December in Tech House (Part 1)

Robert Babicz - Pink Trees (Bedrock)

‘Pink Trees’ hits the new-school prog vibe to perfection with the dubby darkness Babicz is known for and some ethereal synth work straight out of a Vangelis-style soundtrack. Will go down well with Pappa/Digweed/Warren fans. The alt track, ‘Percofonik’, is actually the ticket here, a more housey percussive idea with borderline classic Reece style synth action and a grinding low end. It’s not Babicz’ absolute best but definitely smack bang in the middle of where modern prog is at. Buy 'Pink Trees/Percofonik'

Various Artists - Selected Works For Winter (03 Records)

03 Records dishes out a selection of remixed and unreleased tracks by DkA, Ecco, Secret Groovers etc which doesn’t disappoint. DkA ‘Verticalité’ remixed by Ecco is a dubby groove with stark percussion and morphed vocal samples while the Andras Bader remix of Caldyn ‘Combination 001’ goes for an similarly dow-key approach – also using morphed vocals over a sparse groove and some well arranged stabby synths. Norton White & Select’s ‘Home Sweet Home’ is turned into a dope prog number by Thomas Sari who takes it weird with cool used of an old school bass sound and big-room synth. Listen/Buy 'Selected Works for Winter'

Denis A - Remixes Vol 3 (DAR)

Moscow based label and artist Denis A drop the 3rd remix pack with a stunning cameo from longtime progsters Spooky. They take a quite housey angle with their remix of ‘Beholder’, adding pulsing delay effects on the main samples. The base track is quirky and the overall result is a really quirky groove which works really effortlessly. The ‘Heroin’ remix by Scotty.A is also dope. His long-term love of the prog vibe is apparent - you can see why in 2009 he won the Global Underground ‘bedroom producer’ competition and turned a few heads with his entry. This is solid stuff worthy of any self respecting prog DJ’s collection. Listen/Buy DAR releases