Funky House Recommendations October 2016

Review: Armand Van Helden's accidental contribution to the development of UK garage is well known; it was his fusions of chunky U.S garage drums and booming, UK-style bass that helped inspire the birth of "speed garage". Those pioneering tracks - in particular his remixes of CJ Bolland and Sneaker Pimps - take pride of place on this House Masters career retrospective. They're joined by a swathe of gigantic dancefloor hits ("Flowerz", "The Witch Doctor", "Bonkers", Duck Sauce's "Barbara Streisand"), and a selection of lesser known productions and remixes. These include a vintage, NYC garage-goes-rave rework of Kim English, an overlooked hook-up with DJ Sneak ("Psychic Bounty Killaz"), and a terrific house interpretation of Cerrone's "Je Suis Music".

Review: For the latest volume in their popular 'In The House' mix series, Defected has turned to longtime friend of the family and weekly Defected Radio show host Sam Divine. She has a reputation for being a smart and on-point selector, able to draw on a vast knowledge of house in its' many myriad forms. That's very much in evidence here, as she joins the dots between hot contemporary house tracks - think Tommy Bones' "Aisha", Riva Starr's "Raw Feel", and Chus & Ceballos' "All I Want" - and stone cold classics (the dub of Hardrive's "Deep Inside", legendary NYC cuts from Mood II Swing, amd S-Man and Harry Romero).

Review: With another season on the White Isle drawing to a close, infamous beachside venue Cafe Mambo has recruited Balearic beats veteran Pete Gooding to mix-up two CDs worth of sunset-friendly favourites. The first disc is a woozy, largely downtempo affair, with Gooding working his way through dreamy cuts from the likes of Afterlife, Chris Coco, Spike, Coyote, Jose Padilla and International Feel boss Mark Barrott (whose own Sketches From An Island series has re-imagined the classic Ibiza chill-out sound). Gooding subtly raises the tempo on disco two, moving from glassy-eyed deep house and nu-disco cuts, to chunky, soul-flecked house and techno floorfillers. Along the way, he finds room for high quality tracks from Eli Escobar, Black Spuma, Dennis Ferrer, Mr G and Steve Cobby.