Minimal / Tech House Recommendations May 2016

Review: MOi? Who? Give it a listen and we'll give you one guess. His sound is unmistakeable isn't it. The new Ukrainian hero of rolling and funky minimal is back under yet another alias (and imprint) and he's already up to number four. "Track 1" on the A side is built for peak time headrushes on the dancefloors of Concrete and Hoppetosse. Expect this one to de destroying crowds of the underground this Summer! The B side offering is a bit more stripped; the fierce bass supported by some swirling and hypnotic pads on this surefire DJ tool that'll make even Ion Ludwig step up his game!

Review: Josh Brent's Schatrax imprint is responsible for some of the most seminal techno and house from the nineties and we're glad to see that the new generation now appreciates his stuff too; about time! He re-issues some legendary tracks from his back catalogue for the heads. "Restless (dub)" is some nefarious dancefloor drama in the vein of Detroit legend Suburban Night's earlier stuff. The gorgeous ambient house excursion "Mists Of Time" delves into the exotic wonderfully while "Aliena's Journey" (originally released on the self titled 1998 album)" is a serving of soulful and emotive deep house that's as good as anything Fresh 'N Low were going at the time as well.

Review: While he's barely paused for breath in the last decade, it's still been eight years since Fumiya Tanaka delivered his last album, Unknown 3. The epitome of long overdue, You Find The Key is his fourth album. Interestingly, it sees the 44 year-old, Japanese producer tweaking his now familiar bass-heavy minimal techno blueprint. Thrillingly, the bass lines are bolder and jauntier, and the beats jazzier, resulting in an altogether funkier take on the minimal techno style. Of course, there are still moments that recall his previous work - see the deep and dubby "Swallowed Memory" - but it's those that take a sideways step towards funk-fuelled pastures ("Munich Uncertain", "The Only Your Researching") that stand out.

Review: You'd be correct is assuming LDN to be based in the British capital, but musically you just need to take a look at the tracklist on LDN004 and see almost straight away that it so far removed from it music wise. This time around label head honcho Scott Kemp curates an absolutely stellar cast of (mainly) Romanian minimal heroes on this new label compilation. Starting out with the charmingly exotic drift of Lumieux's "Rdv Jeudi" there's then the rolling deep groove of Nu Zau's "Spring Onion" with its odd field recordings backed by some amazingly rhythmic hypnotism. Master of the art VID appears on the flip with the bass driven reductionism of "Greazi" (which is guaranteed to move afterhours hedonists) while the tough and swinging deep house of London local Rowlanz's "G.R.V." is reminiscent of Monsieur Cedric or Ion Ludwig and the sort of track you can imagine aboard the Hoppetosse on a Sunday afternoon.

Review: When Bihn launched his Time Passages label back in late 2014, he was still something of a newcomer to the minimal scene but that changed last year thanks to some fine records for Cabaret and the mighty Perlon. There was the small matter of his Treatment album alongside Onur Ozer too! There is therefore a tangible sense of expectation behind this new Time Passages 12" from the Berlin artist and the three tracks on Dreifach will satisfy Binh fans. Indeed this 12" find Germann Nguyen embracing the needs of the dancefloor like never before, especially the two B-side productions. The title track is a more spectral affair, with a certain rusted charm to it.

Review: Mehdi Djebali's back everyone: look out! Always bringing the goods on his eponymous vinyl only imprint, number 10 for the label sees the Frenchman throw down some more rolling, downright funky and undeniably sensual grooves to make discerning dancefloors sweat. Starting out with the smooth liquid groove of "The Nine Stars" which you could imagine warming up a heaving dancefloor just after midnight at Concrete. On the flip there's the ultra deep and super sexy "A Juiced Lie" that calls to mind the classic Parisan deep house sound of the early noughties by local heroes Jerome Pacman or D'julz.

Review: French artist follows up a great release last year on Cabaret, plus remixes for Project London, Undersound and Tvir with this fresh one for Seuil's esteemed Parisian imprint. On the A side "Odysseus" is high tech soul of the electro kind, channeling the classic vibes of Model 500 or Dopplereffekt; absolutely loving this one! On the flip "Ulysse" continues with the emotive, Detroit inspired techno channeling the vibes of '93 so well like an old Strobe record. Finally "Themis" sees the breaks return backed by sharp bleeps and futuristic pads on another perfectly executed retro cut. Tip!

Review: Frankfurt icon, hotelier, vinyl enthusiast and Cocoon overseer Sven Vath has done it all yet remains on top of his game. This latest 12" from Cocoon is an interesting exercise indeed, with two early '90s Vath classics presented to KiNK and Kolsch for a 21st Century makeover. Bulgarian hardware but KiNK is handed the task of reworking the title cut from Vath's 92 debut LP Accident In Paradise and turns in a nine minute concoction of bubbling, trance-laden machine funk madness. Not to be outdone Kompakt's Danish correspondent Kolsch tackles "Robot" from 1994 album The Harlequin, The Robot And The Ballet-Dancer and delivers a right chunky remix that loses none of the original's synthetic goofiness.

Review: Second release by the label founder Ti Es. It is a limited edition EP which exemplifies the soul of the label and features a preview of the next releases. Enjoy!

Review: Russian producer and DJ now based in New York City Julia Govor follows up her release on local imprint Hypertone a couple of years back for this great new one on BP Mind Series, sub label of the great Moscow minimal imprint Body Parts. Let's not ignore the elephant in the room here; yes there's a Ricardo Villalobos remix featured and yes it's pretty awesome! The rolling and atmospheric deep house of Govor's original version (featuring her own trippy and seductive vocals) is given a typically reduced and quirky makeover by the master of minimal, complete with all sorts of off kilter rhythms and other wordy blips and bleeps and in typical fashion clocks in at nearly 13 minutes long: enjoy!

Review: Berlin imprint Subtil's mission statement is 'QUALITY UNDERGROUND MUSIC/VINYL ONLY' and that's good enough for us.. They're not wrong either. This time it's the turn of Iulian Ganovici aka Julian from, yes, Bucharest! This follows up his debut on London's FarFromNormal last year. On the A side we've got "Shades" which rolls along delightfully in reduced fashion until that muted bleep melody folds into the fray, joined by some infectiously dusty shuffle. On the flip is "Amburg" which is much darker and atmospheric. There's a lot of restraint in the kick and bass to make way for the creepy monologue and hypnotic pads to do most of the great work. Perfect for the mid-set breather but equally guaranteed to cause a headrush.

Review: Parisian minimal house hero Le Loup strikes out on his own again, leaving behind usual studio partner Seuil behind for a moment. On the Fusion EP he gets stuck into some smooth and swinging deep house on "Cosmic Exp" which uses the same sample as a certain Moodymann track and all round microsampled soul/disco goodness. "Dream Journey" brings the funk good and proper on this house thumper that's good to play at that moment to bring the crowd up to peak. On the flip there's an absolutely killer remix of said track by Canadian smart alec The Mole who gives the track a slinky and low slung kind of groove for some weird and wacky afterhours moments to enjoy.