LARRY HEARD Vinilo y CD

Review: 40 years have now passed since Larry Heard made his first record. Heard is, of course, without peers when it comes to deep house - he pretty much drew up the blueprint after all - though he does occasionally invite other producers to bask in his reflected glow. That's the case here, as he and Memphis-based Michael Kuntzman (an artist who has previously released music on Heard's Alleviated imprint) deliver a notable collaborative 12". Guest performer Maddaline whispers, sings and vocalises her way through the dreamy, richly electronic and sonically pristine 'Between Us', which is accompanied by a typically gorgeous 'Instrumental Dub'. There are two versions of 'Reel It In' - also featuring Maddaline - too: the deep tech-house shuffle of Heard's'Fingers Mix' and the back-to-Chicago-87 flex of Kuntzman's 'Summer Acid Burn' take.

Review: Alleviated's Larry Heard reissue series has previously brought us the rough and tough acid of Gherkin Jerks and, more recently, the intergalactic downtempo grooves of his largely overlooked Alien LP. Here, they revisit one of Heard's later aliases, Loosefingers, dusting down and reissuing tracks from 2003's Glancing at the Moon EP. All three tracks are deep, warm and melodious in typical Heard fashion, with the title track delivering a sultry blend of wide-eyed chords, darting electronics, Latin-influenced percussion and tactile keys. "Deep Inside" delivers a hazy, sun-kissed take on soulful house - all jazz bass, sensual chords and gentle vocals. Best of all, though, is the tougher, synth-heavy "Lamentation", which rolls along at a near techno-tempo and is blessed with thrilling bleep melodies.

Review: There's no shortage of gems in Larry Heard's authoritative deep house legacy worthy of a fresh airing, and his Alleviated label embarks on a reissue campaign to bring some perennial classics back in arms reach. Heading to the turn of the millennium, this particular 12" pulls together a couple of tunes from different releases. 'Another Night' originally landed on the 2001 album Love's Arrival, and it sounds utterly timeless as it tenderly bumps out in a configuration of hazy chords and infectious groove, capped off by Shelby Johnson's smouldering vocal. 'Time Machine' came out the same year as a B side to the single release of 'Direct Drive', and it shows Heard's mellow tones set to a tougher beat when you want to bring a little bite to deeper-than-deep scenarios.

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: As much love has already been given to Larry Heard's late '80s and early '90s work, it's nice to see some of the Chicagoan's slightly later work getting a deserved reissue. Alien first surfaced on Black Market International back in 1996, and finds Heard exploring his sci-fi influences in a range of deep and emotive styles. So, there are forays into blunted hip-hop ("The Beauty of Celeste"), twinkling, starburst ambience ("Faint Object Detection", "The Dance of Planet X") and Detroit techno-influenced melodic downtempo beats ("DNA-RNA"), as well as occasional moments of typically immersive deep house warmth (the wonderful "Flight of the Comet"). In other words, it's a trip into space in the company of one of electronic music's finest exponents of melodic richness.

Review: What better way to celebrate a decade in business than by getting Chicago deep house legend Larry Heard to select and mix a double-disc compilation of label highlights? Hats off, then, to Rebirth, who managed to persuade Mr Fingers himself to deliver his first commercially available DJ mix. As you'd expect from both label and DJ, it's a wonderfully atmospheric and melodious affair, with Heard selecting and blending emotion-rich tracks and mixes from Chromatic Filters, Bocca Grande, NuFrequency, Tevo Howard, Motor City Drum Ensemble and James Teej. The first disc, in which Heard races through 28 tracks in just over 70 minutes, is particularly memorable.