Back in stock: House

Review: Tresor is celebrating 30 years in the game with a series of special reissue projects. This one really goes way back to almost the start, when Juan Atkins was already defining the early techno sound. For this one he linked up with Moritz von Oswald and Thomas Fehlmann in 1992 for a second iteration of the 3 Men in Berlin project. The monumental results join the dots between Detroit and Berlin across a collection of timeless cuts that meld bassline funk, hypnotic minimalism and soulful machine sounds into propulsive, emotive dance floor joy. The unbridled energy and cosmic elegance of 'Jazz Is The Teacher' might just be the highlight.

Review: Only a week after his last outing on this label, DJ DSK is making another return with more of his masterful edits. Volume 6 finds him open up with 'Remind Me,' which is a soulful and jazzy jam, with tumbling drums and nice wet claps. The vocal is the real winner, though, as it tugs at those heart strings. Flip it over and you'll find the much bigger anymore bumping 'Knee Deep' which has myriad recognisable samples all reworked into a party ready hip hop funk joint for the b-boys and girls out there.

Review: Though his career has taken many turns over the last decade, DJ Koze has remained that most illusive of creatures: a minimal-minded producer with an ear for a melody. This fourth full-length, packed to the rafters with big-name collaborations (Apparat, Caribou, Ada and Matthew Dear all feature), continues his move towards the home-listening sphere. So, while many of the heady rhythms and shuffling grooves hark back to his stripped-back past, Amygdala impresses with its woozy songs, genre-straddling fusions (see the modern soul meets deep house of "Homesick" or the steppy, tropical vibes of "Marilyn Whirlwind") and homely atmosphere.

Review: Dark Entries welcome back the inimitable Doc Sleep aka Melissa Maristuen for a superb new album of ghostly and ethereal house and techno. This is a welcome follow-up to last year's ambient and IDM exploration, Birds, and shows another side that draws on Maristuen's years of queer clubbing. It fuses aspects of New York house, Berlin techno and West-coast breakbeats and is "a love letter to the West Coast's magnificent natural landscape, the light of the Pacific sunrise." That is reflected in the sublime synths and silky rhythms which manage to both move your body but also captivate your mind. It's another cracking album from the Doc.

Review: EEE is many things - a huge part of Yorkshire dialect, a rather fun party prescription (apparently) and also the name of a low key but high class label that deals in hand-stamped 12"s that pair fun with function. This 16th such outing is another testament to that. The A-side is a nice deep and dusty tech house cut with cheeky samples that hook you in, and the A-side also has just one track on it and it is built on a chunk y low end, peppered with hits and looping bass and topped with classic vocals Missy samples that you can imagine will do damage in Ibiza the summer.

Review: Alleviated's trawl through the (admittedly limited) back catalogue of Larry Heard's long-forgotten Loosefingers alter ego continues. The three tracks here were originally released back in 2004 on the When Summer Comes EP, and see Heard at his deepest and most sensual. The ten-minute title track is particularly gorgeous, sounding like a blueprint for all those hazy "beach house" releases that followed in subsequent years. Pleasingly, there's some more aggressive, in-your-face material on the flip, with the rubbery "Transmission X" and bold "Acid Bounce" recalling Heard's more robust, acid house-inclined work (Gherkin Jerks, "Washing Machine" etc). In fact, it's these two cuts that make the EP nigh on essential.

Review: Harry Dennis and Larry Heard began making music together as The IT in the mid-80s, releasing records on D.J International and Black Market until the duo took a break from collaborating in 1990. A staggering 21 years later they resurfaced on proud Chicago DJ and producer Kevin Starke's label, and following that split 12" they now debut on Heard's own Alleviated Records. "Somebody Somewhere" is a classic Chicago house track with pained spoken word lyrics talking about the struggles of life, while "Crying" is deep and kooky in a Perlon kind of way. "Utopian Dream" is piece of street poetry laced with club music that blends electroclash with house, while "Beauty In A Picture" is tribal and bassline driven. Club music doggerels from the street.

Review: It's been a minute since we last heard from Earl Jeffers, the Cardiff-based artist who has been steadily making his mark in the house scene with a soulful style that calls back to some of the foundations of deep rooted Black house music from the UK. As such, it's significant to see him returning from a three year absence in collaboration with the imperious Kaidi Thatham. Their joint effort, 'The Essence', is a soaring, invigorating workout overflowing with Thatham's incredible musicianship front and centre. 'Higher' is a skipping, up for it garage house heater with raunchy organs and an infectious bounce, and it comes with an additional 'Alt Mix' which takes things a touch deeper for the late night crowd.

Review: Having spent six years apart from one another, Marvin & Guy now reunite with Life and Death for two infectious tracks, breaking their two-year silence from original releases. Departing from their signature melodies, the duo presents minimalist compositions tailored for the dancefloor. Born from playful experimentation with a synthesiser bassline, these tracks boast distinctive rhythmic and harmonic shifts - the irresistible appeal of' 'Who Dis' is its fatness and apparently simplicity. Incorporating sounds like shattered glass and Formula 1 engine roars - both meticulously recorded for these tracks - the joy and fun of the creative process shines through in the music and results in effective good time party tracks.

Review: Miguel Migs has been producing expertly well crafted, superbly polished house tracks for years. He has a sound rooted in deep house, but always draws on things like r&b and soul, as well as the scorching hot sun of his native Californian. This new album was written in lockdown so focuses a little more on proper song craft. The results are fantastic - these are tracks that ooze pool-side cool. Their rolling beats and bass perfectly designed to hook you in and make you smile. It might be his best yet.

Review: We've got some of that naughty and irresistible white label madness here from new and mysterious label and production outfit Outtaface. It comes with a label that references the energetic cartoon stylings of the late Keith Haring and a bassline that will melt your face. The 'Vocal' track mixes up disco, skank, rave, The Prodigy references and outer space designs into a truly unusual blend that will bring colour and craziness to the floor. The flip side dub slows it down, fleshes out the low and and allows the cosmic synth work more room to shine. A handy 12" for sure.

Review: Esteemed French producer Franck Roger lands on the Duck It label for the first time here. It is an imprint dear to him because of his Algerian originals and he cooks up a nice warm house vibe as a result. 'Pumpkin' is all balmy pads and trippy synth leads with a hint of Pepe Bradock. The tune is chunky and deep, with nice deft vocal sounds up top to bring the soul. RSlane remixes with a more contemporary and bumping tech house sound but still keeps plenty of the stylish cosmic melody in place. A tidy two tracker for sure.

Review: Piero Umiliani aka Moggi, is the man behind Omicron Records and plenty of seminal library records from the 1970s. The Italian jazz musician, most famous also for scoring many film soundtracks, here has one of his most dance-y tracks served up by Four Flies. It features an original version as well as a special edit retouched by Jolly Mare. The original was recorded in 1978 under one of his many other monikers, Rovi, as a way of not over saturating the market with his name at the time. It is a cosmic beats that chimes with the emergence of that sound and still does today.

Review: French label Wagram is a go-to when it comes to quality compilations that take a broad look at certain sounds and scenes, and this one is an on-going series that focuses on house sounds with an Afro undertone. The grooves are lively and often come with plenty of percussion. The drums hit hard but with funk, the vocals are Afro-centric and plenty of irresistible hits come thick and fast from the jazzy tribal swagger of 'Imbalaye' to the big steel drum party sounds of 'Viet Dao' (Klement Bonelli & Yann DL remix). Another great collection of colourful Afro house sounds.

Review: The first compilation on Koze's Pampa label is a lovingly curated affair. It starts with the left field house of Herbert's take on Lianne La Havas and Ada's r&b-infused "You & Me", as well as DJ Koze's own hymnal take on Roman Flugel's "9 Years". Other Pampa regulars like Axel Boman are well represented and he provides the ultra-mellow "In The Dust of This Planet". Equally though, Koze also provides a platform for newcomers to the fold. There's the utterly bizarre, glitch-hop of Nasrawi and Funskstorung's contributions, and at the other end of the spectrum, wide-eyed deep house from Mount Kimbie and Jamie xx & Kosi Kos' pumping indie-dance "Come We Go".