Juno Recommends Deep House October 2018

Review: Alex "Omar" Smith is certainly "One of a Kind". Like fellow Detroiters Kenny Dixon Jr and Theo Parrish, he has achieved cult status amongst serious deep house heads primarily by following his own path and sticking a solitary digit towards convention. That and being seriously good at what he does, of course. He begins this latest EP in confident mood, joining the dots between vintage New Jersey garage and bouncy deep house on "Less Pain", before wrapping slipped '80s synth-pop chords around a killer (machine) percussion track. Best of all, though, is title track "One of a Kind", a luscious chunk of slowly unfurling deep house positivity rich in ear-pleasing synthesizer motifs, surging chords and rush-inducing musicality.

Review: Happily, Magic Feet man Craig Bratley is on fine form on this surprise Futureboogie Recordings outing, which we think includes some of his strongest material for some time. Check, for example, throbbing opener "99.9", a body-jacking, Italo-influenced throb-fest that wraps '70s horror soundtrack synthesizer melodies and foreboding riffs around a surging arpeggio bassline. Andrew Weatherall is on hand to remix, delivering a vastly different but rather brilliant interpretation that places exotic, snaking synthesizer melodies and yelping vocal samples over a Love From Outer Space-ready pitched-down groove. Elsewhere, "Italo Love" is an all or nothing tribute to the glory days of Italo-disco and "Take Me To Bedford Or Lose Me Forever" is a top-drawer chunk of intoxicating slo-mo synth-chug.

Review: Surely one of the finest operators in the UK underground, Miles Atmospheric released his last album under his own name Miles Sagnia back in 2014, and now he finally returns to the long player format to unfurl his vision of deep, driving techno. This time he's appearing on Finale Sessions, and it's the perfect home for his thoughtfully sculpted cuts. There are more outwardly mellow moments such as "Mensura," and the utterly gorgeous "Peace," but there is also plenty of space afforded to the sharper end of his creative transmissions. "Elysium" is a dense, rippling throwdown that touches on many different aspects of contemporary house and techno, while "Rise" offers up a refreshing variation on the acid house template. Once again, Miles Atmospheric demonstrates why he's such a vital, if sometimes overlooked, force in the UK underground.

Review: Tim Schumacher has tasted great success under the DJ Normal 4 alias, with DJs and dancers responding positively to his trippy, rave-fired blends of vintage drum breaks, wild electronics, mind-altering rhythms and psychedelic intent. This EP on Music From Memory offshoot Second Circle is musically expansive, with the presence of bustling breakbeats and darting synth bass on exotic (and excellent) closing track "La Arabia". The central atrraction is arguably "Aeo", which comes in contrasting mixes: the floor-friendly "Rhythm Mix", with its drowsy vocal chants, feverish electronics, slipped synthesizer melodies and bustling machine drums, and the humid, beat-free tropical synth-scape that is the "Ottertasia Mix". The whole EP sounds a little like a Nacho Patrol record on hallucinatory drugs, which we think is a good thing.

Review: Unswerving in all his capacities as a label owner, DJ and artist, Jimpster continues to burn into another vintage year with this superlative three track EP on his own Freerange imprint. "Curve" hits with the shimmers almost instantly but gets progressively cosmic as more layers are added while "The Sweetness Of That Song" eases us deeper into the dance with a maze lead layers all pointing the same mildly jazzy direction as a meatier electronic arpeggio runs amok beneath. "Simmering Down" lives up to its name on a much more introspective slower note that sounds best either at the very start or end of a perfect party.

Review: There's plenty of hype swirling around this short-run debut from Londoners Adelphi Music Factory, with regular radio plays and appearances in a host of top DJs' set lists resulting in insatiable demand. It helps, of course, that "Javelin" is an absolute beast. Packed with energy, the A-side version sees them generate maximum sweatiness by working cut-up gospel vocal samples atop a loopy, full-throttle, techno-tempo disco-house groove. Honestly, it's one seriously heavyweight rub that's guaranteed to get dancefloors eating out of the palm of your hand. The B-side "Dub" is, if anything, even wilder and heavier, with the little-known outfit utilizing stretched-out, delay-laden vocal lifts and restless piano stabs over ten action-packed minutes.

Review: REPRESS ALERT: The modern master of subliminal deep house is back with a new album. Galcher Lustwerk has rightly earned a sterling reputation for his understated, always entrancing approach to 4/4 grooves. After last year's Dark Bliss LP and recent diversions via his Road Hog alias, he's offering up eight heavy-lidded cuts to suit the smokers as much as the dancers. Get blissed out in the sax-licked delights of skits like "Blue Lotus" or lock into the mellow raps and steady-ticking rhythms of "See You When I See You" - 200% Galcher goes down smooth from start to finish, like all good albums should.

Review: Hungarian producer Route 8 first joined Lobster Theremin in 2014 following a series of acclaimed singles for labels such as Nous, Bokhari and Farbwechsel. A couple more releases for imprint and distribution outfit followed, before he surprisingly fell off the radar. Come Home is his first EP for almost two years; predictably, it's really rather good. We're really rather enjoying the rush-inducing warmth and positivity of opener "Come Home", where chanted, delay-laden vocal samples and sultry Latin trumpet solos drift across a sumptuous deep house groove, and the electrofunk-sampling thrust of deep gospel house bumper "FunFun". That said, both "Turning Point" (a deep and spacey breakbeat house number) and the rolling, riff-heavy late night shuffler "From The Valley" are also superb.

Review: After spending last autumn working alongside Rampa and Adam Port (see the trio's excellent "You Are Safe" album on Keinemusik), Andre "&Me" Boadu has enjoyed a quiet 2018. In fact, this outing on Pampa is his first release of 2018. He begins with the atmospheric and undulating delight that is "In Your Eyes", a slightly jazz-flecked rolling deep house excursion that brilliantly builds energy throughout. Boadu accomplishes this using two contrasting melodic elements: fluid piano solos and a foreboding electronic motif that increases in prominence and intensity as the track progresses. Over on side B, "As Above So Below" is an altogether deeper proposition, with hushed, cymbal heavy percussion, tech-tinged drums and a spacey, undulating synthesizer melody combining to create a hazy late night mood.

Review: Following a surprise outing on House of Disco, Ludovic Llorca returns to Local Talk for the first time since 2013's much played The Same Thing EP. In its' original form, The Rainbow Song is a near perfect example of Llorca's particular brand of deep house - all stretched-out chords, a bustling bassline, tough but shuffling beats, cute cowbells and bluesy vocal samples. It sounds like an underground summer anthem in waiting. There's more of a funk-flecked urgency about the excellent S3A Broken STL Remix, which introduces further vocal samples and, arguably, an even more addictive groove. Certainly, it feels a little wilder than the original, whilst retaining Llorca's unique deep house perspective.

Review: Frits Wentink delivers a third volume in his ongoing "Two Bar House Music & Chord Stuff" series, offering up another quartet of numerically titled "themes".The Bobby Donny supremo hits the ground running with "Theme 09", a swirling, smoky and dusty workout that sits somewhere between the horizontal haziness of Vancouver deep house and the bustling grooviness of basement-bothering mid-90s US house. "Theme 10" is a little more loose and lo-fi in tone, with Wentink utilizing all manner of cheap vintage synths and drum machines, while "Theme 11" is slower and jazzier with distinctive '80s synth-funk influences. "Theme 12", meanwhile, is dubby, driving and low-slung whilst retaining a hint of off-kilter jazz-funk.

Review: Alex Attias seems to have found a soul mate in Luman Child AKA Pascal Strauss, a talented musician whose rubbery basslines and jammed-out electric piano lines feature prominently on both "Cookie Monster" and "What Do We Do". While many will be drawn towards the eyes-closed soul chorus vocals and elastic deep house swing of the latter, it's the jaunty, party-ready A-side that's arguably the strongest dancefloor workout. Similar in ethos to the Herbie Hancock/jazz-funk-influenced work of Dego and Kaidi Tatham's 2000 Black project, the track is arguably one of the strongest of Attias's long career.

Review: Nicola Cruz returns with another spellbinding fusion of Afro Brazilian charm in the form of "Folha De Jurema". With the dusky dulcets of Arteria FM, the dusty strums of Spaniol and sultry plucks of Salvador Arguaya, Cruz commands a decorated cast as they explore a mystical new vision of a traditional Brazilian folk standard. The remixes are just as warm and alluring as Xique Xique adds a little steel string tension, Crussen maps out a chugging Scandinavian odyssey and Rio's Carrot Green brings us back home to the motherland with a poignant, hazy flutter of house soul. Stunning.

Review: Sibling studio buddies Sean and Liam Willers have yet to disappoint since making their debut on We_R House last year. We were particularly impressed by their PIV Limited 12", which quickly sold out when it was released in July. This Scenario debut is strong, too. Check first the closely cropped, bass-heavy deep house smoothness of "Michael Angelo", before turning your attention to the ebbing new age dream chords and crunchy drum machine grooviness of "Really Fine". On the flip Studio Barnhus sort Art Alfie brilliantly re-imagines "Michael Angelo" as a hypnotic, lo-fi dub-house shuffler, while A2 jam "The Tourist" has more bounce to the ounce than your average blazed deep house workout.

Review: Motor City veteran Marcellus Pittman has been in fine form since returning from a four-year hiatus in early 2018. This EP - his third of the year - is, of course, really rather good. Opener "Something Like (A Dream)" is particularly good, offering a perfect balance between the rolling, head-nodding, pitched-down lusciousness of Beatdown and the spacey, delay-laden warmth of more peak-time focused Detroit deep house. If you're looking for something a little less smooth, check the low-slung, off-kilter, cyber-acid rawness of "Jamie 326 Tsot". While rather good, it feels a little out of place next to the fluttering, stripped-back deep house tunefulness of "Breath Beat", whose echoing chords are especially alluring.

Review: Following a killer acid-piano house 12" and contributing a Test Pressing-certified new-disco chug to a split release with Tuff City Kids (both) on Terre des Pommes in 2014, The Working Elite further refine their ability to soundtrack festivities with Rockman / Born Again. While "Rockman" conveys an understatedly cinematic mood with repeated imitation string cycles over crisp electro foundations, "Born Again" presents a new wave / rave endurance test, summoning perspiration from dedicated day-dancers with its metronomic hammer of a beat overlaid with motivating synth-lines like marching toys. On the flip, Saap and Lauer (Tuff City Kids) provide inventive interpretations of these tunes, reshaping "Rockman" into a stomping, flashing-lights electro jam while "Born Again" gets a delightfully multi-dimensional digi-dub treatment complete with acid-reggae breakdown over a 4/4 house beat.

Review: Swiss trio Alma Negra can do no wrong in our eyes, with their recent outing on Lumberjacks in Hell being one of that label's strongest releases to date (which, given its strong track record, is high praise indeed). This four-tracker on Detroit Swindle's Heist Recordings is packed full of dancefloor treats, too. Choose between the spacey deep house/heavily percussion Afro-house fusion of title track "Conversation", the hybrid boogie/dreamy deep house bliss of "This Is The Place" and the warm and woozy, percussion-rich deep house loop-funk of B-side opener "From The Heart". Fittingly, "Conversation" is given a going over by fellow percussion enthusiast Awanto 3, whose trippy remix adds a low-slung jazz bassline, wonky vocoder vocals and just the right amount of wayward electronics.

Review: This project was inspired by my trip to home to my root land. Cape Verde Island, after 54 years of being on this earth, music and fans of my music actually brought me home. - Jus Ed

Review: Pure Cajual gold as Another Day release Spencer Kincy's one of four Gemini EPs on Relief. As with most of these early EPs (and his legendary sets) Kincy kicks off with a warm, deep number (the Nina Simone sampling beauty "U Know How I Feel") before feeding us to the Chicago lions... "Festival" is a relentless loopy jacker laced with carnival vocals, "Your Place Or Mine" plays tempo tricks with the mind before "For Love" closes with a hypnotic stomp that pays homage to the icy futurist charms of electro but with added concrete drums. Grab this before they all disappear!

Review: Almost 12 months after brilliantly joining the dots between house, techno and tech-house on the Exit Strategy released "No Limit EP", former Hypercolour and Hot Creations artist Tom Flynn makes his first appearance on Planet E. Of the three tracks, it's opener "Packard" - whose title doffs a cap to historic parties held at a former Detroit power plant - that makes the greatest impression. A thing of simple beauty, it sees jazz pianist Joshua Praiz unfurl stunningly heartfelt, slow-motion solos over hypnotic beats and crackly, looped vocal samples. "Anna" takes a similar approach, with a cut-up speech about fashion journalism stretching out over a smooth tech-house beat and fluid piano motifs, while "Marx" subtly doffs a cap to both Isolee and the deepest tech-house around.

Review: Waajeed is proud to present 'Strength', a cathartic EP on his own imprint, DIRT TECH RECK. For this four-track package he's enrolled three Detroit natives to collaborate; Ideeyah provides soulful vocals whilst Jon Dixon and Jay Daniel offer two diverse remixes. A Detroit dream team, if you will. The title track is a radiant, melodic groover that looks to the sky for inspiration. Ideeyah's lyrics battle with self-doubt, searching for solace in the harmonies around them, yet her vocals exude pure power. For his own 'String Mix', Waajeed elevates the delicate sentiment of the original to a sun-drenched dose of uplifting house.