Deep House Recommendations May 2013

Review: The Kolour Ltd label breaks radio silence and does it in style with the heavy hitting It's House Not House EP featuring contributions from Bicep, Rick Wade and DJ Sprinkles! Finding themselves in such respected company, Bicep elect to celebrate their Kolour Ltd debut by granting "Feel It" the vinyl platform it deserves, with the track a much requested secret weapon of their DJ sets. Rick Wade keeps up his near 100% appearance record in the weekly release schedules with "Free" a gem from his late 90s past whilst the flip has DJ Sprinkles going deep in the producer's own inimitably vintage style across 11 minutes on "Kissing Costs Extra".

Review: Having established the W&O Street Tracks imprint in 2012 to further push the revivalist house sounds of themselves and their contemporaries, Waze & Odyssey kick present the label's first release of 2013 with a double header of hot house talent. On the A-side, Ejeca, who helmed the last W&O Street Tracks release teams up with US based Rhythm Operator on "Raid", an initially tense house number which explodes into a catchy sequence of lysergic 90s stabs, complete with whooping vocal sample. On the flip, rising London producer Citizen builds on the momentum from a year of strong releases on Love Fever, Five Easy Pieces and Kerri Chandler's Madtech with "In My Mind", a heady combination of hypnotic vocal loops, thick bass, and narcotic organ chords which display a darker side to the producer.

Review: Belfast lads done very good Bicep return with the Stash EP, their first full release of the year and it represents a triumphant return to Will Saul's Aus label with the. It's fair to say Andrew Ferguson and Matthew McBriar ruled 2012, helping to pioneer a trend in backwards glancing house music across their various releases for Aus, Love Fever and their own Feel My Bicep label. So it makes for pleasant listening that Stash sees the duo expanding on their sound with four tracks more reflective of their personal tastes. The title track is full on peak time bliss which dovetails nicely with the glistening deepness of "Courtside Drama" and the chunk "Rise" which demonstrates a new found passion for infectious lead synth hooks. "The Game" offers a downtempo curveball, working in samples from HBO drama The Wire amidst a generally melancholic tone that owes more to Aphex Twin than Kerri Chandler.

Review: Bringing a soft-focus Balearicism to deep house, Ben La Desh follows up on his inaugural release for Sleazy Beats Black Ops with a batch of simmering cuts that embrace the deep just as they pack in the detail. "In The Back" keeps the vibe light and airy, using bright samples and a crisp drum groove to drift into carefree abandon. "Escape Route" gets moodier with more dramatic pads, and plenty of tension worked into the disco loop hooks, ever-building towards an unknown end destination. "Bohican Bossa" taps, unsurprisingly, into a subtle Latino flavour just as it bubbles away on a bed of shakers, complete with muted trumpets for that irresistible piquant flavour.

Review: Kool Vibes Groovin EP oozes classic French house vibes form the get-go thanks to the opener "No More Wastin". Stocato rhode stabs are met with quick-jangled percussion, cut vocals (like the French only know how) and thumping beats. "Underground" settles down a little, maintaining a sultry groove with a chord driven hustle, while "Groovin'" is upbeat French house at its best. "Feel It" features more juicy and looped up sample action with call-and-response vocals thrown in for added effect. A must have for the French house connoisseur.

Review: Continuing their quest to keep the 90s flavoured house vibe alive, Music Is Love bring new producer Maxwell up to the stage with some snazzy styles primed to get the dancefloor burning. "Feel Yourself" is perhaps the lightest of the cuts on offer, riding a simple piano riff over a steady shuffling beat, but it's on "Talk About" that the fire really gets roaring with the right combination of chords and bassline, while the vocal lick would make Todd Edwards get down. Gerd in his NY Stomp guise brings a weighty vibe full of killer descending synth lines on his version of "Spun", while the original follows with a smoother kind of deep house shaped by some quirky key arranging and another of those highly sustainable grooves.

Review: The Trax EP is the second release for Citizen on Love Fever - a Nottingham schooled, London-based producer. Undulating atmospheres and an infamous '90s trance motif circulates the background of "Everything", as skittling percussion and hit-hats are sequenced at force. The astutely crafted vocal phrases of "Worship & Tribute" occupy the liminal zone between sound and song, reinforced by heavy warehouse chords, while "Glastique" harks back Jason Nevins' house-pop hit "I'm In Heaven", only done in Citizen's deep and riffing style.

Review: After his debut on Swedish label Local Talk, Mike Sharon's second EP comes courtesy of Traxx Underground, a label which debuted with Parisian house producer Kool Vibe. Like a lot of French inspired house music, repetitious Rhodes, pumping 909 drums and gear shifting chord progressions consume much of A Groove Livin', but Sharon manages to add a little more sparkle into his tracks. "Green Flow" is funky, yet very minimal by French house standards, while Mr Fingers inspired bass plods walk alongside stretched out strings in "In The Morning". The title track is a well packed loop of assorted percussion and kick drums that dip in and out from an arrangements pinned together by constant chords and stabs. "Flight 647" features similar bass plods of "A Groove Livin'", only subtler, while dizzying synths vamp hard through Sharon's use of filters and shrewd panning.

Review: Before there was the Analogue Cops or John Swing there was Enrico Mantini - an Italian house producer which in 10-plus years of releasing music, sounds as contemporary now as he did in '92. The Rough Times EP brings four of his earlier productions forward a decade, starting with "Just A Dream" originally released in '93. Drawn pads slide in and out of busy drum machine arrangements, while moist vocal shouts add some sexy swing. "Flow With Me" - also released in '93 - is a simple drum track of a basic kick drum and bass combo, with sketchy snares and the odd crash cymbal thrown in. "Man In The World" from '92 sees more traditional 909 sequences swing to Yankee stadium Rhodes and cut vocals, while the previously unreleased "Get Infatuation" is cruise piece machine funk with a 10 year analogue hum you can almost taste.

Review: This Lifting Weights 12" is foremost notable for being the first time in a long time that Pepe Bradock has released original material on a label other than his own Atavisme. Furthermore it represents the latest excellent Acid Test release from Los Angeles label Absurb Recordings, following previous contributions from Tin Man, Donato Dozzy, Holger Zilske and the Achterbahn D'Amour pairing of Edit Piafra and Iron Curtin. Both "Lifting Weights" and "Mujeres Nerviosas" were produced and programmed in LA, but subsequently "assembled" in Bradock's hometown of Paris and bring the kooky production eccentricities of the adored Frenchman to the fore. The latter track is particularly notable for the constant shift in structure and arrangement.

Review: Back in stock! These days New York's underground electronic music scene is stronger than ever (though residents may argue otherwise). Chief among these has been Mister Saturday Night, a party built on the forthright musical opinions and fearsomely eclectic vision of resident DJs Eamon Harkin and Justin Carter. It's perhaps unsurprising, then, that they've chosen this moment to join the likes of Tim Sweeney, Eric Duncan, Runaway, Roy Dank and the Let's Play House crew in launching their own label. What's more surprising, perhaps, is their choice of artist for the first release. Next to no one knows anything about Anthony Naples. Whoever he is, Harkin and Carter have shown great vision in signing him up. Mad Disrespect is an impressive debut; a cracking EP that neatly sidesteps convention and delivers house tracks brimming with ideas. It's adventurous and innovative, but never shies away from its main purpose: making people dance. Highly recommended!

Review: Trinidadian Deep delivers his first EP for Dubbyman's Deep Explorer label and he blends murky filters with warm waves of musicality to create an impassioned EP of tender, yet zealous sounds. Delicate flutes and scuzzy synths waver like shimmers or light cutting through tropical water in "Mind Fluid", while the aquarian keys of the EPs title track push the production closer to a sun drenched surface, yet it remains submerged by a fathomless bassline and diluted pads. Above Smoke, who runs Deep Explorer with Dubbyman, reworks "Vision & Sound", reducing the originals higher tones of musicality, while calming its percussive elements and adding a part-hummed part-sung vocal line.

Review: The Year Of Naples continues apace here as the celebrated Brooklynite Anthony Naples opens proceedings on his newly formed Proibito label with a sublime 12" from Royal Crown Of Sweden. More commonly known as Huerco S, those who've enjoyed the Kansas based producers murked out house deviations for Opal Tapes, Future Times and Wicked Bass will be pleasantly surprised that Royal Crown Of Sweden is relatively straight forward experiments with a drum machine and 4 bar samples. The R.E.G.A.L.I.E.R. EP takes its cue from an old Pau Johnson record and the three original cuts veer lopsided through dusty DJ tools . For added interest, lead track "Vanern" has been rewired on the go by L.I.E.S. duo Steve Summers and Bookworms with some assistance from their friend Lori - the results will please anyone whose been digging their Confused House output.

Review: If you've attended Sir Weatherall and Sean Johnston's sub 120bpm chugathon A Love From Outer Space in the past 18 months or so you'll probably have woken up misty eyed and hungover but still wondering what that edit of the Skatt Brothers classic "Walk The Night" they played to rapturous applause was. The answer is "Creeper" from Haules Baules, aka veteran Scottish DJ and crate digger Logan Fisher and salvation arrives for those craving the creep on this superb 12" from Fisher's Haules Baules label. His lurching, delay laden revision of the Halloween standard lines the A Side and is backed with a minimalist acid EBM remix from Sean Johnston's Hardway Brothers project. Essential fare!

Review: The latest transmission from the luxuriant world of Smallville is a various artists collection that continues to weave elegiac tales via deep house means. Iron Curtis is up first with some plaintive acid in the form of "Daniel", which works pads and tender beats around the heartfelt squelch with grace. Moomin is a little more prominent in the beat department for "I Whisper A Prayer", while also feeding a hint of disco romance into a slow and simmering cut. Jacques Bon has his own acid tale to tell, and does so with a bigger nod to the jack but still keeping things respectable given the surroundings, leaving it to Rvds & Rau to happily float off on a buoyant throwdown in "Umbe Data", all positive chords and hopeful strings over a simple beat to show it's not all mournful in Hamburg.

Review: Yes! The excellent Glaswegian label Dixon Avenue Basement Jams return with a fifth release that further tightens their grip on the Juno review team's affections. The tried and tested DABJ formula of banging house sounds from unknown quantities perfect for sweaty little basement spaces is adhered to here - if it's aint broke don't fix it right? Who O.D.D. is remains unclear, but the four tracks on his/her/their (delete as appropriate) Drum Patter EP demonstrate an appreciation of slanted and slamming ghetto house music similar to previous DABJ contributor Marquis Hawkes. "Foam Suit" stands out as a detuned, unhinged delight and alongside "Pols" is reminiscent of Gerd's recent modern take on the classic Dancemania sound as Geeeman.

Review: Presenting the third and final instalment of his Codes & Metaphors LP on wax, Fred P couldn't be in ruder health if he tried as he shows off so many different sides of his musical personality. "Amazing" is a nasty acidic jam that stays in the deep end just as it hints at the brawn Fred can be capable of, without ever needing to resort to obvious displays of brute force. "Love Is" comes on softer, wrapping Malena Perez's soothing croon around healing pads and chords while the beat gets intricate and technical without ever making it obvious. Aybee's remix of "Love Is" is relatively straight forward in comparison, but has its own haunting charms to impart all the same.

Review: Seemingly emboldening with every subsequent release, Chicago Damns make the fourth release on his label count with three solid statements on ear-snagging and head-grabbing modern house music. "Let Your Body Rule" has a seriously rough disco loop quality to it, calling to mind the visceral approach of Soundhack without going overboard on repetition. Beyond standard disco edit techniques, this is rugged enough to make people freak out on a whole other level. "Temporary Transgression" plots a more sensitive path into lilting layers of licks with wistful dashes of horns that burrows deep into the psyche without reaching for hard-hitting beats. "Pleasure" flips the script once more with a low-slung groover full of slap bass and dubby chord echoes over a fractured bump of a beat.

Review: Fluttering hi-hats and rattle percussion add to the self-propulsive rhythm of Detroit Swindle's chord intoxicating "Nothing Else Matters", the title track from the 61st release by Dirt Crew Recordings. The Morning Factory only slightly touches up the original, with its emphasis remaining on chords, adding different filter techniques to it progression, while they also rearrange the tracks lowered vocals. Jazzy hi-hats continuously ride the linear groove of "Porter's House", as filter-whipped synths surge between delayed vocals and quick fire stabs coated in dub. Elef supplies the EPs final track, "Keep It Physical", which Detroit Swindle give a deep and sultry remix of subtle Julio Bashmore stylings.

Review: Offering up a split EP for those who appreciate some diversity on their 12"s, the newly invigorated Classic returns once again to their recent love affair with No Dial Tone on one side and James Curd holding up the flip. It certainly is a mixed bag, from the noirish tech house twitch of "Standing Still" that leans heavily on No Dial Tone's vocals to Matthew Herbert's typically fractured remix which fires off shreds of melody against a spluttering locomotive of rhythm. On the flip, James Curd (of Greenskeepers and DFA fame) is in a much more direct mood with a straight-up house cut that rocks a vibing Rhodes hook and pumped up beat. The Black Madonna gets a little more antsy on the "Less Gentle Jam" remix with bigger build-ups and break downs that bring fresh relief to Curd's original.

Review: Currently two of the busiest men in contemporary deep house, Alex Agore and James Johnston have still found the time to establish their joint No Matter What Recordings as a potent outlet. This sixth release sees Johnston at the buttons for sole control after a couple of split releases and the Consumer EP demonstrates a further refinement of his own distinct brand of house music. Arriving on transparent vinyl, lead track "Give Him Prozac" sets the tone with a thick four note synth lead that accrues all manner of dreamlike analogue qualities as it progresses backed by those crisp rolling rhythms Johnston is known for. "Columbo Likes The Nightlife" takes things on a notably deeper path, all dubby chords and intricate skipping percussive touches augmented by epic sweeping textures, whilst face down "And They Had Cocktails" maintains the same feel if upping the pace somewhat. Johnston ends strongly with the sublime analogue build of "The Sleepwalker".

Review: Giegling is a Weimar based label which since 2009 has creatively lifted micro house, deep house and dub techno from its bemoaned doldrums. Done badly, it sounds like a clumsy baby hitting pots and pans - done well it sounds like Green Amber by Edward. "Following You" sees unsettling piano keys rise in tension to create a melancholia that so often drugs many of Giegling's releases, while "Slipslow" expels breathes of resonating synths that are blown with cold full cheeks. "True Dialogue" remains dry and straight for its entirety, with a playful cowbell adding some swing to its staunch and muscular oomph. One for the after-after party.