DJs: Most Charted - Minimal / Tech - September 2016

Review: For the second release on Masanori Nozawa's Medium imprint we have the Four Perpetual Waves EP where he teams up with Tomi Chair for a split release. On the A side it's all about Nozawa and his sublime deep house journey "Siki" full of swirling and emotive layers of pads and energetic rhythms. The remix of it up next by The Backwoods aka DJ Kent is pretty nice as well, continuing on in even more reduced, deeper and emotive fashion. On the flip we have Tomi Chair's "Heat Haze" a serving of dark house with dusty beats and sombre elements while the remix by Sofa Talk gets on a more tropical and balearic kind of vibe adding quite a nice perspective to the track indeed.

Review: Florence based label Bosconi is back with 100 Hz aka UK legends Lee Renacre and James Chapman who have been around since the late eighties. This is their second release on the Italian imprint; their Mila EP was their first for the label back in 2009. On the A side we have a re-issue of their 1989 track "Shoot The Bar" a sturdy and cyclical house groove on the tougher side of things with a nice double bass holding the track above a tight rhythm and dreamy Rhodes piano. "Primary Colours" sounds more like minimal, but given more of an edge by all the dusty and lively analogue machines that power it along. Its bumpy bass and restrained synth stabs supporting some simplistic rhythms and works quite well. Finally "Oliva Funk" is more of a classic NYC house cut, those rapid fire cowbell strikes will help it bear even more resemblance to classic Kerri Chandler style vibes.

Review: Berlin's Beste Modus is run by local stalwarts Cinthie, Diego Krause, Ed Herbst, stevn.aint.leavn & Albert Vogt. For the third edition of Beste Freunde, they have onboard some of the biggest names in tech house at present and they're all throwing down some wicked grooves. On the A side Birmingham's Subb-An gives us the raw, stripped and jacking "Feel For You" which beats that 808 good and hard with some familiar samples over the top. Next, the stripped dub techno of Walker's "Confessions" lends some variety to the release; fans of the Fachwerk sound will dig this one. On the flip, London's The Willers Brother gives us the rolling and minimal deep house of "Can You Get Up?" which is perfect for afterhours hypnotism and finally back into the jackin' house side of things courtesy of Frenchman Julien Sandre with tough yet sexy groove of "Ordinary Madness"

Review: Paris producer Terence Terry is still about and doing his thing. While former close collaborator Dyed Soundorom has risen to stardom as part of Apollonia, Terry has continued to plough away at his craft, as always giving a nod to classic house sounds as heard on his own La Vie En Rose imprint and it's he who steps up for this release entitled Coney Island. Starting out with the slinky, sexy and deep grooviness of "Zipolite", he then returns to the minimal style that he made his mark with as a producer on "Nugati" while finally the title track is possibly the best example of what Paris sounds like after midnight on this sexy and ultra deep groove.

Review: Some fresh material from Maayan Nidam is always welcome here at Juno HQ. It's approaching cliche but Nidam trades in quality not quantity, her two solo albums augmented by a smattering of singles across Perlon, Freak N Chic and Wolf N Lamb and the recent signing to Nina Kraviz's TRIP label. Of course Nidam has a strong relationship with Perlon, extending beyond her solo work to encompass the Mara Trax collaboration with Vera, and this latest record is a fine addition to both artist and label's discographies. Arriving in 10" format, Deep Under Sobriety Regime pairs the deep, trippy driving sounds of the title track with "Looking Through A Glassy Mind" which sounds like an abstracted take on Mr Oizo classic "Flat Beat." Perlon also include two locked groove loops from Nidam for the more adventurous DJs out there.

Review: Italian hypnotic techno don Donato Dozzy originally released "Cassandra" back in early 2015 on Claque Musique and was well received for its typically deep and transcendental qualities. It now receives some killer remix treatment. First up are Swedish hardware mavericks Skudge, whose rendition stays true to the original but injecting some dusty analogue grit into the aesthetic. Next who better to accentuate the track's deep qualities than the man Fred P, whose version is quite different but tremendous in its own right. Finally it stays in New Jersey style going but over to Ed; Jus Ed that is! His remix is typically dusty and emotive as you'd expect; really feeling this one.

Review: Exciting Bristol imprint Banoffee Pies are back with the second edition of their new Black Label imprint and we're certainly eager to hear what they have in store this time around. Starting off we've got Romanian Hansel! with "2-16" and it's everything you'd expect really: rolling, ethereal and hypnotic. Following up this, Unknown Artist delivers some dusty and smoked out breakbeat house on "Bet Your Life". On the flip, KOKO & Niccolo Borgi present some lush minimal house deepness on "Nor Girl" (which is reminiscent of Baby Ford) while Swede in Sydney Adam Stromstedt delivers oddly hypnotic sounds on "Rent" as similarly heard on his great Lyssna imprint of late.

Review: Following a strong cast including Myles Serge, John Barera, DJ Skull and Hakim Murphy, Mentha continues its strong run of form with a various artists 12" that broadens the horizons of the high-grade deep house label. Michael Lovatt keeps things groovy and understated on "Tides", while Kareen Ali gets into a slow and trippy mood on "Arnaldo Tamayo Mendez". Anaxander's "Unspoken" brings some neo-soul synth lines to the table, and Michael Zucker turns out a brooding, introspective workout. Each track may have its own traits, but the whole record hangs together as a fine next step for a promising label.

Review: Next up on Constant Sound is Berlin based Diego Krause. This time there are no remixes, just 3 solid club tracks from a producer who is really on form.

Review: In the lead up to the release of their debut album early next year, Mandar has decided to out a trio of 12" samplers. This is the first of the three, and contains two fresh new cuts from the four-man outfit. On the A-side you'll find "La Bocca", which craftily works dub-influenced textures and fluid electronic motifs around a bold, bumpin' and bass-heavy groove. The inherent dreaminess of their productions can be further admired on flipside "Lawed Mack". It's notably deeper and hazier than its' predecessor, with a groove that shuffles, rather than bangs, but retains a percussive solidity that suggests it would sound fantastic over a decent sound system.

Review: Jack's House Recordingslaunched by long serving island resident DJ and producer Clara Da Costa, is a new label born out of Ibiza, which also boasts a successful weekly prime time live radio show that focuses mainly on exclusives and vinyl releases, broadcasted on the award winning Ibiza Sonica. Jack's House also hosts parties at the worlds most famous club, Space for Carl Cox. This first release comes from the talented and well respected, Alex Arnout from Dogmatik Records. Alex has had numerous releases over the years on many other respected labels such as One Records and the Fuse imprint. He is also known for launching, nurturing and finding good talent. This 4 track EP fully demonstrates Alex's versatility in the studio by offering 4 distinctive quality productions which can only be described as true house, and underground house music, made with integrity.

Review: First release for the Neapolitan born London based duo Konstress new vinyl only imprint.
Blind Box Series co-founders launch their own namesake record label with a sound-defining 3 track EP, hitting the different flavours of their almost ten-year background.
Tasty indeed.

Review: Berlin's Cab Drivers are the real deal. If their extensive collection of classic Roland machines wasn't enough, they even sequence them all on an old Atari ST you don't get more purist than that. Paul and Augustowsky's new track "Correspondence" has all the hallmarks of their signature sound: bumpin', melodic, rolling and emotive. You know; the Cab Drivers sound! On the flip, fellow Berlin minimal techno legend Audio Werner steps up to deliver a more darker and emotive remix that strays on the dubbier side of things and we loved it: Tip!

Review: Fuse offshoot Infuse returns with a 12" transmission from Bivolaru Iulian, an increasingly influential producer on the Romanian scene under his IULY. B name. Arriving with a wonderfully evocative title, the three-track Harmonics EP impresses from the off with hazy lead track "Romance" pairing up warm and snuggly textures with deep, subdued bass and scratchy percussion. Things do get tougher on the flip with "Supersonic" dominating by a bold flighty synth Carl Craig would be proud of, whilst "Sine Harmonics" is a minimal-flavoured gem that wouldn't sound out of place on a Perlon record.

Review: Peter Kremeier has been releasing micro house and textural techno under the banner of LoSoul since the late 1990's. He's been an integral member of the Playhouse stable, home to some of the most pioneering four-to-the-floor since the turn of the millennium, and he's showing no signs of stopping his invaluable contribution to the house scene. This time, however, he's up on the more contemporary Tardis label, out of Zurich and Berlin, with the glitchy, minimalistic groove "Soda Island" at the helm of the 12". The tune is one for the fans of the Perlon-Villalobos connection in a more immediate sense, but it will also surely appeal to fans of bass scientists like Shackleton. On the B-side, "Sparkling Please" is similarly murky, minimal and swamped in its own pool of shady sonics, except the groove is looser, the bass higher, and the sounds a little more party-centric.