New releases last eight weeks: Minimal/Tech House

Review: Brixton-based David Agrella returns after the success of his Baby Ford-remixed 'Modulo 02', with two tracks and a nifty remix of each to boot. 'I Felt It Coming' is a heady peak time track, with Underground Resistance-style drum machine handclaps and an addictive synth hook and all the suspense and drama of a Stephen King horror tale. Domenico Rosa's remix turns that frown upside down, converting it into a perky, cheeky and altogether lighter workout that nevertheless will keep feet on the dancefloor. 'Reflexion Nocturna' (Priori remix) kicks off the B-side with fizzling dub techno stealth, subtly embellished with a smidgeon of 'Funky Drummer' breakbeat, while Agrella's original closes proceedings with head down, echo-set Leftfield-style prog house skank. Not for nothing is this chap known as one of the techno scene's fastest rising new names.

Review: Cabinet is a label that has already got a fine reputation and that has been well-deserved for its work over the years. Now it offers up a new EP from a new project by long-time friends and early Cabinet members Daniel Paul and DJ Trike. They are calling themselves Bass Cab and their vibe is, going off this first EP, classic early 90s analogue techno with live dub versions. 'G2' is a silky and frictionless dub that is as smooth as glass and perfect to get lost in. 'Lofi' has dusty deep house aesthetics with a lovely muted lead synth that voyages at its own pace through the cosmos. 'Dub Chords' brings a mix of twitchy synths, reverb, bouncing drums and rubbery bass.

Review: This is the 13th release for the Czech Republic techno label Harmony Records and sees a return of a regular contributor in Alfred Czital plus Ayu. This joint EP sees two pieces that are co-produced and then a single track by each, which gives the record a unique flow. 'The Robbery' is an upbeat breakbeat that strides the line between techno and trance. We like how these songs stay in the sweet spot and don't go overboard into a cheesiness like with 'In The End'. For a more psy-trance and techno track to keep in the groove is the refreshing. 'Body High', giving us big flashbacks of warehouse raves in 1994. We love the energy these sustain. With a psy influence throughout, fans of futuristic techno will love these darker bangers.

Review: Here's a new transmission from lesser-known cats operating in the minimal underground. PUNCHIS seem to be committed to keeping things low key and letting the tunes do the talking, which is absolutely fine given the quality of the music contained within. Delaj sets the tone of the record as dubby and moody with the slender minimal breaks of 'The Path of Life' before Cirkel Square offers up a swirling minimal tech house offering with sumptuous synth work to slide your mind into. Nicola Brusegan invites Mariana to lay down some vocals nodding to the mighty Erykah Badu on 'Touch Me', and DOMO rounds the record off with the shuffling, rubbery funk of 'Settle Down'.

Review: The second part of Sushitech's three-part vinyl-only series looking at the work of Dexter is another 12" doozy. The UK underground mainstay has been behind many cult and much sought-after records over the years and they all fuse obscure dub and acid tech house in smart ways. They were recorded between 1997-2004 and if you can find any OGs then you will be paying upwards of 100 quid for them. This slab has three driving but deep sounds carefully detailed with wispy pads and filtered vocals for perfect backroom deployment.

Review: Anthony Georges Patrice's Ausblick label has trod a fine path over the course of its first five releases and the good work continues on its sixth outing which is a new various artists affair. It is Berlin based Ephem who kicks off with 'Dizzy' and all its bumpy beast and raw perc, then Koln's Hidden Sequence follows with 'Optical Drive' that is more stripped back and powered by warming sub bass. Anthony Georges Patrice himself then completes the hat trick with 'Easy To Love' (Tunnel Vision Mix) which over ten sublime minutes brings some more airy, double doit flavoured and has already been getting plays from Mosaic boss Steve O'Sullivan.

Review: Greyscale unveils its latest endeavour, the Spectrum Series, as a way to continue to evolve its offerings and this time it is with something that makes a vibrant departure from its traditional black-and-white aesthetic. The inaugural release features the iconic Lithuanian dub track 'Kasdienybes Sventykla' by grad_u & Eazystyle MC as a way of commemorating its 15th anniversary. It came as a double CD in 2011 but now gets a first vinyl pressing on a nice 10" slab of wax. The track itself taps into the earliest roots of dub in the 70s and traces a line through the 80s with its heavyweight drums and endlessly echoing bass topped by great mic work. A pared-back instrumental features on the flip of this latest crucial drop from the dub dons at Greyscale

Review: Montreal-based label and production outfit Jump Source keep up the busy work rate hot on the heels of their recent five-track with a new drop. The three tracks here are all very much from the future - opener 'Scrap' is a fizzing, electric, static-laced minimal and tech groove with deft drums and plenty of wonky lines. 'Dry Mouth' gets a little more loose and more fluid but is still built from abstract sound designs and malfunctioning AI takes on techno. Last but not least, 'It Is To Be' brings a little late-night dub warmth to the table.

Review: Radio Slave's Rekids welcomes a Detroit house master in Monty Luke for what is a comprehensive excursion into deep house across nine exquisite new cuts. Dub, techno and more all help colour these soundwaves and first up is the shimmering electro rhythm of '40 Acres & A Terabyte' while 'Nightdubbing' gets more zoned out and smooth as it comes alive with shimmering synths over rolling beats. Elsewhere are more grinding groves like 'Starstorms' which recalls the early work of Carl Craig and 'Avant-Garde Dance Hall' is a deft dub workout.

Review: REPRESS ALERT!: Styrax has the rights to a great reissue of some long-lost but enduring classic cuts from Merv here. Written in 1995 and 1998 they are archetypal dub techno rollers that draw as much from the European school of Basic Channel as they do the lo-fi depths of Detroit. 'Dust' opens up with warm and humid chords over elegant and rolling beats that cannot fail to sweep you up, then 'Melted Vein' offers a more driving but no less hypnotic sound, this time with sleek tech pads peeling over the airy hi hats and bouncing kicks to take you up amongst the stars. Perfect for those zoned-out, low-lit basement moments at 5am. Quality tackle.

Review: Ohm and Kvadrant return to their spiritual home of Kontakt with more of that grandiose dub techno immersion they do so well, plumbing epic depths both within and beyond the functional demands of the dancefloor. 'Precious Little Diamond' kicks the record off in a steady-cruising form, guided by a smooth minimal tech house beat as the engine for some choice dub techno chords and mechanical hiccups. Deadbeat then takes the helm for a version which plunges into abstract echo chamber sonics he's spent decades perfecting before Levon Vincent completes the picture with a remix which heads into the outer limits of deep techno immersion.

Review: Ohm and Kvadrant continue to offer their services in the dub techno vein; clearly, this isn't their first Kontakt. 'Treasure Of Kings Garden' reflects a single fantasy: the muted pleasure of discovering a forbidden gem buried at the bottom of his royal majesty's grounds. We imagine Ohm and Kvadrant's king to be a tyrant; necessarily, in fact, his sadism is the exact measure against which this diamond's value can be measured. The three mixes of the sole track 'Precious Little Diamond' unfurl like different stages of bejewelled delight and respite, from the initial 4x4 discovery to Deadbeat's halfstep black market laundering, and followed shortly by Levon Vincent's impressively textural evocation of cathartic relief, on receipt of such requisitioned-then-resold royal riches.

Review: Premier dub techno outlet Greyscale from Lithuania welcomes back Lotech/Hijack following the success of his last album here, Static Phase. He has served up another full length's worth of sublime deep dub techno explorations here, and that marks his rather remarkable 36th full length in total. Winter Constellations is inspired by the Canadian's love of star gazing and the vastness of space and results in plenty of widescreen and cinematic tracks that are subtly detailed with celestial moods. From the power of 'Let's Forget Who We Are' to the infinite depth of 'Auriga' via the airiness of 'Night Sky Dreaming' and 'Horologium', this is another masterfully immersive work that really exploits the album format.

Review: After a surprise sojourn last year as Sato, an alias he used to explore ambient and dub techno territory, Satoshi Tomiie has reverted to his given name for solo album number five - a thin return given he made his 12" debut way back in 1989. The New York-based Japanese great is in fine form from the start, effortlessly sashaying between hypnotic deep tech-house (the eyes-closed, early morning excellence of 'You Are Here'), spaced-out dub-house ('Number 1'), chunky-but-dubby deep house of the kind that his friend Francois K would love ('Magic Hour'), acid-flecked minimalism ('Blast'), vintage-sounding dub techno ('A52', 'Meditation in an Emergency'), locked-in soundscape house (the shuffling and yearning 'Phase Space') and sub-heavy ambient dub ('Fast Track').