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Review: For her volume in K7's legendary DJ Kicks series, Cinthie Christl has delivered a righteous, life-affirming, no-holds-barred club mix that spends much of its time (though by no means all) showcasing old school and contemporary (if self-consciously retro-futurist) garage-house and deep house jams. That means groovy basslines, bumpin' beats, infectious organ motifs, diva vocal samples and surging piano riffs aplenty. Of course, there are diversions -see the crunchy breakbeat dreaminess of Ben Hauke, the squelchy Chicago deep house of 'Emergency Tech' by Boo Williams, the micro-house of BMW and the acid-fired shimmer of Anna Wall - but it's the loved-up brilliance of the classic-sounding house cuts from the likes of Terrence Parker, Adriyano, Ruff Stuff, Amir Alexander and Niles Cooper that linger longest in the memory.y.

Review: Toy Tonics is a real favourite here at Juno - their house is always fresh, never cheap and often with an authentic link to the past. Next up they have London's Cody Currie serving up his debut long player. Lucas is a nice broad work that opens with some of the broken beat the UK capital is so well known for before progressing through loose house funk on 'Money,' percussive and soulful vibes like 'Red Hot' and steamy slow jams in the form of 'That Stick.' And that's just the first side of the first record with three more to come that are just as good.

Review: Though his career has taken many turns over the last decade, DJ Koze has remained that most illusive of creatures: a minimal-minded producer with an ear for a melody. This fourth full-length, packed to the rafters with big-name collaborations (Apparat, Caribou, Ada and Matthew Dear all feature), continues his move towards the home-listening sphere. So, while many of the heady rhythms and shuffling grooves hark back to his stripped-back past, Amygdala impresses with its woozy songs, genre-straddling fusions (see the modern soul meets deep house of "Homesick" or the steppy, tropical vibes of "Marilyn Whirlwind") and homely atmosphere.

Review: Dark Entries welcome back the inimitable Doc Sleep aka Melissa Maristuen for a superb new album of ghostly and ethereal house and techno. This is a welcome follow-up to last year's ambient and IDM exploration, Birds, and shows another side that draws on Maristuen's years of queer clubbing. It fuses aspects of New York house, Berlin techno and West-coast breakbeats and is "a love letter to the West Coast's magnificent natural landscape, the light of the Pacific sunrise." That is reflected in the sublime synths and silky rhythms which manage to both move your body but also captivate your mind. It's another cracking album from the Doc.

Review: There are not too many house and techno labels in the United States that can boast quite the discography and international success that the Brooklyn based Scissor & Thread label can. For over a decade now, the busy label has kept the quality up to the high standards the label set when starting. A big part of that quality is having Frank & Tony on board through the label's history. Ethos is their new full-length album that, spread across a double pack of wax, with tracks mostly kept under close guard, except the opener 'Olympia'. Make no mistake though, from the rumours and whispers we've heard already, it looks like being a big hit.

Review: ***B-STOCK: Slight sleeve creasing and surface marks***


Last year, Piers Harrison's Mysticisms label shone a light on the late 90s work of overlooked German house producer DJ Leinad via a reissue of 1996 gem 'Souvenirs'. Here his sole album, 1997's sought-after Electric City is finally re-released on wax. Indicative of the time period Leinad was operative, the album contains a fine mix of jaunty, Chic and P-funk influenced disco-house ('Freak Tonight', 'Return To The '80s', the brilliant 'Pretty Young Thing'), chunky after-hours house hedonism ('In Trouble'), disco-rock sampling throb-jobs ('Let's Ship'), classy, solo-laden deep house ('Loving People'), early Playhouse style cut-up house ('Out of Phase') and squelchy, US-style house bounce (the inspired title track).

Review: If you dig deep house - hell, electronic music full stop - then you should be rather excited by the arrival of Cerebral Hemispheres, the first Mr Fingers album for 26 years, and the first of any kind by Larry Heard since 2003. As you'd expect, the album is exceptionally good, with Heard's famous musicality and fluid keys-work coming to the fore throughout. While rooted in melodious, huggable deep house, Heard naturally uses the opportunity to veer off in the myriad of different directions, touching on jazz, dub, downtempo grooves, soul, samba, tech-soul, deep acid house and much more besides. It has the feel of a genuine future classic and could well be his strongest album to date. Given his track record, that's a bold claim, but Cerebral Hemispheres really is that good.

Review: Life & Death's next ambitious undertaking is courtesy of label chief DJ Tennis who teams up with Israeli indie-dance duo Red Axes. They were first introduced to each other by Superpitcher & Rebolledo (The Pachanga Boys) at a festival in Corsica - and the rest is history. Recorded on top of a decadent old shopping mall in the middle of Tel Aviv, the trio are said to have combined their "love of psy and Mediterranean influences" over a scheduled week of recording sessions together. The result is Redrago, a collection of tripped-out dancefloor oddities that take in everything from lo-slung punk funk ("Rave 'N' Roll), heady and (acid) bass-driven dancefloor narratives that cross over into vintage pop ("Il Veliero"), deep kosmiche ("Plastelina") and deep and tunnelling techno as heard on the epic "Ventilo".

Review: Victor Simonelli's house music legacy is assured - he more than made his mark on the genre back in the 90s with plenty of iconic cuts and legendary DJ sets and now that is all being highlighted by this ongoing multi-part series from Unknwn. The comprehensive collection looks at the early years here with some of his top mixes including those that have not previously been released. There is an in-depth almost hour-long audio and written interview between BTG founder Alex Rose and Victor to go with this release that is well worth finding.

Review: As his pseudonym makes clear, Sudi Wachspress has long been an exponent of ultra-deep, intergalactic - and increasingly retro-futurist - deep house. He continues this trend on his latest album, which sees him pop up on Canadian imprint Pacific Rhythm for the very first time. After opening with some superb, deep space ambient ('Virtual Age'), he pays tribute to the tactile, turn-of-the-90s New Jersey deep house of Dream 2 Science ('Inner Focus'), before flitting between new age ambient warmth ('Save Point', 'New Day'), sunrise-ready ambient house ('Sounds of Peace'), piano-sporting Italian dream house revivalism (the utterly gorgeous 'Time Station'), drifting electronica ('Heal') and loved-up street soul beats ('Private Paradise').

Review: For their 12 year anniversary, Munich's Compost Disco serves up 15 previously unreleased tracks. The variety ranges across the floor from classic soul (Ed Lee's 'You Are The Star' feat Allison David - extended dub) to boogie (Dimitri From Paris & DJ Rocca's 'The Compass Point') to some Italo (Ron Deacon on 'Killersong' or Imperial Porcelain's 'Tulip Moon'), and even a bit of deep disco (as heard on Mark E's playful 'I'm Your Eversion'). 12 Compost Disco Years is what the label best described themselves as tasty, hypnotizing and emotional.

Review: Toy Tonics has established itself as one of house music's most interesting modern labels. It deals in all the myriad niche styles with equal elan, and always manage to call upon producers with something original to add to the conversation. The musical take on house is exemplified again on this second volume off their Mushroom House series from Kaputt. There are bright, glistening melodic cuts from Harry Wolfmann, tribal grooves from Kiwi, deep basement tackle featuring Italian designer Mathew Burlon and typically balmy and elegant grooves from the always on form DJ Sprinkles. The whimsical charm and lightness of touch displayed by Art Alfie on 'Dance To The Conga' is also to behold.