Chiwax Germany 黑胶唱片和CD

Review: Despite a sizable, high-quality discography that stretches back to 1994, Boo Williams has never been as hyped or celebrated as many of his Chicago deep house peers. Perhaps it's time we gave him some love because the Natural Service EP - his first solo 12" on Chiwax since 2014 - is undeniably excellent. Check first opener 'Ambushed', where twinkling electronics and sumptuous pads ride jackin' drums and a brilliant bassline, before turning your attention to 'Echoes of the Dance', an acid-flecked journey through dreamy, loved-up deep house that's as picturesque as they come. Flipside 'Zone' is even more hypnotic and trance-inducing, sitting somewhere between classic deep house and the techier end of Omar-S's output.

Review: Given that he has been operative on the Chicago house scene since its earliest days at the dawn of the 1980s, it's perhaps unsurprising that deep house legend Boo Williams' latest EP pays tribute to the city that he calls home. Jamiel Patton lends his spoken word vocals to opener 'Chicago The Place To Be', a hybrid deep house/Afro-house affair piled high with musical details (think short, tight acid lines, woozy electric piano lines, spacey synths and so on), and companion track 'Chicago The Place', an effects-laden, early morning alternate take that's effectively a dub mix of that track. Elsewhere, 'One Hour' is a sparkling, melodically impressive deep house workout with added bleeps, while 'The Same Again' is a locked-in-but-bouncy workout rich in fuzzy synth stabs, sweaty drum machine fills and held-note chords.

Review: D'Julz is a vital veteran of the European underground who continues to serve up the sort of irresistible grooves that both DJs and dancers need in their lives. The Frenchman heads up his own Bass Culture label but here lands on Chiwax with Raw Toolz 1. 'Murky' kicks it off with a sleazy and percussive house cut denied by its unrelenting lead synth sound. 'Ruff' is a physical and gritty tech house cut and 'Jackie' then explores an old school Chicago sound with trippy vocal fragments and plenty of filters. 'Raw' is a pumper with literal bells on for backrooms who want to get sweaty.

Review: One of Detroit's finest, Lauren Flax aligns with the Chiwax label for a debut offering of ultra-rough, juking, retrofuturistic daydreams in four tracks. Like a rose blossoming from a thorny stem, this EP starts out raw and slowly fans out into the subtler tricks of multilayering and accoutrement. 'Jack The Haus' is the tweezy, 16-bit hardware jam; then there's 'The Cheeky Whistle Song', which, compared to the first track, betrays a contrasting taste for cascading arps and subtle melodies in the surround mix. 'D-Troit' returns somewhat to the initial Detroit bounce mood, while Lis Sarroca's remix rounds things off with a softer, out-your-face breaks-house beeper.

Review: Hardcore trad house devotees Chixwax keep it nostalgic once more here with a new EP from Nacho Marco that ticks all the boxes for party start house without ever getting trite. Each one makes bold use of the celebrated Roland 909 drum machine and so they all come with booming low ends and punchy drums. None more so than the chord laced and bumping opener 'File 1.' 'File 2' brings dreamy pads and soft focus xylophone melodies Roy Ayres would love and ' File 3' taps into a 90s New York sound. 'File 4' brings a low slung and more dubby rhythm topped with Detroit chords.

Review: Daniela La Luz is no stranger to Rawax's stable of labels - she's previously released on most of them at different points over the last decade- though Global Transformation marks the first time she's appeared on any of them as Vanilla. The Berlin-based artist sets her stall out with the raw, punchy and occasionally sparkling title track - all woozy keyboard riffs, weighty electro-meets-house beats, tipsy chords and heavy bass - before opting for a deep, druggy, acid-fired and percussively propulsive vibe on 'The Last Window of Time'. Elsewhere, 'Animal Queendom' sees her wrap echoing, dubbed-out and reverb-laden synth riffs around a tough and locked-in beat, while 'All Together' is built around the twin attractions of sturdy, slightly off-kilter machine drums and jazzy electric piano motifs.