Review: Always at the forefront of the best house and techno, Toolroom call on Slovenian ace Umek to helm the latest in their series of Toolroom Knights mixes. Tracks from Funkagenda, Hertz, Gary Beck, Alex Kenji are among the 36 prime cuts on offer (available as seperate tracks or as two full-length mixes), with special shouts going out to Just'n Toko's minimal thriller "Let Me Dig", Christian Smith's brilliant old-school burner "The Price Of Freedom" and Umek's own "Novi Sad".
Review: Guy J's progressive house roots shine through on this first contribution to the Balance series. It's not just the sound - occasionally downtempo, always atmospheric and sometimes deliciously dreamy - but also his choice of tunes; each of the 13 tracks has been reconstructed or re-edited by the experienced Israeli producer. While this would be seen as self-indulgence in others, it gives the mix a coherence and fluidity that's never less than attractive. Wisely, he mixes it up throughout, flitting between dreamy deepness (Juan Deminicis), trippy dancefloor intensity (his edit of Radio Slave's version of APM 001's "Migrants"), picturesque goodness (Nevar's "Phases of Grief") and darting, melodic techno (Echomen).
Review: Little did we know that the excellent Freerange label were cooking up a follow-up EP by Clavis, the production duo consisting of Manuel Tur and Adrian Hoffmann, who deal in a very specific brand of techy house. Much like their debut EP for the label, "Alcine" rolls its pseudo tribal drums at a steady pace among dissolving melodies, and "Mangogul's Dream" offers a similar yet even more minimalistic take on the genre. The dub version of the latter is what really gets our juices flowing, though, because we're deeply into that swollen bass and well-rounded beats...not to mention that echoing cascade of percussion that spills so well over the tough groove.
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