Back catalogue: Deep House

Review: After a blistering first 'Hot Creations Sampler' EP heard an inaugural black-gold palm tree get blown down, with everyone to hear it, now comes a gratifyingly quick follow-up, this time with Steve Bug, Denney, Joshwa, Vintage Culture, Vinter and Hot Since 82 all in tow. No-one misses a kick, with Bug & Denney's opening gambit 'That Beat' locking down a morse bassline against stereo planed beat axis; Hot Since 82 contrasts with the incredibo 'Sonedo', which relays pop dance saxophony a-la Alexandra Stan through a believably ecstatic deep house filter. Second's the best!

Review: June Jazzin has long flown the flag for South Africa's broken deep house scene, crafting tracks that sit at the intersection of jazz-funk, spiritual uplift and syncopated club rhythms. His broken edit of 'Boogie With Me' is a standout hereidusty yet nimble, with a supple bassline and keys that feel lifted from a smoky lounge set. He curates the rest of the record with care: Lukamusic opens with 'Dear Women', built around brushed drums and devotional harmonies, while Vencer Cafe's 'Xxx' is sparse and seductive, draped in delay and off-grid swing. El Payo closes with 'Sunbright', the most classic-sounding of the fouriorgan-led and low-lit, but undeniably rich. Assembled with real touch, this is a deep house 12" that slips between moods without ever losing the thread.

Review: It has been a rather remarkable three years since Yuko dropped its first release, but finally, they are back with more. It is co-founder Emo Omar who features both solo and in collaboration with Luje from Club Pizza while two exciting new French talents Chud and Vivant also make their mark. 'Pollen' is a bright and hooky melodic electro sound then 'You & Me' gets more percussive, with old school cow bells staying busy next to all sorts of wonky synth work. 'Tomorrow's Made Of Breaks' is built on rigid funk and trippy synth bleeps and 'Zeus' shuts down with some retro-future vocoder vocals. This is a great return from a label we hope now pushes on.

Review: The No Fuss label has been busy of late and is now dropping the many fruits of their labours with several EPs landing in quick succession. The 13th outing is a various artists affair that features two cuts from Saison on the A-side, though it's a Ross Couch remix of 'The Riff' that opens up. It's feelgood house with nice dancing piano chords and a Balearic feel while 'Feel This' brings more summery chords and dusty drum loops for some open-air dancing fun. Vertigini then offers the 90s-tinged 'Box Of Pandora' and Mo'Cream closes out with the already classic 'I'm Sure.'

Review: Two years ago, Italy's Balearic Gabba Soundsystem switched from remixing and re-editing their favourite cuts to curating compilation style EPs of similarly minded fare. They're in that mode again here, presenting a trio of cuts that combine the saucer-eyed warmth and loved-up musicality of Balearic music culture with grooves and rhythms firmly focused on the dancefloor. They begin by showcasing Wallace's sublime remix of Sewell & The Gong's 'Better Worlds', a locked-in, hypnotising fusion of semi-organic deep house grooves, new age melodic motifs and the dreamiest of ambient chords. Over on the flip they dip into slo-mo Italo-disco/acid house fusion via SIRS fine revision of My Friend Dario's 'Tell Aro', before treating us to a Pedro Bertho remix of Verdo's 'Belvourdier' in which sparkling Balearic house piano riffs, undulating acid lines and mid-80s "chorus" synth sounds rise above a fluctuating synthesiser bassline and hustling beats.

Review: Andy Vaz shares a fresh Detroit-flavoured deep house EP, fenced through one of many production studio complexes lying in the heart of Cologne, Germany. With slurred streetwise vocals sounding spreadeagled over modal chords and bodying beatwork, this one hits different. A rarefied soul vibe emerges especially on 'The New Germans', which fleshes an immensity of feeling out of a simple kicks n' claps mix alone and 'Hometown CGN' does similarly with its trombone-esque lead parp and brain-fogged puff-around synths.

Review: The "fool's paradise" is a classic device, espoused by many a luminary from Milton to Dante, referring to a special kind of metaphysical plane reserved for those too foolhardy to reflect on their lived misdeeds in any of the main three afterlives: heaven, hell or purgatory. It stands to reason, then, that a small band of nu-disco and house proponents should name their label after it, not least for the stupefying power of disco, and/or the sense of having evaded our sins when compelled to dance! A spin-off of Toolroom, head soundsmith Mark Knight gathers four guardian expiators to lead us into the vainest of all discotheques - Joey Vegas, Tenacious, Sgt. Slick, and Tommy Glasses - for a lulling set of automotive power-disco dreams, in which many a familiar sample from our fleshly lives - from the 70s and 80s, to be exact - filter in and out.

Review: 'Celestial Dance' is Tommy Vicari Jnr and Loopdeville's latest, collaborative contribution to new label Foxtail. 'Go Again' and 'What Kind Of Love Is This' draw on the slung-down timbral strength of amapiano's log basses for reuse in crowd-busting house groovemanship: we hear giggly knock hits stiffening otherwise angelic house ambiences, making for staunch low-end scaffolds. Loopdeville's B-side is the real hoot, meanwhile, as crowd murmurs and restless rhythmic petri cultures heard to come to life across 'Los Pollos', before the r&b inflect 'Do You', which samples what sounds like Miguel, closes on a potent tearjerker.

Review: If you like the sound of a mystical fusion of ancient Japanese folklore and contemporary electronic music, this EP created by Italian producer Volantis and Japanese artist Hiroko is for you. Inspired by a psychedelic experience in Kobe, it blends hardware synthesis with haunting vocals to cook up otherworldly spiritual realms. The title track merges Hiroko's narration with Japanese train sounds while summoning ancient beings while Eden Burns' remix intensifies the ritualistic atmosphere. 'La Kappa' features Hiroko's playful vocals over dreamy sequences with Fabrizio Mammarella's Italorama Version adding a touch of Italo disco. The whole thing was co-produced with Niccolo Barozzi and bridges East and West seamlessly.

Review: ***B-STOCK: Slight surface marks ***


Orlando Voorn is always spoken of as one of the key links between European and Detroit techno. Here though, in collaboration with Han Litz, he sinks into his house sound on open 'What I Love' which is utterly gorgeous with its Roy Ayres flutes, jazzy keys and warm, soulful drums. The Soulfood Mix ups the jazziness and makes the drums more raw, then 'Composers' brings more warming house vibes that are heartfelt and musical. A Downbeat mix reduces the original perfectly for a more cosy, cuddly feel.

Review: Pete Herbert is back with another tasteful assembled and escapist compilation. This one focuses on slowed-down, low-slung sounds for the golden hour when love is in the air and the vibes and blissful. Balearic mainstays feature throughout with Max Essa's 'Warm Enough' a delightfully humid and synth-laced deep house jaunt, Fernando's 'Moon Rocks' full of shimmering synth lushness and Pete Herbert's remix of Mantas & Vencla's 'Sun' offering some piano laced fun to rouse the 'floor.

Review: Last year, Spain's DROP Dance Society - a collective initially founded to put on open-minded, inclusive parties inspired by iconic Chicago and New York clubs - launched an offshoot label, unleashing a swathe of digital-only singles. Here the imprint lands on vinyl for the first time via a compilation showcasing the best of their "digi" releases so far. There's predictably plenty to set the pulse racing throughout, from the lightly disco-tinged deep house colour of TeteDe La Course's 'The Light (Soulful Trip Mix)' and ELTE's Soundstream-esque disco-house looper 'Love Will Shine', to the Dave Lee style beefed-up disco revivalism of Katermurr's 'Beautiful Spirit' and the trance-meets-Italodance surge of Alistair Lane's 'Hypnodance'.