MUNIR NADIR Vinilo y CD

Review: Munir Nadir has been breaking through in the past few years with essential releases on 4Plae, Nuts On Board and Outcast Planet. Now he's minting a new label called Odd One Tape out of Italy, and bringing his playful, synth-rich sound with him. There's a nod to Italo and 80s electro in the sampling and throbbing, analogue groove of 'Rhythmistic', while 'Bass Jam' tips more towards the early 00s electro house boom a la Tiefschwarz and Tomas Andersson. 'Urban Whispers' has a more jackin' flavour with some low down sub freakiness thrown in for good measure, and 'Binary Technologies' brings the heat on the B2 with a powerful arpeggio and hard-slapping drums.

Review: Background is a Rimini-based label which specialises in slinky, playful strains of minimal tech house from some emergent names well worth keeping tabs on. Alex Dima has certainly earned his stripes as a name to get you checking the record, and his opening track 'Twisted' offers the mysterious synth touches and boxy drum machines beats we've come to expect, while Luca Piermattei lays down some seriously satisfying trance-minded melodic lines to loosen the crowd up good and proper. Munir Nadir is in an equally artful, inquisitive mood as he fires off the interlocking riffs and licks of 'Guinea' and then Smoud Beats completes the picture with a diversion into shaky, 90s-styled acid for the jacker in your life.

Review: Purism leaps into action once more, this time welcoming a strong cast of lesser known characters that fit right into the adventurous approach to house and techno that the label has forged its reputation on. All these producers make their first appearances here, but you wouldn't know it listening to the quality of the tracks on offer. Rafael Kasma's "Static Rope" is a quintessential grooving house jam with some killer filtered chords, while Munir Nadir brings the twitchy minimalism vibes on "Milagro". Jackie is on a sultry, jazzy deep house tip with "Lune" and Mag0 rounds things off with the cheeky, quirky funk of "Spectrum".