Watergate Schallplatten & CDs

Review: Watergate, the cult Berlin club known for its riverside location and legendary LED ceiling above the dancefloor, is also a reputable tech house label that deals in fresh names only. Here it is 8Kays that makes a debut with Falling Down, a selection of superb collaborations including 'Matematica' with Glowal which is tense and electric tech with indie vocals and with Juan Hansen he cooks up the medically hopeful 'Falling Down' which then gets two remixes. Colyn & Beswerda make it into a moody and deep groove, Chris Avantgarde brings some peak time prog energy and solo cut 'Lyra' has a warm, paddy broken beat to cruise on through the stars.

Review: Watergate welcomes back a crew of regular artists for an EP taken from the 27th instalment of its long running mix series. The Adana Twins kick off with a dark and bubbling minimal house number to set a late night mood then Sabb & Black Circle combine to great effect on the more uplifting, piano laced 'Vega', no doubt inspired by the house icon of the same name. Flip it over for 'Suwedi', a tech house track that traps you in a trance with computer melodies and last of all Emanuel Satie & Nanghiti get all spiritual and joyous with the warm house surges of 'Forever More.'

Review: On his contribution to Watergate's mix series, Biesmans has decided to showcase his own tracks, and mostly a dizzying array of previously unheard collaborations with some seriously talented producers. It makes sense then that the German imprint has decided to show off the best of these across two vinyl samplers, of which this is the second. It's a great collection all told, with opener 'Quantum Computing' - a bumping piano-house hook-up with one of his musical heroes, Mathew Jonson - and the effortlessly funky nu-disco workout 'Me Gusta Acid', co-produced by Kid Simius, standing out. Elsewhere, solo cut 'Hipster Paradise' and Johannes Albert collaboration 'Luft' are also well worth a listen.

Review: Kiko & POPOF deliver a new 'minimal' EP that both kicks and pops off. 'Night Sky', however, abstracts the 'minimal' style into something that is actually quite maximal; though duly working in the tech house formula, the sound palette is dystopian and dark. Doing justice to the French pair's long-standing good rep - Kiko has but 500+ releases to his name - it's only natural that we hear something so fresh. Transformer sound FX and sci-fi impacts adorn each transition, especially on Yulia Niko and Mia Mendi's remixes, coaxing out twin states of ecstasy and dread.