Juno Recommends Minimal / Tech House March 2020

Review: Surreal was a sublabel of Swag Records that operated around the tech house scene of the mid to late '90s. After 17 years of silence, the label awakens from its slumber to repress a few of the choicest cuts from the back catalogue. First up is Ron & Roland, otherwise known as Laurant Webb, whose acid-laced "Nassaur Bassed Party" sounds as fresh and infectious as it did back in '96. Spacebunny's self-titled opus takes thing deeper, but there's still a strident metallic groove that harks back to the early days of tech house in fine style. Cheeky trio Coke, Stoned & Bailey's only made a couple of drops on Surreal, but "Your Dad" is surely one of the strongest - a rubbery acid line and splashes of dub all over the shop.

Review: The fourth release on BEEYOU comes from another stellar cast of emergent talents and underground operators, leading in with Julian Anthony and the garage-tinted tech house tough nut, "Raspberry Flurry". Rossi is up next with the cheeky, bouncy-as-hell "Yen" (watch out for that bassline), which sets us up nicely for the smooth strains being unfurled by Azire on the B-side. "Dats Rill" is soaked in mellow chords, but there's still plenty of slap in the drum section to keep the groove rolling. Xhz maintains the melodious vibe with the choice key chops of "Some Soul", with plenty of micro-sounds zipping around the production to keep things sprightly and playful too.

Review: The grooves are heavy and dubby but still resolutely house-oriented as William Caycedo steps up to Dungeon Meat with his first EP in a couple of years. "Rock It" perfects the lean and mean groove - just a nasty drum jack and a big subby bassline, and utterly infectious with it. "Lock N' Load" follows a similar trajectory, although functions more as a tool than a standalone track. "Cut I" is a little more bubbly in its demeanour while still following the formula of drums, bass and little else. "Cut II" has a sweet bassline that will hook the dancers in, while "Cut III" keeps the pressure up with its nagging hats and subtle rhythmic fills. This is one for the DJs, but don't be fooled - there's bags of attitude tucked within these stripped back jams.

Review: The latest drop on SlapFunk finds a three-strong cast bringing their A-game to the label that knows how to balance the chunkiest house with the tightest minimal funk. Samuel Deep is sounding fierce on "SlapTrax", an uptempo workout peppered with zippy FX and playful sound design. Ingi Visions then gets into a wriggling mood with the tracky, tremendous "Visionair Wan", while Julian Alexander brings a punchy strain of tech-house to the table for "Macrodyn". Ingi returns again for "Visionair Tu", another hopped-up hoedown full of twitchy percussion and a cheeky bassline to get bodies wiggling with approval.

Review: Lion & Lamb Records emerges from the London-based community of underground electronic heads orbiting the venue of the same name. Considering the quality of the events, you can drop the needle on this various artists joint safe in the knowledge the same high standards apply. The killer new project from Voigtmann, V3000 is up first with the ear-snagging machine funk of "The Man Who Belongs To The Horizon", before Alex Celler drops in some utterly cheeky, wriggling micro house naughtiness to add some spice to the after party. Andre King brings things back to an electro tip for the edgy sci-fi noir of "Floating Sensation" and Unai Trotti restores the balance with some boisterous 4/4 bleep business.

Review: The latest joint on Constant Black is from Subb-an and Thoma Bulwer, who work together to bring forth some seriously smart ruminations on minimal techno with an inventive modern edge. "Apollo Sun" holds court over the A side with an artful, modulating synth voice that sounds as though it could well have been cooked up through a tangled network of patch leads. On the B side, "Cosmic Breaks" has a strong set of drums that crunch in all the right places, and plenty of dreamy seasoning to make for a truly smart midtempo roller. "Spray" completes the set with the spiciest joint on the record, all tightly wound beats and nagging rhythmic wriggles both built for functionality but equally intriguing on the ear - a perfect DJ tool with enough sass to stand on its own.

Review: Holding Hands boss Desert Sound Colony stumbled on Walker's 1994 "Business Card EP" when a friend was packing his record bag for a gig. He loved it so much that he decided to track down the producer and reissue it. We'd say it was a wise move, but the spacey but low-slung opener "Untitled A" - a great example of purist techno and house fusion in keeping with the original ethos of tech-house - and the dirtier, sleazier throb of "Untitled B" remain as on-point and forward looking as they did in the mid 1990s. The EP also boasts his remix of the latter track, a tougher and marginally funkier interpretation that brings it bang up to date.

Review: That Lazare Hoche super sharp shooter is back with two choice remixes of his bomb "Time Guard" which dropped to much acclaim last year. First up on the buttons is Jesse Perez, who gets busy with some dusty funk licks strapped to a crisply programmed break before blowing the roof off with a soaring melodic injection guaranteed to incite blissed-out reverie all over the floor. East End Dubs takes a very different approach, jacking up the machine rhythms and weaving reams of bugging synth lines in and out of the groove for a dynamic electro-stepper that should go down a treat with future-minded party people.

Review: DB Jam is a mysterious new project that kicks off Half Baked's 2020 in style with an EP of reduced, refined grooves in keeping with the London institution's firmly established identity. "I Met A Leprechaun In A Russian Forest" is a psychotropic trip marked out by tunneling synth lines and heavy washes of reverbed voices - the perfect dissociative anthem. "He Told Me Bullshit" keeps things simmering under the surface with a crisp, pattering beat and plenty of intricacy kinked into the bassline. Arno's remix of "He Told Me Bullshit" refigures the original into an electro-tinted broken techno workout that maintains the trippy vibe but adds swathes more texture into the mix for a wholly different kind of transcendence.

Review: Since it first hit record stores in January 2018, the fourth part of Bondage's ongoing "Bondage Games" series of multi-artist EPs has become a sought after item. Happily, the label has decided to reissue it, this time on purple marbled vinyl. As with the initial pressing, Sascha Dive kicks things off with the locked-in late night tech-house hypnotism of "Bounce To That (Movement Mix)", before Tuccillo wraps foreboding riffs, weirdo electronics and dubbed-out sounds around a wonky, bass-heavy house groove. NTFO's "Bottom To Top" is a warmer take on the tech-house sound informed by dreamy deep house, while James Dexter's closing cut is notable for its hazy early morning fusion of watery chords, rubbery synth-bass and crunchy drums.

Review: Second time around for David "Move D" Moufang and Benjamin Brunn's first full-length collaboration, a set of unsurprisingly deep, minimalistic house, techno and ambient workouts that first appeared in record stores way back in 2006. It's one of those albums that's arguably best listened to while flat on your back in an intoxicated state, despite the presence of such hypnotic, early morning club workouts as "On The Magic Bus" and the dreamy and delightful "O". You see, the majority of the album's eight tracks are spaced-out in the extreme and all the more alluring for it, as Moufang and Brunn expertly showcase their ability to create impeccable slices of hushed, otherworldly electronic minimalism.

Review: East End Dubs' Eastenderz label is a low key but high quality outlet for those who are drawn to the slick, dubby end of the house spectrum. It's already up to an impressive 33rd release, and this time it is Spanish groove maker Cuartero who comes correct. Opener "Alma" is all warped bass and bobbling drums, "Talasa" slips into some smooth and catchy minimal house loops before "Triangulum" ups the ante again, this time with a dirtier bassline and more techno-leaning beats that will awaken any floor.

Review: Since 2006, Leipzig-based Bondage Music have had a consistent output of quality deep/tech house grooves by an all-star cast from Mihai Popoviciu, Markus Homm, to Pornbugs and NTFO. Once again showing off their sonic diversity on a various artists EP, "Bondage Games Part 5" features Deep Vibes main man Sascha Dive pursuing his newfound love of cavernous and glacial dub techno sounds on the stark "Dark Night", while label staple Frink goes deeper into the late night on the slinky and seductive bounce of "Vega". Similarly on the flip, Toman serves up some sensual mood music on his offering "Time To Time" and finally Philipp Gonzalez goes for a moody and atmospheric vibe on dancefloor drama "Open Hips".

Review: The folkloric cosmic disco scene of northern Italy in the early '90s serves as the inspiration for the Antinote's new compilation "Studiolo: The 90's Afro/Cosmic Era" compiled by Parisian DJ Ygal Ohayon. Pioneered by legends such as Daniele Baldelli and Beppe Loda, this collection of tracks features many highly sought after classics from the era, such as 1995's "Tantawina" by Roberto Righi aka Mamukata. This one bears a resemblance to In Aeternam Vale's "Dust Under Brightness" however the latter was released a couple of decades later. Elsewhere, there's the low-slung acid disco of Claudio Diva's "Funky Nephos" and the mandatory pan pipes sound (a signature) as heard on African Project's "Ethno Beat" and not to mention some of those chipmunk vocals ("Indien Summer") - another unintended trademark of the style. A young Austrian named Stefan Egger is said to have caught Baldelli play during his residency at the Cosmic Club in the seaside resort town of Rimini and had a life-affirming moment on the dancefloor. He brought the sound to his native Innsburck and created a scene of its own there. His contribution "Cosmic Esmeralda" (1994) is pure euphoria on a Belgian new beat vibe.

Review: Here's a reissue of the killer '97 jam "Rush N Soul" by Londoner Chris Simmonds on Cross Section: "the home of soul, jazz and funk influenced music for the people since 1994". Said to be a Detroit anthem back in the day and supported by legends such as Derrick Carter, DJ Sneak and Mike Huckaby and you can certainly hear why - this is one seriously boompty and swing-fuelled groove that just has "it" - timeless stuff! Also paired with a new track by Simmonds in the form of "Do What We Like" - a looped-up and jazzy kinda joint that's equally made to play. This is part of a series of upcoming releases celebrating 25 years of Cross Section.

Review: CNTRL back on Pleasure Zone. BRKN ep contains broken beat and time warping space tools. enjoy loud!