Smallville 黑胶唱片和CD

Review: 24 years into his career as Lawrence, Peter M Kersten continues to deliver devilishly deep house workouts that somehow manage to be both effortlessly immersive and percussively propulsive. There's plenty of examples of this trademark style on the Gravity Hill EP, which marks his return to Smalleville after a nine-year absence. Check first the title track, where soft-focus pads, poignant piano motifs and deep bass ride a rock-solid house groove, before turning your attention to the dusty, opaque, slowly unfurling dancefloor beauty of 'Beaver'. Kersten opts for a warmer, drowsier and more hypnotic deep house sound in the similarly gorgeous 'The Swamp', before he doffs a cap to Green and Brown Album-era Orbital via the looped intergalactic synth sounds, analogue synth-bass and swinging house beats of 'Stargazer'.

Review: While his productions have graced many fine labels - Die Orakel, Pampa, Mule Musiq and Giegling included - Christopher Rau has been integral part of the Smallville Records family since 2009. High quality deep house is the order of the day throughout Abspace, his first EP for the label since 2020, with the yearning, slow-build positivity of the gorgeous title track being followed by the immersive, sci-fi bliss of 'Set It Off', whose melancholic chords add a bittersweet touch to an otherwise loved-up affair. Over on side B, 'Do It' sees him successfully doff a catch the classic Mr Fingers productions (with a touch of Move D on the side), while 'One More Time' is a melodious, riff-heavy affair that's as saucer eyed as they come.

Review: Having made a name for herself via a series of fine EPs for Shall Not Fade, Chiwax and Tresydos (the latter in collaboration with Vince Void), rising star Lis Sarroca makes her Smallville label debut with a quartet of typically impressive cuts. The Spanish producer is in fine form on opener 'Atacote', where positive and gently sunny piano motifs and Italian dream house influenced pads ride a smooth bassline and shuffling deep house drums. 'Breaks Reminder' sees her successfully fuse the immersive dreaminess of classic Smallville deep house with shuffling electro-breaks and tight TB-303 acid lines, while 'Early Years' is a sumptuous slab of picturesque deep house dreaminess. To round off a brilliant EP, she serves up the revivalist electrofunk-meets-early European house excellence of 'Might Be'.