Juno Recommends Minimal / Tech House: July 2023

Review: The Global North label is run by a lad from Liverpool who cut his teeth in Leeds before making the tried and tested move to Berlin a number of years ago. He's made it stick, too, and is now emerging as a producer and label A&R with a sound as unique as his DJ sets. He works as DJ Pipe and this new EP finds him link up with Tasso across four sublime sounds. It is minimal and tech but full-blooded stuff with fleshy synths, cosmic pads and fat bass that makes dancefloors bounce. The highlight here is the deep and slinky sound of 'Moonshine', a quality bit of teshno if ever we heard it.

Review: Back Of The Bus is always where the cool kids hung out and on the evidence of this first release that will be true of this label too. It comes with fresh and characterful artwork and minimal house beats packed with charm. Manchester-based producer Pach is the man behind them and he opens up with the bouncy 'Double Trouble' before cutting up a more tough-edged groove with '7am Start.' 'Hassle In The Castle' has a nice percolating bassline that never lets up as narcotic pads drift and smear all around and 'Stairway To Heaven' gets all trippy and late night. This is a high-quality first EP.

Review: Josh Baker has made himself one of the most prominent names in the house scene over recent years. He got some serious production chops and shows that off again here with a new EP for You & Me. 'Work It Out' is a slick and compelling mix of woodpecker-like bass rumbles, smooth-cruising snares and electronic drums with subtle vocals up top. 'Pardy Hardy' is more wonky, with acid flashes and sci-fi motifs over a more grinding groove. 'Counter House' shuts down with another fat house sound that cannot fail to get the floor going off.

Review: Dimmish is one of those names making himself ever more a part of the tech house firmament and he deserves the acclaim as this new EP on Easternderz proves. It is high grade tackle with several different stylistic nuances. 'Orbit' is a warm pumper with funky bass rotations and well designed drums under balmy pads. 'Lemon Life' ups thence with more high speed, high power but always funky grooves and lithe synths, and 'Singularity' rides on a wave of subtle melody that takes you ever higher. The closer 'Dissolve' with its more colourful and playful melodies might be the best of a great lot.

Review: Rooting the productions of Frits Wentink in one specific style has always been tough, primarily because he makes quirky, oddball house and techno numbers that draw inspiration from the dust-encrusted, sample-rich haziness of MPC-driven instrumental hip-hop. His latest EP, which arrives on the popular Bobby Donny imprint, is another boundary-blurring affair that's closest in tone and style to deep house, but is as far from 'standard' deep house as you'd expect. It's a great collection of cuts all told, with our picks being the bassline driven, alien-sounding unorthodoxy of 'You Talk Funny', the warped, mind-mangling tech-house-jazz of 'Forestation' and the deliciously hazy, hypnotic dub-house of 'Shred Bread'.

Review: London-based Italian David Agrella is the man behind the Agrellomatica Records label and now for its fifth release, he has tapped up some undeniably quality names to remix the title tune from his debut Modulo EP back in 2007. Baby Ford kicks off with a deliciously deep and dubbed-out minimal house roller that is detailed with wispy chords and eerie vocalisations. Agrella himself then flips it into a rubbery 909 workout with pops and bubbles next to the leggy drums. GNMR goes for a gritty, heads down and back room techno roller and to close, NDR brings a retro techno sound with molten acid lines. All in all a very useful outing.

Review: Forest III specialise in janky and heavy ambient trance, and this latest contribution from mainstay Noiro is no exception. 'Meissa' amps up the emphasis on slinky front-and-centre basslines and roughly-placed, offbeat trance rhythms. 'Dextro' is its dextrous opening highlight, 2-and-4 hi-hats laying the groundwork for many an infectious synth organ and arpy marimba. Wackier cuts like 'Cousu' do just as good a job at beguiling.

Review: &Me and Black Coffee make for something of an Afro house dream team here. The latter has long been this sound's pin-up and has gone from playing in South African townships to producing with Beyonce and winning Grammy Awards over the last decade. Now deep in his latest Ibiza season, he unveils collaborative track 'The Rapture' (Pt III), a deep rolling cut with spine-tingling chords and a rich atmosphere. &ME then goes solo for 'LIFE', a shuffling percussive groove with spoken words and enchanting chords to make for a classy two-tracker.

Review: Salty Nuts is a Mannheim-based label which commonly carries the work of label main man Fabian Winkels, but after a couple of years silence here comes something fresh and fruity which will go down a storm with anyone who loves a cheeky sample. On the A-side, the anonymous M High samples an early 90s house diva for the anthem-baiting 'The Answer' before creating a slinky acid wriggler with an instantly recognisable chant about the beat controlling your body on 'L T B C Y B'. On the flip, Dan Ghenacia has fun remixing the latter track into a taut, punchy affair honed for the floor, while 'The Back Made Me Do It' slips into a broken beat groove with lush, techy overtones.

Review: Swiss pair Andre Schmid and Philippe Egger are Mountain People and are masters of deep, enchanting house sounds. Most of them come on their own label which now comes of age with a 21st such EP. Track one is a lush mix of serene synth harmonies and warm, diffuse melodic glows over deft and tightly woven minimal house drums. It's a similar story on Track Two but with a more tight, tense feel and the occasional ray of light from a warm synth smear. Last but not least, the b-side offers a more expansive and open track with a rich bassline and soulful vocal mutterings adding the human warmth.

Review: Rex The Dog has been a Kompakt artist seemingly forever but this is actually his first new music on the Cologne powerhouse in three years. He heads off on a slow-burning disco stomper that has him tweaking as much magnificence as possible out of his modular synth setup. 'Change This Pain For Ecstasy' is stripped back and pulses with energy as chords sweep through the skies and a delirious voice pleads for you to "take away my sorrow and this pain". On the flip is 'Moto' which builds from subtle vibrations to become a hefty techno cut with wild and erupting tones and crackling, corroding sounds all filling the airwaves.

Review: Satya's 10th release is from Patrick Bruyndon aka Lost Desert, who has been making music for 30 years and who we last heard from back in January while collaborating with All Day I Dream label head Lee Burridge. He is back now making more enticing grooves that are just as much a blissful mix of organic melodies and deep, wavy beats as ever. 'In A Pagode' kicks off with darker drum funk and more intense synth work while 'Driving Up North' is a brilliantly late night sound, with soft drums and twinkling melodies up top. 'Wantya Needya' is another one with a more direct and melon-twisting vibe before the hypnotic day time house of 'Rolling Stoned'.

Review: Placid's We're Going Deep label has excelled since first emerging a couple of years ago, with the imprint's broad definition of 'deep' electronic music and fondness for multi-artist EPs ensuring enough variety to keep things interesting. Volume nine in their compilation style series is naturally full to bursting with killer cuts, from the acid-flecked, late 80s Larry Heard style vibes of Remote's EP-opening 'Ionic Shuffle', to the subtly IDM-influenced deep electro brilliance of rave survival Suddi Raval's superb closing cut 'Flight To Mars'. In between you'll find the TB-303-sporting deep electro wonder of Steven Simpson's 'Acid 13', and the hypnotic, sub-heavy, deep acid house heaven that is 'Entropy' by JS Seiter.

Review: The Physical Education label rolls out another of its deep dives into the world of contemporary tech house here with Donnie Cosmo at the helm for his 'Signs of Life' EP. The Colombian master starts the trip with the title cut - a playful, party-ready cosmic tech bumper with serene synth lines, fat bass and plenty of colourful melodic patterns full of spritely energy. 'Pump The Power' is another convergence of spaced-out breaks, slick tech and painterly synth work. The same retro-future space house vibes continue through 'Gateway' while 'The Xperiment' is a more high-speed cut but one no less doused in interplanetary funk.

Review: Montreal-based Ohm Hourani is an electronic artist with jazz influences and a mesmeric live show. He uses modular synths to cook up his tightly woven rhythms and isn't afraid to drop in a vocal to really ensure they take flight. That's exactly what he does here with 'Barbara', his new tune for We R The Aliens. It's a jumble of minimal synths and wet hits, detuned chords and scuffed-up drums. The expressive female vocal is full of emotional pain and is expertly woven into the arrangement. Villalobos & Javasoul remix it into something more direct and drum-led but no less trippy and wonderful.

Review: A new self titled EP and label project from MSZ and it's well worth talking about. 'Track 1' sets off at a slick pace with polished and punchy drums layered up with balmy chords and a classy peak time energy that will get fists skyward and faces smiling. It's a smooth and super cool opener, and the second cut is no less colourful and charming with its busy, garage-tinged drums and low-key bassline funk. On the flip are two more cuts that mix house, tech, electro, breaks, bass and spaced-out vibes into something driving and dynamic.

Review: DJ Sneak is of course the self-proclaimed house gangster and proud lover of his own BBQ skills. He is also a man who knows how to make a damn good house groove with fizzy loops and weighty drums that never fail to lock us in. And that's just what we get here with a new EP via Digital Tape Recordings that kick off with the train-track grooves of 'No More Waiting.' There is more bump and grind to 'Help Is On The Way' with its chopped-up vocal loops, and '1234' then has a little garage skip in its bones. 'Essex Strolling' shuts down with a deeper vibe.

Review: French duo QR Code steps up with their first-ever release here, and it also happens to be the first-ever release for new label Sweet Notes. There is a rich fusion of prog, trance, spaced-out breaks, house and tech on all these tracks, with opener 'Mindless Dance' being a nice buoyant opener to immediately get you on your toes. 'Nixie's Trap' then slowly shifts up through the gears with its twisting and turning bass and synths before 'Spacetime' brings old-school 90s bass with dusty breaks and chopped-up vocals for a good old party. There is lush ambient pad work on the closer which makes it suited to 5am zone outs.