Back catalogue: Minimal House/Tech House

Review: Deeper shades of a finely sifted pedigree. Irish label Appian Sounds, helmed up by Al Blayney, champion only winnowed techno sounds, not threshed. A welcome international team huddle in, with these six artists from locales as far-flung as Amsterdam and Valencia contributing the likes of 'Tsuneo' and 'Persist'. The tunes verge melodic as they move through and beyond jankiness, distending die-cut acids and subtly synthetic humanisations, especially in the percussion department. 'Fuego' is the zen roshi's choice, its gaffered, glass-smithed pads topping off a naturalistic percussive surging forward, one best experienced with your eyes closed.

Review: UVAR's first LTD compilation, which appeared in the spring of 2017, was something of a runaway success, so the Romanian label has decided to do it all over again. Like its predecessor, this second serving is jam-packed with club-ready tech-house treats, from the deep space electronics, sampled children's voices and undulating drums of CSR and Argetic Brito's "Abadia" and rolling, ever-building dreaminess of Ada Kaleh's "Aum Trai Si Aum Vedea", to the low-slung, acid-flecked trip that is Mierea Dor's "Hummingbird" and deep space throb of Ikuto's "Alarcity". There's perhaps a little more of a sci-fi feel to this one, as if most of the producers have been gorging on old Motor City techno records, but the beats remain tactile and tech-house focused.

Review: This slow-burning minimal-deep house track (think Mr. G) has all the hallmarks of a seasoned classic, but it's actually a brand new track from the dream pair that is Ralph Falcon and Victoria Wilson James. Following up the underground hit that was 'I Need Someone', Nervous Records give patronage to the pair's follow-up here, along with four saucy speed garage and funky house versions by Dennis Quin, Oscar G 305 and Tenere.

Review: You'd be correct is assuming LDN to be based in the British capital, but musically you just need to take a look at the tracklist on LDN004 and see almost straight away that it so far removed from it music wise. This time around label head honcho Scott Kemp curates an absolutely stellar cast of (mainly) Romanian minimal heroes on this new label compilation. Starting out with the charmingly exotic drift of Lumieux's "Rdv Jeudi" there's then the rolling deep groove of Nu Zau's "Spring Onion" with its odd field recordings backed by some amazingly rhythmic hypnotism. Master of the art VID appears on the flip with the bass driven reductionism of "Greazi" (which is guaranteed to move afterhours hedonists) while the tough and swinging deep house of London local Rowlanz's "G.R.V." is reminiscent of Monsieur Cedric or Ion Ludwig and the sort of track you can imagine aboard the Hoppetosse on a Sunday afternoon.

Review: Having established his credentials under via a trio of well-regarded EPs on Eastenderz, the producer formerly known as Lizz unveils his most intriguing release to date. Credited to Petre Vali (his real surname is Valentin), From Inside is a double 10-inch treat full of evocative, ear-pleasing dancefloor workouts. As you'd expect, there are a couple of cuts that reminded us of his previous work - see the trippy electronics and undulating tech-house grooves of "Night Long" and sumptuously spacey chords, sharp stabs and crunchy beats of "High Emotions" - but also a couple of notable departures. There's a chunk of melancholic, dub-fuelled deep techno goodness (the wonderful "Far Away") and a vocal-sporting sliver of Balearic/tech-house fusion ("Bourjois"); both are amongst the producer's strongest work to date.

Review: The first ever vinyl record to the name of Italian prodcuer Verniss (aka. VerniB) hears the artist expedite three floor-fillers for the Seekers sublabel Twig. Efficiency is the key word here; each track emphasises less productive floweriness and more floor-readiness, though that isn't to say the record lacks subtle embellishment: 'FS Polymonkey' is especially jamboree-ish, its organic, tuned percussions merging, grading with those which are synthetic. The mood of a metallic biotic rave continues well onto the itinerant B-sider 'Travel Smp'.

Review: Verrina & Ventura are two very busy guys. The duo are partially or fully responsible for esteemed imprints such as All Inn Records, Only 300 and HOWL and now deliver a brilliant offering on Russia's Nervmusik entitled Le Notti Di Cabiria. Starting out with the rolling and dusty deep house of "Circo" which then gets a remix by French legend Ark (which is absolutely intense), they then get into some weird-ass minimal grooves too. Such as on the early Perlon sounding "Esistenza Umana" or "Passeggiata Archeologica" which get bugged out in wickedly reductionist after hours style. "Cabiria" delves into lo-tech soul territory in a similar way that guys like TC 80 and Evan Baggs have also been doing recently.

Review: Verrina & Ventura come forth with a weighty double pack of booming bass heavy modern techno for peak time dancefloors. Both "Howl 1.1" and "Howl 1.2" focus on reduced elements letting the groove do all the work. There's more shuffle and deepness to "1.3" with its dark atmosphere and bittersweet melody. "Howl 1.4"takes on a more modern Minimal flavour reminiscent of Old Cadenza or more recently Understand. "Howl 1.5" and "1.6" are more straight ahead with a tougher kick drum and rolling bassline; tech house for the afterhours crowds. A solid release for the selectors.

Review: Sheffield's man of many aliases Tommy Vicari Jnr unleashes his debut LP as V.I.C.A.R.I on new Aussie vinyl-only imprint established by Mantra Collective's Jack Fuller. If you've followed Tommy for more than a minute you'll know what's in store here: lucid machine funk that bumps, grinds and spaces the dickens out of you. Key highlights include the molten warped bass on "Moy Lally In D", the juddering clipped funk of "Various Small Flames" and the Detroitian soul hurricane that is "Youereve" but these are just three of the twelve stunning synthetic spells he's cast right here. Essential.

Review: Viceversa is back on Rowle having last appeared here for the label's fifth release. His sound as subtly evolved since then but still comes with plenty of meaningful melodies and rich percussive patterns that bring something fresh to tech house. 'Sea Waves' opens with waves of synth and dubby drums sweeping you off your feet. The Floog remix is doused in echo and reverb for a more fleshy feel then 'Ocean Drive' is silky dub house with gloriously sleek lines. 'Circular Quay' is a darker one to close. A trio of top Romanians in Barac, Raresh and Sit have already been supporting these, which is high praise indeed.

Review: Romania has been at the epicenter of its own minimal sound world for decades. Artists from the country seem to bring in subtle classical influences and chamber music designs to their after-party grooves. VID steps up now to the fifth Kontent EP and does just that. 'Upsidedown' is all glitchy textures, dry claps and clipped beats, 'Red' has accordion-style melodies over watery droplets and pained vocal sounds while 'Away' is nice wet dub tech with fluid bass and haunting little melodies. A fresh EP.

Review: For a small label with minute sounds, An dromeda is a heavyweight when it comes to releasing the finest in experimental, sparse and dub-laden, extra-ordinary minimal techno. Vid inaugurated the label in 2012 and now provides the outlet with its first album via a triple 12". Should you find the early releases of Giegling appealing, its likely Vid's debut LP will be of interest too through its poppy beats, watery undertones, balanced percussion and dynamic piano manoeuvres. Productions plunge deep without the need of booming kick drums as demonstrated in "Pasul Unu", or the looped chords of "Tripusor", while rustic tribalisms form in "Landrum Bun". An intriguing album transforming how we perceive the micro-isms of danceable electronic music.

Review: Four brand new songs in the quite luxury format of 2x12". Yummy. "What's Wrong My Friends?" is the general question asked in the opening track. On the flipside "Gugga Sempa" introduces the sub flute, a rare instrument dating back to the bass-age. The second record of the double pack holds a rough percussive monster entitled "Africolaps", as well as "Dummolator", an instant 14-minute hypnosis.

Review: Ricardo Villalobos' first release for Luciano's Cadenza imprint sees another deeply engrossing development of sound, forever moving away from minimal with increasingly deep, complex rhythmic structures and the kind of subtle melodic shifts that classics are made of. Instead of techno's conventional 4- and 8- and 16- bar figures, the tracks on this doublepack create their own time signatures, sounding like careful edits lifted from Villalobos' spiralling live sessions, where loops uncoil into long, slinky springs. This is a brilliantly moody record - contemplative, melancholy, sometimes emphasizing an all-encompassing psychedelia reminiscent of Krautrock, the Chilean progressive folk/rock of Los Jaivas, and even Southeast Asian string music. Highly recommended.

Review: Fresh from remixing Afrobeat legend Tony Allen for Dekmantel, Ricardo Villalobos presents his first solo outing of 2019 - an epic double-pack containing four lengthy workouts in his signature off-kilter, minimalist techno style. First up is title track "Mandela Move", where chanted South African vocals weave their way in and out of hypnotic, funk-fuelled, glitch-driven drums that rank amongst Villalobos' boldest beats for some time. "Fontec" is deeper and subtly more melodious, with plenty of weirdo noises and some seriously chunky bass, while "Ectroscop" sees our Chilean hero brilliantly blend the swinging funk of breakbeat with his mind-altering percussion and production. Finally, "Beetglass" is as crunchy, bass-heavy and percussive as anything Villalobos has done to date.

Review: After a couple of quiet years Ferro's VBX label returns with a bang, as the esteemed Dutch minimal producer links up with none other than Ricardo Villalobos for a run of 'Ferric' jams. Enlightened souls should have some idea of what to expect here, as Ferro's snappy grooves collide with Villalobos' meandering sound collages to create psychoactive termites geared towards twisting out the dancefloor good and proper. This is proper minimal, with the percussion chiselled into fine clicks and pops to leave more space for the trippy elements to weave their magic. The quality comes assured from this new pairing, hopefully paving the way for more collaborations in the future.

Review: ***B-STOCK: Creasing to corner of outer sleeve but otherwise in excellent condition***


After a couple of quiet years Ferro's VBX label returns with a bang, as the esteemed Dutch minimal producer links up with none other than Ricardo Villalobos for a run of 'Ferric' jams. Enlightened souls should have some idea of what to expect here, as Ferro's snappy grooves collide with Villalobos' meandering sound collages to create psychoactive termites geared towards twisting out the dancefloor good and proper. This is proper minimal, with the percussion chiselled into fine clicks and pops to leave more space for the trippy elements to weave their magic. The quality comes assured from this new pairing, hopefully paving the way for more collaborations in the future.

Review: Ricardo Villalobos's first missive of 2017 is a typically epic one. It sees him join forces with Pressure Trax founder Einzelkind for a double-pack's worth of trippy variations on a theme. All four tracks offer an excellent fusion of both producer's styles, with the Chilean's darting bass and intricate percussion programming providing a perfect foil for the German's odd samples, brain-melting electronics and forthright hypnotism. Each successive track is subtly different from the last, with the pair switching lead lines, sampled textures, and beat patterns. Throughout, you'll want to both dance and immerse yourself in their spaced-out sound. In other words, it's an excellent EP.

Review: The Eastenderz label drop their 20th outing to date, just in time for the Easter weekend! That means you'll be able to smash out some killer house on the floor, and these tools are just what you need to do be able to do that. Wickham's "Digsy" kicks off with a delightful injection of bass, pushing a fat groove over a vast 7 minutes of bounciness, while Viceversa's "Aden" tones the pace down and heads into the murkier end of the deep house scale. On the flip, Doubtingthomas comes thorugh with "Jegun", a space-age roller with vast synths extending the track's reach, leaving Cosmjn's "Butterfly Drop" to deliver one final shot of bass-driven house that can only be smashed out on a jam-packed dancefloor. Badness from the Eastenderz!

Review: Six years after Youandewan christened the Brane label with a now impossible-to-find EP, the imprint finally returns to stores. This time round it's a split affair, with his tracks on the A-side and two by Velvet Velour on the flip. Youandewan first delivers 'Cheap Lust', a lovely combination of ultra-deep and dreamy pads, warped bass, locked-in house drums and tech-tinged noises, before opting for a sleazier and wilder flex on the breakbeat-driven, garage-influenced 'On A Hired Sofa'. Those garage-influences come to the fore on Velvet Velour's 'OK' - think shuffling, loose-limbed 4/4 drums, mutant UKG bass and sparse melodic motifs - while 'I Need Juice' is a bouncy slab of UKG/tech-house fusion.

Review: The success story of the two guys from Karlsruhe Kristian Beyer and Frank Wiedemann (aka Ame) is showing no signs of waning. Having led the annual charts of Groove and De:Bug magazines, provided Pete Tong with a single of the month and even making a DJ mix for said DJ's BBC show, the Essential Selection. Their hit "Rej" has been christened by Louie Vega and Danny Krivit (Masters At Work) as the "Plastic Dreams" of the new millennium. So here is their first official mix-compilation! Their DJ sets are currently being celebrated everywhere from Miami to Paris and Helsinki, so it was only a matter of time until they immortalized one of their kicking mixes for home use on an official mix album. Sonar Kollektiv label bosses Jazzanova delivered the first in this "...Mixing" series and in so doing earned worldwide thanks for making one of their eclectic DJ sets available in digital format for the first time. The duo from Karlsruhe selection is no less varied as they switch from old to new, through house, disco, minimal and techno. Synth pioneer Laurie Spiegel, who already presented a prototype of the Detroit techno sound in the 70s, sets things off with her "Appalachian Grove 1" which was written in Fortran (an old computer programme, long before Basic or C). The unusual track "24 Hours From Culture II" from 80s Dutch wave band New Musik is to this day a favourite of DJs like Daniele Baldelli and DJ Harvey. He later also used the classic "Woman Of The World" by Swiss group Formation Double on his legendary "Sarkastic Disco" mix. "Stand Up" from Nexus could easily be mistaken for a Metro Area number. Besides Ame another name that is often being mentioned with regards to the deephouse renaissance is Henrik Schwarz. His most striking remix to date is also his most timeless. The way he accentuates the voice of Robert Owens with opulent strings on Coldcut's "Walk A Mile" means it'll still give you goose bumps in ten years. Ben Westbeech is the star of Gilles Petersons new label Brownswood Records. His track "So Good Today" unites the typical Yoruba style with analogue Chicago sounds. God of remixers, Carl Craig's version of Jonny L's This "Time" was previously only available as a promo so for some the search for this jazz, house and techno hybrid ends with this release. The latest addition to the Innervisions label which Âme started with Dixon is Gilb'R & I:Cube (aka Chateau Flight). Their wide tune "Baroque" makes the perfect bridge to Luciano's "Stone Age" which has been a central part of the Ame DJ set for over two years so could not have been left out of this collection. "Flashback 86" sounds, as the title suggest, as though it might have been made in the late 80s, however actually it is produced by Jonathan Burnip who can otherwise be found behind the counter of London's Soul Jazz record store. Derrick May's Funtopia featuring Jimi Polo remix was also previously only available as a promo. It was given to Ame by Dominic Capello, manager of Glasgow's Sub Club. Of course Ame's own breakthrough track, "Nia", must be celebrated once more before it gets slightly quieter, although no less exciting, with Jump Cutz "Deep Introspection #5". This track is another true classic and favourite of Needs Crew that has long been almost impossible to get. And as true Manuel Gottsching fans Ame of course had to include an Ashra number in the mix. Their track "Sunrain" has been a big influence on the club music of today. As a whole, Ame's "...Mixing" is not just a bridge between old and new, club and home stereo. It also serves as an interesting connection between various musical genres which are currently dominating the good metropolitan clubs.

Review: Parisian oddball house legend Ark teams up again with fellow local and Prospector head honcho Pit Spector to inaugurate Ark Records. A longtime in the making no doubt but worth the wait. Love Supreme LP as the title suggests is a tribute to the legendary John Coltrane and the pair have drafted a who's who of deep house and minimal to lend some hands and ears. Highlights include The Mole's "Molemix"; a sublime serving on reductionist bounce, Frankfurt genius Lo Soul who is as brilliant as ever on the sublime and hypnotic "It's All In There Mix" and Ark himself with his "Free Mix" which is as dusted down and as funked up as we all like it!

Review: Running Back celebrates the history of Frankfurt's legendary Wild Pitch Club with this first of two parts of its eye-opening compilation. Both of the two 2 x 12" collections invites Playhouse man and club co-founder Ava alongside Panorama Bar's very own nd_baumecker to do the curation. The venue was a place to hear the very freshest US house sounds in the face of what was a fast emerging techno take over. That is represented here with an authentic snapshot of the club's vibe across a superb series of cuts. A real bit of European house history this, for sure.

Review: Wild Pitch Club is next up in the excellent and ling running Running Back Mastermix series. It's a legendary space that has very much defined the Frankfurt and wider german scene and was also something of a predecessor venue to the new well-loved Robert Johnson. That club was itself a place where Panorama Bar's very own nd_baumecker really made waves and it is they alongside co-founder Ata who have curated these tunes. The venue was hooked on the US sounds and often hosted the likes of Robert Hood and Claude Young to Kerri Chandler all of which shows in the sounds of the tunes.

Review: "Live At Ageha" captures Marco Bailey in the moment when the crowd noise is filling his sails as he mixes up a storm in downtown Tokyo. Following 2005's studio based "Positive Disorder" we now get a live snapshot direct from one of Marco's exhilarating DJ sets. Splicing and dicing his way through tracks from Deetron, Detroit Grand Pubahs, Phil Kieran, Johannes Heil, Aril Brikha, Q'Hey, Samuel L. Sessions, Tekel, Tom Hades and himself we get Marco in full on party mode as Japan's capital gets down to his techno induced funk. A great release on MB Elektronics.

Review: Between 1986 and 1994, Tony Boninsegna released an insane amount of music under dozens of different aliases, offering up rave-ready tracks that variously mixed and matched elements of acid house, bleep & bass, hardcore techno and breakbeat. Yet he remains almost unknown. Notes From The Underground, a two-part retrospective of his career, is therefore well overdue. This second part, which boasts extensive sleeve notes from UK dance music historian Matt Anniss, is packed to the rafters with re-mastered treats, with highlights including the electro-tinged bleep business of Lab Technicians' 'We Gave You Life', the weighty acid breaks of Sykosis 451's 'Monsoon', the breakbeat hardcore funkiness of MI7's 'Show I', and the proto-jungle madness of Raggahead's 'Give The People What They Want'.

Review: At long last, a light has been shone on the career of one of the UK's true underground rave heroes: Bedford producer (and man of umpteen aliases) Tony Bonisegna. Cold Blow and Musique Pour La Danse have done a terrific job on the two-part set, offering up remastered killer cuts from Bonisenga's vast catalogue alongside extensive sleeve notes by Join The Future author Matt Anniss (whose book was the first to tell the producer's remarkable story). There's plenty to set the pulse racing on this first volume, including Bonisegna's earliest explorations of house in the late 80s (both as part of The Rhythm Squad), the clonking and bleeping shuffle of Original Clique's 'F (Whistle Mix)', the Pet Shop Boys-go-to-a-rave shimmer of 'Tonnere' by Pierrepoint, the acid-flecked breaks madness of Big Showdown's 'They're Here' and the sub-heavy early breakbeat hardcore of AEK's 'Lick It'.

Review: Having found a renewed vigour with his Breach alias, Ben Westbeech has been ripping it up with his run of singles over the past few years, and now !K7 have snapped him up for the latest installment in the still-trucking DJ Kicks series that shows just how deeply rooted in house music the long-serving producer is. With the double-pack vinyl edition packing in full versions of many of the standout tracks from the mix, you can get treated to the anthemic vocal tones of Pedestrian, the heartfelt garage tones of Cassio Kohl, the fist shaking grooves of Detroit Swindle and in something of a curveball move, the ethereal electro of Dopplereffekt. For the most part it's direct and soulful house music as you would expect from a man of Ben's pedigree.

Review: Steve Bug's Dessous imprint is one of the best and most consistent deep house and minimal labels going. On Dessous Best Kept Secrets Volume 2, the follow up to 2007's first instalment, they prove it yet again with a compilation that charts both the current and future sound of the label. Full of emotion, warmth and soul, the release serves as a true indication of the label's ethos as a whole and leaves a lasting impression on the listener.



David Durango has been making impressive appearances on Dessous and Poker Flat of late. So much so that the young half Swiss, half Spanish producer was chosen to open this compilation with the first of his three offerings on the release. "Juegos Fantasiticos" opens proceedings with some warm, deep house that sounds as comfortable as it does laid back. "Striptease" showcases Durango's more upbeat side before "Human" delves into a minimal aesthetic courtesy of deft high end percussion, low bass squeezes and acute phaser work.



Alongside smooth, chord-laden house like "Le Groove Rhodes" from Rene Breithbarth and Claire Ripley's "Labyrinth" we get the techno influenced twisted synths of Moodymanc's "Omlette" and the darker more driving sound of "Merise" by Andrade. "New Road FM" by Burnski brings the groove with some cosmic, jacking twists and Graeme Park closes the release with his slo-mo house remix of Ryo Murakami's "Just For This."



Dessous Best Kept Secrets Volume 2 takes you on a delightfully soulful and rhythmic journey of their label. Although the compilation never strays too far away from their signature sound nor breaks any new barriers, it does an expert job of bringing you the vintage and emotive deep house that has made the imprint so special in the first place.

Review: Bushwacka deserves any plaudits that come his way. He was there at the birth of acid house and went on to foment his own take on tech house. He held a legendary residency at the End in London and of course dropped countless seminal tunes alongside Layo, not least their epic 'Love Story' mash-up. Now the acclaimed but still relevant UK veteran dives back into his roots to serve up the sounds that came before tech house with highlights that would have been heard at the time at parties like Heart & Soul, Release, The Drop, Vapour Space, and at venues like Heaven and The End. Skippy, dubbed garage and driving house all feature in a fine collection.

Review: By the stuffy standards of German techno, Bulent "Butch" Gurler is something of a maverick - an eccentric whose seemingly never-ending output regularly pulls techno in a variety of different directions. Certainly, he's a great choice to mix the latest instalment of Berlin club Watergate's excellent mix series. Beginning in a deep and contemplative mood, Gurler works through a range of micro-genres in an undulating, entertaining, 22-track trawl through various contemporary inspirations. Along the way, you'll find cuts by The Horrorist (as remixed by Ricardo Villalobos), Redshape (the thrilling broken techno of "Goom"), and Shifted and Sigha. There's also a couple of exclusives from the man himself and regular studio partner Hohberg, including the exotic, Arabic pulse of "Thai Cubensis".

Review: Berlin's infamous Cabinet Records is arguably responsible for the rise of tech-house over the last two decades, and the Cab Drivers have been the label's shining light throughout the years. Daniel Paul and Jens Augustowsky have defined a genre and a sound, taking inspiration from US legends like Mood II Swing and Pal Joey, and evolving the classic deep house sound into something more functional and electronic. This new compilation is an extended collection of their own remixes of other contemporary favourites, and if you're someone whose looking to buy original 12s from the duo but can't afford the Discogs price tags, then this will be an uncompromising compromise. In short, you get the legendary duo doing their thing over tunes by the likes of Paul Kalkbrenner, Nail, Mancini and Diego Krause, often making the originals a thousand times better.

Review: Cabanne, Agnès, Seuil, Ultrakurt, as unyielding Minibar bedrocks, offer new deep and shaky cuts. Inviting John Thomas & Barbara Goes for an exceptional funky time that will surely sparkle in 2008. Cabanne, digging up the woods on Zip and Dan Bell's lands, met amazing inhabitants. You'll love Your Mad Friend and Linc's fine and striking funksters. Only Spasm, Copacabannark, Ditch and Gregorythme were missing for 'compléter' La Cène (1)! It's all about house, minimal twists and tricks Minibarians love. Put a hand on the first minibar cd release. You'll enjoy the free bonus cd home-mixed by Cabanne, and really cool illustrated Minibarians' stories!

Review: Given that they started their ascent to EDM superstardom over a decade ago and have already released a string of genuine crossover anthems, this debut album from Camelphat is undeniably overdue. So, was it worth waiting for? If you like their brand of festival-friendly dance music hedonism, then you will genuinely love it. The assembled 21 tracks scattered across three action-packed slabs of wax draw influence from many interconnected styles - mostly electro-house, tech-house and techno, but also indie-dance, synth-pop, nu-disco and more bass-heavy flavours - and repackage them as distinctively Camelphat style productions, complete with contributions from numerous collaborators and guest vocalists (Noel Gallagher, Skream, Jake Bugg, Yannis Foals, Jem Cooke and Christoph all feature).

Review: Joseph Capriati has very quickly risen from underground techno player to top-tier titan. The Italian hails from Naples, a famous hotbed of minimalism that has spawned stars like Marco Carola. whose footsteps Capriati has followed in by securing his own Ibiza residency for his Metamorfosi party. The sort if sounds you can expect to hear on that label and at the events are well showcased here on his new mix of the legendary Global Underground series. From dark and driving techno to more emotional and melodic house, it's a colourful and widescreen ride that features a couple of his own fresh jams and many more from contemporary artists.

Review: Argentina's Hernan Cattaneo has long championed deeper, mellower sounds, and here Balance Music invite him to give full rein to those laidback tendencies. CD1 starts out in deep house/minimal pastures, then moves closer to the prog/melodic end of the spectrum as it goes on, and that's where we stay for most of CD2 (bar the inevitable downtempo close) - though, to be clear, we're talking about the very deepest of prog here, with not a cheesy Euro synth riff in sight! It's an album that's really best enjoyed in full, but if you want to know where to dip your toes, try Mike Griego's 'Headspace' or Kevin Di Serna & Graziano Raffa's 'System Era'.

Review: Here is Confidence Man debut for Fabric's acclaimed Fabric Presents mix series, flaunting the lesser-heard DJing chops of this contemporary pop-dance duo. "Have confidence, man" is the central motto of the collaborative pair made up of Janet Planet and Sugar Bones, who first came up in Brisbane, Australia band found rapid acclaim for their easily assimilable blend of electro pop, dance and indie. Their debut mix for Fabric flexes an adroit ear for the vim-affirming ends of life, scouring the hidden depths of their well-threshed record crate of 90s rave and trance, with tunes by the likes of Joe Goddard, Jex Opolis, Wallace and Sweely all implying an innate, strutting, blue-steel-over-the-shoulder confidence, innate to all yet realised by few.

Review: After what seems like several millennia in the game, British techno granddaddy Carl Cox is still going strong. The big man remains a popular draw, as the crowds at his Space Ibiza residency this summer have proved. Here, he offers up a taster of his sets at the legendary White Isle venue, moving from atmospheric grooviness to fist-pumping toughness over two all-action discs. The tracklist holds a few surprises, with looser house cuts from Bushwacka, Luca Banchetti and Nick Fanciulli wrestling for disc space alongside more formidable fare from the likes of Mark Book, Christian Smith, Mr G and Marco Bailey.

Review: Renowned producer, remixer, DJ and record label owner Carl Craig is one of the few artists who can truly claim to have shaped the sound of
modern electronic music. Making music since the tender age of 17, Craig has created everything from ambient soundscapes to jazz
during the past 20 years, but it's his work in dance music that is at his core. 'Sessions' is a long overdue album that brings together a personal
selection of Carl's incredible back catalogue, from his early work under the aliases Paperclip People and 69 to worldwide hits like 'Throw'
(recently covered live by LCD Soundsystem) and groundbreaking tracks like 'Bug in the Bassbin'. Alongside the classics, the two discs also showcase why Craig is still such a powerful force in music today with a diverse range of remixes for the likes of XPress 2, Theo Parrish and many others. For his rework for Junior Boys'. 'Like A Child' he was just nominated for a Grammy.
The selection also includes previously unreleased tracks, alternative versions of his own productions, as well as some exclusive unreleased
remixes. 'Sessions' reminds us of how exciting and unique Carl Craig's productions and remixes are and why he remains at the top of his game,
a retrospective of one of the world’s most influential and groundbreaking figures in electronic music.

Review: Renowned producer, remixer, DJ and record label owner Carl Craig is one of the few artists who can truly claim to have shaped the sound of
modern electronic music. Making music since the tender age of 17, Craig has created everything from ambient soundscapes to jazz
during the past 20 years, but it's his work in dance music that is at his core. 'Sessions' is a long overdue album that brings together a personal
selection of Carl's incredible back catalogue, from his early work under the aliases Paperclip People and 69 to worldwide hits like 'Throw'
(recently covered live by LCD Soundsystem) and groundbreaking tracks like 'Bug in the Bassbin'. Alongside the classics, the two discs also showcase why Craig is still such a powerful force in music today with a diverse range of remixes for the likes of XPress 2, Theo Parrish and many others. For his rework for Junior Boys'. 'Like A Child' he was just nominated for a Grammy.
The selection also includes previously unreleased tracks, alternative versions of his own productions, as well as some exclusive unreleased
remixes. 'Sessions' reminds us of how exciting and unique Carl Craig's productions and remixes are and why he remains at the top of his game,
a retrospective of one of the world’s most influential and groundbreaking figures in electronic music.

Review: The ongoing Fabric presents series looks to Nicola Cruz for this fresh new instalment. It is one that has a focus on artists from South America and as such is rich in stringy house minimalism, booty-shaking drum patterns and Latin flair. Nicola Cruz's own 'System Mass' is a particularly fresh fusion of electro rhythms and final techno sound designs over lurching bass, and the experimentalism continues through innovative techno cuts from Anderson, Machina and Baseck & Pilo. This is one of the freshest Fabric offerings in a while.

Review: As a paid-up member of Seth Troxler's extended Visionquest family, it's perhaps no surprise that Detroit new-schooler Lee Curtiss's contribution to the Watergate club's mix series is brimming with warm, touchy-feely tech-house. From start to finish, Watergate 08 sounds like an audio advert for the Visionquest sound; that pleasingly melodic fusion of heavy low-end, off-kilter synth pop posturing and tactile, MDMA-friendly electronic grooves. It's the sort of effortlessly delicious sound that lends itself well to a mix album, and as a result Watergate 08 is a lovely listen. With superb contributions from Footprintz, Maceo Plex, No Regular Play, Kim-Ann Foxman and Curtiss himself, there's plenty to get excited about.

Review: Highly recommended to all lovers of the deeper kind of electronic music, "Best Kept Secrets" is not your average compilation. Thus Dessous release is a timeless statement of what the meaning of deep house is, was and will be in the future.

Review: John Digweed doesn't do things by halves. Most of his mixed compilations tend towards the epic, and Quattro 2 - a sequel to 2020's Quattro- is no exception. It features three discs of new, unreleased and exclusive music mixed by Digweed, each of which has its own loose theme. Disc one, Soundscape, concentrates on immersive and meditating sounds, with disc two - Tempo - delivering warm-up style goodness and disc three, Redux, peak-time house and breaks in Digweed's distinctively melodious style. The collection's fourth CD, meanwhile, is a brand-new ambient and electronica album from Robert Babicz. Like the rest of the collection, it's really rather good.

Review: Nine months in the making and containing45 tracks, "Quattro" is the latest from ever-present UK techno titan John Digweed. It is another mammoth project - does he deal in any other kind? - that showcases a broader range of sound than ever across five discs, each of which has its own subtly differing theme. His own atmospheric soundscapes feature next to music from Bedrock mainstays and newbies alike. There is delicate ambient techno, lush progressive house and plenty of cathartic grooves laden with emotion and ready to accompany plenty of hours of self-isolation from morning through noon and night.

Review: Ever the progressive futurist, John Digweed has decided to celebrate two decades of his Bedrock parties and record label not with an epic retrospective, but rather a compilation entirely made up of new, previously unreleased recordings. In typical Digweed fashion, the first two discs feature these 42 tracks mixed into a seamless journey by the man himself, with the same material featuring in full-length, un-mixed form on discs three and four. For fans of the producer's melodious and atmospheric take on house, techno and downtempo grooves, there's much to enjoy, including sublime cuts from the likes of Yunus Guvenen, Guy J, Marc Romboy, Oliver Lieb, Nick Muir (Digweed's long-serving studio partner), Quiver and Pig&Dan.

Review: Nine months in the making and containing 45 tracks, "Quattro" is the latest from ever-present UK techno titan John Digweed. It is another mammoth project - does he deal in any other kind? - that showcases a broader range of sound than ever across four discs, each of which has its own subtly differing theme. His own atmospheric soundscapes feature next to music from Bedrock mainstays and newbies alike. There is delicate ambient techno, lush progressive house and plenty of cathartic grooves laden with emotion and ready to accompany plenty of hours of self-isolation from morning through noon and night.

Review: Famed for his journeyman selector adventures, John Digweed captures one of his notorious all-night marathons in Contact, one of the most respected and appointed clubs in Tokyo. Five CDs deep ranging from deep dubby warm up grooves from the likes of Mono Electric Orchestra to thumping heads-down finale fire from the likes of Popof and Patrice Baumel, across five CDs Digweed displays his true sound, skill and depth of selection that's often only ever experienced in the club. An absolute must have trip for all Bedrock, John Digweed and techno fans.

Review: Celebrating the 2nd year anniversary of Dirt Crew Recordings, we are proud to present you the first label compilation of Dirt Crew Recordings and Players Paradise. There is a fine selection of past burners and upcoming hot singles. The two CD's feature 80 exclusive new tracks! CD 2 is a review of our more laidback and minimal house orientated second label, Players Paradise.

Review: 11 years on from DJ Koze's one and only commercial mix, 2004's All People Is My Friends for Kompakt, the Pampa boss lines the 50th DJ Kicks mix, following high profile contributions from Nina Kraviz and Actress. This vinyl edition offers the best of both worlds really, featuring some 17 highlights of Kozalla's selection in their original form spread across two slabs of vinyl whilst !K7 have also thrown in a CD copy of the mix so you can hear how it's all done Koze-style. As you'd expect Koze presents one of the more far-reaching selections in the series, with Madlib-produced Freddie Gibbs nestling up alongside William Shatner, Boards of Canada remixes, Broadcast whilst the likes of Marcel Fengler, Session Victim and Frank & Tony offer some deepness.