Euphoria US Vinilo y CD

Review: Canadian maestro Jay Tripwire is a long time underground stalwart with countless gold-dust releases to his name, and still the modest artist keeps pushing on with more stellar tech house immersion heaters. Here he's been invited to Euphoria for an EP that burrows into the most shadowy corners of his sound. "H3misphere" is a spooky jam driven by a shuffling groove and offset with some dubby flourishes - a perfectly balanced workout for the club with a seductive air of mystery lingering around the rhythm section. "Werqles" is a lighter affair, but it's no slouch in the freaky department as a plethora of disembodied machine wriggles ping around the crisp 4/4 throwdown. The whole B-side is given over to SIT's "Remux" of "H3misphere", which holds the groove down in a more linear manner but keeps that chilling atmosphere intact just behind the beats.

Review: Euphoria Records has a legacy that reaches back to the mid-90s and releases from artists such as Omni A.M. and Mark Ambrose. Now the label is back in action with some killer minimal house fare from emergent Maltese talent Mato. This new single kicks off with the sophisticated swing of "Gozo Carnival", which capitalizes on an economical approach to the arrangement to devastating effect. "Euphoria Jamz" is a busier production with layers of wriggling synths bouncing around another shuffled beat. "Where's The Chutney?" keeps things rubbery and freaky, with the jack level up high and the tweaked out sounds plentiful in the mix, rounding out a distinctive and infectiously fun club 12".

Review: Marky Star and Adam Collins made some pretty killer music together as Omni AM, back in the 90s golden era of tech house. In fact, back then, the UK was leading on that front, and it was Germany and Italy who were all about the disco-boogie. The duo released a whole heap of what have now become pretty sought-after 12 inches for their Euphoria label, and this is their first official EP since 2003. Unlike their tunes back in the day, "Beat Dis" is much more grounded in contemporary UK bass culture and, taking inspiration from the broken beat sound, Omni AM launch a heavy beat missile that slides elegantly amid rolling punches of bass and chopped-up samples, UK style. "Dangerous" is much more in line with their original sound, and its oddball take on speed garage is just what we needed to make us believe that there is, in fact, a better way of doing bass these days. The veterans just had to step in and show us how its done.