Juno Recommends Deep House: Best of 2023

Review: Since the 1970s Danny Krivit has been a prolific re-editor. We're used to him cutting up classic cuts - think disco and soul, in particular - but he's never been afraid to turn his talents to contemporary cuts. That's what you get on this surprise Defected release. On the A-side he turns his attention to "Heaven", the killer gospel-inspired modern disco single from The Vision and Andreya Triana, turning in a version with plenty of drops, instrument solos and more emphasis on the righteous, life-affirming vocals. He's in a smoother mode on side B, extended and rearranging the rich and soulful dancefloor treat that is Kai Alce's Original NDATL vocal mix of The Dangerfeel Newbies' "What Am I Here For?" - a gem from 2016 that has previously been criminally overlooked.

Review: Detroit's Theo Parrish continues to serve up expressive and utterly unique new music, but his vast back catalogue will always remain of almost just as much interest to house heads. As such his Sound Signature label has repressed some quality gems from his discography. 'Roots Revisited' first came back towards the tail end of 1998 and finds the sonic shaman in heavy percussive mode while off-grid rhythms and his unique take on soul shining through. 'Dan Ryan' is deeply meditative, while the 'Walking Thru The Sky' (feat Ron Smith - Liberation mix) is a dusty and scuffed-up deep house exploration with Theo's trademark keys.

Review: A year after it slipped out digitally, Danny Tenaglia's superb 'The Brooklyn Gypsy' finally lands on wax. It's perhaps deeper and groovier than some of his vintage productions, which tended towards the muscular, dark and percussive, but the bassline is fabulous, the Frankie Knuckles-esque chords and textures inspired, and the piano solo that stretches out across the track nothing short of superb. Over on the flip, Tenaglia joins forces with fellow house legend Cevin Fisher on vocal and instrumental takes of 'Move Your Body', a more energetic, thickset and piano-powered affair that sits somewhere between the sun-soaked A-side and the long, Twilo-inspired workouts that marked out Tenaglia's turn-of-the-millennium creative peak.

Review: Peggy Gou has long since broken out of niche dance music circles out on to the wider world thanks to her pro and well crafted DJ sets and earned ties with plenty of high-end fashion brands. Including this, she does have some fine music making credentials as her hit single '(It Goes Like) Nanana' shows - its an inescapably catchy house cut with an iconic hook that is easy to sing along to. It now arrives, having first come via her own label, on XL which will only make it reach even higher levels of ubiquity. All hail the Gou!

Review: Here's a welcome surprise: a reissue of one of the most revered records in the back catalogue of sadly departed Sheffield deep house imprint Toko. This 1997 gem is actually an all-star affair, with Klarky Cat (a reference to legendary satirical show Brass Eye) being a collaboration between Chris Duckenfield, Toko bosses Alec Greenhough and Paul Ingall (better known as Attaboy) and influential, overlooked Manchester producer Si Brad. In. its original form, "Gumbo" mixes the wavy, loved-up dreaminess of classic deep house with the organ sounds of U.S garage and the swinging, occasionally glitchy drums of early UK tech-house. It comes backed with a darker, chunkier and more foreboding rework (the mesmerising "Blooty Mix"), and the bright, acid-flecked sunrise giddiness of rather good bonus track "Custard Gannet".

Review: Tristan da Cunha and Brawther's Dungeon Meat label always serve up the chunkiest cuts of juicy house music. Next to offer up some perfectly tenderized beats is Azaad with the Sonic Boom EP. 'Zest' kicks off with some infectious house swing and great height in the drums, all overlaid with chopped vocals and old school US garage pads. The title cut is more tightly woven and stripped back with alien synth sounds and 'Dub Analyser' then gets raw, percussive, and edgy with its hardcore house sound. The slinkiest of the lot is saved for last with 'Making Moves' getting right under your skin. Great stuff.

Review: Reel People Music continues to dig into its vast back catalogue and producer sampler EPs containing some of the imprint's most sought-after (and often previously digital-only) tracks. Fittingly, label founders Reel People kick things off via a lusciously warm, percussively punchy Fouk remix of Speech hook-up 'I Never Knew', which giddily blurs the boundaries between deep house and hip-house, before Turbojazz and Sean McCabe add a subtle broken beat swing to their inspired deep house fix of Lydia Hyrell's sumptuous cover of r&b classic 'Heard It All Before'. Elsewhere, the Layabouts deliver a vocal remix of their own jazz-funk-flecked summer house classic 'Colours of Love', while the mighty Atjazz doffs a cap to friend Osunlade on his superb rework of Imaani's 'Found My Light'.

Review: There are two kinds of house-hunting. The first and most popular kind is unfortunately the one that scams unsuspecting people out of their money for the basic human right that is shelter. The other kind, however, is much more enjoyable - it involves scouring the internet or local record shops for the genre of music known as house music. Kerri Chandler is our favourite estate agent (words we never thought would escape our lips) in this regard; his latest EP series 'Lost & Found' is sure to help you remember the joy of the latter kind, and forget the former. Dubby and soft pulsers like 'Fluff Rehab' are futuristic bouncers for the highfaluting ear, replete with rapid-delayed spring noises and ruff chord stabs. Ensuers 'What If', 'Who Are You' and 'Dem Joy Ride' are pure and nigh-perfect deep house ruminators, and all are lifted from Chandler's coveted archive.

Review: On this second, more expansive sampler for his forthcoming album Spaces & Places, Kerri Chandler treats us to tracks inspired by - and by the wonders of mobile recording technology, produced inside - clubs including Dublin's District 8, Glasgow institution Sub Club, Lux of Lisbon and NYC's Output. Of course, the standard is uniformly high throughout - it's classic Chandler from start to finish - but our picks of a very fine bunch include the soulful piano house shimmer of 'Change Your Mind', the thrusting, bass-heavy pump of 'Subbie (Rattle The Subbie Mix)', the effortlessly slick and soulful 'Tenacity (Full Vocal Mix)' and the ludicrously sub-heavy snap of 'See The Light (Dub)'. To borrow an old cliche, this is very much, 'all killer, no filler'.

Review: Sound Signature boss Theo Parrish does a fine job of keeping the majority of his vast back catalogue available to buy for all. It's a tough job, too, cause most of it sells out in a quick fashion, so he has to be on the ball with reissues. A couple are landing this month and 'You Forgot' is one of them. It was his label's 15th release way back in 2001 and for many, b-side cut 'Dirt Rhodes' is one of Parrish's best and most definite tracks. The grinding mechanical grooves that lock you into a hypnotic state are overlaid with perfectly knackered-sounding Rhodes chords and it makes for a magical listen. 'You Forgot' with its soulful vocal musings and perfunctory drum sounds is not bad either.

Review: Detroit's John Beltran can do no wrong if you ask us, and what he does do is always famously varied, from sound design for TV to melodic techno excellence via ambient beauty. Here for MotorCity Wine he revisits his Back To Bahia series with a third volume that finds him flexing his Afro-Brazilian deep house chops. The 7" opens up with the jazzy boogie of Lsaura' which is steeped in Minneapolis funk and will get cultured dancefloors in a spin. 'As The Sunsets' that appears on the flip and is a superbly emotive sound with wispy late night melodies and glowing harmonies and shuffling Latin grooves. Essential.

Review: After having two of his earlier tunes remodelled by Carl Craig and Mike Huckaby thanks to Sushitech, Detroit's Delano Smith re-emerges on the label with a double pack of tunes made with Brawther under the D&B Productions. That moniker has more to do with the pair's name rather than a suddenly conversion to drum & bass, although there's a love of dubby effects and deep bass power here that - at a stretch - could be said to be in common. The six tracks - Symbiosis' 1-6 - are smooth and simple, but executed with an ear (or four) for an irresistible groove, an economic but rhythmic keyboard stab and a knack for squeezing something nicely soulful from the barest ingredients. Nice work indeed.

Review: While many have imitated, no one has ever really come close to crafting the sort of spiritually affective deep house that Ron Trent kicks out with apparent ease. 'Black Magic Woman' is a prime example - an ode to the power of the feminine form with vocals from Harry Dennis, most known for his previous work with Larry Heard. The original is a deep house epic with jazzy chords and organic drums, lashing of bass and spoken word musings from Dennis. The Joaquin edit & Overdubs version is more intense and bright and the Coflo remix is more soft, mellifluous and warm. Epic stuff with great artwork, too.

Review: Bushwacka is one of the UK's most accomplished underground players. From DJing to production via label ownership and promotion he has done it all, and with a lasting impact. His early days saw him as a key part of the fresh and emergent tech house sound and he has been vital ever since. Here he digs into his roots with a new EP for the iconic New York label Nu Groove and serves up just the sort of sounds the label is known for - deep house with chunky drum programming, smart synth work and warm basement vibes. A superb EP from a real veteran.

Review: The unstoppable Eastenderz label run by East End Dubs is now well over 50 releases deep yet still serves up music that makes a real impact when it arrives. Max Dean is behind this latest fresh fusion of house, dub and tech with 'Can't Slow Down' opening up on a way of subtly uplifting synths and with throwback vocal samples adding some good time magic. 'Focus' is more bubbly and bouncy, with rich and glowing melodic daubs looping over a slick groove. 'Uppy' is a third and final buffed up tech cut with rasping bass and plenty of colourful synths all bringing it to life.

Review: More good time, disco-fired fun from Italy's most positive musical duo, as Groove Culture founders Micky More and Andy Tee offer up four more reasons to be cheerful on one action-packed 12". They kick things off with their own musically expansive, soul-flecked, peak-time ready remix of Dutchican Soul's hybrid disco/hip-house workout 'Raise It Up', before offering us a chance to giddily dance along to Serge Funk's piano-heavy, house style disco workout 'Do It Again'. Flip the 12" for their stomping, organ-heavy gospel house tweak of 'Glory' by Reverendos of Soul, and the piano-powered, string-laden disco-house cheeriness that is Soulista's 'Symphomaniac'.

Review: 'Organized Kaos' is a new series from Kerri Chandler's Kaoz Theory label that offers first vinyl outings for cuts from the imprint's vaults. For volume one, Chandler has selected missives initially released digitally in the middle of the last decade. First up is the legendary New Jersey producer's own 'Who's Afraid of the Dark', a typical late-night roller in which sci-fi synth stabs, pianos and his own hushed, spoken word snippets rise above detailed drums a dark, infectious analogue bassline. Turn to the flip for Josh Butler's 'Sunday Club', a subtly UK garage-influenced number that pairs crackling, swinging drums and deep sub bass with woozy deep house chords and mind-mangling, low-register analogue riffs.

Review: Larry Heard once said that he stumped upon his trademark dusty deep house sound rather by mistake - he was simply trying to recreate the instrumental disco of his childhood on the limited machinery he had available at the time. Either way, he went on to explore and exploit its most spiritual and spine-tinging aspects across a faultless discography that often looks to the cosmos for inspiration. That is true of this second volume of his Around The Sun album on his own Alleviated Records. It's another fine showcase of Chicago house, deep house, jazz and r&b that is utterly timeless.

Review: Four slices of deep house with a distinctly laid back, R&B flavour to them. 'Brandii' kicks us off in suitably relaxed manner, gorgeous harmonies and female and male voices adding to the irresistible groove and subtle layer of strings. 'Black Sunshine' is faster but retains the light touch approach, whereas 'Chuckii' is built around a sturdier four-to-the-floor kick, although the vocal content is still silky smooth. Closing track 'No!' is woozier and more dreamlike, with almost p-funk synth lines, though the Earl's arrangement leaves the percussive undercarriage that carries the track plenty of room to thrive in too.

Review: Underground and Black is the name of Detroit via Atlanta artist Ash Lauryn's well regarded blog, as well as being the title of her breakout 2023 tune alongside Kai Alce via his much hyped limited NDATL Special Edition. It has been played by tons of DJs all summer long and it arrives back on vinyl with mixes and remixes from another Atlanta native in the form of Leonce. The dubbed out and dusty deep house original, which shouts out all of Lauryn's influences, appeared first, and here comes a smooth dub before the percussive and lively Leonce Vocal Remix and a fleshy vocal dub. A super package - house doesn't get more authentic.

Review: Parisian producer Leo Pol is back after a great release on Velvet back in 2014 that showed his potential to create some deep, dusty and totally tripped out house for the afterhours, particularly on the Le Chat Qui Danse EP. He now inaugurates local label IILE (a sublabel of Uniile) with some more hypnotic subtlety; even if it is tougher and faster than his previous effort. There's the opener "2 La Deep De Bretagne" which really rolls deep. "Korben Dallas" gets its swing on in infectious fashion, much like local homeboy Varhat can. On the flip, he teams up with Marc on "21" for a bumpy and minimal jam while closing out the EP is the absolutely sublime "Parking" which is sexy and summery and has a certain DJ Gregory flavour about it.

Review: It may come with an eyebrow-raising price tag, but what's on offer here is undeniably alluring: a box set of 10 seven-inch singles containing all of the songs from Louie Vega's brilliant Expansions In The NYC album - an all-star affair in which the Masters at Work man celebrated his love of New York disco, boogie and house. The album itself is incredible, with fantastic musicianship, arrangements and vocals, while the cast list - which includes original electrofunk outfit Unlimited Touch, Peech Boys main man Bernard Fowler, Honey Dijon, Cindy Mazelle, Moodymann, Kerri Chandler and his son Nico - is similarly impressive. It's a great product, packed with brilliant music: a fitting finale to this portion of the ongping 'Expansions NYC' project.

Review: Here's something fresh on Crosstown Rebels from Made By Pete, making a welcome return on Damian Lazarus' label with another striking vocal house track. This time it's Zoe Kypri leading the way on 'Horizon Red', instilling the track with a poignant, soulful power which brings out the natural patter of hand drums and melancholic piano in Pete's production. If you want to zero in on the track, 'Pete's Dub' is on hand to take the mood even deeper, while Lazarus lends a re-shape on the B-side which weaves its own mystical magic.

Review: Hot Natured emerged on the crest of a new school deep house wave more than ten years ago as part of a circle of artists centred around Jamie Jones and Lee Foss and they Hot Creations label. It's a collective featuring Ali Love, Anabel Englund, Roisin Murphy, The Egyptian Lover, Kenny Glasgow and S.Y.F and produced by Jones and Foss as well as MK and Luca C. They had a cross-over hit with 'Benediction' and ten years ago this August they dropped their debut album Different Sides of the Sun. It's a perfect showcase of their sound that still stands up - creamy grooves, pool-side vibes, smooth and seductive vocals and plenty of sweet hooks. Now you can cop it on triple transparent blue vinyl to mark the occasion.

Review: Defected needs no introduction, simply a reiteration that its no secret its one of the most influential house labels around today. Jamie Jones made a huge splash at Ibiza's 2022 season with this track, receiving support across the board from underground tastemakers to daytime radio. Bolstered by the remixes of Brazilian icon Vintage Culture and the alchemist himself, longtime Ibiza master Damian Lazarus on this rolling feel-good house groove. It's easy to see the mass appeal of such a sunny track.

While Jamie explored disco influences with his signature high-energy groove on the original, Vintage Culture's clear-cut trademark sound gives a distinctly tougher feel, a chugging bassline and rolling synths giving it that dark club side. Lazarus, the soundshifter that he is, reshapes the track in his image. Culminating in a more abstract, chopped-up house entry, undeniably funky with some synths and keys that sound like they shouldn't work - but by God do they.

Review: Six new tracks from Detroit's deep house hero Theo Parrish mark his most significant release since the Wuddadji album three years ago, based around the 18 minute dancefloor epic 'Dance Alone' and the Afro-slanted 'Cleo's Theme', closing in on 11 minutes, alongside a host of other cuts of varying sizes and types. 'Real Deal', for instance, is a beatless instrumental interlude consisting of organ and Spanish guitar, while the title track is nearly all off-kilter beats. Parrish's approach, as ever, is soulful and funky enough to keep house fans on side, while also being so raw and stripped down that techno fans love it too and this has plenty of both.