Tech house right now is at its best when it stays lean. No extra layers for the sake of it. Just a bassline that rolls, drums that snap, and a vocal that locks in and does not let go. That is exactly the lane HG and Micah Baxter step into with Pound 4 Pound, their first collaboration and their Lost Culture Records debut, out 18 September 2026.
The cut is a stripped-back, driving house record that puts the groove first. A weighty low end sits under crisp percussion, and a catchy vocal hook keeps coming back as the arrangement builds and releases tension around that central bassline. It is club-first writing. Nothing here feels padded. You can hear why it picked up early support from Marco Carola, SOSA, Joseph Capriati, Paco Osuna, Solardo, Lee Foss, Kitty Hall, Omar+, TeeDee and Ale De Tuglie before the official drop.
That support list makes sense once you look at where both producers already sit. Peterborough’s Micah Baxter has been stacking a proper catalogue: Nervous Records, Repopulate Mars, Short Circuit, Criterio, Dosmundo and Deeperfect. He also runs Gritty Records, an imprint aimed at the deeper, groove-led end of contemporary house. Names already playing his records include Jamie Jones, Michael Bibi, PAWSA, The Martinez Brothers, Marco Carola, Seth Troxler and Joseph Capriati. Next up he has dates across Italy, Malta and the UK, plus a studio project with Lee Foss and Chicago house pioneer Marshall Jefferson revisiting Move Your Body for its 40th anniversary. That is not a small next chapter.
HG is earlier in the timeline, but the rooms are already serious. At 19, the Manchester producer went from bedroom DJ and production sessions to releases on Dionysus, Blanc and Gritty. His tracks have been played at Amnesia Ibiza and Shelter Amsterdam, with support from East End Dubs, Max Dean, EVIE, Luuk van Dijk, ALISHA, Kitty Amor and Sidney Charles. His thing is 90s house flavour dropped into a modern tech house frame. That is the meeting point with Baxter: one side bringing minimal and deep-tech leanings, the other bringing contemporary UK house energy, both agreeing the groove has to lead.
Lost Culture Records is a UK house label focused on contemporary club music and emerging underground talent, spanning minimal and deep tech through tech house and house. Pound 4 Pound sits comfortably in that catalogue. It is the first time the pair have put those ideas in the same session, and it sounds like they found common ground fast: rolling bass, tight percussion, recurring vocal, no wasted space.
UK tech house has been having a moment for a reason. Selectors want records that work at 2am without needing a gimmick. Tracks like this one are built for that job. If you are following the current wave of lean, bass-led club records, this is one to check on Spotify, Beatport and the usual platforms now that it is out.
What do you think of this collab? Does the stripped-back tech house approach hit harder than the maximal stuff right now? Drop it in the comments.
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