Castanea Schallplatten & CDs

Review: Ten years have now passed since Modbox (real name Patrizio Rastelli) launched the vinyl-only Castanea Records imprint, an outlet specialising in minimalistic house and techno. Remarkably, this four-tracker from the man itself narks the label's first - and likely only - release of 2024. He begins strongly with title track 'Cosmic Wind', where echoing synth stabs, gaseous ambient chords and spacey electronics cluster around a crunchy tech-house beat and surprisingly funky bassline. It's basically classical tech-house of the sort you'd have heard in the late 1990s, and that's no bad thing. Elsewhere, we get two takes on 'Acid Galaxy' - Modbox's TB-303-speckled deep tech-house original and a more driving, peak-time-ready Arno interpretation - and the intergalactic, off-kilter excellence of 'Flow'.