Tags: Tech House

Review: French tech house mainstay Janeret is generally found hanging around labels attached to his home turf like Rutilance, Tartouffe and Yoyaku, but here he links up with Shall Not Fade for an outstanding excursion into prog, electro and silken tech house that proves his worth as a scene-leading producer. 'D Tool' is a deep and throbbing workout with a seductive, dubby edge, while 'Passion' switches stance for a skittering slice of hi-tech soul. 'Lush' lives up to its name with achingly beautiful chord tones blooming out over a sleek, shuffled beat and a sumptuous b-line, and 'Mind' completes the picture with a melodious trip into acid-speckled electro from the soulful end of the spectrum.

Review: Kolter has been busy, as always, and has a couple of fine outings dropping at similar times. This one on Bristol's always-wealthy Shall Not Fade is on nice orange vinyl. It opens with the feel-good synth chords of 'DX7 Together' which also has something of an early Chicago house feel to the cowbells, but plenty of future-facing tech vibes too. The pace picks up for the warm and breezy 'Please Come To My Show' (feat Leo Pol) then it's more chord-laced joy that comes to the fore on 'Up In The Sky'. Berlin fav Cynthia makes those chords have a distinctly old-school feel with her remix.

Review: It has always been hard to define the exact sounds of Shall Not Fade behind 'just good tunes'. The Bristol label is one of the UK's finest at this point and Felipe Gordon is exactly the sort of artists who fits their vibe. His new EP The Lichtenberg Effect is a timeless one that draws on jazz for its vibrant house kicks. The drums are raw and punchy on 'Happy Sunday' while the keys are off grid and wonky. 'I'll Find A Way' brings a little swing to get those hips moving while clipped vocals add some soul. The title cut is a blend of off-dance jazz chords and feathery hi hats with leggy drums and 'You Can Do It On Your Own' closes with some downbeat introspection.

Review: Holo makes a welcome return to Shall Not Fade, delivering four tracks that strike a perfect balance between deep house nostalgia and contemporary groove. His signature soundilush synth work, crisp percussion, and a delicate emotional pulliis on full display, weaving a rich, transportive atmosphere throughout. 'Pink Wax' sets the scene with warm, enveloping pads and a rolling low-end, effortlessly drawing us in. 'Flipper' leans into more playful territory, its shimmering melodies and tight drum programming keeping the energy light yet propulsive. Across the record, Holo's ability to craft emotive, immersive dance music remains undeniable, blending hazy textures with infectious rhythms in a way that feels both timeless and forward-thinking.

Review: Given that he's already released music on Numbers, Diynamic, Bosconi Music and Peggy Gou's Gudu imprint, it would be safe to say that Dukwa (real name Marco D'Aquino) is an established and successful producer. It's little surprise, then, to find him popping up on Bristol's wildly popular Shall Not Fade label. He begins in confident mood with 'Searching For a Match', where exotic female vocal samples and cybernetic synth sounds ride a bouncy and energetic house groove, before opting for loved-up chords, squelchy bass and loose-limbed beats on the ultra-positive 'For You'. The Italian's love of bold piano riffs and life-affirming moments comes to the fore on 'Talk To Me', a chunky and bass-heavy slab of peak-time excellence, while 'Chameleon' sits somewhere between vintage Isolee releases and revivalist Italo-house.

Review: How-it's-done deep garage house and more from Berlin's Marc Brauner, who rejoins the Shall Not Fade posse for a bustling new four-tracker. The city's resident DJ's fourth record for the UK label, Brauner here trains his hand on melodic major synth toplines and smartly timed dotted rhythms, producing a vibe of the utmost slickness and finesse. The leitmotif is obviously street smarts, as indicated by the loiterer on the front cover, and 'Sketchy Sidewalks' before 'Ghetto Birds' both give this off as much, through their faint hip-hop sampleage and rubbery sound-sprays. 'So Hot' and 'Breakthrough' shunt things up a few modes, into relatively minor-keyed crystalline waters on the former, and soul-feeding breaks choppage on the latter.

Review: If new talent is your thing, Shall Not Fade has long been a label to watch. While the Bristol-based imprint does sign material from established artists, it consistently promotes music from new or early career producers too. Daughters of Frank, a pair of sisters from London, are the latest rising stars to make their bow on the label. Their debut EP is genuinely impressive, too, delivering a mix of hallucinatory, spaced-out liquid drum and bass ('A Club Serenade'), stripped-back and fiendishly sub-heavy workouts seemingly informed by the skeletal construction and dub-wise weight of bleep techno (EP highlight 'Tracksuit'), giddily saucer-eyed, early morning anthems-in-waiting (the sunrise special that is 'Velvet'), and deep, spaced-out two-step garage (the heady and intoxicating 'Lust 2 Luv').