Rob's House and Techno Reviews #2 - June 2010

Faut Pas Deconner - 24 Hour Party Pool EP (Jesus Loved You)

A two tracker from Valentino Kanzyani's imprint which starts out like a late 90s French house track cut up and edited into a modern tech-house track. 'Stay Together' hits the mark superbly with a Daft Punk-esque edits and vibe paired with the label's typical crisp and uncluttered production style. 'Springfield Surprise' takes the cake though for being an awesome 12 minute ride through the funkiest drum groove you'll hear in ages, matched with beautifully with some spacey elements and the usually Jesus Loved You odd-ball background guitar and vocal filler elements. A top, top notch release. 5/5

DJ Earthian - Te-Nos E.P. (Living Records)
This release will be useful to any tech-house DJ worth his/her salt. DJ Earthian brings the same production level from previous releases on Treibstoff and Resopal and turns it up a notch. 'Te-Nos' is a dubby groove layered sparsely with percussive and atmospheric snippets built overtop a throbbing bassline. 'Skrower' is the gem here – starting as a bare-bones drum track and ending up as spacey monster with morphed vocal samples and head-nodding groove. Out loud these both kick ass! 4/5
Te-Nos EP at Junodownload 

Jairus Miller - Life On Microchip (Redflux Cinnabar)
Sitting in the space between tech house and prog Jairus Miller's latest is an example of modern prog done well! The main event here is '19 Point 7' which has buzz and synth action but also a groove and dubbiness which keeps it low-key enough to appeal to many tech-house fans as well. The arrangement has you hypnotized early on and keeps you there without overdoing anything or getting too intense/epic. 'Life On Microchip', is a little more prog-tastic without venturing into anything too overt. It's twisted with some nicely thought out synth stabs and sci-fi movie soundtrack sort of appeal. 3/5
Life On Microchip at Beatport