New releases this week: Minimal/Tech House

Review: Past Moves III is the final instalment of the vinyl-only series served up by Berlin's ever-well-curated and cultured Sushitech label. It is another essential 12' that packs in plenty of heat from the long-time UK favourite. His records are hard to find and expensive when you do and this collection highlights some of his superbly blended acid, dub, tech and house grooves from back between 1997 and 2004. On this one, you will find a pair of weighty, warm, and dubbed out tech cuts with bounce in the drums and Detroit soul in the pads. Timeless stuff.

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: Sushitech is back with another of its sublime vinyl-only projects and this one focuses on the work of Dexter. There will be three 12"s in all that draw together some of the producer's finest moments. He is a truly cult figure amongst those who know and he served up a fresh take on tech, acid, dub and house between 1997 and 2004 when these tracks were first made - if you can find any of those original records prepare to pay loads for them, or else dive into Past Moves I. It has a brace of slick, tightly programmed cuts underpinned by rolling pads with lovely lo-fi pads up top. Heady stuff.

Review: Random Factor's 'On The Air' EP is a hugely sought-after classic by those who know. It came on Ralph Lawson's ever-reliable 20/20 Vision and now, as it turns 25 years old, he has decided it is the right time to get it remastered and reissued. 'On The Air' is first up on this fine EP from Carl Finlow and it has serene synths that bring to mind Detroit techno soul over pulsing bass and slick drums. 'Lockdown' has a raw vocoder vocal over punchy drums and twitchy synth stabs and 'Undercurrent' is another weapon that has more than withstood the test of time as it bumps along on funky drums and is overlaid with more playful synth patterns. 'Disconnect' is a crunchy and 8-bit closer with pixelated synths and screwy acid lines. Superb.

Review: Parisian producer Franck Roger lands on Nu Groove with 'Cosmic Tree' EP, a four-track outing of deep house perfectly at home on the legendary NYC label. Still going strong almost 35 years after its inception, it's nice to see the label is still welcoming fresh talent: Roger delivers a sultry, sauna-dunked steam on 'Part Of My Soul', one of the most contented-sounding house tracks we've heard in a while, thanks in part to the vocal stylings of Rimarkable; then there's the more repetitious ardour of 'Radik'Hall', 'Cosmic Funk' and 'The Music', all of which revel in the purely seductive potentialities of deep house production. "The music just turns me on!"

Review: Peach Disc's label head Shanti Celeste welcomes her good friend Saoirse on board to care care of its 20th EP., Adn she does a fine job of keeping it fresh with a varied four tracker that starts with the intense loops and tribal percussion of 'Mangomouse'. Once the thudding kicks arrive and bring a subtle sense of funk to the dubby techno mood things really take off. 'Heated Cloud' is urgent, emotionally intense house a la Floorplan and 'Vampire Heart' pairs eerie synth twangs with an EBM style marching beat but more dubby low ends and 'Catfished' has muscular beats infused with paranoid vocals. 'Driver' is a final heavy but heartfelt cut with a real sense of purpose.