Deep House Recommendations September 2010

Review: Kyle Hall's imperious remix of Delphic's signature track "Doubt" was originally seen amidst a heady cast of remix talent - Riton, Ramadanman and Doc Daneeka - on limited promo CDs which floated around last year. It hasn't however been officially released until now, at a time when everyone is talking about Kyle Hall whilst scratching their heads to recall the moody New Orderisms of the Mancunian trio. Very little of the original track remains here, with snatches of vocals stretched out over a backdrop of what sounds like an outer galactic ping pong match. Typically unique production from the Detroit lad and it's great to finally have it on vinyl.

Review: Croatian duo Eddy Meets Yannah are no strangers to the Compost empire and their return to the Compost Black sub label sees tracks from the duo's recent album "Fiction Jari"remixed by some serious house heads. Rainer Truby teams up with Danilo Plessow aka Motor City Drum Ensemble to transform "This Is Love" into a late night jam replete with excellent vocal effects. The same track is given a sparkling jazzy house gloss by Restless Soul type Bopstar. On the flip "Follow Me" gets a squelching tropical house retouch from Dominican producer Ezel.

Review: The second volume of Midnight Hours drops with the requisite total lack of accompanying information. Messrs Wade, Holder and Ferguson were revealed to be responsible for Vol 1 but no clues are given here. There's a definite hint of Detroit to proceedings with Side A laying an infectious piano melody over crunching kicks and sweaty smeared vocal grunts. On the flip, the first track combines melancholic chords with jazzy organ flourishes over shuffling beats whilst a killer double bass line is looped up and edited over yet more jazzy percussion on the final track. Place your bets now.

Review: With the release of San Soda's brilliantly diverse debut album nearly upon us, We Play House team up with sister imprint Lany Recordings for some last minute hype building on this summer sampler. The Belgian youngster delivers two tracks across the WPH side that delver further evidence of a talent that belies someone so young. "Birdies" is the most instantly rewarding track, driven by clever usage of a Motown classic, the distinct piano lines driving this slice of classic sounding house. "Voor De Sfeer" runs at a slower pace but burns deeper and bursts with energy when vintage rave melodies and vocal stutters are introduced. Lany honcho Maxim Lany oversees proceedings on the flip with "The Owgee" a straight up club cut. A tough compressed tech house groove is the backdrop to a harmonious vocal led melody that gets shifted above and below the mix with aplomb.

Review: Lovebirds caused a stir amongst the deep house fanatics earlier this year with his KiNK remix assisted release on Freerange. The Hamburg based producer returns to the familiar surrounds of Kneedeep with three tracks culled from the deeper forgotten recesses of his hard drive, all of which originated before 2008 - hence the title. There's a persistent retro 808 electro pulse to the percussive groove of "Pad" which is augmented by the escalating chord progressions and shifting synth washes. It's the vocal manipulation that impresses the most on "Housemusic" with Lovebirds teasing out the .This Is My House Music' statement and looping it up and over dubbing it. Never sitting still in the mix, the vox undulate between the heights and depths of the mix, weaving between the jacking groove and the deep strings and searching bass stabs. "Transverb" rounds things off nicely, a relentless shimmering computer squeak the backdrop to squelching new school drums and a dubby Klock-esque melody.

Review: Glasgow based South African producer Esa Williams adopts the Mervin Granger alias for the first in a series of housier than house releases on the Rememory imprint. "I Stole Some Thunder" is deep house and its chunky best, combining cowbell with sultry pads, melancholic strings and a hypnotic vocal refrain. On the flip Glaswegian house don OOFT strips things down slightly, gives the drums some added boompty and slips in a killer breakdown. The more urgent Resurface remix rounds things off nicely.

Review: Jacob Korn is going to get huge soon, we know it. His releases are just too good to be ignored. This latest 12", released on Steffi's fledgling Dolly imprint, showcases his penchant for warm house music with "Sundaysun" and "Sand". The lush Motor City atmospherics and twinkling melody on the latter had us wishing we could rewind to the start of summer, while a couple of sterling remixes from Dexter and John Daly round off the package nicely.