In the eyes of many a tech fan, Phonique is the man. It’s not surprising then that his latest release, “What I Play EP”, out on Will Saul’s Simple label, is absolutely stunning. Featuring three tracks of pure tech house goodness, this is a sure-fire winner for anyone who’s a fan of the quirky, bleepy stuff.

First up is “What I Play”, a cagey, deep, squelchy cut which sounds a little like a slightly less scary version of Hug’s “Happy Monster”. This one is perfect for late at night, with its boompty boomp kick, deep sub bass, chunky percussion and its bleeps and squeaks that sound like a super computer having an epileptic fit. Kicking things off with just a subtle kick, Phonique quickly fills the track out a deep, warm sub bass, tribal percussion, and a few high pitched beeps and clicks that work together to create a bouncy groove that you just can’t help but bop to. A few synth washes and sweeps are added to the mix, and from here, the track stays locked in its cagey groove, slowly morphing its bassline and beeps and squeaks, creating a dynamically changing track, but only if you pay enough to attention to notice. It’s this sort of subtley that will be lost on some, but those who pick it up would be tempted to sit and marvel at the genius of it all, if they weren’t too busy dancing to it. Absolutely outstanding.

“Down For Load” is a slightly more laid back affair, better suited to an early set a tech night. That doesn’t mean it isn’t any good though: on the contrary, this is guaranteed to get bodies on the floor early in the evening. Tight beats, crunchy percussion, warm synths, a deep, subtle bassline, and some well placed synth stabs are the order of the day here, and they go down so very well. There isn’t much an intro to speak of on this one, with the track really getting in to it straight away, adding some nice reverbed synth early on, before the bassline comes in almost out of nowhere. The track then grooves along nicely for a couple of minutes, subtly warping the bassline and synths as it progresses, before it hits a long breakdown, in which an extra synth line is added to the mix, which gives the track an old school progressive house feel. When the kicks back in, it turns in to a delightfully warm, uplifting tune, with the synths and bassline complementing each other perfectly. Very different to “What I Play”, but equally as good.

Lastly we come to Spirit Catcher’s absolutely fantastic remix of “What I Play”, which is a funkier, warmer take on the track. Spirit Catcher fills out the tune percussively, adds a funky, stabby bassline, removes a lot of the squeaks and beeps, and adds some warm synth stabs and washes to create a punchy, groovy tech house number with enough warmth to get hands in the air, but enough drive and filth to keep hips swinging and feet shuffling. Once again the DJs out there don’t get much of a n intro to work with, with the track getting underway quite quickly with some nice haunting synths that sound almost like distorted trumpets, a stabby, deep bassline and some lovely atmospherics. The track slowly builds and builds in intensity as it progresses, adding new percussive layers, new atmospherics, new washes and sweeps, and reverbing the synths and bassline, until it has created a warm and uplifting, but at the same time tough and dirty groove that just drills it way in to your brains and doesn’t stop until they spill out your nose. Spirit Catcher, take a bow, this is fantastic.

To anyone who’s a fan of Simple records or Phonique: check this out, you will NOT be disappointed.