Review: Few labels do minimal as well as Trelik and in terms of artists, Edwards is also as good as they come right now. This perfect pairing opens up with the deeply alluring 'Time' with its woozy pads and smeared chords over warm and rubbery drums. It's a hypnagogic affair then 'Vacuum Tube' has a more menacing air thanks to the wispy and unsettling synth details and clunky hooks. 'Watch Out' brings a more spangled and rubbery rhythm that has colourful details peeling off the beats and last of all, 'Stream' ups the ante with some thudding deep house and widescreen ambient synth work.
Review: Baby Ford's Trelik label is as revered as they come in underground circles. Ion Ludwig is not far behind when it comes to his productions and so the two are a perfect match who reunite once more here. Things kick off with the brain cleansing minimalism of 'A Beladen Date 4 Ever', a silky groove doused in harmonic chords, with swirling pads and rubbery bass all tightly intertwining. 'Transport Fighter' is a more punchy cut with thudding kicks and heftier bass, but still a nebulous eco-system of pads and melodies swirling around up top. Two killer cuts. no doubt.
Review: A reissue that minimal house fans will have been waiting for - an expanded version of Baby Ford & The Ifach Collective's Sacred Machine album. Originally released in 2001, it's generally accepted to be the high watermark for minimal, and here's it's been lovingly remastered by Dubplates & Mastering and comes blessed with two unheard-until-now corkers from the same sessions - Mark Broom's mix of 'RTDC' and 'In The Bag'. What are you waiting for?!
Review: Legendary minimal - and acid house before that - pioneer Baby Ford very much set the blueprint for the genre back in the late 90s, both solo and with The Ifach Collective, who featured Ian Loveday, Mark Broom and Thomas Melchior (amongst others). Now they are reminding us of the greatness of that work with the first in a series of reissues coming in 2023. These tunes were originally put out back on the legendary Klang Elektronik in 2000. First up is 'Tea Party' by Eon, M-Core, and Baby Ford, an ice-cold rolling dub. 'On The Floor' with Mark Broom gets more percussive and then comes a solo cut from Baby Ford, 'The Healing' which is as heady as can be and finally 'Word For Word' featuring Cheru Amadi layers up slithers of silvery percussion and cuddly bass into dubbed-out tech heaven.
Review: As Soul Capsule, Baby Ford and Thomas Melchior made some of minimal techno's most accomplished records. It has been many years since they stopped turning out new material - sadly - but their archive tracks are still in hot demand and undeniably relevant. While 1999's 'Lady Science' might be their most famous offering, this EP from 2001 on Aspect Music is no less vital. It is Ford's Trelik label who reissues it here in all its glory. 'Law Of Grace' is a delightfully deep and breezy minimal dub house roller with pensive chords draped over the frictionless drums. 'Meltdown' has a more experimental feel with brushed metal drums beneath a wordless vocal musing. The cult 'Lady Science' (Tek Mix) is also inched with the whole package being remastered by D&M to make this one utterly essential.
Review: Mystical dreamweaver Edward has previously brought out some of his classiest club-tooled gear for Trelik, with 2018's Rumours EP being a particular highlight in his glittering career in minimal. Breaking a protracted silence for Baby Ford's label, this three-tracker once more takes us into the unique atmospheric zone Edward occupies with his productions. 'The Giver' has an unnerving, desolate quality but it's also rock-solid in the rhythm department, with subtle threads of warmth to balance out the eeriness. 'Memory Motions' is a spicier cut with a pronounced house jack to propel a tense set of sonic motifs, with a special mention to the wobbly organ-like chord line. 'Tuned' is the most upfront of all the tracks, using some processed piano hooks and a full compliment of nagging, funkified ingredients to make a certified, if left-of-centre, party starter.
Review: Three distinctly outer space-themed cuts from Greece's Alex Celler, each with a linear minimal/tech skeleton that has other, interloping musical influences draped elegantly and classily across it. 'Ancient Astronuats' has the weird, wired mystical stirrings of early Black Dog about it, complete with melting, bendy electro notations that coax it along and add a psychedelic dimension. 'Stargate To Cosmos' has a playful, Drexciyan feel to it, with crunchy, organic drum beats flirting alongside the more rigid electrics. 'Object In The Sky' is the most minimal of the pack, sleek and stalker-like, but still contains enough action - mainly floating around up there in the ether - to hold and build attention.
Review: This is the first in a series of Five Eps from label co-owner Laurent Garnier, and this release gets off to a great start with "Sake Stars Fever". Redolent of classic material like "Sound of the Big Babou" and "Crispy Bacon", the track revolves around an epic, all-encompassing bass that seethes with tension. Garnier builds brittle percussion and a jittery rhythm around this core element to give it the necessary dance floor clout. In contrast, "Let The People Faire La Fete" is a deeper track that builds gradually, using doubled up claps and insistent stabs to reach a seductive crescendo. As always with Garnier, satisfaction is always guaranteed.
Review: The mysterious Assado returns to Reading label Soul Serious with a four-track EP that blends deep, tech and tribal influences and will suit those jocks for whom the drum, as Carmel once sang, is everything. 'Afa' is a percussion-heavy affair that sports a looped "I can't, I can't, I can't stop" female vocal, 'Hologram' is a chunky, tribal-infused techy roller, 'Do Want' - the standout for this reviewer - has elements of both classic soulful house/garage and late 90s NYC tribal, while more Afro-style percussion underpins 'Ziya', a more eyes-down cut that's tailor-made for small-hours excursions into the deep zone.
Review: Reading-based label Soulserious are back with the ever elusive Louie John, who serves up some sensual and sublime deep house on the Agenda EP. From the icy and dub infused tech of "Cortee" sounding like a cross between Booka Shade and Echonomist, there's the respectful nod to UK 2-step on the infectious title track, to the classic deep house of "Jazz Top" with its creamy keys amd swung beats, and ending with the emotive mood music of "Mind Free" - this is another impressive outing yet again by the Soulserious staple.
Review: We welcome the return of Berkshire-based Soulserious, who present a new release by Assado, who serves up some sweltering summer time vibes on the Brazian EP. From the dark carnival feel of the title track and its exotic polyrhythms, to the latin minimal tech house flavour of "Pulse" to the seething U.K. bass influence of "Migrate" and ending with the atmospheric mood(y) music of "Ethics". Wicked grooves from this enigmatic producer that we hope to discover more of this year.
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