Aus records debuted with Sideshow’s killer EP “Scary Biscuits”, and now they’re back with another excellent release from My My, who recently remixed Djuma Soundsytem’s “Les Djinns”. A little more dancefloor friendly than Sideshow’s EP, My My’s “Butterflies & Zebras EP” aims primarily to move the feet of the minimal and tech house fans, but also move the heart and stimulate the brain, like any good minimal and tech house should do.

First up is the title track, “Butterflies & Zebras”, a beautiful melodic tech house cut that will work any time of night. Featuring a warm bassline, uplifting synth washes, and plenty of quirky effects, this one is definitely for those who appreciate their music with a little depth and complexity, but it never loses itself in its own intelligence, which is an extremely difficult thing to achieve. Starting off with just a broken beat and a filtered synth wash, a bouncy synth bass slowly fades in, before the broken beat drops out, and some reverbed claps and a soft, but effective kick drum come in to the mix. The synth wash gradually fades out, replaced by a stronger, more intense form of the bassline, some echoed shakers and tamborines, and a very warm, uplifting synth. The bassline continues to grow in intensity, while synths weave in and out, snaking around the kick and percussion, creating a head space that you just cant help but get lost in. Next up is a perfectly placed interlude, which features only the kick and a reverbed, filtered synth, before the bassline returns more resonated and heavier than before, accompanied by some wonderful swirly electronic washes. From here, the groove continues to just work its magic, and is slowly deconstructed, with each of the track’s elements slowly coming out of the mix, leaving behind only a synth pad which is slowly reverbed and faded out. A wonderful intelligent, but dancefloor friendly cut.

On “Moneybowl”, My My offers up a dose of minimal tech house replete with sounds that will make you say “how the hell did he make that noise?!”. This is deep minimal tech house at its very best. The track begins with a tough kick and a stabby off beat sub bass, before adding an eery echoed, appregiated synth stab, raspy snares, and then finally rounding it out with reverbed atmospherics that would make Alex Smoke jealous. The track continues to build up a steady groove, adding more and more percussive elements such as cleverly placed snare rolls, as well plenty of extra quirky sounds that sound a bit like a metal bar having sex with a block of wood underwater. Then comes the obligatory minimal tech house breakdown, and boy is it done well. All that remains is the reverbed synth stab, which is then accompanied by more creepy atmospherics, before the kick drum punches it way back in, and then the track takes a turn for the funkier, adding some extremely groovy synth stabs that almost come out of nowhere. But then it’s right back into the deep techy groove from before the breakdown with some extra percussive elements and twisted sounds. Eventually the track slowly winds down, making for a nice long outro allowing for some very smooth mixing.

Sweden’s John Dahlbäck is on the remix duties for “Butterflies & Zebras”, offering up a late-night electro-tech-house mover guaranteed to turn heads and move feet. Dahlbäck has never disappointed in the past, and this is no exception: this track proves why he’s as good as everyone says he is. In typical Dahlbäck style, there isn’t much of an intro to speak of, with the track getting straight in to it with a tough kick, raspy percussion, a deep stabby sub bass that is randomly reverbed into a synth sound, and some downright scary vocal samples. A short breakdown soon follows, featuring a slightly off-beat bass stab and some warm synth washes, before the kick makes a comeback, accompanied by a killer synth bassline which is resonated beyond belief just before the drop. After the drop the track is pure electro-tech-house all the way, featuring a killer appregiated bassline which is resonated every few bars before dropping back to its low almost inaudible stab, excellent synth washes that are echoed and cut up beyond belief and some very cool old school disco “woop!” vocal stabs. Dahlbäck doesn’t change up the elements in the track much, instead focusing on using what he has to create an incessant groove that just keeps building and building. After a brief period of intense bassline action toward the end of the tune, Dahlbäck winds it down quickly, not giving the DJs much to work with, but that’s a minor flaw for an otherwise fantastic tune.

Aus has yet another winner on its hands here. All fans of minimal/tech house should definitely check this out, as should anyone who can simply appreciate the subtler side of dance music. Absolutely fantastic.