Back catalogue: Minimal/Tech House

Review: Ron Morelli's long-running and always forward-thinking L.I.E.S label looks to prolific producer Orion Agassi who hails from Spain and has proven himself as a real house mainstay. He backs up that reputation with six cuts of "straight up beat tracks for the club." They are inspired by the legacy of early WBMX mix shows and come with a hint of Latin flavour, with hammers percussion, snappy drum patterns and fiery vocals all making for a nice and wonky workout across a range of inviting tempos. A very useful album that has something for a wide spread of dance floor moments.

Review: US house and techno maverick Amir Alexander has long been operating in his own unique lane. His take on those genres is based in superlative drum programming and raw emotion and this new outing on French label Phonogramme comes n coloured vinyl so looks as good as it sounds. 'Feel Me' kicks off with signature drums setting a mid-tempo groove while a classic vocal belts out to bring emotional release. 'Clear My Friend' is low slung dub house with an eerie vibe, and there is also a dub version of 'Feel Me'. 'Sunk Coast Fallacy' might be the highlight - a sparse, moody deep house cut with dusty drums and intriguing melodies that rolls for days.

Review: The all-new Tapioca label debuts here with a head-turning EP full of lovely bright, bulbous and fresh synth designs. Nathan Alzon is the alchemist behind it and 'Wiggle & Wobble's Russian Roulette Extravaganza' soon locks oyu in with nice tech drums and busy synth daubs darting about the mix. 'Garage Baker' is a hurried, scruffy and UKG-tinged sound with more unique synth work and 'Hopeless Maniac (feat Litmus)' completes this most vivid and vivacious EP with another stylish tech house twist.

Review: This new one on mysterious UK label MoonVoid Records serves up a trio of previously unreleased tracks that were originally recorded in the early 90s on tape cassette by Benjamin Wetherill under the Amethyst Moon alias. Apparently this EP is the first of a few, which is great news once you hear them. 'Lifestheme' is a crunchy and wiry electronic workout with fizzing synths and dense beats. 'Human At The Controls' brings slower rhythms and snaking synths and hissing hits while 'False Alarm (Look Over Your Shoulder)' spins you out in silky cosmic synths and snappy metallic snares.

Review: Superfriends is a new label project from German tech house duo Andhim. They take care of the first release and export outside the usual realms on opener 'Tosch (feat Piper Davis).' It has an air of DJ Koze's hazy nostalgia to it with gentle tumbling drums, broad bass notes and plenty of lo-fi texture. 'German Winter' is not as harsh and cold as the season it is named after, instead layering up subtly hopeful, sustained chords over a groove that's not too heavy, not too airy. 'Mond' brings smeared and smudged melodies, flutes and pianos together over a dubby, delightfully deep house low end. 'Horse Society' closes with the distant sound or bird tweets, a hooky percussive lead and plodding kicks for day-time open-air dancing.

Review: Anil Aras' latest effort strikes with unexpected force, blending deep house with subtle nods to dub and techno. The EP has a tangible weight, where basslines resonate with a satisfying depth and rhythms maintain a fluid, hypnotic quality. Aras doesn't rush, opting for a slow, deliberate groove that feels like a late-night conversation. There's no push for flashiness, but rather a focus on space, restraint and atmosphere, allowing each track to breathe and shift in an organic, almost meditative fashion.

Review: Andrew Azara makes an electrifying return to Cecille with his 'Cosmic Girl' EP, delivering five exceptional originals alluding to French house, disco edits and minimal techno. Hailing from Dublin and now thriving in Barcelona, Azara has majored in force since 2019, with audiences across Europe and South America, and former releases on Djebali. 'Cosmic Girl' opens the EP with pounding drums, dubby stabs, and hypnotic, fluttering textures, setting the stage for an intermediary shuffle, 'Mattika', in turn bringing headier blends of organic percussion and transitional "whoops". 'The Jam' strips things back to a minimal, raw groove, while 'Obsession' closes with a bass-heavy, swung garage house extension. You won't find the digital bonus, 'Doing It,' here, but we can also vouch for its mesmerising hold over us dance-zombies.

Review: Berlin's Exit Strategy began their 12"s game releasing EPs in browned sleeves, shortly before branching out into digital-vinyl combo releases with original artwork in the 2020s. Now with over ten years of experience under their belts, they welcome five new artists for a playful bricolage in deep and minimal techno, privileging elite, razor-sharp additive sound design and future-soulful vocal tasters. Ivory's opener 'Rain' epitomises this, while Jimi Jules squelchifies the same formula, and Aera's 'Future Holdings' rolls out the same logic to its ultimate conclusion, veering towards complex, 3D-graphic melodic techno composed entirely of climbing saws.

Review: Belgian label Music Man Records continues its deep dive into local club history with a standout 12" drawn from a wider retrospective on Destelbergen's legendary Boccaccio club. This release centres on the early house and techno that defined its Sundays-an alternative narrative to the better-known New Beat story. The A-side opens with Steve Poindexter's 'Computer Madness', all skeletal drum patterns and jacking minimalism, before UK crew Age Of Chance explode with 'Time's Up (Timeless)', a proto-rave anthem remixed into cut-and-paste chaos. On the flip, LFO's self-titled 'Leeds Warehouse Mix' drops like a techno blueprint-bleep-heavy, bold, and unmistakably northern. Closing the set is Alice D In Wonderland's 'Time Problem (Techno Speed Work)', a hyper, squiggly take on acid techno that feels like a high-speed trip through late-80s futurism. With selections curated by Olivier Pieters and Stefaan Vandenberghe, this 12" captures the rawness, friction, and thrill of a scene that still resonates across Europe's underground.