VALEN Schallplatten & CDs

Review: If you're vibing on the current wave of proggy, trance-inflected tech house then you're sure to dig this new one from debutant producer Valen. Yoyaku sublabel Joule is carrying the Redsphere 12" fresh from a release with Janeret & Miroloja, and sure enough the tracks strike a fine balance between warm, fulsome tones and sleek minimalism as you would expect from the Parisian constellation. The title track in particular has a refined strain of dub at its core, but never at the expense of the rhythm section's steady locomotion. There's a rolling breakbeat slant to 'Blinding Lights' which should satisfy the warm up crew, and 'Divinian' gets into something cheekier thanks to its rubbery synth wriggles, ensuring you've got plenty of options when you slide this one in the bag.