Minimal / Tech House Recommendations September 2012

Review: Ricardo Villalobos's third full-length (unless you count his Fabric mix and Re: ECM project with Max Loderbauer) entitled Dependent & Happy had been eagerly anticipated since its announcement early this year, and on its vinyl release finds its 14 tracks split up across 5x12" singles. The results are as sublime as you would expect from the master of minimal; "Tu Actitud" opens with its half-spoken vocals and jaunty electric bass, "Timemorf" continues with its minimal Chilean rhythms, while "Grumax" is the undisputed highlight - a combination of tense, sprung bass and discordant strings arranged in the way only Villalobos can.

Review: The second of two EPs collecting Ricardo Villalobos's third album Dependent & Happy saw the producer go further in with the tunnelling grooves, with six tracks that take an explicitly darker turn than the first EP. "Zuipox" consists of micro bass and skewed vocal echoes, while "Kehaus" takes things in as ravey a direction as the producer goes with its insistent bass stab and rolling percussion and "Die Schwarze Massai" takes a more syncopated approach with it's complex rhythm and dreamy chords. "Put Your Lips" takes an insistent vocal snippet and welds a solid 4/4 groove to it with very little else. "Samma" however is the real killer, a melancholic combination of spring loaded percussion and chords warped out of shape.

Review: We're more used to seeing Tiga in full-on electro mode but this time he's taken a shot at the techier side of the spectrum with his first release for the UK's Crosstown Rebels. Title track, "The Picture" is very much a surprise, where we see Tiga enter a thumping parade of raw-as-hell drums and masterfully executed bass lines - BIG! Subb-an takes care of remixing "Pleasure From The Bass" - actually the more electro-inclined of the two, adding some funky, late-night vocals to the groove.

Review: Bringing the pristine production and punchy funk to 8 Bit, Andre Butano and Demian Muller make for a formidable pairing on this four track EP. The vibes move around quite fluidly, starting with the techy bounce of "Zhummir" which feels poised to decimate the peak time dancefloor. "Crystal" is a more rolling, sexy kind of house jam bolstered by the croon of Manu on vocals, while on the flip "Dr Beauty" returns to that functional groove space that cries out for the endless night of Berlin partying. Rounding things off, "Purple Light" heads into the bleary eyed end of such a session, letting layers of vocal and texture fall into the whirlpool of sound with pleasingly disorientating results.

Review: Highly respected in his homeland, Tiago's reputation for killer expansive DJ sets built off the back of a weekly residency at Lisbon night spot Club Lux has slowly been complemented by a deft production touch that has graced respected labels like DFA, ESP Institute and Internasjonal to name but three. Commonly lumped in with the overpopulated waters of nu-disco, his productions outrank the average edit in the quality stakes and he throws a pleasantly in your face curveball on this debut for DJ Kaos' Jolly Jams imprint. "Soul Jam" is a truly explosive floor burning techno track that really has only one intention and doesn't attempt to be subtle about it - file alongside the recent Tuff City Kids EP on Unterton and I:Cube's "Transpiration" as box keeping bomb drops. Alongside this, Tiago maintains the same style of driving rhythmic programming on "Motorjam" but adds more melodic elements into the fray, while "Lost & Found Jam" slips down the tempo scale for dub laden slo mo disco finish. Great twelve!

Review: Having impressed many with his excellent M for Megamix LP as I:Cube, Nicolas Chaix returns to the Chateau Flight operation he mans with Versatile Records boss Gilb'r for their first original material in over 12 months. It's pretty hard to describe "Kounka" in genre specific terms, with the track seemingly overloaded with rhythmic and textural twists and turns over the course of its duration. Commencing in some sort of ascendant cosmic Italo strut, "Kounka" embarks on the first of many swerves as the grubby kick mainlines into action and veers off into weirdo Gallic bleep. Pick yourself up off the floor and flip the record over and you have the added treat of not one but two Steve Moore remixes, with the LIES and Future Times artist on typically rich and hypnotic form. Somehow harnessing the unbridled sonic chaos of the source material, Moore invites us into the deepest recesses of endlessly building, multi layered dancefloor intoxication on the first remix, while the self styled "Off-World" version pitches down into the realm of luxuriant cosmiche.

Review: With their star ever rising in the company of Solomun's Diynamic posse, Kollektiv Turmstrasse gather together a group of their friends for a bumper double pack of remixes. It's the duo's first release on their own Musik Gewinnt Freunde imprint since 2009, and they've not held back in celebrating their return. Despite the six different artists involved, there's a startling consistency and flow between these different deep house versions of "Lapacha" and "Ordinary". Mellow keys and dubby effects are the order of the day, while the beats stay clean and solid, and the bass stays within the lines.