Juno Recommends Minimal / Tech House:June 2022

Review: Nice to see legendary Australian dance outfit Boxcar receiving some renewed interest. The staples of the Sydney-based Volition Records were responsible for their fair share of dance hits throughout the '80s and '90s, one of their biggest being 1994's 'What Are You So Happy About?'. 'Comet' is taken from the 1990 LP Vertigo on seminal Canadian imprint Nettwerk. The original Robert Racic produced version came with a remix by Arthur Baker on the flip, while this version features re-rubs by (among others) Slow Motion co-head Fabrizio Mammarella taking the track into neon-lit Italo chug territory, while the ever reliable Jonny Rock delivers a trippy deep disco dub.

Review: Last year DisDat dipped into Andrew Weatherall's archive of unreleased music and unleashed 'Y.W Eleven', a deliciously chuggy, druggy, synth-heavy affair that sounded like the late producer's take on 'Enjoy The Silence'-era Depeche Mode after a fistful of hallucinogenic mushrooms. 'Y.W Fourteen', a kind of sequel mined from the same source, is a little breezier and quietly Balearic in tone, with attractively fluttering synth lines bubbling away atop a crunchy, mid-tempo electro beat and intergalactic electronics. The accompanying remix comes from the effervescent Ricardo Villalobos, who successfully re-imagines the track as a rubbery, bass-heavy chunk of locked-in dancefloor minimalism in his distinctively wonky-but-funky, otherworldly style.

Review: Mystical dreamweaver Edward has previously brought out some of his classiest club-tooled gear for Trelik, with 2018's Rumours EP being a particular highlight in his glittering career in minimal. Breaking a protracted silence for Baby Ford's label, this new three-tracker once more takes us into the unique atmospheric zone Edward occupies with his productions. 'The Giver' has an unnerving, desolate quality but it's also rock-solid in the rhythm department, with subtle threads of warmth to balance out the eeriness. 'Memory Motions' is a spicier cut with a pronounced house jack to propel a tense set of sonic motifs, with a special mention to the wobbly organ-like chord line. 'Tuned' is the most upfront of all the tracks, using some processed piano hooks and a full compliment of nagging, funkified ingredients to make a certified, if left-of-centre, party starter.

Review: You might have thought Florida breaks were an old-timey thing, but Miami's Sports Records proves otherwise with this. This freshest split 12". 'Sports Vol. 3' hears individual contributions from Liquid Earth, Daisy Boy, Nachtbreaker and Huerta added to the fore, beginning on the scratch-up Mario Kart-esque breaks n' tones of 'Spooky Snorkel' and ending on the b-boy's laser-fire that is 'Seekers'. Limited to 500 copies, you don't want to miss this latest addition, best for fans of Telephones or Kalahari Oyster Cult.

Review: Rolling into the spring of 2022, Mosaic turns to Berlin based Yorkshireman and co-founder of Tact Recordings, Fletcher, for Mosaic LTDX6 .

Following his impressive "Mechanical Garden" debut LP on Mosaic DTL, 'Violet Shift' focuses on Fletcher's ability to weave magic for the dancefloor with DeepChord's Mike Schommer adding a contrasting touch of class on the remix.

Title track 'Violet Shift' is a trip into the light fantastic: centring around a delicate fusion of deftly programmed beats and continuously shifting filtered chords. Brought together with muted pulses of sub bass and splashes of effects, it's a masterful exercise in restraint and a true delight with repeat listening.

Taking it the other way, Schommer's remix focuses on a four to the floor journey: adding tribal elements and tight percussion that inject more urgency into the mix. A tough but fair take, you wouldn't expect anything less.

Last but not least, the dawn chorus of 'BOHTS' eases you into the mood with a trimming of airy optimism and brushy bounce to the beats as warm chords sweep their way through.

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: Carpet & Snares' white label Dummy series returns for round two and it's ready for action. Five modern, lean and club-ready bangers split the difference between house, techno and electro Like its predecessor, you won't want to sleep on this one for any longer than is necessary.

Review: New school tech house beatmaker Junes serves up a fourth instalment in his Dote series here. As always this is high functioning, high class club music with a real machine warm and futuristic sense of soul. 'Transport Express' is quick and slick, cruising on a nice deep space vibe, silky kicks and hits and bulbous bass. 'Authority' hits harder, with more punchy technoid drums and tripped out synth motifs. 'Pools' closes down in the most frantic fashion of the lot with blistering synths and hurried double time drum programming.

Review: We've become relentless pushers of (albeit, only the best) minimal and tech house as of late, and in this case we're more than willing to add this two-track cut from mysterious wax pushers VWV to the fore. Lending tribal grooves and funky click-clacks to an otherwise breathable house palette, we're more than stoked at this tripletting, bubbly pair. 'Track 2' is particularly wibbly, for anyone keen to get especially squirmy in the dance.

Review: Len Lewis is a name that only the more well versed house heads will know. He recorded these tunes way back in the late nineties and early noughties. He has recently been digging in his vaults from that time and has lined up a series of releases of unheard bits and this is the first for Fake Records. 'Macrobe' is a freaky and chunky house tune with gritty textures, 'Knickers In Ya Cornflakes' is then even more rude and sleazy thanks to its mega raw edge, and 'Cosmic Rays' is a mechanical groove workout with serene pads softening it up. 'Pick It Up' is the most funky and elastic of the lot, and it closes out a hugely versatile and high impact EP.

Review: We've become relentless pushers of (albeit, only the best) minimal and tech house as of late, and of this batch, French label Stamp Records almost certainly head up the microgenre, microhouse. Welcoming four funky affiliates with a flair for fleeting feels, every track here is a beautiful vignette. In the future, when we have flying cars, Alich & Simo's 'Ahlia' might function as a fittingly dreamy and esoteric soundtrack for late cosmic nightrides. Meanwhile, Lulla's '99 Year Old Port' works better for scouring underwater sewage systems and future undersea tunnels. Sample-heavy, light and flighty.

Review: Jackie and T. Oceans started Taboo Traxx in 2019, dropping a couple of classy hardware house EPs before going quiet for a minute. Now they're back in action with a new various artists release under the Taboo Tribe banner. Jackie, aka Jacopo Latini, opens proceedings with the warm, retro stylings of 'Since I Find You' - a bouncy old-skool house joint with a smattering of early electronica in its bones. 'I Don't Like Trendy Music' finds Matteo edging into vintage techno territory, while DJ Tizza's 'Revoltic' has a sweeter demeanour. Gag rounds things off with the wonderfully trippy 'Cool?', which teases nimble 303, swooping pads and chunky bass to illustrious effect.

Review: Last year, Mother Tongue Records released Madre Lingua, an album of all-star collaborations between broken beat and deep house musicians and producers helmed by Verona-based Brit Patrick Gibin. This 12" updates two of the tracks from the set, with Gibin once again to the fore. On side A, he joins forces with long-time friend and studio buddy Kaidi Tatham to remix EDB and Gary Superfly's 'Pressure'. Their tack is bouncy and synth-heavy, with spacey, out-there lead lines and intergalactic-sounding pads rising above a Maurice Fulton-as-Syclops style bassline and loose-limbed house drums. On the flip, Marc De Clive-Lowe remixes his own collaboration with Gibin and Tommasso Capelleto, 'Apollo', brilliantly joining the dots between spacey jazz-funk and ambient on a superb, beat-free 'Dreamscape' mix.

Review: Welsh label OGE are at the forefront of the headsier side of the UK's minimal tech scene, and here they serve up a white label comp full of tunes by an unknown, unnamed label signee, keeping things misty and fresh. All the tracks from the A to the D, 'Prisoners Of The Sun' to 'Dubnosois', are mad techy lucid dreams, blending budding beat grooves with ruminating washes of synth and toothy, arpy ponderances

Review: Robin Ordell debuts the first solo artist EP on his own label No Time County, an imprint that finds itself newly in the square centre of Berlin's psychic deep house sound. Following their first V/A compilation, released in 2020, defining the label's mission statement as pushing a "feeling of elegance to the dancefloor", Ordell here once again oils up the battering rams that are deep house and ambient trance, lending smoothness and melody to their harder edges.

Review: Contrary to what might be implied by the name, the German label Bondage Music are in the business of making and releasing rather relaxed deep house. Even so, we could believe this music could indeed work to accompany the more esoteric ends of romancing! Welcoming four new artists to the 8th instalment in their 'Bondage Games' series, we've got four new techy zoneouts here to scratch your daily itch - 'Small Talk' and 'All Around' being housier highlights.

Review: Reliable tech house outlet Monaberry serves up a versatile 12" from some of the scene's key groove makers. Super Flu & Angelov kick off with 'Diva Halle' which has some playful synth leads over silvery beats. Alex Breitling then steps up with 'Dark Forest' which is a more dark and gritty cut that has some eerie late night pads and freaky vocal stabs. On the flip come Denis Naidanow and Kookmode with a couple more moody tech offerings that are introspective and deeper than average.

Review: The Superlux Records story continues here with a new missive form the label head, N-Gynn. The UK underground head brings his stylish but energetic vibes to four cuts that are well versed in classic tech house for the prime 90s ear but with sufficient new school invention to make them stand out. 'Renaissance' is a hefty one with bouncing drums and taught bass. The steel texture make it ripe for the early hours of the morning. There is a much more smooth feel to 'The Heavens' with its rolling rubbery bass and then 'Hypno' gets you in a daze with nice ambient pad work over lock in and tight drum loops. 'Alma' shuts down with more fiery breakbeats.

Review: Pancratio is back on his onetriptoayvon imprint with OTTA4 X Korghettini Electronics. In early 2020, the Italian producer dug out his range of Korg Electribes, put them together and started jamming, recording several tracks without using any other equipment. The result is a bunch of tight and well produced tracks that prove sometimes less is, indeed, more. We were really feeling the Northern bleep energy of #1 and the retro techno euphoria of "#6". While over on the flip, the deep down and dirty acid of #2 has us tripping out too.

Review: German duo Andhim have been rolling out their epic strain of melodic techno and electronica for more than 12 years now, and they're still as inspired as ever. Once more appearing on their own Superfriends label, they're exploring a seasonal concept on this record which reflects on different times of year in their homeland. The vibes are perhaps to be expected, with 'German Summer' coming through as the big feel-good anthem for festival stages versus the brooding tech of 'German Fall'. It's 'German Winter' where things get more resolutely melancholic, though never at the expense of the beats and dynamic twists and turns.

Review: Ukraine's Intelligent Sound imprint, headed up by much deserved chin-stroker Gals, aims at intelligent and brainy sounds woven between the beaty moulds of techy house and minimal dance. Release numero uno hails from KiRiK, aka. Kirill Kirik, whose music weaves unusual lonesome guitar and acid sounds ('Experience Joy'), midnight house calls and voices in our heads ('Mystical Night'), funking cyberspace clicks ('Nothing Will Ever Content Him') and dusky vocaloid seascapes ('Roses Love Sunlight'). Highly intelligent indeed.

Review: Since returning to action in 2016 after a seven-year break, 1990s techno survivor Lee Renacre AKA 100 Hz has released some of the best music of his career. This fine four-tracker marks the long-serving Londoner's first outing on Romanian imprint Amphia, who are best known for serving up sparse, minimalistic tech-house. As you'd expect, there's a slightly fuller sound here, though sonically it's as pleasingly druggy and mind-mangling as much of the imprint's output. Renacre brilliantly flits between trippy, arpeggio-driven, house-tempo techno (the otherworldly 'Machines of May'), dubstep-influenced UK bass/techno fusion ('Gadget', which echoes the ethos of his early 100 Hz releases with James Chapman), intergalactic tech-house ('Dark as Night'), and frankly filthy low-end wobblers ('Swiss').

Review: MixCult present another various artists 12" of sleek minimal tech and dub tech grooves for discerning DJs, leading in with the shimmering metallic cloudbursts of Bruit Blanc and Moodeep's 'Sunshine'. Ohm & TM Shuffle follow that up with the dreamy, rainy day deepness of 'We Penetrate Them' before Genning remixes Atart's 'JNVPE' into a tightly-wound tripper for the late hours of the dance. DJ <3 gets to send the record off in style with 'Uyar', a contemplative cut laced with downcast synth undulations and a steady-ticking rhythmic undercarriage. If you prefer your 4/4 with a liberal side serving of introspection, this is the record for you.