Geometriae – Subtransformer EP

We stay in Denmark, and stay on a very deep tip, with this three-track EP from Danish producer Geometriae.

"Dub-based techno and deep ambient soundscapes," is how the hype sheet describes Geometriae's style, and they're not wrong. Dubbermann is a bassy, spacey dub techno excursion, Strings Of Space is a sparser, more cinematic/atmospheric ride, while Subtransformer itself is slightly more 'dancefloor', but no less deep n' dubby for it.

Lights out, lay back and enjoy. Nuff said.

Out: This week

About: This comes on a label I don't think have featured on here before, CPH Undersound. Find 'em on Facebook and Soundcloud.

Nick Harris – Oscillate Mildly EP

And speaking of 'scene veterans' who moved on a bit, here comes my boy Nick Harris, NRK label co-owner and general all-round good egg.

In keeping with Nick's other recent material, the three original tracks here sit right on the border of deep house and deep techno, and as such should appeal to lovers of either/both. Oscillate Mildly itself (five points to anyone who spotted the Smiths pun there) works insistent shuffling percussion, analogue synth squelches a-gogo and what I'm pretty sure is a Deee-Lite vocal sample, Six Feet High is a more proggy, pulsating kinda choon while The Science is the closest the EP comes to classic NRK-style deepness. Rounding out the EP, a Penner & Muder Remix of the title cut takes us even further towards deep techno territory, adding a spoken male vocal to boot.

Out: This week

About: This comes on Nick's own Stoned Immaculate, who can be found mostly on Soundcloud.

Milton Jackson – Lessons Learned EP

It's probably fair to call Barry Christie, AKA Milton Jackson, a 'scene veteran' these days… which is a bit scary when I can remember reviewing some of his earliest releases on Tronicsole and Million Dollar Disco back in the early days of X-Fade/iDJ in the late 90s/early 00s.

He's come a long way since those first soulful/disco house outings, though, as this latest EP for fledgling Brighton label Black Key Records shows. It's a two-track, three-mix affair, opening with See The Light,  a stripped-back, percussion-led deep house groover with a (sampled and?) treated "come on baby, dim the lights" vocal. Next up is 5 Cities, a deep n' dubby number with techy overtones and "gonna love you" vocal inserts, while rounding out the EP is a marginally tougher Andy Ash remix of the same.

Cool late-night grooves for discerning ears, in keeping with current styles but with just a little of that classic soulful feel.

Out: This week

About: This is only number five from Black Key Records, who can be found on Facebook, on Soundcloud or at their own website.

Psi-Acoustic – Dreams From East

Okay, listen up… after tomorrow, TIWWD will be leaving you for a week or so. Just a week or so, though, so don't get scared. BUT, I've got about 37 million things to do before then, and it's been a crazy week for releases as well* so by no means everything I wanted to get reviewed this week is going to. You have been warned.

This one, though, I had to tell you about. Coming on French label Deep Movements, it's a quite superb five-track EP that sits somewhere between deep house, deep/dub techno, scratchy lo-fi Ninja-esque funk-hop, ambient/uneasy listening and, well, you decide. Dreams From East Pt 2 is fairly easily classed as dub techno while Morning At Frankfurt Airport is straight-up ambience, but as for the rest, I'd struggle to know what genre pigeonhole to put it in.

I just know that if you're looking for late-night smoker's grooves, with at times a slightly unsettling edge, you won't find much better right now.

Out: This week

About: I don't think Deep Movements have featured on TIWWD before so, hello French people! You can find out all about 'em on Soundcloud, Facebook or at their own website. Merveilleux.

* Always happens this time of year, with people trying to get stuff out before Xmas

ALBUM Riccardo Russolillo – Let Me Call My Name

Woah… this one came out of nowhere! Usually when you get a full album by an artist/producer you've never heard of, it sets alarm bells ringing – it's often the sign of something self-released and self-indulgent. Not so here, though – this is one of the most impressive debuts I've heard for a long time.

Lightly tech-ified deep house is the order of the day, with 10 quite mellow yet still floor-friendly tracks – all instrumental, or all-but instrumental – that are pleasingly devoid of obvious hooks and dramatic breakdowns, instead tending to just get into a groove and then chug and pulse along there nicely. And we all know what less is, don't we? If you dig deeper imprints such like Fullbarr, Etoka or Lucidflow, you'll dig this – it's definitely one '4 da headz', as they say.

But while it's easy enough to sum up the album in genre terms, it's harder to find the right words to tell you just how sumptuously produced it all is – or how impressive it is for a first offering. Let's hope there's more like this to come because on this evidence, Russolillo is already shaping up to be a serious talent.

Out: This week

About: This comes on Italian label Four Fingers Hand, who can be found on Facebook.

Deymare – While She Danced EP

More very deep vibes here, but we move from the chilled-out ambience of Nikosf into those pastures where deep house and deep techno collide.

Deymare is Finnish producer Tomas Björkman, and here he presents us with three tracks in a total of four mixes. While She Danced itself features raw techno drums counterpointed by some very soothing keys, all topped with sampled snippets of both speech and [briefly, and in heavily treated form] song. Back In Time has more of the soothing keys but this time underpinned by layers of shuffling deep house percussion, while finally Rising comes in two mixes. The Original is deep house in the original Chi-town vein, while Deep Space Orchestra's remix leans a little more towards the dancefloor, with an insistent old-skool keyboard (Rhodes?) riff and wibbly-wobbly noises galore… all the better for blasting you off into inner space, my dear!

If you like your deep house slightly more leftfield, this is a must-check.

Out: This week

About: This comes on Music With Content, the label that's sprung out of successful Manchester club night Content. It's only their second release so show some love, people – here's their website and Soundcloud.

Frank Naht – D.C.O

Usually like to start Sunday on a mellow kinda tip but this week let's go through the other door and kick off with one that's straight from the dark place.

Uncompromising fierce tech-house/techno is the order of the day here. The Original features a Laurie Anderson-esque vocal atop warping, industrial percussion, the Elon Remix brings the hard-as-nails drums, the Francys Remix is an exercise in dark, creepy minimalism, while the Data Vault Remix takes us into an even sparser, more cinematic deep techno zone.

This is about as out-and-out techno as TIWWD gets but it's quality stuff, rest assured. Eyes down now.

Out: This week

About: This comes on Billy Disciple & Al Alvarez's New York-based Undulate Recordings. Find 'em on Soundcloud, on Facebook or at their own website.

Robert Solheim – Cigueñas Remixes

I don't think anything from Aquavit BEAT has featured on here before… I did get sent the album this is taken from back in June but I have to admit it appears to have got a little overlooked. I'll be going back to check it again now though, because the original version of Cigueñas, which features here, is great – a dreamy, late-night meander that blends deep house, prog and techy elements superbly.

It's accompanied on this single release by two rerubs. Yo Montero & Ian Cris's is minimal and trippy with an insistent bass squelch for much of its duration, while Swayzak's Homage To Catalonia Remix is an 11-minute trek into deep techno pastures.

The original just pips it for me, but there's plenty for deeper heads to enjoy here whichever mix you plump for.

Out: This week

About: Aquavit BEAT are a Norwegian label… here's their website, Facebook and Soundcloud if you wanna know more

Chris Llopis – Searchlight EP

Some quality grooves from a label I don't think have featured on TIWWD before, 4DigitalAudio.

The EP's made up of Searchlight itself, plus three mixes of Let's Go There. The former is a tuff, chuggy and dark-ish tech-houser, while the Original of the latter operates in similar territory but has a spoken male vocal. James Monro's rub heads in a more overtly 'techno' direction, but it's the Dysfunctional Disco Remix that takes top honours for me. Sitting right on the deep house/deep techno border, it's sparse and glitchy yet retains the funk in a way similar to how some of the more experimental two-step used to.

Out: This week

About: You can find 4DigitalAudio at their own website or on Soundcloud.

Hubert Kirchner – Gamma

And from the deepest of D&B, we move on to the very deepest of techno.

Based in Amsterdam, Hubert Kirchner is a new signing to Aussie label Open Records, for whom he serves up two corkers here. Gamma itself is deep, melodic and a little bit epic, and a FINE piece of thinking man's techno… but even that's eclipsed by Pupil on the B, which goes even deeper and in doing so transcends genre definitions. Forget worrying about whether it's house, techno, minimal or whatever, it's just a thing of sparse yet constantly evolving atmospheric beauty.

Yep, it's fair to say I'm enjoying Pupil immensely. If you like it deep, you will too, I think.

Out: This week

About: You can find Open Records, who are based in Cairns, on Facebook or at their own website.

ALBUM Nadja Lind – Brain Candy Remixed

Sometimes it's hard to know what to say.

Regular TIWWD readers will know I'm a big fan of that Klartraum/Lucidflow sound (Nadja being, for the uninitiated, one-half of the former and co-owner of the latter) so when I tell you that here, Ms Lind serves up a whopping 22 remixes of tracks from her outstanding solo album Brain Candy… and that those 22 remixes come from such highly respectable names as Hernan Cattaneo, Sasch BBC & Caspar, Helly Larson, Saytek and Deep Spelle… well then, you know I'm going to tell you that this album is a total must-buy, don't you?

So then I'm left wondering, "what else can I tell 'em?". I'm not going through all 22 tracks one-by-one saying "this one's a bit more dubby" or "this one has tougher kicks" because, y'know, there's 22 of them. So that only leaves me to point out that if you're already a fan of the Lind/Klartraum/Lucidflow style of deep, dubby, atmospheric techno then you'll have no cause to be upset by any of the rerubs here; yet at the same time, between them there's sufficient stylistic variation to keep the album interesting and to potentially attract a wider audience as well.

But then I would say that, wouldn't I, being a fan n' that? So to hell with it… just buy the damn thing. It's superb, frankly.

Out: This week

About: You can find Lucidflow here, here and here (website/Facebook/Soundcloud)

Byssus & White Perception – So What EP?

Some superb heads-down grooves from the deeper and techier ends of the house spectrum here, courtesy of NYC label Dance Through Life.

It's another of those pesky split affairs, with two tracks from Byssus and two from White Perception. The latter provides the title cut, a bubblin' terrace-friendly techno cut with tribalistic percussion, and Panic Room, another techno-fied drummy workout, this time topped with atmospheric FX galore for a darker, more sinister ride. From Byssus, meanwhile, we get Deep Lake, an almost archetypal deep house dancefloor stomper with some great orchestral strings rising and falling throughout and a squelchy, slightly acid-y lead synth, and Never Give In, a more funky/garage-y deep house jam to start out that acquires something of a prog accent as it goes on.

But never mind picking the tunes apart sound-by-sound, all you need to know is that all four will rock the proper underground floors for sure.

Out: This week

About: You can find Dance Through Life on Facebook and Soundcloud; you can currently HEAR THIS at the latter.

AKRA - AKRAsounds Vol 2

A three-track EP here from Nick Woolfson of Mock & Toof, AKA AKRA.

Sonnox is up first, a languid, dreamy affair with something of that 'laidback deep Balearic prog' vibe about it. Stir Fried operates in quite different territory, being much more (deep) techno-oriented with all kinds of sinister FX and warbles, while closer Hear To Create stands out for me, a jazzy deep house groove (think Boulevard-era St Germain) sporting one of those self-help tape vocals that are so bafflingly popular… there's nothing wrong with them, I'm just surprised so many house producers clearly have so many self-help tapes lying around… and some cool wah-wah guitar work.

With three very varied cuts but the quality standard high throughout, this is well worth checking.

Out: This week

About: This comes on Nick's own fledgling UK label Teng (not to be confused with the Rurals' Peng imprint), who can be found on Facebook and Soundcloud.

Various – Autem 02

Only the second release here from Sarp Yilmaz & co's fledgling Autem Audio label, based in Chicago, and again it's a V/A affair showing off the production talents of the label bosses.

The EP kicks off with Gvk's Moonshine, a no-nonsense deep/tech throbber that unexpectedly breaks down into the vocal from Superstitious in the middle… drop this one at the right time and it could absolutely slay 'em! Dark Blue is up next, a deeper, housier groove coming from DJ Da, known for releases on King Street and Yoshitoshi, while finally Sarp gives us Krumbz, a head-mangling journey that fuses deep, twisted techno with the organs and breathy female vocal snips of deep NJ garage.

Two releases in and two winners to date, then…

Out: This week

About: You can find Autem Audio here.

dubspeeka – She Loves

Finally for today (well, apart from the round-up which I'll do this evening) we move closer to home… TIWWD's current home of Bristol, that is, which is also home to dubspeeka.

Who here serves up a three-tracker for local techno imprint Skeleton Recordings. She Loves itself is, in its Original form, a tough dark-room techno workout, long on scary reverb'd drums and cavernous production, while the remix from deep house hero Glimpse is in a surprisingly similar vein, albeit with the 'splatter movie soundtrack' vibe dialled back a notch or two. The standout of the EP for me though is the other original track, People – a slightly groovier, housier cut with disembodied vocal snips but still with enough of a dark, moody feel to work on techno as well as house floors.

Out: This week

About: You can find Skeleton Recordings – which might actually be dubspeeka's own label, though I'm not entirely sure – on Soundcloud and Facebook.

Smak – Summer Of Love EP Vol 4

Where the Anderson Noise single (below) sees the Brazilian techno dude in slightly housier mode than usual, Steve McCready AKA Smak, goes the other way and serves up what's possibly the most techified EP in the Summer Of Love series to date.

It's still good though, and with five original tracks on offer you get your money's worth as well! Halfway opens proceedings, getting things underway with its melodic and slightly proggy vibe. So Bad is next, a dusty, layered groove inna deep/tech house stylee, before Tenon takes us into more jacking, more overtly technoid pastures. Part Of Me, featuring John Morrison, is a deeper, dubbier kinda techno with lashings of rave-y sub-bass, while closing out the EP is (appropriately enough) In The End, which again has something of a floaty, proggy vibe about it.

Four releases in, you should know whether or not you're digging the Summer Of Love series by now. If you are, as I am, then this latest installment won't disappoint.

Out: This week

About: This comes of course on Hype Muzik.

Anderson Noise – Sci-Fi Punk Projects

Brazilian techno don Anderson Noise isn't someone you'd expect to crop up on this blog much. This new EP for Noise Music, though, is a deeper affair than anything I've heard from him before (that said, it's not like I've followed the man's career with a religious zeal or anything… he could have done TONS of records like this for all I know) and definitely worth checking out.

In its Original form, Sci-Fi Punk Projects is moody, cinematic techno that conjures up images of a space station preparing for war or something, but it's the Sex Shop Remix and Dub that are working best to these ears. I'm not entirely sure whether 'Sex Shop' is the name of a remixer or just the name of the mix, but either way both are smoother, more house-ified rides that should appeal to lovers of deep, dark dancefloor grooves of many persuasions.

If Anderson Noise HAS done tons of records like this, perhaps someone could let me know, cos I'd like to hear them – this is quality stuff.

Out: This wee

About: Noise Music is of course Anderson's own label – find 'em at their website or via his Facebook page.

Keydin – Remember

The latest from Sideways Recordings here, coming from a producer who ought to be familiar to TIWWD readers by now, though perhaps mostly as a remixer to date.

There are four mixes of Remember to choose from, covering a range of styles. The original is an uptempo deep/tech house cut, its shuffling beats topped with a technoid synth riff; Daladje's Remix uses near-tribal percussion and could fit into more adventurous sets alongside UK funky and post-dubstep cuts, while Soulsway's rub doesn't actually vary hugely from the Original to these ears (sorry). But the standout for me is the Chris James Rethink, a considerably deeper pass with some very old-skool (think Chicago 1987) drum sounds that also makes more use of the heavily treated vocal snips.

Apart from being Rather Good, this also had to go in because label co-owner Wesley Burden was polite enough to apologise for only getting the promo across one day before release. Which in a world where people send me stuff that came out two weeks before, then wonder why it doesn't get reviewed, certainly made for a refreshing change here in MeWorld.

Out: Tomorrow

About: You can find Kent-based label Sideways Recordings here. And here. And oh look, here as well!

The Melancholist – All This EP

Okay that's enough prancing about on the dancefloor like you were all young and carefree… now it's time to get melancholy!

Except it isn't. While these are undoubtedly far deeper, more introspective grooves than those contained on the two releases below, as late-night deep house cuts with influences from dub and from deep techno go, lead track Adjusting To All This is actually surprisingly sunny of disposition and upbeat of rhythm – one for the afterhours floors more than the sofa, then. On the B, Freefall is a more downtempo affair that, quite unusually, pairs carnival-esque (but non-frenzied) percussion with long, lingering pads and deep, resonant drops.

The latter's a solid-enough offering that will have its fans, but it's the A-side that does it for me here.

Out: This week

About: This comes on Sounds Of Juan, who can be found at the Endemic Digital Facebook page.

ALBUM Various - Fullbarr Remixed Vol 1

It's great to see Fullbarr Digital getting the notice they deserve these days… it's proof that even the most resolutely underground of labels can 'break through' if they stick to their guns. It's doubly gratifying, of course, because Fullbarr is a label I've championed on here for a couple of years now… which is proof that TIWWD is the place to come if you wanna know what's up!

Anyway, to the album, which sees 10 tracks from the FD back cat to date given all-new mixes from the likes of Huxley, Ed Davenport, Youandewan, Death On The Balcony, James Teej and Danton Eeprom. And if uber-deep house and deep, dubby techno sound like your idea of fun, then suffice to say there's plenty to enjoy here.

Youandewan's Dour Version of Glieser's Kuiper Belt is one highlight, a seriously blunted trek into the inner space informed by the deepest realms of both dubstep and techno; Eeprom's rub of Midnite Radio's Lower Than will please the techno purists, while Henry Gilles' mix of Jan Tenner's Piece Of Cake is one of several very deep house gems.

All this, and they're from Bradford as well – what's not to love?

Out: This week

About: You can find Fullbarr Digital on Soundcloud, on Facebook and at their own blog.