Deep House Recommendations April 2013

Review: Hot on the heels of Ornate Music's last release featuring the bumping house business of Digs, the imprint set their sights on Welsh producer Leif, who has been turning heads with his masterful deep house for labels like Fear Of Flying and Fina since 2003. Kicking off with "Circumstance 4", whose smooth organ refrain drifts over a lightly rolling groove, the vibe switches up with "Every Cloud", whose gentle jazz-inspired piano and abstract, dubbed out soundscape is strongly reminiscent of Floating Points more freeform productions. However, it's "Each Day Made New" that provides the EP's most surprising moment, an Andres style hip-hop track with a cut-up, sunshine drenched quality calling Recloose to mind.

Review: REPRESS ALERT!!! Matlock's finest Rhythm Plate resurface brandishing a new label in Pressed For Time, and what better way to inaugurate it than revisiting one of their key tracks. Released back in 2002 on the Mantis label run by Atjazz, "Lean Part 2" was a wonderfully sleazy slab of deepness notable for the lascivious vocal hook that hung slinkily over the production throughout. It still sounds superb some 13 years on and is backed with an unreleased version that was done in the same period, along with deliciously freaky new "Leaner" mix from the pair.

Review: Another arm of Chez Damier's multi-limbed Balance Alliance, Courtesy of Balance inaugurate a new series of 12" compilation releases with COB 3, arriving on limited edition transparent vinyl. Amir Alexander kicks things off following a crop of killer releases for Vanguard Sound and Hype LTD with "Dragon Fly!" featuring the subtly undulating bassline and fresh take on the deep house template he's known for, while City 2 City's "True People 88 89 90" comes true on the promise of its title, with a piece of vintage house that goes beyond the usual hollow revivalism. On the flip, Immer & Mr J's "Delta 23" offers a thick piece of mid-tempo house, with a piercing kick drum, offbeat dub chords and contained acid madness, while St Sene & Janeret's "Nightshifter" takes things down a notch with a late-night house track filled with swirling pads and diva vocals swelling on the midnight horizon.

Review: Dusky have come far in quite a short space with their modern house music interpretations and make quite a decisive move with a high profile transfer from Simple Records to Aus Music. This is still prime, slickly executed house music but with a healthy amount of bass woven into the mix, not least on the fearsome "Alone". A meaty sub line pulses out under the crisp 4/4 while interludes of found-sound percussion come darting in amongst snippets of vocal for a surefire banger. "Dummy" likewise flexes its brawn with pride, from the snappy beat to the punchy bassline, even as the synth elements are intent on sending the track into more spaced-out places

Review: The Atmospheric Existence label puts quality before quantity; therefore a new release from Miles Sagnia's operation is always something deep house enthusiasts should cast their sensory receptors over. Their first release of 2013 sees Sagnia feature alongside Thug Records artist Jacksonville and the mysterious Tales Ov Rossi for the Altitude EP. Label boss in call shotgun shock! Sagnia takes the lead with the wonderfully inventive "Alchemy" which drops a singular 303 tone intermittently between a hurried array of broken house and rushing chords; the results sound remarkably refreshing. Alongside it, Jacksonville is in full on star gaze house mode with "Tokyo" whilst Tales Ov Rossi 's "Flatpress" takes proceedings a whole lot deeper on the flip.

Review: Seeking to sum up the sound of his burgeoning label, Mario Castillo pulls in a selection of artists to assist him in his Kastil guise. Soul Notes is a label clearly in love with a more vibe-laden kind of deep house, whether it comes in the form of a bumping garage shuffle as in Fulbert's "Untitled", or Kastil's own more aquatic excursion. The unifying atmosphere is a blue note one, coming out of dreamy chords steeped in the legacy of black music that permeate each of the tracks on offer. Look no further than the feel-good roll of Jefferson Belmondo's "Booty Groove" for an exercise in understated funk that knows how to pay its dues.

Review: Deep Down Slam laid down a marker of quality house with their debut emission from Washerman and James Johnston earlier this year, and for their second release the label looks to the current strains of house goodness coming out of Ireland. Sligo pair Brame & Klansee collaborate on a double dose of forthright house shufflers with the Alright EP; the title track demonstrates the duo to fully in line with the current vogue for 90s vocal house bumpers. Complementing this, "They'll Be" showcases their craft for infectious melodic hooks. Washerman maintains his 100% Deep Down Slam appearance record with a killer remix of the latter track, retaining the duo's hooks and adding plenty of his own production personality to the mix.

Review: Marquis Hawkes' debut for Dixon Avenue Basement Jams last year was one of our favourite releases of 2012; thankfully the follow up is everything we hoped it would be and more. Arriving this time on marbled green vinyl, the EP features the same kind of steady but deep take on the Dance Mania template as previous his first release, "Higher Forces" kicks off with some simmering vocals, spring loaded metallic percussion and thick analog stabs, while "Automatic" provides a strung out basement jam whose elastic synth bass and finely chopped samples offer a fresh take on the well worn formula of low-slung disco. On the flip, "I Want You" offers more shimmering disco deconstruction pushed forward by a raw, stripped back house beat and a savage bass undercarriage, while closer "Divine Intervention" pairs flanged percussion and a deep acid bassline gently interleaved with sun kissed pads. If Tiger & Woods and Parris Mitchell collaborated, the end result might sound something like this EP - which is no bad thing.

Review: The Chicago based Stripped & Chewed label release their fifth EP with tracks from Borrowed Identity and Mechanical Soul Brother, as well as Simba and Tanzlife. Borrowed Identity and Mechanical Soul Brother's woozy synth lines of "Love For The Gang" glides through filtered hats, rhythmic percussion and seemingly a rocking house party, while Borrowed Identity, this time on his own produces "Boogie Down", a track where drooling acid smothers a stomping beat and air light chords. Simba supplies some late night city funk with "Three Kays", a perfect soundtrack for the Vegas strip, while Tanzlife keeps things balearic with a disco tinged and deep house gem with added bass licks and James Brown "urgh" vocal snippets.

Review: Undertones excel once again, coaxing some all new material from VIL-NX aka Nathaniel X and Hans Vil some twenty years after they first collaborated together. The VIL-NX project was responsible for several 12" releases predominantly on their own Island Noyze label between 1992 and 94 and all brandished the sort of undeniable studio chemistry only close friends with a shared passion (in this case underground house) can manifest. Despite a production hiatus of almost two decades it's clear that Hans and Nathaniel have not lost this close bond on The Lazarus Theory which feels like an authentic statement on real deep house from the bumping opener "Bumrush Da' Party" and this sensation remains throughout - all the pretenders need to step aside as the masters are back!

Review: Newcomer to the world of house music, Paul Hill is a singer-songwriter, composer and trumpet player. He shares his debut release with Nikki-O (real name Nicole Covington), who also first appeared on Mahogani back in 2005 with the nine-track Nikki-O EP. Hill delivers some spacey soul in "Need Me Some Of You" - a potential top 40 hit had Erykah Badu or Cody Chestnutt replaced Hills vocals - but nevertheless, Hill's velvet chorale's heart warming chords, breezy synths and relaxing percussion is something the majors will wish they hadn't slept on. The skippy beats of Nikki-O's "Music" is reminiscent of a Rick Wade production, which features Covington clear-cut vocals that sing of jazz, blues and of course love.

Review: Looking to Bristol for their debut release, Argot offshoot Tasteful Nudes launches in illustrious fashion with this record from Borai. More commonly seen alongside fellow Bristolian October with respected transmissions for Apple Pips and BRSTL, Borai's first solo endeavour shows he's got talent in abundance across two tracks that are intent on delivering pure pleasure, rather than questing for some unknown territory on the outer reaches of electronic music. Led cut "Moonlight On The Malago" is all about the harmonising effect that the sunny keys and delay laden chords have on your sense. It's quite the coincidence that the Sun's in full effect outside the Juno office since this record arrived. On the flip, Borai's clever usage of the "Think" break adds a party starting element to "Does It Bother You?" that proves as rewarding as it does surprising.

Review: This bumper 3x12" release sees Joe Babylon's Roundabout Sounds imprint enlisting the help of respected Detroit house artist Rick Wilhite to curate a compilation of unreleased house tracks from like-minded contemporaries under the appropriately titled Connecting The Compass. Highlights out of the 11 track compilation, which includes the likes of Theo Parrish, Baaz and Sean Tate are numerous, but there are several standout moments; Karizma's "I Think" lays tracky breakbeats over a sonorous synth melody, Marcellus Pittman's "Wolf & Moonbeams" pairs otherworldly synths and an improvised analogue melody with a low-slung bass led groove, and Norm Talley's "Track From The East" is a devastingly simple combination of driving claps and pitched organ chords.

Review: Daniel Shakarchi and Faik Straneus appear on Geography Records for a second time after some well received dalliances with the excellent Studio Barnhus. Filtered chord sequences and summery vibes surface from the deep in "Either Way", while schoolyard vocals, skippy beats and feel good whistles make up "Varvsgatan". Space Dimension Controller influences can be heard throughout "Tammerfors" while noisy shakers, heavy claps and jazzy piano keys loop to a lumbering and vinyl static beat.

Review: Who knew lamping a reptile would be this funky? Of course there's danger to "Punch A Crocodile", too. Mr Webster's neatly represented it with a rich, rasping bassline that kicks in midway, very much like an early Jesse Rose joint. Meanwhile on the Kerri Chandler-flavoured "Wax Your Body" we find that body hair removal isn't painful but actually pretty darn sensuous. Elsewhere we get deep and sexy on the title track and get whisked back to the mid 90s golden era of Yoshiesque via "Get Lost".

Review: Superb fifth release on the Horn Wax label pairing the filmic experiments of Timothy J Fairplay with the serene, trance like techno of Forever Sound. You should of course be familiar with the former, most recently seen impressing alongside Mr Weatherall as The Asphodells, and steadily stockpiling an array of equally refined solo material on all manner of labels and "In Collusion" continues Fairplay's dalliances with an approach that blends cosmiche, soundtrack and minimal synth with his own distinct touch. His B Side companion Forever Sound might be less familiar, but "Glow Worm" finds the Berlin based artist contributing an equally worthy track, calmly traversing the kind of supple, hypnotic organic techno one might hear on a Border Community B Side.

Review: The Fear Of Flying label's co-owner BLM returns with his first new material in some time on the label of cult London party Secret Sundaze with a three track EP that feels significantly darker in tone than his releases for Tsuba and Underground Quality. "Sudden Death" is a hefty piece of loop techno that would put Skudge to shame, whose chugging bass and clattering percussion is contrasted with some softly placed keys. "Chemistry" is another weighty production whose dimly lit dub chords slowly emerge from the gloom before leading into an unexpected section of gentle 303 and spoken word vocal, while "Brick" is a lighter jam whose swelling synth waves catch a restless bassline and looping chords in its wake.

Review: Montel's been busy so far this year, dropping the second release from the Seven Limited label as well as gracing the recent Various Artists issue from NYC's Let's Play House. His label hopping endeavours continue apace here as Wax Classic release Welcome To My House EP. This twelve positively prims with the kind of house trimmings the French love - chords, 909s, and cut vocals. Delayed cowbells shake in the background of "I Heard It", as woozy organs nestle up alongside diva vocals, while "Vibrate Stimulate" is a skippy jaunt through scratchy percussion and mellow pads. "Vibin" throbs with shook low end and vibrating bass stabs, with '90s symbol crashes scattering its arrangement. "What You Do To Me" strips back the low end, gradually introducing warm repetitious chords and extra percussion.