Fasten Musique Japan 黑胶唱片和CD

Review: The dubby rattle of Ana's "Stretching Infinity" gets this EP off to a deep and groovy start, setting the tone of the EP before moving into the techy "Ninie-San" that slithers like a long anaconda through a jungle of swishing white noise and dark tribalisms. "Shalabass" lifts in tempo and mood while still remaining downbeat and dirty - proper Bar25 stuff (may the club rest in peace) - while "Niuu Bubbles" is an industrial-coated minimal and dubby house jam that constantly verges on crossing over into techno.

Review: Japanese imprint Fasten Musique are back after great releases by Kamran Sadeghi, Monsieur Georget and Verrina & Ventura. This time they've tapped Italian DJ Andrea Ferlin (Sleep Is Commercial) for a great contribution in the form of "Stry" which is a deeply esoteric and abstract expression in minimalism that calls to mind the work of Romanian legend Vid. With its rolling and stripped back organic drums over sublime hypnotic loops: this is proper trance induction. On the flip, Sinob Satosi from Japan serves up the lean and quirky groove that is "Supercell" which was our pick on the EP. This one reminded us of similar work by fellow Tokyo producers So Inagawa and Shintaro D: that likewise are making some brilliant minimal house at present.

Review: As a key figure in the Fuse London posse, Ittetsu knows how to exercise patience with his productions to keep the party rolling for longer, and so it is on his second EP as Fasten Musique snap up the steady ticking funk of "Sand Blind". It's a subtle affair which Archie Hamilton and Dan Faserelli seem well aware of with their equally lean and mean remix. Not wishing to disturb the groove, Cristi Cons too keeps the soundscape spacious across the B-side with a cyclical beat comprised of gossamer hits, turning out a version that fits in neatly with what has come before it.

Review: Swiss artist Romar has already built up a name for himself on Monique Musique and on his own RORA imprint, but now the artist also known as Roraprod is making the move over to Fasten Musique for another round of hypnotic workouts suited to the European minimal crowd. "Elusion" packs in some classic Carl Craig-esque warmth with its delicate smatterings of synth notes amidst finely chiseled beats, while "Visio" slips into a more classic kind of minimal house cycle that could easily fit in with the Romanian wave of producers. Seuil brings a healthy dose of French flamboyance to his version of "Visio", getting all kinds of bump and shuffle out of the source material while working in plenty of extra goodies of his own.

Review: Active as a producer of minimally-inclined techno since 2007, Barcelona's Chris Turan has come to wider attention of late as Sonodab thanks to contributions for the likes of Fear of Flying, Trazable Recordings, Kina Music, Infuse, and his own eponymous label. A debut here for Tokyo-based Fasten Musique will only help facilitate this rise with the Monomial EP a suitably solid 12" featuring three originals by Sonodab backed by a remix from emergent Japanese talent Sinob Satosi. Crisp drums, deep bassline grooves and far off crackling textures punctuate the mood for the most part, with "Inverse Rhythm" a standout inclusion.