Back catalogue: Minimal/Tech House

Review: Way beyond its New Beat roots, Boccaccio was one of Europe's most influential clubs and known for operating at the cutting edge of house, techno, acid and beyond, and for shaping a distinct sound that defined Sundays in rural Destelbergen. Curated by Olivier Pieters and Stefaan Vandenberghe, Boccaccio Life 1987-1993, released by Belgian label Music Man Records, captures the raw energy of a scene ahead of its time. Four VA Eps from it bring the tracks to wax and this one has four seminal US artists at their most visceral and impactful.

Review: With Pattern Gardening, London-after-Leeds imprint Wisdom Teeth yank out an extra gnasher we didn't know we had. As has always been the case, label heads Facta and K-Lone could be said to have curated and curetted a new compilation from the joint dentist's chair, exacting a 22-track root canal with periodontal precision, nearly doubling the size of their V/A ambit since 2024's Club Moss. But on this selective six-track sampler for wax, we've only a further sanding down of a much larger minimal, micro and tech house selection; here's gummy textures and maxillary moods by Polygonia, rRoxymore, Lurka, Sub Basics, and newcomer Jichael Mackson. Clarity and sound design are top priorities, as is the ideal of whitened teeth flashed by the poolside. Snappy, Rhodesy, watery.

Review: Bucharest's SEPP brings his sleek, late-night minimalism to _NRV with three tightly built DJ tools that reward close listening. 'Feeling Ma' Bass' opens with a thick low-end throb and clipped vocal pressure, subtly layering loops that spiral into a locked-in hypnosis. 'Body Language' keeps the energy taut, working crisp drum hits and delayed FX into a taut, heads-down groove. Closing cut 'Do You Love Me' dips into a darker mood, balancing grainy textures with a filtered vocal loop that teases emotion without overstating it. There's a strong sense of restraint across all three-this is dancefloor material from a producer who knows exactly where tension lives.

Review: This new various artists EP via Berlin label Rockets Audio is a bright collection of belligerent, boxout beats, filed under the tag "fight music": a genre name which, by our account, very few other records share in. Though not particularly any more jingoistic in sound than the average knockout minimal breaks record, this one is still a multi-ringed set of winded body shots, and an all-round demo of Rockets' rope-a-dope roster, each of said artists punching well outside their weight classes. All remixing Sepp's titular 'Fighta' - itself a fortified set of padded facial armaments encasing a softer, funkier core of pads and vocal pump-ups - the one-punch KO this round, however, has to be Cesaire & Disorder's remix, which splits open the cheek protectors with extra dynamic, agile breaks design.

Review: REPRESS ALERT!: As Soul Capsule, Baby Ford and Thomas Melchior made some of minimal techno's most accomplished records. It has been many years since they stopped turning out new material - sadly - but their archive tracks are still in hot demand and undeniably relevant. While 1999's 'Lady Science' might be their most famous offering, this EP from 2001 on Aspect Music is no less vital and it will currently cost you well over L250 on second-hand markets. It is Ford's Trelik label who reissues it here in all its glory: the entirety of the a-side is taken up with 'Law Of Grace,' a delightfully deep and breezy minimal dub house roller with pensive chords draped over the frictionless drums. 'Meltdown' has a more experimental feel with brushed metal drums beneath a wordless vocal musing. The cult 'Lady Science' (Tek Mix) is also inched with the whole package being remastered by D&M to make this one utterly essential.

Review: REPRESS ALERT!: It's reissue time for one of the most in demand records from the Trelik catalogue, featuring Baby Ford and Thomas Melchior under their Sunpeople alias. The flip side's opening track 'Check Your Buddah' is probably the best known of the four tracks here, with its spacious echoes, mantra-like voices and heads down beats, but there's plenty to be said for the other three. 'Lovers Eyes' is an equally dubby techno affair, but pinned down by sturdy, infectious beats, 'Sungods Wedding' is blessed with churning, warm bass action and just a smidge of cowbell and 'Make It Right' is properly hypnotic 3am gear that's a dream to mix and draws in the listener with its imperceptible builds and three note bleep magic. Worship the Sun!

Review: Philadelphia-based producer Sweater lands on MME with four vividly imagined club tools that fuse house, electro and sci-fi atmospherics with a tactile, floor-focused energy. 'Mighty Morphin' opens with loose-limbed drums, soft chord flashes and a buoyant groove that glows with warmth and movement. 'Body Scan' follows in darker hues-ghosted vocals and a rubbery bassline orbit around crisp percussion and flickering synth detail. The B-side leans heavier: 'Escape The Future' dives into dubby, low-slung territory, rolling out a shadowy pulse designed for dim, smoke-filled rooms. 'Hydro Pump' closes on an electro tip-playful but tight, its blipping leads and darting textures skimming over nimble, broken rhythms. Smart, weighty and imaginative, it's a bold step forward for both artist and label, primed for the more adventurous end of the night.

Review: We're told that this EP is an archive of encoded human memories made to "survive the AI's purge." Anyone listening back to this years from now will be sure we had a good old time, because it's slick and charming, minimal and tech with real soul. Sweater's 'Front Street Strut' is a kaleidoscope of colours, Reyer's- 'Martian Law' brings some stripped-back but bubbly and rubbery funk and Poten's 'Coming Or Going' layers up whirring machines and pixelated synth sequences into something zoned out and warm. Lukey shuts down with the snappy broken beat tech of 'Spectrum' with its bright, singing leads.