VELVET VELOUR Schallplatten & CDs

Review: Silkybeats - a brand new imprint with a specific vision in tricky-shuffly dance music - debut their first ever V/A release here, providing a smashing debut and a taster for increasingly sumptuous things to come. Selected by one Velvet Velour, the producer and curator here invites three of the smoothest operators around - B.Love, Bowyer and Astral Wayne - to help cook up a selection of abstract, minimal breakstep and microhouse.

Review: Your latest acid extraterrestrial jive comes in the form of this four-track EP V/A from Planet Orange. With tracks by Velvet Velour, Mitch Wellings, Tom Frankel, and Planet Orange boss Pete Melba, this second release retains all major aspects of the label's signature sound. Bursts of alien percussion pepper luminous beats, textured by light and shade as fleeting melodies wax and wane.

Review: Liam Dadds is Velvet Velour, one of house music's new school talents with top-notch outings on cool labels like The Brane, Butter Side Up, Mindhelmet and Small Hours. French legend D'Julz has now tapped him up for his Bass Culture label and the boy done good in return. As always these are fist-pumping and house cuts that power though deep space with a whole world of effects, sci-fi details and colourful synth lines paired with super fresh bass. We love it and so do dancefloors, such is the potency and catchiness of these sounds.

Review: The label at the helm of the Minimal ship, Mindhelmet, is back with another dazzling release. Never has an artist's name so well reflected their sound - Velvet Velour's production is exactly as you might expect: smooth, effortless, yet party ready. The first track, 'The Waltzer' has an undeniable zero-gravity quality, zooming through the cosmos, encountering meteoric fields and spacious, star-studded vistas. 'Khaosan Rodeo' rushes through aqueous landscapes, embellished with water-muffled vocals, and oxygenated bubbles, this is a buoyant track for flowy, dancefloor moments. 'Wave Wizard' offers a broken, breaksy view into the Velvet Velour sound world. An excellent example of restraint from the producer - this track holds the perfect balance between substantial percussion and airy atmospheres. A mind-melting release from a standout label in the minimal scene.

Review: Nuances De Nuit hits the mini-milestone of release number 10 here and does it in a standout fashion. Velvet Velour is behind the music and the opener 'Can You Feel It' is a superbly colourful house cut with futuristic neon lines and serene grooves. 'First Filter' keeps up the freshness with more vivid synth colours, balmy cosmic chords and silky drum programming and 'Cloud Beats' then gets more off-grid with its drums. This most delicious and vibrant EP closes with another cosmic surfer in 'A New Leaf.' Lovely stuff.

Review: Breathy trance lines and light drum snaps adorn the upper edges of this funky new EP from Velvet Velour, which drops imminently on Scratch Disks. Being by its very nature a 4x4 and floor-functional EP, there is an advanced palette of sound that weaves through and between this one's beats. 'Wonderful World Of You' is a strong highlight: some kind of rattly, resonant laser-synth sloshes about the mix, caressing our ears acoustically until the flow state is truly locked. 'No 172', meanwhile, ticks off the box as one for the garage heads. Impressive.

Review: Small Hours from the Berlin-based Brit Youandewan is a young and already cult label that does things well, if not fast. Yet here we get a second EP in quick succession with the sixth outing again offering up four vital names from the house and tech underground. Velvet Velour opens up with squelchy, funky bass on 'Show You The Door' before Liquid Earth melts the mind with impossibly bendy synths and stiff drums on 'Gummo Hardrive.' Flip this 12" over and you'll find some cosmic tech in the form of The Honda Boys's 'Funghi Pie' and gurgling, gritty, metallic deep space house from Dreaming Mind who offers up 'Mid-Bozz.' Top tackle for sure.