Back catalogue: House

Review: ***B-STOCK: Sleeve damaged but otherwise in excellent condition***


The second release on 3 Mats features a cast of emergent artists dealing in the vibrant seam where electro synthesis and techno focus collide. If you rate labels like Partisan and EYA you'll be into this record, without a doubt. Frankfurt producer Philipp Boss opens up the record with 'Die Schone', a collaboration with Gianluca, while Gabriel Belabbas creates a rolling warm-up delight of electro breaks with an iconic sample on 'Dance With The Speaker'. Muelsa's 'The Future Is A Trap' is a raw, boxy machine workout and Nico Lampariello finishes the record off with an acid laced workout for the darker side of the dance.

Review: Kompakt have billed their latest collaborative spiritual house release - three groove sandwiches shared between Deer Jade, David Hasert and Nicone - as an antidote to the all-to-prevalent late-winter blues and lack of sun, an affliction that seems to blight ravers in particular. Aside from canvassing for more outdoor and/or glass-roofed venues, all we can do in the meantime is weight the tonearm and jog-start the disc; 'Jukurpa' and 'Wasting My Time With You' are just the course of sonic vitamins us daywalkers need. The former is a deep, righteous blur of just piano tritones and circumscribed handholds around fires, as weighted knee-slaps and impacts evoke the feeling of a collective ritual come out-of-body experience. 'Cosmic Dream' returns to the very same rave spot at nighttime; at this point, it's all gone a bit lunar-psy, but the desert winds and temperate nighttime heat allow ample energy for continued soul flight.

Review: Here's a new transmission from lesser-known cats operating in the minimal underground. PUNCHIS seem to be committed to keeping things low key and letting the tunes do the talking, which is absolutely fine given the quality of the music contained within. Delaj sets the tone of the record as dubby and moody with the slender minimal breaks of 'The Path of Life' before Cirkel Square offers up a swirling minimal tech house offering with sumptuous synth work to slide your mind into. Nicola Brusegan invites Mariana to lay down some vocals nodding to the mighty Erykah Badu on 'Touch Me', and DOMO rounds the record off with the shuffling, rubbery funk of 'Settle Down'.

Review: Caleto Records proudly presents its second V/A release, 'Caleto Sampler 02', on which four new bits by six ultra-talented producers, all from Poland and Italy, join forces for a full-on rally. Impressively layered and well-curated deep dubby techno and house abounds on this quartet of mellow heaters, highlights among which have to be, for us, Brusegan's 'What I Did Dream' and Etat Cru's 'Stan Surowy'.

Review: Voodoos & Taboos unveil their anticipated new LPs series with Human Aventura, the debut self-titled album from the promising Corsican producer. An unusual dance release modelling itself on electro and chiptune, but finding itself somewhere in the hidden interstice between them, this is a self-described "libidinous Mediterranean spoken disco" album, giving elements of Telex or Kraftwerk, albeit with a progressive bent best heard on pithy cuts 'Solid State Scouter'. Not one to be missed for those who like it intelligent, fidgety and FMmy.

Review: The New Year has brought with it an influx of many new labels that are all eager to get your attention. This one, BinarySound, is well deserving of it as it offers up this cosmic tech house exploration courtesy of Kawaii San and Nathan Boost. It is San who opens up with his retro-future and fulsome cut 'Roller Derby' before getting a little deeper and bringing some subtle acid to 'What U Got.' Boost shows a different side to tech house with 'Whale Stuff' having a more playful feel and wispy pads that shine bright. 'Swingy Swang' closes out with clipped, kinetic tech funk and garage percussive patterns that are super nice.

Review: Cowbeats is back with more fresh future moosic to make you moove. This fourth edition of their self-titled various artists series is another one packed with gems. Kurilo's 'Son Of The Sun' manages to make stuff beats feel funky, while Riku Sugimoto has plenty of snap in his kick and hit combinations throughout 'Coffee On Me.' There is a more cosmic sense of cruising when Solidwood dials you in on his sublime 'Working With Suspect' and Rizzi & Lapucci go for cold, snappy tech house as they offer up 'Mind From Another Kind. Lastly, NND cuts loose on the melodic wild and freewheeling 'FunkyDrome.'

Review: Shout out to brand new label Planka that opens its account with the perfect entitled Funderground EP. It's a various artist affair that welcomes some new names (to us) to the scene and first to go and first to impress is Moray. 'Lujuria Universal' is full flavour tech with punchy kicks and driving, fizzing bass to get clubs going. Natural Goofy brings twitchy cosmic unease to his hurried 'You Are Alone' then Len Lewis takes things into more physical realms with the loopy tech and astral basslines of 'The Emperor Strikes Back'. It is left to Will Vickers to close down and he does so with the freewheeling and turbocharged house of 'Arf Tone.'

Review: Munir Nadir has been breaking through in the past few years with essential releases on 4Plae, Nuts On Board and Outcast Planet. Now he's minting a new label called Odd One Tape out of Italy, and bringing his playful, synth-rich sound with him. There's a nod to Italo and 80s electro in the sampling and throbbing, analogue groove of 'Rhythmistic', while 'Bass Jam' tips more towards the early 00s electro house boom a la Tiefschwarz and Tomas Andersson. 'Urban Whispers' has a more jackin' flavour with some low down sub freakiness thrown in for good measure, and 'Binary Technologies' brings the heat on the B2 with a powerful arpeggio and hard-slapping drums.

Review: The unstoppable Fuse continues its X series with a meeting between Italian veteran Alex Neri and next generation Florence-rooted hero Mennie. The sound is big, bold and 90s on this EP, with 'Reality' setting the tone perfectly with its trance-informed arps, sensual rhythm section and 'outer space' speech samples. 'Find Me' has a slightly more intricate techno make up to its synth work, while 'Rockets' shrugs off the grandiose synths for a tougher rhythm track sprinkled with acid. 'Watch Me' completes the picture with a rawer, nastier workout that maintains that old-stool flavour the duo have laid down on this deadly release.

Review: You can't beat a good edits label and that's what we seem to have here off the evidence of the first release from NIN Edits out of Italy. Ninja Edits 1 opens with the fused charms of what sounds like sleek, proto-techno synths from Kraftwerk and disco percussion on 'Dance & Music'. 'Get Up & Down' is a deeper cut with some smoky and soulful pads and nice loose percussion that throws it back to the New York disco scene, and the most buttery and seductive of the lot comes last. 'Moon & Night' has a woozy groove and lush strings scoring high next to plenty of rich instrumental funk.

Review: NT is Nail aka Neil Holliday, one half of Bent and a master of UK tech house. But here he shows a different side across six majestically Balearic groovers. That draw on everything he has done before to send you out to sea on gentle waves of shining synth goodness, downtempo bliss and dreamy, chubby, soft focus drums. 'Beside Boa Linn' is a soothing summer sound to kick off then 'Going Out To Feel It' is a spiritual house cut for sundown, and 'Don't Hide Away' is slow motion disco brilliance. The trip continues with the star-gazing 'Evening Fixture', Eddie C style guitar licks of 'Walk In Romance' and romantic lullaby 'Dreams On Hold.'

Review: A follow-up to last year's successful compilation 'Faith Presents: Ain't That A Groove', is given to us by the London-based label Faith ran by DJs Terry Farley, Stuart Patterson and Dave Jarvis. The high energy house party sound kicks off with Nolan who features the legendary house voice of Sir. Robert Owens. Hilit Kolet isn't shy with the extended remix of 'POV Siren'. This sound is synonymous with Feller and Heller DJ sets of the mid 90s. Philippa's extended remix of 'The Night' by Roach Motel backs that one up with another prime floor filler with hardly any let up. Lastly, Terry Farley, Wade Teo & Kameelah Waheed brings he deep groover "Dancing After Dark" to the party. These tracks will have you and the nightclub crowd out dancing all night.

Review: Nu Zau & Sepp return to Gettraum after previously featuring on the label's recent compilation, this time with more of their groovy tech house sounds. Sepp kicks off with 'Recognize That' which pairs acid-tinged synths with thumping drums and some nice analogue percussive clatter. On the flip, Nu Zau's 'I See You' is a balmy, breezy cut with dubby low ends, silvery tech drums and nice fractured vocals stretched throughout the mix next to happy melodies. The label head Traumer steps up to remix and flips this one into a deeper, more heads-down cut for the late-night hours.

Review: The genius of Nu Groove's ongoing 'Edits' series lies in the quality of its subtle 21st century tweaks of classic cuts from house music's golden age. You'll find plenty of fine examples of this on the latest instalment, volume four. Check first Nice7's bumpin', bass-heavy and organ-rich take on The Sound Vandal's 1991 gem 'Tonight's The Night', which the producer has successfully stripped-back and subtly beefed up, before admiring Hugo Massien's bleeping, tech-tinged remake of the Burrell Brothers' N.Y Housin' Authority classic 'Apt 2A'. You'll find tweaks of two more Burrell projects on the flip: a pleasingly driving Mak & Pasteman edit of the techno, acid and bleep inspired Utopia Project cut 'File #3', and a blissed-out, chugging and saucer-eyed Honey Dijon and Luke Solomon rub of A.B.T's Donna Summer sampling 'Luv 2 Luv U'.