Back catalogue: House

Review: REPRESS ALERT: Gravity Graffiti has been doing great things with its series of split 12"s already, but now the Italian label goes one better for its tenth release with this mighty double pack of heavy hitters. First up is the ever-untouchable Yoshinori Hayashi, who gets as straight up as he possibly could with the freaky house burner "Dissociative." Telephones is feeling particularly dubbed out and groovy on "Kalimbalimbo", while DB.Source and Riccardo Schiro take things strung out and textural on "Montevago". Dynamo Dreesen is in rave mode for the pepped up and delightfully weird "Reactivate", leaving the final side to Oyvind Morken & Kaman Leung's chugging "Tunnel Visjon" and the rubbery side swipes of Acidboychair's "The End (At Any Speed)".

Review: Six releases in and Michigander label head Brian Kage teams up with the legendary French Techno producer, Taho, aka David Jacopin. The electronic music world knows to put respect on the Motor City, but the "Detroit EP" represents a fusion, emphasizing l'accent aigu - not a typo or spec on your screen that needs cleaning. Between Kage and Taho, their production pedigree includes releases for labels like FXHE, Planet-E, Delsin, F.Comm, and more, so it's no surprise the pairing makes for a masterfully produced EP covering the spectrum of Detroit house and techno sounds, with an added deft touch from its French connection.

Review: Kassian never hurries his release rate which means that when the Shall Not Fade and SB Jamz producer does drop new music you need to tune in. This latest comes six months after his self-released and self-thief versions 003 back in January and arrives via the esteemed K7. 'X-303' is twisted and textured techno for late night warehouses with 'Tabla' a more layered up jumble of percussion and loopy drums. 'Prelude' burrows deep on a prying lead and bulky but rubbery drum loops and 'Patterns' rounds out with an edgy vibe, clipped vocals and uneasy synths that keep you locked.

Review: Mineral Cuts is back with more otherworldly tech house offerings, this time in the form of a split 12". KG Beat is up for with a well constructed and prog-tinged track that is always on the move; always giving you the feeling that it is going somewhere big. It's the synth sequences that convey that feeling and mean you remain locked in throughout. Cosmic Soup Sound System then styes sup to twist melons a little more with 'Eddie De Boing De Boing,' another track that gives you a dancefloor rush with waves of warm synth over old school tech house drums that are perfectly clean and punchy.

Review: Vinyl debutants The Kid N Cliff (most likely an alias for a better-known artist or artists) are the latest outfit to join the ranks of "interpretation" and "homage" specialists Dirty Blend. There are two tracks on offer, both of which are pleasingly epic and stretched out. A-side 'Don't Be Alarmed' is raw, spaced out and analogue rich, sounding like a light-tough rework of an early jacking Chicago house cut or obscure proto-techno treat from the early 1980s. 'Heavy Thump (Bangdatshyt)' sounds like an edit (or tribute to) something from a similar period - all jacking, lo-fi machine drums, deep and filtered bass, vinyl crackle, Ron Hardy builds, and more sampled drums. Whatever it references - and early Chicago house is the obvious comparison - it's breathlessly brilliant.

Review: Soundscape Versions delivers its third edition of the various artists series and offers four effective cuts between subtle house breaks, acid house, electro and atmospheric techno. Featuring Kintaro 89, Faune, Arian Alexander and Douala.

Review: Roland Klinkenberg is back on Late Night Burners with his Sim o1/Trance Textures 2 EP and does a fine job of hooking you in form the first beat. 'Planetoide' is warm, surging tech house with an underlapping bassline to die for. 'Loopy Tune' is a different proposition with a much more bumpy and playful rhythm full of bounce and 'Encountings' closes down with the more teary eyed and trance-tinged euphoria of the whole EP. In between is the raw, stripped back 'Subterranean Express' to make for a fourth different tune in this fine and varied package.

Review: ** REPRESS ALERT ** Russian DJ/producer Nina Kraviz recorded 'Mr Jones' back in 2013 which receives a reissue on REKIDS here on clear double vinyl. A fine collection of sturdy DJ tools, it features the sensual deep house cut 'Desire' featuring her own vocals, the sonar transmissions of 'Remember' which ventures into techno territory in collaboration with Detroit dub techno engineer Luke Hess, as well as the dreamy hypnotic beats of 'Black White' and closing it out with the minimal basement jam 'Sheer'.

Review: Michael Kuntzman presents a uniquely odd but compelling EP for Alleviated Records, following up his split EP 'The Underground Files 1' from 2016. From opener 'Dixie Queen' to its closing 'Dripped Version', we hear four ultra-hazy, muddy wallops in Memphis house, as if to evoke the feeling of attending a local squat rave while pranged off your nut on sizzurp. Vocal elements pop out of the mix like shared, up-close-and-personal conversational slurrings with new acquaintances you've just met, but the tracks all nonetheless command a beautifully driving surrealism, the star example of which has to be 'Mystery For Leo'.

Review: Japan's Thinner Groove flesh out their distinctive aesthetic with every new release. This time around, they welcome none other than Lemmi Ash, KOOLMFL and Sonic Weapon for a collaborative three-track EP of lowercase minimal tech and textural vignettes. The aim of the game is best encapsulated in the label's commentary: "each track can add a distinctive touch to the night, as like completing your cocktail with lemon and/or lime". Each track indeed sounds to the ear akin to how a fruity garnish tastes, with Ash's 'Presence' bringing tart citrine breaks notes to a gracefully held glass vessel. KOOLMFL's 'Atonbow' is drier bitters, barely availing itself of its trembling chords and sampled vox after an ultra-snappy initiation featuring a mere bass and kick-clap. Thinner Groove know all too well that good music is like an excitation of the flavour palate, and that minimality is the thing that lets such flavours sit.

Review: Ohm and Kvadrant continue to offer their services in the dub techno vein; clearly, this isn't their first Kontakt. 'Treasure Of Kings Garden' reflects a single fantasy: the muted pleasure of discovering a forbidden gem buried at the bottom of his royal majesty's grounds. We imagine Ohm and Kvadrant's king to be a tyrant; necessarily, in fact, his sadism is the exact measure against which this diamond's value can be measured. The three mixes of the sole track 'Precious Little Diamond' unfurl like different stages of bejewelled delight and respite, from the initial 4x4 discovery to Deadbeat's halfstep black market laundering, and followed shortly by Levon Vincent's impressively textural evocation of cathartic relief, on receipt of such requisitioned-then-resold royal riches.

Review: Japanese producer Kuniyuki Takahashi's Newwave project is a new interpretation of his musical roots. He was majorly influenced by SPK, Test Dept, D.A.F and various industrial and EBM acts. Then he formed an industrial music band with his brother in the late 80's called DRP. After 25 years, his new release is a unique mixture of his deep and emotional house sound with the aforementioned influences and now presenting the second volume once again on Mule Musiq. Takahashi is a stalwart of the label, having put out close a dozen LP and several EPs on the label over the years. From the broken beat and arpeggios of "Blue Neon" to the neon-lit '80s night deep house of "Newwave Project #11" there's an odd collection of grooves on here from a unique perspective.