Back catalogue: Minimal House/Tech House

Review: ***B-STOCK: Sleeve damaged, record slightly warped***


ViGis opening salvo for 2025 brings together four artists from four continents who all blend their own diverse cultural roots and influences into a superb collection of cuts for the club. This is a 12" that offers a refreshing take on familiar sounds and delivers subtle yet punchy variations in style and rhythm. Adema keeps it nice and clean and slick on the deep, bubbly tech of 'Jm Glavio' while Red Pig Flower's 'Stardust' is a zoned-out roller. Artur Nikolaev's 'New Edition' is a deft minimal soundscape with warped lines and bubbles dub undercurrents. Cladu shuts down with 'No Name' which is a more propulsive cut.

Review: Some would deny that sound could be at all malevolent, or carry an innately evil intent. Greek techno producer Cirkel Square may think differently; his latest red-label EP for Ukrainian imprint Jerelo makes the argument quite clear that since sound does not exist without an ear to receive it, and a subject to perceive it, all sound is thus subjective. Its emotional contents are as contingent on the presence of a human mind as is the capacity to hear the sound itself: if we hear a sound, we cannot avoid ascribing it an intention. Cirkel Square, meanwhile, refrains from bad philosophy of this kind and draws on Ancient Greek mythology to inform his tutelary four track EP, each of which is named after the Greek gods of time, hell, war and hell again. The Greeks believed in four "sinister harmonies", and Cirkel Square has finely tuned each track to conform to each of said grave frequencies, to harrowingly electric effect. It's not all doom and gloom, though: make it to the end for the calmest balm in sound there is here, 'Persefone's Whisper'.

Review: While Club Warke Deken is a duo (Dutch producers Joppe Harink and Marco van der Muelen to be precise), they frequently open up their Amsterdam studio for spontaneous jams with friends and contemporaries. That's what's an offer here: a quintet of eye-catching collaborations. Nikolai lends a hand on two tracks: the watery and off-kilter vocal tech-house drowsiness of 'Smokey and the Fundance Kid' and the sample-rich minimal house weirdness of 'Grappa'. San Proper contributes to the driving lo-fi house spaciness of 'Mixdemos' and the head-nodding hip-hop (with tech-house tweaks) of 'Droidt', while Testa Rosa hook-up 'Mind The Gap' is a driving, energy-packed tech-house roller.

Review: New US label Soft Spoken Secret does a fine job of asserting itself from the off with this tasteful drop from Adam Collins. His 'Coming Together' is a busy minimal tech sound with plenty of things to keep your attention beyond the bubbly groove. Deft pads and airy hi-hats, rising bass sequences and hints of acid make it a real gem. Then comes a 100hz DC10 remix with wonky low ends and more stripped back designs for late night sessions. Finally, the 100hz Concorde remix brings more widescreen synths and patient tension building.

Review: Burnski's high-quality Constant Black is back with more essential club-ready sounds. Donnie Cosmo and Pascal Benjamin step up for one side of action each. Cosmo's 'Holo Glitch' is first and pairs balmy synth work that is colourful and silky with some punchy tech drums and rolling bass that pulls you in deep. 'Echo Drift' is another lithe and lively one to get you on your toes while the groove flows and 'Airplane Mode' is another stylish mix of lush synth design and great rhythm. Benjamin's trio on the flip is a little more gritty with industrial-space-tech many the most fitting way to describe these curious cosmic cuts.

Review: Costin RP may be well entrenched in the Romanian scene, but his sound isn't particularly beholden to the assumed Rominimal sound. On his latest missive for Pleasure Zone he demonstrates this perfectly with the limber synth flex of 'Take Eat', the kind of stand out slice of after hours brain fodder which absolutely deserves its own side of vinyl to stretch out on. The flip side cut is pointedly titled 'Last Moments Of Sunset' and while the balmy, woozy sound may well sink into the horizon comfortably you could just as easily picture it working a warm-up slot in a club or lighting the way through a murky after hours set.

Review: Rhythm N Vibe label head Marc Cotterell strides into 2025 with a killer new three-track EP featuring plenty of his signature garage and house crossover jams. 'Annihilate The Rhythm' gets things underway with some rave-ready sirens and tightly programmed beats and bubbly bass. UK talent JACKARD steps up to remix and does so with razor-sharp hi-hats and low-slung kicks that bring the sleaze. 'Floor Dance' then brings the funk with some playful chord sequences and swirling pads and fFeed Your Soul' shuts down with aching vocal hooks and old school piano energy over some fresh US house drums.

Review: REPRESS ALERT!: Drop Music marks a marvellous quarter of a century of releases with this new slab of vinyl featuring some gems from disco funksters Crazy P and the house mainstays Inland Knights. Crazy P go first with 'Disc Odyssey' which is perfectly indicative of their much beloved sound with its low slung kicks and funky bassline. Inland Knights then offer a trio of in demand & unreleased tracks. 'Overnight' is a bumming deep house joint, 'Walk On' has an icy late night vibe and balmy pads and 'Do It Again is a more playful closer, with some killer b-line action. All four, needless to say, are timeless gems, and the fact the last two are appearing on vinyl first the first time makes it an even more desirable cop.

Review: ***B-STOCK: Slight surface marks ***


It has been seven long years since Acme Music introduced the first part of this series but now Mis Hermanos Rumanos is back with a third instalment. The three-track various artists' affair kicks off with Alex Font and his lean minimal tech house groove 'El Velorio De Pedrito Navajas" complete with wavy bass, twanging strings and an exotic vibe. Crihan's 'Dark Times' is dubby and unhurried, and again heads into steamy jungle worlds with watery droplets and organic percussion. Paul K's 'Electro Fantomas' is a final tripped-out closer with snappy snares and wavy drums.

Review: Mole Music branches out for the first time to vinyl here and shows it has a great wealth of talent to call on with a various artists' EP that is presumably the start of a new series. Holy Guacamole Vol 1 kicks off with JHNS keeping it deep and lively with 'Nevermind' while Steve End and Colau hook up for 'Back Spin' and lay down some magnificent drum loops that are silky and infectious. El Funkador's 'Shame' brings some 90s New York vibes with lovely snare sounds and warm bursts of chords. On the flipside, Alben & Laje & Errat, Hot DLVRY and Craftsmanship all cook up more fresh fusions of old and new school house.

Review: Bulgarian crew We Or Us have assembled a fine various artists release here for their next 12". 'L'interpretazione Dei Sogni' features an opening cut from The Mole in the form of the loose -limbed 'Groovy Foodbag. 3lias, Erick Navas, Clock Poets & Nagual all combine for the brilliant 'Good Not So Bad' which is gritty minimal tech house, and Triptease & Greg Paulus offer the more organic depths of 'Dreg Gong' which is all busted bass and muffled vocal swirls. Fabrizio Siano's 'Indahoo' shuts down with some wonky rhythms invention, spooky spoken words and DIY percussive details.

Review: One Eye Witness rounds up another four acts for their periodic V/A series, spewing forth four breaks-driven whooshers crossing into progressive techno territory. The Hague duo Young Adults nod to a 1997 Loveparade anthem with 'It's Only Temporary', while breaks and kick implants converge on Christopher Ledger's 'Change That', a track which sounds like the starting firings of an interplanetary expedition pod after years of disuse. Joely brings cosmic chug on the cocooning B1 'Transitional', while the Samesame closer 'Novel End' is just that, traversing a noxious atmosphere with a flexoskeletal electro beat.

Review: The fully mixed version of Confidence Man's debut Fabric mix record is here on CD. In contrast to the selectors' LP version - also sold by us - this full version is a seamless, singular slab of optical laser-read musical licence, espousing the central vibe-theme of Confidence Man's message: have confidence. Well, except for want of a receiving ear, we find ourselves tentatively able to confide in Confidence Man's Fabric mix ("better than therapy" joke happily dodged) as a substitution in the meantime; for it too shows us that real, authentic, and boundless confidence can, believably, indeed, be found in bouncy dance exclusives available on CD only. Among these are Patrick Prins' kitsch chipmunk banger 'Fiesta Conga' and Cygnus X's steezy-cheesy trance stutterer 'Positron'03'. With both many a throwback and a present promo in tow, Confidence Man dice up and dole out a small slice of their huge stash of their patented auricular confidence dust.