Aus Music 黑胶唱片和CD

Review: Former Panorama Bar resident and local Berlin fixture Cassy Britton presents her first full length release since giving up her residency and leaving Europe's clubbing capital for the sunny shores of Los Angeles. The Donna LP features some dusty classic house sounds of the deeper spectrum, as heard previously on her eponymous imprint, Uzuri or Perlon sporadically over the last 10 years and her great vocals which veer from spoken word, haunting/monotone to high pitched diva moves are a constant throughout. Highlights for us were the uplifting deep disco of "All I Do", the soulful deep funk on her cover of Prince's "Strange Relationship" or the emotive yet tough techno of "Move".

Review: From her humble beginnings in the provincial city of Saarbrucken (at the French border) where she cut her teeth at Humpty Records, to a career transitioning move to Berlin where she has been a fixture at local institutions like the legendary Stattbad, Elevate Records (which she runs) and heading up imprints such as 803 Chrystal Grooves, Beste Modus, and Unison Wax - Cinthie Cristl now celebrates another milestone with her debut album on London's Aus Music. 'Skylines - City Lights' features a fine selection of moods and grooves that showcase her love for straight-up and purist house music. Tracks like the aptly titled "Houze Muzik" pretty much say it all, while the swing-fuelled "Concentration" and it's dusty lo-fi aesthetic, or the spiritual and life-affirming vibes of "Horizon" right through to the early '90s style garage of vocal-led cut "Calling" (feat Gilli.jpg) all-in-all make for a poignant and respectful tribute to the genre.

Review: Somewhat surprisingly, Floorplan's third album is not coming out on the M-Plant label established by founder Robert Hood, but rather Will Saul's Aus Music imprint. Either way, it's Hood and daughter Lyric's first Floorplan LP for three years and is full of spot-on techno treats. Those familiar with their style should know what to expect: big room ready loop jams that make extensive use of short, soulful samples, cheery electronics and lots of gospel influences. Highlights include the rubbery deep house/disco/techno fusion of "Oasis", the Terrence Parker style piano rush of "Brothers & Sisters", the stomping gospel techno insanity of "Song Like This!" (the album's standout moment) and the deeper, bluesy techno hypnotism of "I Try".

Review: This is a significant moment in the development of Michael "Huxley" Dodson. Following six years building his reputation via a constant trickle of singles, the London-based producer has finally delivered a debut album. It's a little more expansive and varied than many of his singles, and variously touches on many of his regular inspirations - UK garage, deep house and bumping techno, in particular - as well as some he's not previously explored (see the pitched-down rave breaks of "Give 2 U" and the "Circles"-ish liquid D&B of "MXR"). The result is a polished, floor-friendly set that impressively straddles the line between club tracks and home listening fodder.

Review: Given that he's a born collaborator, as his vast discography proves, it's perhaps fitting that David Moufang's latest album as Move D is packed to the rafters with killer collaborations. Check, for example, the ultra-deep, woozy and off-kilter "Innit", a superbly dubby and opaque studio hook-up with German rave pioneer D-Man, and the shuffling, intergalactic deep house warmth of Fred P collaboration "Building Bridges". Fittingly, his renowned collaborative projects also feature. There's a wonderfully elastic and out-there dub techno/minimalist track by Reagenz (Moufang and Jonah Sharp AKA Spacetime Continuum) with German veteran Thomas Fehlmann, and a Magic Mountain High (alongside Juju and Jordash) track that takes slow-burn, softly spoken deep house/dub techno fusion and runs with it. As you'd expect, the solo tracks are impeccable, too.

Review: While he may be known to a whole generation of DJs as one half of Tiger & Woods, Marco Passarani has been releasing futuristic, synth-heavy techno, electro and disco since the early 1990s. The Rome-based veteran's latest album, his first for three years, offers a vibrant, colourful and exquisitely produced musical trip powered forwards by a timeless trademark sound that subtly pays tribute to various styles of futuristic electronic music of the last four decades while sounding formidably timeless. It's a brilliantly listenable set all told, with our picks of a very strong bunch including the deep space ambient drift of 'Revelation', the deep instrumental synth-pop warmth of 'Theme From FFM', the dubby proto-house drive of 'Serenity Alley', the bleep-style weight of 'Equation' and the alien electro snap of 'Storm 90'.

Review: On his previous two full-lengths, London-based Glaswegian Andy Graham promoted a hazy, evocative take on house and minimal techno. On this third studio set - his first for some six years - Graham is much more concerned with the atmospheric potential of electronic compositions that variously doff a cap to classic ambient, IDM, James Blake, the screwed R&B-tronica of Hudson Mohawke, and the loved-up synth-pop of Junior Boys. As a result, Space In Your Mind is a tactile, dreamy affair, with even the occasional forays into deep house territory - see "Kalstars" and "Ancestors" - recalling the loved-up feel of classic Visionquest material.

Review: Will Saul's Aus Music label is a decade old in 2016 and this celebratory compilation doubles up as a landmark 100th release. Due out across quadruple vinyl, triple CD and digital formats, the cunningly-titled Aus 100 features a weighty 24 tracks from a suitably high profile cast. Along with music from Saul himself, you'll find cuts here from label staples Bicep, Midland, Huxley, Deetron, Nick Hoppner, Pearson Sound, Youandewan, Marquis Hawkes, Gerd, Sei A (who presented the label's last full length release the Space In Your Mind LP), Bwana, Fold, Shenoda, Appleblim & Komon. Here's to another 100 eh Will?

Review: Damiano Von Erckert pretty much bucks every trend and trope you can imagine. He makes loose, dusty house music with heart-on-sleeve emotions even though he hails from Cologne, where sleek techno label Kompakt also hails from. He also dresses much more like a 60s French film star than a modern DJ and producer. Anyway, his new album on Aus is his best yet - it's got the loose-limbed and soulful house jams and the blissed out and deep rollers but also some more cosmic forays into smooth techno and spangled disco.

Review: Having spent the last seven years delivering impressive singles on a variety of labels - most notably Aus Music, Secretsundaze and Hype_Ltd - Ewan Smith has decided the time is right to unleash his debut album under the Youandewan alias. There Is No Right Time is a gently expansive affair, with the Scottish producer utilizing both electronic and acoustic instrumentation on tracks that perfectly showcase his diverse range of influences. Contrast, for example, the spacey jazz-house of "Be Good To Me, Poly", the dusty, pitched-down deep house warmth of "Time To Leave (Can't Mix)", and the sparkling, B12 style IDM/electro fusion of "Something Keeps Me Real Quiet"; all are immaculately produced and impressively melodious, but hugely different stylistically. He also joins forces with Huerta on album highlight "Left On Lucy", a glistening fusion of bubbly, synth-heavy deep house, Motor City futurism and sun-bright new age melodies.