Minimal/Tech House charts

Review: Florence is back on their own self titled label for a fifth outing that once again brings hardcore funk groves laden with great samples. 'Get Down' is raw and driving with hard hits and bouncing bass all delivered in a lo-fi style under guttural vocals. 'Dirty' is more sleazy and low slung with a more seductive vocal sound and plenty of modern synth lines next to the authentic rhythm section sounds. Whoever is behind this project sure knows how to cook up the funky goods and then some.

Review: Workshop is one of those labels that has always operated at the fringes of genre. Deep house and techno are the loose starting points in many cases, but artists never fail to veer off into the shadowy nether worlds that surround those basic forms. Kolorit does that here with two intriguing cuts all with the same name. The first has lumpy scattered drums, scraping sounds, ticking hi-hats and freaky noise samples all peppering them. The second has haunting chords sequences over a ticking sound that is coated in hiss and crackle. It's late night and mysterious. The third has clattering percussion and shimmering synths that rise and fall and build in tension and intensity.

Review: Back in the early 2000s, Stefan Schwander (better known these days for his Harmonious Thelonious project) released a handful of fine 12" singles as A Rocket In Dub that successfully blurred the boundaries between minimal house and dub techno. Here, one of the series' most renowned cuts, 'Rocket No. 3', is revisited. Like the 2002 original mix, the A-side version is a hypnotic, softly spun delight, with echoing organ motifs, bubbly electronics, opaque synth sounds and new spoken word snippets (provided by fellow German artist Jan Delay) gently rising above a deep, dubby bassline and sparse, shuffling tech-house beats. Over on the flip, there's a dub style 'Version' mix that takes the track further into vintage Rhythm & Sound territory.

Review: Caserta is legendary digger Kon's long time engineer, and he sure does have a wealth of tricks up his own sleeve. Here he gets to tackle his own super 7" on the Bridge Boots label and first off he serve sup a lovely take on a Stevie Wonder tune. 'Stevie?' (Caserta Sunday Saint mix) has mid-tempo grooves rolling away nicely beneath exquisite synth work and a well-treated vocal from the man himself. JoDaCe steps up on the flip for a Saturday Sinner mix that is more driving and ready for the club. The bass is rugged, the vocals more looped and freaky, the effect just as brilliant but in different ways.