Back catalogue: Minimal/Tech House

Review: We've been loving the playful Looney Tunes for a while - they put out decent edits and left of centre underground grooves that always have a real sense of character. Next up is Supersanity with one much such track that is pressed up to a one-sided and hand-stamped vinyl. 'Bender' is named after the Futurama character who is stamped onto the label and is a warped and late-night afterparty take on deep techno with percolating synth motifs and a spoken word vocal that sounds emo and indie. It's sure to make for some brilliantly WTF moments in the club.

Review: Another round of lush sound from the Frog Dog Records crew from Philadelphia. Four housey groovers procured with love from a star cast of artists - Sweater, John Manhard, Chuwee, Seb Hall, Gaspar Muniz and Cyborg George - this is a variegated record serving every angle of contemporary East Coast breaks, from b-people funk to aerated, sonic fibre-optic-mystics. Our favourite of the bunch has to be the tonal quarter-note slice-of-heaven, Sweater's 'Gemi', which shimmers against the ears and pushes our buttons with an especially cleanly, future-angelic breaks stride.

Review: Warm Sounds hits release number 15 with more of its signature house grooves and they come from a pairing who have often worked together before to great effect. That is John Swing feat David Soleil Mon and they offer up a trio of delightfully left-of-centre deep house and minimal cuts starting with 'Find Your Way' which deservedly takes up the whole of the a-side and is a sublime excursion. 'Gaia Planet' is a dusty, lo-fi and mysterious beatdown with chords full of suspense and 'From Within' closes down with more paddy kick drums and wispy synth details.

Review: "Inside" is the rallying cry of many a pirate radio hypeman, and we're just as readily apt to stay locked in, not least after hearing this new one from Manchester-after-Berlin producer SY, debuting for Slump Recordings. An eighth escapade for the label in the vein of trippy cheek and nostalgia, this fresh plate of pluperfect pulses is a real sure-starter. The titular 'Inside' leads with organic diatones and surreptitious squelches, while Baldo's rework is a heftier hurl through additive breaks verging on acid trancebreaks mayhem. 'Perceptions' brings up the rear side through classic house synthwork and slippery percs, while the eminent Baby Rollen abstracts said mix with an alien hand, also throwing in compelling "hup" samples for good measure.

Review: Mystique is a brand new label out of the always fertile Dutch scene and it opens its account with a no holds-barred EP from Sylvester Javier, aka Stefano Curti of Vibraphone fame. He offers three originals and two versions starting with 'Secret Ceremonies' (Italo Disco mix) which is a pulsating house cut awash with plenty of across textures and percussion. The Cocorico mix has shimmering vocal sounds stitched into the arrangement and the original has a spooky, rather eerie feel with its hurried drums and squirrelling synths. 'Lost In 1st Avenue Loop' is a gritty Detroit house cut with heart of the dance floor intensity and 'Microdot' gets as twisted as you would expect of such a track title. A fine debut EP overall.

Review: The Top Secret label keeps things tight once more with a pair of very different jams, but both are going to get huge reactions when dropped at the right time. U first is 'Get Criminal' which is a rework of an MJ classic with his smoky vocals reusing by scene else in a more unsettling fashion and the original drums run through with some futuristic and molten melodies. On the flip is 'Eurotrance', a good old-fashioned piano rave-up with belting vocals, trance synths and euro dance drums. Lovely, fun, accessible and effective.

Review: Toothpick aka Swirl People step out with their newly entitled label Lost In The Swirls, which they have distilled to the more simple name L.I.T.S. Records. The Belgium-based project is an alias of Dimitri & Raoul and they bring fresh house sounds here even though this is a reissue of some classic 90s material. The title track has lush and bright summer pads over driving, tight kick drums. The opener 'May The Funk Be With You' has a classic UK flavour to it with woodpecker-like hits and dusty drum loops under some smart chord work. Last but not least is 'Naked Speedway' which has a warm bassline meandering below expansive chords that bring an early morning vibe. Good stuff.

Review: Steve Poindexter and Traxman's Factory Music Chicago imprint has been around for a while, though releases have historically been occasional rather than regular. This split EP, featuring three acid-fired jackers apiece from Traxman and Slick Rick Da Master, is only the label's fifth vinyl outing - and fifth in total. Traxman handles side A, confidently striding between the mind-mangling jacking stomp of 'Pulaski Road', the lo-fi acid crankiness of 'Get Some Act Right Acid' and the sleazy and breathless TB-303 insanity of 'Warp Acidz Warp'. Turn to side B for Slick Rick Da Master's three heavyweight contributions: the mind-bending hypnotism of EP highlight 'Acidbo 1', the sample-rich nostalgia and red-lined beats of 'Everybody Dance (dub)' and the effects-laden trip that is 'Acid Jack'.

Review: Plenty of sonic sleaze is on display on this new hand-stamped weapon from Boot Waves. It kicks off with Tyree OG's 'Poppin' which pairs snaking cosmic synths with some raw ghetto beats. The vocal sample, (the classic 'my neck, my back') brings the naughtiness as this one marches on and gets crowds nicely revved up. Skinny T chucks loads of goods stuff int a blend - speed agar bass, garage energy, deep house warmth - and out comes the compelling 'Messy Idiot' which is stiff and urgent but full of character that will always stand out.

Review: Cough & Laugh is a rather unusual name for a label and it deals in rather unusual minimal sounds. Following a couple of head-turning first EPs it now offers up this fine various artists release with a trip of tunes from a trip of new talents. Uniix's 'Mindegy' opens up with a glitchy mix of dry hits and sinewy sine waves all peppered with a freaky mix of vocal fragments. Shato's 'Nephilim' then takes a darker turn with ghoulish sounds and synth mutations over an icy beat. Dubfound takes over the flip side with 'Sonya Baskerville', a supple minimal rhythm with well-worked samples smeared into the kinetic mix.

Review: Techno House Connoisseurs return with a fresh VA, packed with five top-tier acid and tech house tracks. Kicking off the A side is Los Angeles duo Warehouse Preservation Society with 'Fugitive Funk', a bass-heavy, breakbeat-infused slammer that captures the essence of hypnotic West Coast vibes. London's Flash Mitra makes a debut with a moody, percussive acid house gem. On the B-side, THC regular Praus delivers 'Magnetism', an acid chugger with warped vocals and 303 grooves, while Space Ace and Sherman C team up for 'Just a Dream', a relentless acid banger destined for peak-time sets.

Review: More tripped-out tech house wizardry on Gene On Earth's Nug Net label, with entrancing elements throughout. Will & Batty, MightyHor, Matichap and Sekance each deliver their own take on the contemporary trance prance formula, be that the opener 'Relax' or the notable 'Back Swing', both of which are indelible synaptic overloads, working in many transitional sweeps, sizzles and slurps between the beats and motifs.

Review: One Eye Witness rounds up another four acts for their periodic V/A series, spewing forth four breaks-driven whooshers crossing into progressive techno territory. The Hague duo Young Adults nod to a 1997 Loveparade anthem with 'It's Only Temporary', while breaks and kick implants converge on Christopher Ledger's 'Change That', a track which sounds like the starting firings of an interplanetary expedition pod after years of disuse. Joely brings cosmic chug on the cocooning B1 'Transitional', while the Samesame closer 'Novel End' is just that, traversing a noxious atmosphere with a flexoskeletal electro beat.

Review: Juuz Records box up, package and release the fifth edition in their vinyl only series. Silat Beksi, Soyro, RWN and Zlatnichi are the latest artists to be spotlit, and all of them deliver a seamless minimal techno experience, teeming with tics and fidgets, the four-piece sonic equivalent of a gut microbiome. Usually, we like to home in on the oddest tunes and we'll certainly indulge the impulse here; Silat Beksi and Soyro's 'Shout In 30 Seconds' makes impressive use of gurgly, subharmonic dream-voices, swabbed across the otherwise sticklike mix, like glue holding a skeleton together. Equal technical and ambisonic itches are scratched on Fedo's closing 'Lena Told', whose transitional vocal scramblings play back like furtive rumours spread through a fragile transmission chain.

Review: Kyle Hall and Steven Julien have been working together on and off for a whole decade now as Funkinevil. To mark the occasion they have pulled together their first two releases - namely 2012's 'Night / Dusk' and 2013's 'Ignorant' - on one new double album that very much sums up their raw house sound. The Detroit-London duo draw on plenty of their hometown's signature aesthetics, from well swung drums to soulful synths, and the results are still fresh sounding and captivatingly deep. Importantly, all these years later, there is still real emotional punch in these tunes as well as damn good grooves. Essential stuff from this vital pair.

Review: 'PULSE 01' is the first release in PITP's new series, which is an ongoing exploration of ambient tech, while offering a more structured display of beat-driven ambient music. Pulse 01 features brand new tracks by SYNE and Influx.

SYNE is Dennis Huddleston from the UK, who is most recognized for his ambient work as 36. He returns to his SYNE alias for the first time in nearly 5 years, with only his second record since his 2017 self-titled debut LP.

'Dystalgia' is a 12 minute opus, spread over 3 movements. Soaring pads and razor sharp percussion combine for a dynamic, emotionally charged journey in sound. Showing love to the Detroit greats, but recognising the distinct UK influence which made him fall in love with Techno in the early 90's, it's a surprising pivot in Dennis' sound and one which all lovers of beautiful, melodic ambient techno should enjoy.

Influx is the techno/acid/trance moniker of James Bernard. With his first release in 1993 (Braineater EP on Sapho Records), Influx is no stranger to techno and acid. This project had been in hibernation for nearly 14 years until his 2021 remixes for his collaborative album with 36 and awakened souls (The Other Side of Darkness). Revel Dub is a dub-techno excursion with sprinkles of ambient and psy-trance rounding out the frequencies. The Slow Version dials back the tempo to half-time and travels to more ambient dub territories.

Review: 'PULSE 01' is the first release in PITP's new series, which is an ongoing exploration of ambient tech, while offering a more structured display of beat-driven ambient music. Pulse 01 features brand new tracks by SYNE and Influx.

SYNE is Dennis Huddleston from the UK, who is most recognized for his ambient work as 36. He returns to his SYNE alias for the first time in nearly 5 years, with only his second record since his 2017 self-titled debut LP.

'Dystalgia' is a 12 minute opus, spread over 3 movements. Soaring pads and razor sharp percussion combine for a dynamic, emotionally charged journey in sound. Showing love to the Detroit greats, but recognising the distinct UK influence which made him fall in love with Techno in the early 90's, it's a surprising pivot in Dennis' sound and one which all lovers of beautiful, melodic ambient techno should enjoy.

Influx is the techno/acid/trance moniker of James Bernard. With his first release in 1993 (Braineater EP on Sapho Records), Influx is no stranger to techno and acid. This project had been in hibernation for nearly 14 years until his 2021 remixes for his collaborative album with 36 and awakened souls (The Other Side of Darkness). Revel Dub is a dub-techno excursion with sprinkles of ambient and psy-trance rounding out the frequencies. The Slow Version dials back the tempo to half-time and travels to more ambient dub territories.

Review: Omar S and Shadow Ray hooked up back in 2005 as Oasis and turned out a low key classic with Collaborating. It's an essential double album packed with signature Motor City heat and dishevelled deep house workouts for mind, body and soul. Things open with the slow paced crawler 'Oasis 4' then take in 'Oasis 11' with its pinging percussion and stripped back grooves, the standout 'Oasis 1s-1/2' with its gorgeously melancholic synth bleeps and heart melting chords and the darker energy of 'Oasis 7'.

Review: Cabale Records is a Parisian label that has, for the last few years been exploring the minimal techno world. It now branches out with its first various artist release featuring some tasteful tune makers starting with Pheek. He brings some loose percussive energy and wonky drum funk to his opener then Mod303 layers in dreamy and immersive pad work to deft, subtle drums on 'Paris City Zoo.' Night No Tori Vs Hubble keeps it deep and dubby with the late-night introspection of 'Deja Vu' then Sten's 'Slope' is a trippy afterhours sound with tumbling synth smears and percolating dub tech beats.

Review: Sakro has long been turning out his expertly designed and highlight impactful minimal house and tech cuts, so it's about time we finally heard a full length from him. Psychophonies is the name of his debut and it arrives on his own label Bon Vivant with a signature palette of dark grooves and ghostly synth atmospheres. 'Unicos' soon draws you in with just that sort of vibe before the hurried drum funk of 'Loneliness' and freaky minimal-jazz-house stylings of 'Psychophony'. This is pure dancefloor music that is both perfectly functional but also full of delightful forms.

Review: Anja Schneider has been at the heart of the Berlin underground for decades. Famously she headed up the Mobilee label which was a powerhouse of, well, house, and now she revisits her sizeable back catalogue for a bumper triple album of remixes, works and updates. If nothing else this collection shows what great range she had as all styes are covered from dark and driving tech to more blissed out deep house. The likes of 'Turning My Head' show great percussive flair and 'Dubmission' (Julian Muller remix) is quick and slick, stripped back minimal. Vocal delight 'Rain' is a real classic amongst many here.

Review: EXPERIMENTAL/ELECTRONIC: M=Minimal come through with an excellent vinyl accompaniment to their recent CD of reworkings of Conrad Schnitzler's Zug from Ricardo Villalobos and his Fisherman's Friend, Max Loderbauer. At over 19 minutes, the Aktion remix just about fits on this twelve inch and sees Max and Ric adopt a club ready approach with a stripped back, heads down groove driving forward through a slightly unnerving, guttural re-appropriation of Schnitzler's alien synth textures. Adopting a more ominous and wholly experimental tone, the Sorgenkind mix sounds vaguely like a heavy breathing bull pondering the surrounding expanses of shifting dronal textures as you wait in vain for anything approaching a beat to surface. Download codes are included.

Review: Asad Rizvi, known as Silverlining, presents this white hot three-vinyl set showcasing his collaborative work with fellow artists. This collection spans the genres of minimal and tech house, tagged with elements of tech house, minimal, and breakbeat house. Some of the highlights include 'If You Were A Cat You'd Follow Me' by Appleheadz with its jazzy downtempo future jazz vibe, evoking a smooth and melodic atmosphere. Followed by 'In My Sky' (instrumental), delivering smooth melodic tech house adorned with jazz guitar and soft keys. The set continues with 'Taken Over,' a melodic house gem from Bluegoose Vs Silverlining, exuding infectious rhythms and melodic hooks. 'Tuesday Morning Milkman' by Impossible Beings takes listeners on a deep techno journey, perfect for late-night sci-fi vibes. Another excellent additions is 'They'll Never Get It Right Them Two' by Two Right Wrongans, a dynamic banger that tears the roof off the dancefloor. Overall, this triple pack is jam-packed full of excellent dance music.

Review: New Interplanetary Melodies is a great name for a label and it also sums up the sounds of this new album from Sindaco. It's a beautiful mix of exploratory soundscapes, organic percussion and lush melody that unfolds in charming and captivating ways. Found sounds add more real world details to these tracks which range from lazy downbeat jaunts on a wide open savanna to more dynamic deep house trips through the cosmos. Worldly percussion, exotic melodies and unique instruments are all deployed to mark for multi-layered tracks that work equally on brain and body. It makes for a triumph of a record that is experimental yet aborsbing and packed with great detail.

Review: ***B-STOCK: Creasing on corner of outer sleeve, product unopened and in excellent condition***


SIT, short for Sideways Invisibility Theory, is the collaborative project of Vlad Caia and Cristi Cons. As two scene leaders of the Romanian minimal phenomenon, both artists have proven over many years to have a unique vision for creativity and fresh approaches in what can be a homogenised scene. Of their many achievements, on their Amphia label as much as elsewhere, this album on Sushitech stands as one of their finest moments. As with all the best Romanian minimal, it's also still hotly in demand, making it a welcome addition to Sushitech's 15th anniversary pressing marathon. From dub tech laced rollers to gossamer-light trippers, this is the classiest end of the minimal tech house game from two artists with the vision to push things a little bit further.

Review: SIT, short for Sideways Invisibility Theory, is the collaborative project of Vlad Caia and Cristi Cons. As two scene leaders of the Romanian minimal phenomenon, both artists have proven over many years to have a unique vision for creativity and fresh approaches in what can be a homogenised scene. Of their many achievements, on their Amphia label as much as elsewhere, this album on Sushitech stands as one of their finest moments. As with all the best Romanian minimal, it's also still hotly in demand, making it a welcome addition to Sushitech's 15th anniversary pressing marathon. From dub tech laced rollers to gossamer-light trippers, this is the classiest end of the minimal tech house game from two artists with the vision to push things a little bit further.

Review: Dutch industrial techno producer Parrish Smith created Light Cruel & Vain over the course of nearly three years. Each track on the record was originally conceived solo, then further realised with the assistance of contributing musicians Sofiane Brahmi and Javier Vivancos. The collaborative where no studio sessions occurred due to the pandemic - the full collaboration conducted remotely. Notable tracks include the seething post-punk swagger of "Black Scarlet" or the brooding industrial rock of "Sway", to the industrial strength breaks of "Never Break Faith" and a frantic techno banger towards the end "I Wanna Be An Idol".

Review: After being commissioned to produce several 'interlocking' ambient pieces for an art gallery piece in LA, Brian Foote and Sage Caswell decided to take the concept of 'audience crossfading' to the next level, creating an entire ambient album using a particular sonic technique. Over five long pieces from 'Waterwheel' to 'Smiley', their aim was to evoke the feeling of bodies moving in thoroughfares. The tracks are long-exposed movements captured in ambient space, blending rhythms and soundscapes for chillout rooms that exist only in memory now.

Review: ***B-STOCK: Sleeve damaged but otherwise in excellent condition***


It has been 11 years since Solomun's last album, and few could have predicted the career arc he has enjoyed since. The big man started out as an underground favourite. His Diynamic label was famous for bringing colour back to dance music after the bleak minimal years. He made 'fairground tech house' as it was called. He then became a huge draw at Ibiza's premium VIP clubs and appeared in Grand Theft Auto. This album takes him to major label Sony and features Hollywood names like Jamie Foxx. It is melodic, accessible house from one of electronic music's most famous names.

Review: Sarah Sommers' inaugural album HeartCore was captured live at Princess Tower Studios in Berlin. Clocking in at 74 minutes, it's a vibrant fusion of dance music genres fuelled by Sarah's profound passion for electronic beats that span various eras. From dub to techno, house to dubstep, and drum & bass to breakbeat, the record showcases all that and more across nine tracks extracted from Sarah's live sets and previously performed across Berlin clubs in 2022 and 2023. A testament to her lifelong love of the music, this LP epitomises authenticity and comes on lovely gatefold neon pink wax.

Review: The Sushitech 15th anniversary celebrations have been a long and winding trip back through the imperious tech house label's dub-soaked back catalogue, and it finally comes to rest on this gem from 2017. Marco Rhauderwiek's sound is pure Sushitech, all billowing dub techno blooms and heads-down, late night beats, but the presence of Paul St. Hilaire takes the music to another level entirely. The legendary veteran of Rhythm & Sound and so much more dub-techno crossover business since, the man like Tikiman has a voice synonymous with this style, and he sits beautifully in Rhauder's elegant groove sculptures. Highly prized since its original release, it's a show-stopping release which beautifully draws a line under Sushitech's moment of reflection.

Review: This is Freestyle free from any style.
There is no need for the disembodied voice telling you THIS IS HOUSE.
It is simply felt and known.

{Every kick.
Every arpeggio.
Every bass note.
Experienced through the prism of now.
Ribs rattle from the heart center to the endless reaches of consciousness.}

The racks are stacked high beyond the heavens as the Filter Queen speaks of love without words.
Bound to no earthly constructs, beholden to no laws.
This is the joyous sound of overground resistance.

Review: Peter Kersten, better known as Lawrence, is the veteran deep house producer and gallerist who many of you may know as chief of Hamburg's Dial Records and who made external outings previously on Japan's Mule Musiq where he released several lauded long-players. His latest one comes courtesy of Berlin's Sushitech entitled Earthshine, a 3XLP featuring 12 tracks written and produced by Kersten over the last five years. All in all it's a diverse selection put together by one of the scene's most highly regarded artists.

Review: ***B-STOCK: Sleeve damaged but otherwise in excellent working condition***


Peter Kersten, better known as Lawrence, is the veteran deep house producer and gallerist who many of you may know as chief of Hamburg's Dial Records and who made external outings previously on Japan's Mule Musiq where he released several lauded long-players. His latest one comes courtesy of Berlin's Sushitech entitled Earthshine, a 3XLP featuring 12 tracks written and produced by Kersten over the last five years. All in all it's a diverse selection put together by one of the scene's most highly regarded artists.

Review: Stiroll's Sofia marks the Ukrainian artist's return to Greyscale Records with his first full-length album, painting a sonic portrait of a day in the life of a suburban area. The album invites listeners to experience the subtle intricacies and layered sounds of a community awakening, bustling, and finally resting as night falls. The journey begins with 'Intro - Dusk,' a brisk and atmospheric opener that evokes the early morning stillness before a city stirs to life. The full chord remnants and distant echoes set the stage for the day ahead, capturing the anticipation of the morning. 'Standbye' follows, offering a more airy and purposeful vibe, moving away from minimalism to suggest the first signs of activity, as if the world is slowly beginning to wake. 'Foundamental' continues this progression, riding along with gentle sounds punctuated by flares of static, hinting at the humidity and energy building in the air. The track flows effortlessly, mirroring the natural rhythm of a day gaining momentum. As the day matures, 'Sequence To None' introduces more serious, conflicting chords, perhaps reflecting the push and pull of daily routines and interactions. The crisp production and deep bassline ground the track, offering a sense of structure and direction. Midday arrives with 'Vidlunnia,' a sparse, downtempo piece that feels like basking in the warmth of the sun. The chords wash over the listener like rays, creating a relaxing, chill-out atmosphere with a broken rhythm that invites reflection. The pace slows with 'Interlude - Fall Moon,' where a churning, almost mechanical heartbeat drives the track forward, building tension as the day begins to wane. The ominous mood that emerges in the second half hints at the challenges that often accompany the close of a day. 'Nulle Part' shifts the mood with a more pronounced beat, offering a straightforward yet catchy rhythm that feels both harmonious and conflicted. The hypnotic quality draws you in as it moves toward a positive, yet complex resolution. 'Fall Control' then soothes with heavily processed sounds, offering a brief moment of respite before the album's closing tracks. 'Hope' stands out as the most original dub track on the album, blending strings with a lofty melody that soars before plunging into deeper, more uncertain territory. The track feels otherworldly, capturing the complexities and contradictions of hope itselfia fitting theme as the day begins to wind down. Finally, 'Outro - Dawn' signals the end of the day and the album, with ambient washes that gently alert like a clock, leaving the listener with a sense that it is time to close. Sofia is a meticulously crafted album that encapsulates the ebb and flow of daily life in a suburb, bringing together the sounds of different people and languages into a unified, sonic narrative.

Review: Astonishingly, 23 years have passed since Glenn Underground and Boo Williams established the Strictly Jaz Unit project, a fluid collective of underground Chicago deep house producers. These days, SJU mainly operates as a duo, and it was this stripped-back line-up that produced "The Tempest", a rare album-length outing bristling with quality cuts. As a whole, the album is far more intergalactic, electronic and sci-fi sounding than either man's solo productions, with just a few hints of the luscious instrumentation and swinging grooves associated with their previous work. There's no dip in quality, though, with the dubbed-out deep house hypnotism of "Heard Syndrome", the Patrick Cowley/Giorgio Moroder influenced "The Struggle", the Chicago-goes-Yorkshire bleep flex of "Time of Speed, Not Day" and acid-fired gorgeousness of "The Flat (London Projects)" standing out.

Review: Wolfgang Voigt's Studio 1 and Freiland are landmark examples of 1990s minimalist concept techno. Studio 1 defined a stripped-down, hypnotic approach, while Freiland explored a more experimental, textured sound. This release features two discs with each of those differing approaches served up, but the second compiles the best of Freiland into a continuous set. Both showcase Voigt's pioneering vision and knack for marrying great precision with an absorbing atmosphere in a way that remains influential today. Essential listening for techno-purists and fans of the avant-garde.