eponymous EP from label debut artist Inner West. Leading us by the ear through its tricksy minimal truncations, the new Portal Records signee follows up recent gyratory funks form Tommy Vicari Jnr. and Jah Mex, operating in similarly techy, minimal blue veins as theirs. Ensuer 'Dream Reality Sector' titularly alludes to the corporate manufacturing of dreams, evoking this through stark minor seventh chords and deeper persuasions, whilst the following 'Good Time' ensures ours is indeed real good, through undertowed basses and emphatically hip vocal "yeah"s. 'The Message' concludes the EP on a rule-breaking hip-hop piece, with programmable funk basses and furthermore knowing utterings, from an implied street vernacular source.

Review: Ukraine-born, New York-based Kurilo's latest release captures a period of deep personal reflection and movement. Drawing inspiration from his time in Berlin and his tours around Europe, the music balances the frenetic energy of big cities with moments of solitude. 'Clarify That' opens with a direct, no-nonsense groove, setting the tone for a release that doesn't linger on nostalgia but instead pushes forward. Tracks like 'Save Kit' work with subtler textures, allowing bass and percussion to breathe, while 'Hanging Around' and 'Slender Machine' explore more unconventional rhythms and sonic space. There's an honesty to the music that doesn't shy away from exploring different tempos and feels, capturing Kurilo's evolving sound and sense of placeiwithout falling into any easy or familiar narrative.

Review: We're firmly, groovily locked in to this latest release from Locky Mazzucchelli. Ironically, his is a *key* release on Helix Discs. The Melbourne upstarts have put out a thrilling threnody of EPs so far, with kitsch 3D rendered retro-sci album covers ('Digital Destination' by DJ Alan) and mega moods of automotive, intercity chic ('Close Contact' by The Audio Manipulator). 'Learn To Listen' fits neatly into the pile accrued so far, with 'Bias' providing a strangely out-of-order set of janker beats, and 'ShaiHai' and 'The Box' furthering this blinkered, badly-tracked yet charming sense of ease. Borked moods abound on the closing 'Leave The Party', which makes relaxed work of the otherwise sometimes fraught act of finding one's way home after exiting the warehouse.

Review: Step aboard Venetia's spaceship and embark on a journey that is well with it across his fine debut EP. The ride kicks off with 'Camel' which is driven by a purring bassline that might evoke a familiar nostalgia. 'Jet' follows by weaving a hypnotic melody with sweet acid flourishes. 'The Mind' then delivers a powerful stew of vocoder-laced vocals and commanding bass and finally, 'Shangri-La Disco' closes the voyage with its striking, disorienting energy and unifying dance floor vibes. Venetia's ability to craft rich soundtracks is evident here and we're already looking forward to hearing what he has to say next.