Mikhail Kobzar debuts compact minimal techno EP Undertime on Melatune

Mikhail Kobzar’s Undertime landed on Melatune as MELATUNE012, and the three-track EP made its case with restraint rather than volume. Framed by the label as a debut EP, it arrived on June 22, 2026 with Valheim, Imantego, and Undertime forming a compact first statement that felt more fully shaped than tentative.

The release leaned into the kind of details minimal techno listeners tend to trust: stripped-down rhythms, precise sound design, subtle atmospheric depth, and immersive sonic texture. Instead of reaching for obvious peak-time hooks, the tracks moved through repetition, space, and gradual change, building a restrained but engaging momentum. That gave the record enough hypnotic pull for late-night club use, while still leaving room for the introspective detail that makes a set of small shifts feel meaningful on a home system or in a room where DJs need control.

Melatune’s own catalog context helped sharpen that impression. Advisual Records identifies Melatune Records as a sub-label centered on electronic music, including minimal techno, microhouse, and rominimal, with Alex Oprea named as owner and founder. The label has also presented its catalog as a steady run of tightly focused EPs, starting with MELATUNE001, Lo Kashur, which it described as the first release under the sub-label and a three-track set built from deep nocturnal atmosphere and fragmented, staccato rhythm. Recent entries have kept that approach intact, with MELATUNE007 arriving on 15 December 2025, MELATUNE008 on 5 January 2026, MELATUNE009 on 6 February 2026, MELATUNE010 on 20 April 2026, MELATUNE011 following after that, and Undertime completing the sequence as MELATUNE012.

Kobzar’s profile gives the release extra weight inside that framework. Resident Advisor lists him as minim.all owner, while Clonk Records identifies him as Mikhail Kobzar aka Plastic Sound, born on 21 February 1986 in Noginsk, Moscow oblast, Russia. That background makes Undertime feel less like a raw first step and more like a label debut from someone already operating inside underground minimal and techno networks.

For Melatune, the point was not scale. It was control, texture, and forward motion, and Undertime delivered exactly that. It did not sound like a loose sketch. It sounded like a careful introduction to a producer who knows how to make small changes carry real club pressure.