Tags: Minimal Techno

Review: Having built up his self titled label alongside his sterling work as part of Oscillat, Lazare Hoche and Will & Ink, the one and only Malin Genie delivers his debut solo album. Moving beyond the pure club focus of his singles and EPs, the Genie has seized this opportunity to present a widescreen panorama of his sound, leading in with the subliminal ambience of "You" as a springboard to explore breaks, electro, techno, and especially IDM. There are so many ideas swirling round Anthropomorphic Sympathy, it's hard to know where to begin describing it. A true headphone commute for the deep listener to burrow into.

Review: Make Your Own Meaning continues to convey its unique techno message with a new statement of intent from label head Lurka. The artist has been busy of late and continues to be on a roll with another fascinating four tracker that genuinely serves up some original sounds and rhythms. 'Trip' gets things underway with organic percussive patterns stacked up over drilling bass to make for a prickly groove. 'Airlock' is similar but darker and heavier and 'Sick Flips' keeps the nimble feel going with dancing perc, rigid synths and scratchy sound effects all coalescing over broken drum patterns. Last of all is another dense, busy and multi-layered melange of tiny percussive sounds, synths and clipped rhythms that will make any floor move.

Review: Kiko & POPOF deliver a new 'minimal' EP that both kicks and pops off. 'Night Sky', however, abstracts the 'minimal' style into something that is actually quite maximal; though duly working in the tech house formula, the sound palette is dystopian and dark. Doing justice to the French pair's long-standing good rep - Kiko has but 500+ releases to his name - it's only natural that we hear something so fresh. Transformer sound FX and sci-fi impacts adorn each transition, especially on Yulia Niko and Mia Mendi's remixes, coaxing out twin states of ecstasy and dread.

Review: Germany's workhouse Rawax label is the sort of imprint that provides busy DJs with just the sort of tools they need to do their job. This latest drop veers away from the more traditional house it most often deals in to dip into sleek minimal territory. Giorgio Maulini is the man in control and 'Night Roads' is just like a nocturnal cruise down the motorway, with wispy neons flying past like headlights and a linear groove extending out below you like miles of tarmac. The rest of the EP remains just as heady and well-designed, with supple grooves and deft synths colouring in the small hours of the morning.

Review: Dutch titan Orlando Voorn was always a European with a musical sound that linked us to Detroit and Chicago. As well as house and techno he can also do searing electro bangers too as this Outerworld EP on Trust shows. It's potent tackle for peak times, with 'Shockwave' a collision of drums and percussion and wild spraying synths, then 'Outerworld' taking on a ghetto flex with more kinetic drum funk. 'Reverse Psychology' then slows it down to a more atmospheric and spaced-out vibe and 'Space Trap' is an experimental broken beat that is the best track on the EP.

Review: Back in 2021 Adam Pits heralded the start of the On Rotation label with his own debut album, A Recurring Nature. Now he's back with a follow-up which finds him stretching out as an artist ever more - a fact which is absolutely evident from the gorgeous ambient swathes of opening track 'Lost In The Ether'. Even when the drums kick in on 'Sleepless', they're more tilted towards fragmented patterns and organic tones rather than rote drum machine sounds. There's space for peppier electronica and steppy heads-down gear, but throughout Pits imbues his sound with the richest synthesis imaginable. In that sense, you can track the path of development from his earlier work while enjoying the adventurous new terrain he's exploring as an artist.

Review: Some breathless, energy-packed, party-starting brilliance here, as rave-loving Londoner HUD makes his Rekids label debut. In its' original mix form, 'Sugar' is a dirty, atmospheric, breakbeat-driven peak-time house bomb packed with jangling paino riffs, filthy bass and punchy beats, all topped off with a fantastically weary and emotive female lead vocal. Predictably, the accompanying remixes are pretty darn tidy too. Mark Broom delivers a storming and pumping techno version - all thunderous kick drums, breakbeat blasts, lilting lead lines and bouncy pianos - while DJ Deep gives the track a slight hip-house feel via funky breaks, cut-up, Todd Edwards style vocal cut-ups and chunky bass.

Review: Habitual heaviness... The anonymous Stamped Wax series continues with four bubblesome leftfield joints from a mysterious source. Like the inaugural edition in September 2021, the vibes range from off-kilter funk to woozy, weird microhouse as our unknown navigator re-route us through the stranger corners of the broken beat hinterland. Highlights include the Greenskeepers-style dreaminess of 'Untitled Breaks', the gritty electroid pace of 'Titoli Sospeci' and the heads-down shuffle action of 'Never Enough'.

Review: Dutch label Shiver makes its debut this week with a various artist EP featuring some current heroes of the minimal/tech house scene. On the first side of Cold Flower (Full Bloom) you've got Cris P with the hi-tech deepness of the title track, reminiscent of early United States Of Mars sounds, followed by Rosario's darkly stomping Stigma Flap remix and Ouhx's liquid drum 'n' bass journey 'Aomori' which is an introduction of things to come over on the flip. There you have Berlin's Ed Herbst, usually known for his deep house exploits, delivering the 90s influenced jazzy jungle roller 'High & Dry' followed by something more familiar of him in the form of late night mood music groove 'Between The Bars'.

Review: It's an Irish affair for Apartment, an all-Celtic lineup for an eclectic house four-track off the beaten path. Ireland has been accumulating an unseen electronic scene, with breakcore and jungle artists like Harmful Logic and DJ Kuroneko being just an example of the counter-culture innovation that's gaining traction. Here we see a combination of breakbeat-infused house and deep tech, with a deliberate Porter Robinson-esque nostalgia imbued within. We start off with 'Sanyo Shinkansen', a groove as efficient as its namesake with rolling guitars against a wind section that imitates train signals intermittently. Swiftly following is something more forward-looking, the glitchy beat on 'Green Spot Boogie' conjuring the breeziness of the aforementioned Robinson's 'Wind Tempos' and its stuttered synths. Tracks three and four are the secret weapons, Irish producers ELLLL and Lumigraph crafting dark, moody industrial cuts and synthy, atmospheric electronica respectively (Think Machine Girl's 'Neon White' OST). It's a bold and strong four-track showcasing some extreme talent.

Review: Banoffee Pies is one of those labels that doesn't miss no matter what genre it takes aim at. Best known for its hype garage sounds it heads into minimal territory here with Adelina at the buttons for the seventh in the Black Label Series. 'Outdoor' is a primo cut with judders groovers and sinewy synths demanding you dance, 'Spirit DNX' then slows down and gets all acidic and twisted and 'Double Danger' is a real cracker that fizzes with static. Last of all, 'Own Methods' is a future world where the robots have taken over and mysterious pads lead you through an automated world of cosmic energy.