STEKKE Vinilo y CD

Review: Brazilian minimal house experts Stekke are back with Cosmopolitan, which inaugurates new label Chez Panthere. Two typically understated afterhours minded cuts are featured on both sides. On the first is the paranoid, heads-down contemplation of 'Disco Jukebox' which is perfect for Sunday morning (no earlier than 9:00), while over on the flip we have another deep and hypnotic offering in the form of 'Mix-O-Lydian', with atonal sounds underpinned by clipped rhythms that's is the kind of tackle you'd expect Thomas Melchior or Rhadoo would drop on Monday morning.

Review: This double 12" compilation between Brazilian duo Stekke and producer and DJ Max Underson is a perfect marriage between the emotional aesthetic background of Underson's previous works and the precise floor-filling formula that Stekke has devised. The minimal composition is at the crossroads between deep, acid and tech house, with the wet basslines of 'The Messenger' being paired with ritualistic sub-bass lines culminating in house heaven. A real highlight on this release is side 4's 'Guidance', a smooth, grooving track that goes to show that house tracks don't always have to be cramped to the brim. The negative space used in these tracks, and the way it's used, is an art. Not to turn a blind eye to the two unique remixes on the compilation either, which take tracks to new heights thanks to the abstract re-imaginings by XDB and Melchior Productions Ltd. Universal Law is a schooling in the ways of minimal house, take notes.

Review: Underground minimal house heroes Stekke return to their beloved Sketches imprint for their first full length. As expected, this is a collection of seriously lean and understated grooves from the Brazilian duo, with the afterhours strictly in mind. Side A features the hypnotic and subtractive subtlety of 'Profonde', turn over and you have the candlelight dub expressions of 'Deux Jeux' followed by the moody majesty of 'New Wave'. Elsewhere, more hi-tech tackle awaits on the quirky microhouse of 'CV' or the Basic Channel style greyscale cycles of 'Infinity Groove'
. Tip!