Tags: Minimal Techno

Review: So the legend goes like this: Jeremy Herpe (aka From Karaoke To Stardom) saw Alex Under playing in Paris. From that moment he knew what he wanted to do - make music. A few months later he had his first release! This young French producer is one of the most talented newcomers in the techno world.

Review: Kiko & POPOF deliver a new 'minimal' EP that both kicks and pops off. 'Night Sky', however, abstracts the 'minimal' style into something that is actually quite maximal; though duly working in the tech house formula, the sound palette is dystopian and dark. Doing justice to the French pair's long-standing good rep - Kiko has but 500+ releases to his name - it's only natural that we hear something so fresh. Transformer sound FX and sci-fi impacts adorn each transition, especially on Yulia Niko and Mia Mendi's remixes, coaxing out twin states of ecstasy and dread.

Review: When it comes to blending deep house, tech-house and hazy minimalism, you can't beat the hybrid sounds emerging from Paris. While new artists are appearing all the time, Miroloja are old hands, having released their first EPs back in 2017. They're still masters of the sound too, as this four-tracker emphatically proves. They begin confidently via the spacey electronics, elastic synth-bass, hypnotic beats and intergalactic pads of 'Evoorg', before opting for a darker, chunkier and more percussive early morning sound on 'Percstherapy'. Pathagonia remixes that cut, giving it a bouncier and dreamier breakbeat house flex, before Miroloja plumb even deeper depths on the loved-up lusciousness of shuffling closing cut 'Conspiracy'.

Review: Sakro has long been turning out his expertly designed and highlight impactful minimal house and tech cuts, so it's about time we finally heard a full length from him. Psychophonies is the name of his debut and it arrives on his own label Bon Vivant with a signature palette of dark grooves and ghostly synth atmospheres. 'Unicos' soon draws you in with just that sort of vibe before the hurried drum funk of 'Loneliness' and freaky minimal-jazz-house stylings of 'Psychophony'. This is pure dancefloor music that is both perfectly functional but also full of delightful forms.

Review: South African Portable is one of those cultured artists who doesn't release a lot, but when he does, it is more than worth hearing. And this is a bumper new drop from him on Circus Company in the form of Augmented Dreams, a new double album that takes its title from the use of everyday technological advancements "to achieve what were once only dreams or visions of past generations." He goes deep into minimal, techno and ambient to fuse totters the synthetic and the organic, the real, the imagined and the unreal on a richly rewarding album that makes for a complete listening