DEMUIR レコード& CD

Review: Kevin Dennis Pierre has been making high-grade house music as Demuir since the dawn of the Millennium, in the process notching up releases on such imprints as Robsoul Recordings, Stickman, Nite Grooves, Farris Wheel, Heist, Kaoz Theory and Hot Creations. Here the Toronto-based producer brings his brand of club-ready deep house to France's Frappe Recordings, flitting between driving, mind-bending peak-time hedonism ('The Music In Space'), jazzy and sample-rich goodness ('Enter The House of My Lord') and revivalist Chicago 'boompty' (the early 2000s Classic Music Company style 'First Look In San Diego'). Pierre's old pal DJ Sneak rounds things off with a deliciously sleazy, weighty and sub-heavy interpretation of 'The Music In Space' with added low-end sax stabs.

Review: Toronto native Demur is a master of groovy, funky deep house and has been since his fine debut TruSkool back in 2016. He has been busy of late with Visions back in March finding him collaborating with the likes of Fred P and Aaron Gray. Now comes another full length in Under The Waning Moon, another compelling mix of contemporary deep house sounds, well-sourced and deployed samples and elements of everything from jazz to funk to downtempo colouring the grooves. For steamy late-night stuff look no further than '21 Days A Hoe' while 'Wasted Wednesdays' is delightfully sunny and well swung for cosy back room vibes.

Review: Demuir's Visions album gets its first series of remixes here as standout cut 'Home Sweet Home (The Journey)' gets reworked by Baltimore's finest dance music ambassador and bona fide legend DJ Spen. First up he brings some shuffling and deep soul to the groove with an irresistible skip to the drums and a lush vocal. The dub pairs things back a little further with more splash in the percussion and last of all comes the Hump mix. This one has noodling keys working their way up through the mix to bring real enlightenment.

Review: REPRESS ALERT!: Six years after delivering his debut album - a digital-only affair called TruSkool - Demuir has finally got round to recording a follow-up. The Toronto native's brand of house is chunky, groovy, deep and funky, taking cues not only from previous collaborators such as DJ Sneak, but also those of his contemporaries that make great use of dusty samples and killer drum programming. As a result, Visions manages to work both as a collection of club-focused cuts and an album you can listen to repeatedly from start to finish. Our picks of a pleasingly strong bunch include the fluid, disco-tinged, Hipnotic-sampling brilliance of 'Mind, Body & Soul Call Me', TUSH hook-up 'Skylar' (a superb slab of gospel-tinged soulful house) and the delicious Fred P collaboration 'Dream (Part II)'.