Juno Recommends Deep House August 2020

Review: NDATL continues in these uncertain time with a sold bet. After a first meeting NDATL label Honcho & house Stalwart Mr. G clicked immediately with mutal respect. This is the product of that Positive Connection. G jumps right out the gate with House Attack with it's bottom heavy bassline and thrashing drums. Next Up Late Night Jam which is just that a tune to feel & breathe I the early morning hours. In Mr. G fashion he rounds up the EP with the grity hypno tune "Time"
This will prime you up in your living room til the next time your ready to let it all out on someones dancefloor.

Review: Three years on from his latest solo outing, Crazy P founder member Chris Todd AKA Hot Toddy returns to House of Disco with a predictably fine four-tracker. Our pick of a very strong bunch is the toughened up, revivalist electrofunk flex of "Wilde Touch", where clipped guitar riffs, crunchy Clavinet lines and colourful melodies ride a rubbery bassline, though the Paper Recordings-era Crazy P deep house/disco fusion of "Still We Are" is almost as impressive. Speaking of Crazy P, lead singer Danielle Moore lends her distinctive vocals to the Imagination-ish Brit-boogie business of "Positive Emotion", while the EP's other track, opener "Synthesize", is a darker and more spaced-out chunk of weighty, bassline-driven nu-boogie goodness.

Review: Rhythm Plate are absolute powerhouses when it comes to delivering top-notch tech house, and they're back once again on Pressed For Time with this sizable payload of classy joints. There's a timeless quality to this stuff, whether it's the late-night swirl of "Sacrement" or the choppy, quirked-up groove of "Every Kind Of People With Any Kind Of Soul". Out of time and out of mind, the Plate just bring the kind of satisfaction to club music that could launch a thousand sessions. For the late night crew, for the mid-morning rollers and the sophisticated toe-tappers in between, sink your ear-teeth into this generous serving but whatever you do, don't call it an album.

Review: The third part of Joe Claussell's Joaquin Unofficial Edits & Overdubs series is as strong as the first two with four Special Extended Versions making for some joyous listening. "Tears Of Joy" is rapturous house music with gospel overtones that canto fail to bring the soul. "Al's Razerblade" is a lo-fi funk mash up with a strident rhythm section and "Morning" is golden soul with soaring strings that brings some 60s magic to the dance floor. "Life On Earth" is the steamiest of the lot, with tropical sounds and mad jazzy chords all laced with wild percussion that bristles with energy.

Review: Saison are back on their own No Fuss label with more crisp and sweet deep house for those who like it classic. The A side opens up with an energizing sure shot as Saison remix French house head N-You-Up, before they turn in the equally infectious and uplifting "One Day". N-You-Up get another treatment on the flip, as "Jazz Bar" gets snazzed up with a classy gloss of sophisticated house suitable for the smart-casual crowd as well as the party people up front. Saison's own "Sazerac" rounds the record out in fine jacking form, with plenty of soulful licks and jazzy twists woven in between the beats.

Review: Former Paper Recordings artist Sophie Lloyd apparently started working on "Calling Out" whilst gripped by the January blues. Her intention was simply to make "happy music". To that end, she turned to her gospel roots. The results, shared here on 7" single for the first time, are little less than spectacular. With collaborator Dames Brown in tow, Lloyd's vocals - accompanied by a gospel choir, of course - simply soar above a jaunty, piano-heavy track rich in live instrumentation. It sits somewhere between traditional gospel, house and disco, with a flipside instrumental brilliantly showcasing the quality of the instrumentation throughout. The piano solos, in particular, are breathlessly good.

Review: Buacharest-based Vincentiulian has been an important figure in the global tech-house scene for some time, delivering largely deep and emotive dancefloor cuts for such labels as Atipic, Subtil and Contemporan. Here the Romanian makes his first outing on Eastenderz, an imprint that's fast becoming one of tech-house's most consistent outlets. For the occasion, he's offered up a quartet of cuts that fix warm, deep house style musical elements to thickset, occasionally off-kilter deep house grooves. It's a smart and attractive blend that results in numerous highlights, with the simultaneously chunky and spacey "Kald", moodier "Quatro" and lively opener "Din0zaur" standing out.

Review: Bolla's Afrikan Basement debuted with a warm welcome in 2008 as a limited 7" and is one of the many essential projects Joe Clasusell has been involved with over the years. Now it gets revisited on this tasty 7". The a-side is a special edit of "Makkusa", a steamy, spiritual, deeply layered and emotional house track that is lead by a standout sax line. Joaquin's Sacred Rhythm dub is just that on the flip-side, a punchy rework with groaning vocals and a tribal feel, marching drums and plenty of the steam and sweat that makes his music so unique and powerful.

Review: Few people have done as much to shape house music as Grammy winner Louie Vega. His next project finds him on an executive producer role as he assembles a crack team of world class musicians under the Elements of Life banner. With a sound inspired by greats like Stevie Wonder and Cymande, this fantastic record brims with musicality, joy and soul from front to back. The tracks are live sounding, richly percussive, sprinkled with Latin spice and various moods, grooves and tempos. For big hearted DJs and dancers, this is pure gold. Of course guests like Anane, Blaze and Lisa Fischer all help add their own special colour to the picture.

Review: Ilija Rudman and Antonio Zuza's consistently classy label is back with a standout 12" from Californian producer Michoacan, who's previously been spotted on DFA, Eskimo and many other highly regarded labels. "Knights Are Cold" is a vibrant, original and delightfully kinked slab of sunshine with a subtle pitch-bent oddness and an innate funkiness. It's smart in its reference points, but certainly not trying to be a simple 80s disco pastiche. "Be Side Me" is a slower, moodier affair but the same melodic sensibilities shine through to make this a rich selection for DJs wanting grooves with personality and attitude to spare.

Review: 4 fresh tracks from 4 great producers. First is Carl Gambino (She Can't Love You), test driven at DC10 and parties like S.A.S.H. in Australia. A beautiful House track full of warmth, swing & groove with subtle vocals throughout. A2 on the A side is Lee Onel from Fuerteventura with Pepon, driven by its baseline, skippy percussion and in true Lee Onel style, a long breakdown arranged perfectly to jump start the crowd. With heavy early support on Ibiza Global Radio and the islands dance floors, its more than made its mark. B1 The label welcomes back Julenn with Long Shot. Another great slice of House music led by its strong kick, light hats and dirty baseline. B2 The unstoppable Russian, Legit Trip is back on the label with Brat, a pure groove leading into a straight up breakdown before catching the groove again right to the end.

Review: The insatiable rise of Felipe Gordon continues apace. The Colombian has been in a rich vein of form over the last 18 months, chalking up must-check EPs on Quintessentials, Toy Tonics, Lost Palms, and Razor 'N' Tape Reserve. Here he adds another label to his discography: celebrated Swedish house outlet Local Talk. Title track "For A Bright & Acid Future" hits the spot from the word go, with Gordon wrapping twisted, rough-neck acid lines around a bustling backing track rich in fuzzy synth stabs, jazzy bass guitar and crunchy beats. Over on the flip Kear lends a hand on the sun-kissed, soft focus brilliance of jazz-funk/Jazz/deep Latin house fusion of "Son Esquivias", a slab of breezy, percussion-rich goodness that could well be Gordon's most musically expansive track to date.

Review: Spanish label Mate are back with more excellent house cuts from different corners of the scene. The endlessly prolific Javonntte is in control on the A side, sounding as iconic as ever with the rousing thump of "Quantom". "Mr DJ" is a more soulful track with a catchy vocal hook you'll be humming to yourself for weeks after hearing it. On the flipside, Simon Garcia's The Blaxploited Orchestra is in heavy edit mode on "Ready To Go", bringing a full-frequency funk and sizzling house drums to the fore with a classic sample or two. "Explicit" has a lower tempo, allowing even more space to sink into the pocket and feel the groove from start to finish.

Review: Since -re-establishing his early noughties Visions Inc imprint in 2017, Swiss scene stalwart Alex Attias has delivered some of his most impressive and musically dexterous material. He's at it again here on a two-tracker that showcases his love of studio collaboration. Our pick of the pair is exuberant, life-affirming A-side "The Message (For You)", a sublime slab of loose-limbed Latin house soulfulness featuring vocals from Justin Chapman and keys-work from Japanese artist Hajime Yochizawa. Attias' old pal Mark De Clive-Lowe lends a hand of equally positive and sparkling flipside "The Waiting Game", adding all manner of jazz-funk inspired sound synths to a fine, rubbery deep house workout.

Review: The next airdrop from the good ship Constant Black is a various artists affair with four tracks from four artists guaranteed to find a home in your extended micro sesh. Pascal Benjamin takes the lead with "Falkhill", locking into a Romanian-flavoured minimal breaks formation that rolls in resplendent fashion with a particularly choice vocal lick from an undisclosed RnB track. Michael James and Benjamin Joseph nudge the pitch fader up and dial in the swing for the decidedly funky wiggler "The Island", and TIJN keeps things bumping but works in some sharper drum sounds for the tough but bouncy "Maybe". Nick Beringer finishes the record off with the chunky funk of "Nyx", calling to mind Mike Shannon amongst others.

Review: There are nimble, rolling grooves aplenty to be enjoyed on the second drop from Mahal for Inner Shift. Of course, these grooves are framed within the context of moody, meditative soundscapes where you're as likely to hear some squalling guitar as you are spooky keys - that's certainly the case on stunning opener "Red & Blue". Deep Explorer comes on board for a remix that feeds some loose and limber breaks into the mix, which match the dusty feel of the track perfectly. "Behind The Scene" weighs in with a powerful bass presence and some classic box beats, capturing some serious Detroit-inspired energy in the process. "Mind Games" completes the record with a dreamy excursion into airy pads and submerged arpeggios to get you floating skywards.

Review: Having already seen his synth-pop-meets-piano-house gem "Never Come Back" successfully remixed by Four Tet and Morgan Geist, Dan "Caribou" Snaith has now handed over the parts to Sam Shepherd AKA Floating Points. While those versions retained the core elements of Snaith's warm and ear-pleasing original mix, Shepherd has chosen to re-imagine it as the kind of positive, spacey, musically detailed and rushing late night deep house jam with which he originally made his name a decade ago. It has serious sub-bass weight, too, and is one of his most impressive club-focused outings for some time. It's worth buying the 12" for that mix alone, but his wonderfully deep, sub-heavy, garage-influenced rework of another "Suddenly" album track, "Sister", is also superb. In other words, you need this in your life.

Review: Oliver Dollar sure knows how to make dance floor bait. His rough edged and lo-fi house is infused with plenty of funk, soul and disco cues, as well as plenty of well found samples. He is a perfect mix for Defected and here link with Jimi Jules for the easy to love and heart felt grooves of "Pushing On." As well as a dub, Jesse Rose serves up a 'live From The Villa' remix that has big, bouncy kicks and hard edge claps softened by a big diva vocal. Tchami then closes out with the most peak time and pumping of the lot.

Review: When Caribou, Four Tet and Morgan Geist appear on the same 12", you know it's going to be huge. And it is. First up, Kieran Hebdan takes "Never Come Back" and warps the bass, builds plenty of tense percussive energy and layers in some sci-fi synths that take the track into the next dimension. It's epic, as is always the way with Hebden, and ripe for some rave reactions. Cult neo-disco innovator Morgan Geist does something completely different - his drums skip and ping, with a breathy and soul drenched vocal next to lush cosmic chords. It's bouncy, playful, brilliant.

Review: Good news for all of those who don't shop in Rush Hour's Amsterdam store, as Masalo's much-hyped debut solo single is finally available outside of that legendary Dutch institution. It's certainly been worth the wait. Both tracks doff a cap towards the spacey and intergalactic end of the Italo-disco spectrum, with Masalo opting for unfussy drum machine rhythms and throbbing, arpeggio style basslines. A-side "New Dance" is the more obviously disco-centric of the two tracks, with jaunty riffs, lilting synth-pop melodies and ricocheting, proto-house style drum fills rising above a suitably druggy groove. "Cycles", meanwhile, is a little deeper and more outer space in tone, an effect emphasized via sampled vocal chants and crystalline synthesizer melodies that appear to drift across the sound space.

Review: REPRESS ALERT: Italian producer St. David has spent the past few years issuing some serious house tackle for the likes of Quality Vibe, Let's Play House and Theory Of Swing, and now he's up on Politics Of Dancing with some of his strongest jams to date. "Mind Power" is a driving peak time bomb with a lofty sense of spirituality lingering behind the thump of the drums. "Get Deepy" is unsurprisingly geared towards a mellower time of the night, but it's no slouch in the groove department. This is a Politics Of Dancing record after all. "Acid Shuffle" keeps the shimmering pads and marries them to a vintage drum machine jack, which Diego Krause reworks into a wholly different kind of tripped-out house wobbler.

Review: Here's a welcome surprise: a reissue of one of the most revered records in the back catalogue of sadly departed Sheffield deep house imprint Toko. This 1997 gem is actually an all-star affair, with Klarky Cat (a reference to legendary satirical show Brass Eye) being a collaboration between Chris Duckenfield, Toko bosses Alec Greenhough and Paul Ingall (better known as Attaboy) and influential, overlooked Manchester producer Si Brad. In. its original form, "Gumbo" mixes the wavy, loved-up dreaminess of classic deep house with the organ sounds of U.S garage and the swinging, occasionally glitchy drums of early UK tech-house. It comes backed with a darker, chunkier and more foreboding rework (the mesmerising "Blooty Mix"), and the bright, acid-flecked sunrise giddiness of rather good bonus track "Custard Gannet".

Review: Over the last decade, Large Records has concentrated largely on digital releases, though their occasional vinyl outings - and specifically the "Wax Weapons" series of compilation style EPs - are rarely less than essential. Volume three kicks off via the chunky, bass-heavy bounce and fizzing, Todd Edwards style cut-up melodic snippets of Scott Diaz and Timmy P's "True Blue", before Never Dull takes us further towards classic deep house territory courtesy of the bustling brilliance of "United, Under One Roof". Elsewhere, Finest Wear's "That '90s Groove" is an ear-pleasing slab of 1990s U.S house revivalism, while Colorjaxx's energetic closer "One Night In The City" adds Mike Dixon/Greenskeepers style filtered jazz samples to a chunky Chi-town beat.

Review: Giles Smith and James Priestley are back under their Secretsundaze moniker for some top-shelf machine wranglings. There's a nervy edge to "Devious", which creates a dense sound using gnarly monosynth bass, spacious reverbed bleeps and brittle drums. "Over The Edge" heads outwards rather than inwards with rousing vocal loops colliding with plush melodic phrases and another knotty beat, while "Drifting" plays on classic 90s downtempo techno through a fog of lo-fi charm. You can sense the grit and invention that's been rubbed into these tracks, making them reach beyond straightforward club music to something altogether more intriguing.

Review: Back in the 980s everything Pete Heller and Terry Farley touched turned to go. So much so that ensuing generations continue to connect with their work and now Defected invite a wealth of new school producers to add their own spin to the huge "Ultra Flava". David Penn goes for a hands in the air, festival version, a 2016 version from the artists themselves gets more twisted but keeps its vibes 90s bassline in tact, then Darius Syrossian goes harder and faster with his sweaty rework. Low Steppa & Johan S go for a thoroughly modern rework with shuffling drums.

Review: Butch has been turning out essential club sounds for many years. He has a wide range of styles in his arsenal and always manages to come up with original ideas despite being so prolific for so long. "Joe Le Taxi" is a mad acid cut that has off-grid claps, drunken kicks and a female vocal lost in it all. It's the sort of unhinged tune to drop at the peak of the night and watch the reaction from afar. On the flip is an Acid Tool version that is even more wonky and unhinged, with the squirrelling acid line doing even more work.

Review: Having dropped digitally a few weeks back via his own Bubbletease Communications label, Maurice Fulton's latest album as Boof has finally landed on wax courtesy of Gerd Janson and Running Back. It's worth picking up, not least because Fulton's musical vision is so vibrant and distinctive. Over two slabs of wax, the Sheffield-based American delivers a swathe of ear-pleasing, off-kilter deep house numbers laden with colourful synthesizer sounds, jazzy electric piano stabs, opaque chords and rubbery bass guitar. There are of course plenty of interesting and oddball diversions to be found throughout (see "Ana's F Is Chillin", the intoxicating and exotic "Japanese Indian Shrimp Curry", and the totle track's kaleidoscopic space jazz), as well as a handful of ultra-percussive peak-time beasts (see "Luam Has Found Her Z").

Review: Whether they're operating on Toy Tonics, Freerange, Madhouse or NeoVinyl, Black Loops rarely fail to deliver the deep house goods. Predictably, the Italian duo's Shall Not Fade label debut is another quality collection of cuts. Our pick of a very strong bunch is probably "Badmanthing", a quirky chunk of rubbery deep house-funk built around a bold, memorable bassline, eccentric electronics and tipsy chords, though the skipping drums, meaty bass and tweaked New Jersey garage motifs of "Plastikhaus" are also hugely alluring. Elsewhere, "No Fear" is a notable fusion of bounding house beats, darting jazz-funk synth sounds and simmering synth-strings, while EP opener "I Know You" is a more classic-sounding slab of deep house cheeriness.

Review: Italian scene veteran DJ Soch has been serving up classy, mature and musically rich house music for longer than many of us have been alive, so it's great to see him showcase his wares on Lobster Theremin offshoot Distant Hawaii. There's naturally plenty to set the pulse racing amongst the five tracks on show, from the effortless warmth of title track "The Power of Poetry" - a glorious fusion of Nu Groove era Burrell Brothers style deep house and sun-kissed Italian dreaminess - to the chunky, bass-heavy bounce of New Jersey garage-influenced closing cut "Magic Flute". Other highlights include "Underground Night", where slick, vibraphone style solos and twinkling pianos ride another thickset late '80s deep house groove, and the luscious Italian dream house revivalism of "Round The World".

Review: Earlier this year, Louie Vega decided to offer up a new edition of 2003 album "Elements of Life" - his first with the now familiar NYC collective he founded of the same name - featuring re-mastered original tracks and a handful of new remixes. There's much to enjoy on this second and final vinyl double-pack, which largely focuses on the original album's more Latin-themed tracks. Highlights include the Latin house breeziness of Blaze hook-up "Brand New Day", the epic mambo/Latin jazz suite that stretches across side two, a deliciously warm, deep, hazy and soulful Joe Clausell "Reprise Dub" mix of "Elements of Life", and the salsa-tastic summer breeze that is closing cut "Sunshine (Instrumental)".