Deep House Recommendations August 2015

Review: REPRESS ALERT: As an artist Earl is first and foremost a digger and a selector, crafting sets that meander through the realms of Soul, Boogie, House and far-flung rarities but his ear and aptitude for knowing what the dance floor wants is seamlessly translated to his dynamic output as a producer. This time around the ever-impressive Earl Jeffers launches his own imprint, Melange, with a groove-laden three-track EP 'The Goose'. Earl delivers a lucid dreamlike cut for the new original in the package, 'Bridge Street Groove', which sit's harmoniously alongside the critically acclaimed re-presses of 'The Goose' and 'Let It Out' to form another blistering collection from the Welsh native.

Review: REPRESS ALERT: Release number three for Pleasure Unit is an in - house affair, a rare collaboration on some original material from two of the Keyboard Mashers.
Early feedback on Les Crocodiles has been great and we are currently waiting on a remix from one of our fav Scandi producers who offered a mix on hearing a rough draft.
Three mixes in all Le Club, Acid dub and Tropique Ambi sunrise.

Review: Classic Chicago house from 1993 via Night Club Records on this nice re-issue (courtesy of Large Records) unearthing another important zeitgeist from the Windy City. "Men On Drums" sampled Submission's "the Dominatrix Sleeps Tonight" long before Cevin Fisher did. "I Need A track (How Dare U)" laid down the foundations for ghetto house and ballroom without even knowing it. "West Digital Plate 808" took influence from A Guy Called Gerald and 808 State more than it did of their hometown heroes Phuture, strangely enough. "Fresh Melody" took on a deeper vibe that could of made it on to Prescription or Cajual back in the day. Essential listening.

Review: After a rare sighting on the esteemed Kolour LTD with the much lauded 'From the Woods EP', the secretive and elusive Goshawk is now taking flight on Pressed For Time with 'The Hunt EP' - a four tracker of warm, garage swung grooves.

Taking influence from mid 90s US house, late 90s French house and the free party sound much loved by DiY, this second solo EP should go some way to establishing the signature Goshawk 'sound': Warm yet heavy. Happy yet sad. The music of a boat party drifting out to sea.

As one half of Rhythm Plate he has been involved in the house scene for over 15 years, releasing seminal EPs on Mantis, Winding Road, Hudd Traxx, DiY and Lost my Dog to name a few.

With remixes for Kiko Navarro, Joshua IZ, and Situation all in the bag, 2015 really is the year of the Goshawk.

Review: Some three years on from their last collaborative outing - the Wayne County Hill Cops (Part 2) 12" on FXHE - Detroit producers O.B Ignitt and Omar-S join forces for another trip into Motor City deep house territory. They wisely explore different moods and approaches throughout, starting with the fluid, dreamy hypnotism of "Seem Like You're All Ready" - an exercise in luscious loops and dusty drum machine grooves. There's a lovely early '90s bounce to the evocative synth bass, classic riffs and cut-up vocal snippets of "Follow Me", while closer "Hold The Line" owes much of its' instinctive power to a deliciously rubbery acid bassline and vintage US garage drums.

Review: Deep house prankster DJ Koze is clearly on a bit of a roll at the moment; the Pampa boss served up the best DJ Kicks in quite some time and has released one of the singles of the year in XTC. Now he's welcoming peculiar deep house auteur Axel Boman back into the Pampa fold with a fine two track 12" 1979. The title track's simple conga beat, hypnotising strings and rising pads build the suspense until that awesome bassline drops. On the flip we have "Nokturn (Grand Finale)" an epic bongo and hi-hat workout reminiscent of The Hayden Andre Brown Project's "Tribal Life" on Strobe from back in 1991. Tip!

Review: The Chicago based Perpetual Rhythms label welcomes long time Chicago artist Brian Harden for the its 5th release; "The Essence of Chicago". This EP offers 3 solid tracks, including a remix by Dj Quad; all of which represent the many facettes of Chicago House & Techno...Deep, Soulful, & Banging.

Review: REPRESS ALERT: Doublet is the production moniker of friends and musical partners Tomoki Tamura and Tuccillo, previously releasing together on other labels, they have come together to form the new eponymously named Doublet imprint as a channel for their own music. Tomoki and his Holic Trax label have long been serving up solid house music whilst Tuccillo has conjured up numerous Beatport chart toppers on labels like 2020Vision, Visionquest and Holic Trax. Here their unique style brings you back from classic house music to future minimalism and is sure to fill you with joy. Up first is the title track, a charming house shuffler with woozy synths, light footed percussion and skipping rhythms that give an off kilter and deep dancefloor vibe. 'Brother Other' is a slightly more physical affair with lumpy beats, tense synth crescendos and stiff snares that really encourage you to shake your limbs. Lastly, 'Buri Planet' is a deep and sensual number with clever vocals samples adding an element of pained soul, rubbery bass bringing warmth and golden synths and acid squelches building yet more character. This is accomplished, alive sounding house music that really does sound fresh. Doublet, then, is already off to a winning start. Vinyl Only.

Review: It's been some six years since Hun Choi made his debut on William Burnett's WT Records imprint. In that time, he's proved incredibly hard to pin down. This debut album for Rush Hour seems designed to continue that trend, offering a series of warm, melodious and curiously Balearic cuts that defy easy categorization. Sure, there are dancefloor-focused moments - see the cacophonous, Detroit-influenced hustle of "Error of the Average", the deep acid madness of "Silent Sensations" and the classic deep house bounce of "Desire" - but also a range of downtempo and ambient jams that arguably impress more. Of these, it's "The World" - a humid exercise in tropical drums, twittering flutes and looped vocal samples - and the sublime, string-laden "Bruises" that really stand out.

Review: Black Jazz Consortium, or Fred P as you might usually come across him as, launches the first instalment of the Reshapes and Outtakes series, a division of Soul People Music dedicated to surfacing alternate versions and mixes of tracks from 2014's Codes & Metaphors LP. "Be And Not Know" features Christina Wheeler on the vocals and a classic BJC deep house beat with a techno sensitivity, while "Thin Air" goes deeper down the rabbit hole thanks to its driving kick and furious percussion swings, and "Only You" strips things down again to deep house levels. Finally, "You Take Me Higher" features the lovely voice of Minako over a spacey, chunky Fred P groove, with his trademark bass crunch riding beneath.

Review: UK deep house don Jimpster returns on his highly regarded Freerange imprint. Jimpster has for the last ten years kept on with a constant streak of mesmerising deep house. Deep and funky after hours jam "English Rose" whilst "Solitude" captures that absolute deepness that is the essence of Jimpster's work. On his homage to the most low end men's fragrance, "Drakkar Noir' picks up the tempo for a track more suited to the main slot; equally as funky and smooth but a beefier drum programming and triply female vocals. A return to form from a right legend of the sound.

Review: The second release on the amusingly titled Fuck Reality label comes from Smallville regular Moomin, AKA German producer Sebastian Genz. While flipsides "Room 207" and "Right On" are as deep, woozy, starry and twinkling as you'd expect from the long-established deep house producer, it's A-side "You Are Sweet Sweet" that will undoubtedly attract most attention. It's effectively an unofficial remix of Candi Staton's dancefloor anthem "You Got The Love", with the legendary vocalist's iconic vocal riding a chunky, organic deep house cut big on rolling, disco-influenced percussion, chiming melodies and rich chords. It's substantially different from the original, of course, but the familiarity of the vocal will ensure a great dancefloor response every time it's dropped.

Review: Certain Music Records is a new label which is trying to transmit the true spirit of house music " House Music for fans to be enjoyed at the dancefloor"
The first reference is in charge of the Groove brothers, AKA Jef K and Rhythm & Soul and The Collab Between Chicago Legend Tyree Cooper.
The Original is A groovy track with sultry vocals and bass samples That drives you back to the early 2000's House sound.
Side B Tyree made to Remix preserving the spirit of the house of chicago icluyendo the classic bassline acid of the first productions of the genre. back to the origins.

Review: Blind Box Series is a vinyl-only record label, focusing on deep, raw underground club music. Label owners Julien Sandre and Italian duo Konstress team up to form Blind Box as a label, a brand and a means to spread the sound they have in common.
First printing comes from the label heads, releasing two solid old school flavoured club cuts. English house master Nail (Robsoul, One Records, Bass Culture) on remix duties, offering a double version remix of "Just me".
Keep an eye on a label with no hidden ambitions, where music and quality are the only priorities.

Review: Deep house imprint Kolour LTD return with some decent tech house jams again courtesy of Steffen Baldo AKA Ugly Drums and production partner Chesney on this nice four tracker. On the first side "Raw Basic" grooves along nicely with its strong monosynth bassline and in your face tom drum workout. Next is "Feelin OK" on the deeper summery vibe complete with Rhodes piano, wah-wah guitars and funky drums. On the other side is the affectionately titled "No Drinks Tonight (LOL)" going for a more soulful vibe with more Rhodes and funky beats and smooth female vox. Last but not least is "It's Alright" going for the KDJ kind of vibe on this sexy, late night deep house tribute.

Review: Kevin Griffith's Tsuba knows slinky tech house better than anyone. Berlin's Sebo K has shown for close to a decade that he knows how to execute it. What more could you add to this equation you say? Well how about getting the godfather of deep house Larry hard AKA Mr Fingers in to show his deft hand at remixing and turning in three versions of "Aquamarine" that are pure gold. The "Acid Dub" displays his mastery of the 303 yet again over a smooth atmospheric groove. The "Raw Dub" is typical Mr Fingers with those lush and emotional strings accompanied by a low slung house beat and exotic bird calls. Finally "Raw Mix" throws back all the groove and shuffle taken from the previous dub mix, elevating you to sheer dancefloor bliss.

Review: Chicago, Chicago. It's our spiritual home here at Hizou. The city's musical influence and legacy shine brightly and proudly throughout our label. Perhaps never more so than on our latest release from enigmatic native Chicagoan, Spirit Of The Black 808. Having inherited his brother's seminal record collection at a young age and name-checking Larry Heard, Theo Parrish and Malik Pittman amongst his key influences, Sprit Of The Black 808 is steeped in the traditions we adore. His debut EP for us soundly testifies to that. Title-track Infroduction is a shuffling, slo-mo jam laden with atmosphere and groove in the mould of the great Mahogani Music and KDJ, a little more Detroit by design perhaps then, whereas by contrast Electronic Love is downright and unashamedly classic Chicago. Layers of melody and a super-deep groove are stamped all over I FunKd Up, whilst ethereal uptempo tool Rough Joint completes the package.

Review: Jose Marquez has long been a member of the Basic Fingers family. Since making his first contribution to the acclaimed re-edit imprint back in 2011, he's regularly delivered tasty reworks of Latin jams and African gems. Here he returns with two more killer Latin cuts piled high with South American percussion. "Quinto Y Bongo" smartly combines killer drums and vocals from an unknown, stripped-back salsa record with the sort of subtle, spacey synths and thickset bassline you'd normally find on a high calibre deep house record. "Canto Del Caribe" is, if anything, even heavier, with the combination of sturdy house kicks, dense Latin percussion and chanted vocals creating an intoxicating mood.

Review: The first release from the Contrast-Wax sister label, No More To Roam, shifts the focus towards the real soulful elements of house music, The debut here comes from North-East based Neil Bilton AKA "Fatdog", starting life as an independent record store owner in Middlesbrough, Fatdog has made a tidy progression into production, with releases on Laaks Austere Recordings & his own Imprint Fatdog Records; now Fatdog opens the running for No More To Roam with a 3 track EP of down-tempo, Laid back house music, layered with subtle synth lines, chord progressions and vocals throughout.

Review: Current darlings of the deep house Wolf Music continue on with what they do best on these three reliable dancefloor fillers courtesy of Bristol's Thrilogy. First up "Heaven" and its uplifting piano roll complete with jazz vocals and a pumping swing fuelled beat does the business quite well. Next we've got "Hold Me In Your Arms" which takes things deeper, with sultry female backing vocals and rolling bassline.. But the uplifting piano roll remains; don't worry! Lastly the K 98 remix of "heaven" injects some serious stomp and tempo into the track that tears through the speakers with its hard house intensity.

Review: Spain's fledgling Future Reactions label goes more for quality over quantity, with only a handful of releases since 2014's VA by Detroit's Rick Wade and Norm Talley, Satore and Cris J. This time they add another legend to their catalogue, Chicago's larger-than-life Boo Williams. The house master comes in with two strong club cuts: "Spiritually Runnin" is a deep yet driving groover surrounded by airy piano keys, meditative pads and his familiarly swinging percussion twists; "Last Chance" is equally deep and moody, except this time the bassline is more pronounced, bumpier and strictly in Chicago mode. A class act, as per usual.

Review: This time Brian Cullen "BJAK" from Chicago, gives us an excellent and delicious "Dusk Til Dawn EP" with touches of deep and soulful grooves inside his special style, could not miss the collection of Bucketround, in this release, we have the opportunity to delight in a work of great quality for 2015, with the remix of the owner of Bucketround, "Manuel Costela" aka "Oval Future Face".

Review: Backwards EP is the first collaboration between Moodmusic head Sasse and Maurice Aymard. Backwards is a fresh take on house music with touches of disco, electronica and techno mixed in to the equation forming a beautiful mixture of forward thinking club music with a hands in the air factor. Athabasca forms a perfect companion to Backwards, taking a more disco approach to things and letting the steam build up before dropping into deep house territory. Remixed comes courtesy of Massimiliano Pagliara and Luvless.

Review: Following a recent outing on Hudd Traxx, Dutch DJ/producer Nachtbraker returns to Detroit Swindle's Heist Recordings with four more chunks of floor-friendly deep house. There's much to admire throughout, from the squidgy basslines, relentless cymbals and floatation tank chords of "Dark Roast", to the loose-limbed, triple-beat-goes-jazz flex of the wonderfully fluid title track. The eyes-closed chords, intricate melodies and undulating acid lines of the smoother "Gurl" impress, as does "You're Out of Your Element", a warm, rich and jazzy homage to Detroit deep house blessed with all manner of aural Motor City trademarks.

Review: With a title such as Simply Positive, you'd expect this EP from Stephan 'STL' Laubner - the follow-up to his typically dubby and spaced-out At Disconnected Moments LP - to be cheerier than average. Certainly, by the techno stalwart's usual standards, it is. Both tracks operate in the deep house sphere, with opener "Heaven's Vape" (we chuckled, at least) peppering a rubbery, low-end groove with tuneful synthesizers and glistening electronics. There's a similar love-of-life demonstrated on flipside "Joy Operator", with winding synth motifs, lazy synth-strings and tumbling electronics draped over a notably bullish, forthright groove. Both tracks are typical of Smallville's output, but rather less obtuse than Laubner's usual fare.