Back catalogue: Deep House

Review: The mighty Defeated has got a fun package on its hands here with some fat disco and house anthems primed and ready for big room summer fun. A'Studio's 'SOS' (feat Polina - Skylark remix - Nic Fanciulli edit) is chunky house with a hooky vocal and rolling groove designed to sweep you up and away. Chloe Caillet then remixes Tensnake's classic 'Coma Cat' into a hands-in-the-air house stomper with epic strings. Harry Romero's sweaty 'Revolution' gets its drums buffed up and well swung by a House Master's Edit and Prunk & Rona Ray steal the EP at the last with their lush vocal house cut 'Keep It Simple.'

Review: Get ready for a rush-inducing dose of proper soulful vocal house from the mighty Dames Brown. On this record for Defected, Detroit's foremost trio of Athena Johnson, Lisa Cunningham and Teresa Marbury linked up with the mighty Amp Fiddler and Andres for a rip through house music as real as it gets. The original 12" mix of 'What Would You Do?' is hard to beat for raw, heavy-hitting groove and production, but there are some choice remixes included here for those who have different needs, whether it's the bouncy jazz funk of Two Soul Fusion's version or the smoother sound of Folamour creating a sleek disco house variation for the peak time crowd.

Review: Defected needs no introduction, simply a reiteration that its no secret its one of the most influential house labels around today. Jamie Jones made a huge splash at Ibiza's 2022 season with this track, receiving support across the board from underground tastemakers to daytime radio. Bolstered by the remixes of Brazilian icon Vintage Culture and the alchemist himself, longtime Ibiza master Damian Lazarus on this rolling feel-good house groove. It's easy to see the mass appeal of such a sunny track.

While Jamie explored disco influences with his signature high-energy groove on the original, Vintage Culture's clear-cut trademark sound gives a distinctly tougher feel, a chugging bassline and rolling synths giving it that dark club side. Lazarus, the soundshifter that he is, reshapes the track in his image. Culminating in a more abstract, chopped-up house entry, undeniably funky with some synths and keys that sound like they shouldn't work - but by God do they.

Review: You can't fault Defected for being always there and always on point. It truly embodies house music spirit and has done for decades on many different fonts. 'Spotlight' leans on an r&b jam familiar to many and it comes here with some fresh remixes. The original is rolling, soulful house with lush production, US garage drum shuffles and great vocals. Sam Divine adds plenty of weight bass and makes it a more tribal tech cut then two Mousse T remixes offer first a big, raw and piano-laced version as well as a slamming disco mix for the peak time.

Review: Return to 2001: Swiss brothers Shakedown drop an iconic house anthem that debunked the standard XXL funk du jour with a much spacier, synth-based 80s boogie sound. Still relevant and heavily played, Defected have commissioned three on-point artists for the 2018 contemporisations: Peggy Gou gets her acid tweaks on, Tiger & Woods pitch down the vocal and dust off the Street Sounds electroid feel and Purple Disco Machine cooks up an unapologetic funked up house jam that wouldn't have gone amiss on Classic back in the day. For good measure Shakedown return with their own signature Galactic Boogie version that pumps with strong Moroder tendencies. Good night.

Review: Sophie Ellis Bextor got her self back in the headlines during lockdown having hosted a series of live streams from her own home. They reminded people of her happy go lucky and dance floor friendly sound, not least her epic naughties hit 'Groovejet' (If This Ain't Love).' Defected capitalise on this with a massive double pack of remixes from contemporaries like Purple Disco Machine and Riva Starr. The original sits pretty in the middle of them all and frankly still takes some beating but Harvey Sutherland does a fine job of updating it with some cool jazz-funk bass and chords.

Review: It's a case of old school meets new school on this fresh new slice of house from Defected. Representing the vets is the one and only Louie Vega, while in the contemporary corner are New York's finest, the Martinez Brothers. Marc E Bassy also pops up on vocals for this feel good deep house gem. His part sung, part rapped delivery comes over soul drenched beats and nice singing leads, which have long been a hallmark of the great Masters at Work man, Vega. A TMBLV mix is more pumping, Honey Dijon cuts loose on elastic bass and rugged rhythms and Dom Dolla offers a more energetic and main room version.

Review: Since the 1970s Danny Krivit has been a prolific re-editor. We're used to him cutting up classic cuts - think disco and soul, in particular - but he's never been afraid to turn his talents to contemporary cuts. That's what you get on this surprise Defected release. On the A-side he turns his attention to "Heaven", the killer gospel-inspired modern disco single from The Vision and Andreya Triana, turning in a version with plenty of drops, instrument solos and more emphasis on the righteous, life-affirming vocals. He's in a smoother mode on side B, extended and rearranging the rich and soulful dancefloor treat that is Kai Alce's Original NDATL vocal mix of The Dangerfeel Newbies' "What Am I Here For?" - a gem from 2016 that has previously been criminally overlooked.

Review: It's been a long time coming, but finally Defected's producer and remixer-focused House Masters series has turned its attention to the undisputed Godfather of House himself, the late, great Frankie Knuckles. This first part (of two) fittingly opens with the track that originally set out his melodious, warm, colourful and loved-up trademark sound, the Jamie Principle collaboration 'Your Love', before flitting between genuine anthems (legendary remixes of Loose Ends' 'Hangin' On a String' and 'Blind' by Hercules and Love Affair, the sleazy, acid house-era 'Baby Wants To Ride', the exceptional 'Hallucinogenic Mix' of Chaka Khan's 'Ain't Nobody') and arguably more overlooked gems (the garage-house wonders that are his remixes of Adeva and Sounds of Blackness).

Review: Defected's House Masters series tribute to Frankie Knuckles is being released as two double LPs, but it could have easily been four or five, such is the quality of the tracks and remixes that the 'Godfather of House' produced during his lifetime. Naturally this second and final part is full to bursting with colourful, tactile and wonderfully saucer-eyed classics - many familiar, some slightly less so - which deserve a place in your collection. Picking highlights is naturally tough, but for proof of Knuckles' unassailable musical majesty and dancefloor magic it's hard to beat the Sound Factory mix of 'The Whistle Song', the low-tempo house bliss of his remix of Inner City's 'Whatcha Do With My Lovin', the Satoshi Tomiie/Robert Owens hook-up 'Tears' and his incredible revision of Electribe 101's 'Talking With Myself'.