Juno Recommends Deep House April 2019

Review: Luther Vandross originally wrote and recorded "My Body" in 1979, though his version was never released; instead, the song was re-recorded by Stephanie Mills and included on her 1983 album "Merciless". Here we finally get a chance to hear Luther belt it out himself, with Masters At Work man Louie Vega providing production and a dizzying number of remixes. There are two bumpin' and life-affirming "Soul House" mixes (the second replacing Vandross' lead vocal with some mazy Rhodes solos), a fluid and positive "Remix/Synth Bass Mix" that packs plenty of dancefloor energy, and warmer "EOL Mix" and "EOL Dub" versions that utilize a warm bass guitar part and some tasty chord progressions. Throw in a couple of edits and instrumentals and you have a suitably epic set of reworks.

Review: This time last year Jeigo tickled our fancy with a debut solo EP that was far more assured, polished and well thought-out than you'd expect from a producer just starting his journey. This follow-up, which also marks the debut of the Air Miles label, is similarly impressive. Highlights are plentiful throughout - check, for example, the glassy-eyed, breakbeat driven sunrise dreaminess of "An Ode To Midnight" - all delay-laden female vocal snippets, spinetingling breakdowns and crunchy drums - and the even deeper and more loved-up "Lime Hawk" with its goose pimple-inducing breakdown. Also worth a look is "Wing Systems", a locked-in foray into dubbed-out techno/house fusion blessed with tons of Afro-centric hand percussion.

Review: South Street's latest missive gathers together a trio of club-friendly remixes of Nina Simone classics that first appeared on the 2006 compilation "Remixed & Reimagined". Francois K impresses with an A-side revision of Simone's celebrated cover of Beatles classic "Here Comes The Sun" that sounds like a long lost Larry Heard record from his classic Fingers Inc. period. Those after something a little more rolling and funk-fuelled should wrap their ears around Tony Humphries' Dub of "Turn Me On", which boasts a seductive mixture of Romanthony style hard loops and rumbling, UK garage influenced bass. Completing the package is Coldcut's fine re-imagining of "Save Me", which places Simone's heart-arching vocal atop skittish, club-ready drums and looped guitars.

Review: The unstoppable Marcel Vogel is back with the saucily titled "Fuck The Bass Up", a raunchy, overdriven groover that adds another dimension to the multifaceted producer's sound. Tim Jules is present on this and three other tracks on this full fat EP, lending a hand on the gospel powered "I Got Jesus" and dusty shuffler "If You Like". Elsewhere there's more gospel influence on the artful stop-start stutters of "Get To Know Jesus", and the breezy funk of "Close The Door". You know all about the level of quality Vogel is operating at, and this is another richly musical addition to his ever-expanding catalogue.

Review: UK nu-jazz/broken beat Maestro Martin Iveson aka Atjazz returns with more properly soulful and emotive deep house music on his new epic "Tear". Featuring all the hallmarks of his idiosyncratic sound, the original features soothing melodic tones, intricate rhythm arrangements and an all-round evocative feel. On the B side are two terrific remixes: UK producer Soulfuledge serves up a dreamy and hypnotic rework that will mix in well with your All Day I Dream/Tale + Tone records. Iveson looks further North to Peacey as he delivers an ethereal and sensual remix equally suited to all the daydreamers out there.

Review: Que Sakamoto has been previously spotted knocking around labels like Roam Recordings and To Rack & Ruin, dealing in the kind of sun-soaked contemporary funk rollers that will get Croatian festivals lit up this summer. The Japanese producer is in good company on Not An Animal, the label which has also carried the likes of Ian Blevins and James Hadfield. "Uchuu Hikoshi" kicks things off with plenty of drama and longing woven into the swirling synths and strident bassline, which Apiento then builds on for the super-deep "SE6 mix". "Kamakura" is another evocative track loaded with tension and texture, but still centred on the groove. Vyvyan brings a cheeky Ed Banger-esque dirtiness to her version of the track, completing a package that balances atmosphere and party chops in equal measure.

Review: Whether operating within house or techno, Motor City producer Patrice Scott's productions are always shot through with the warmth of machine soul. "Chasing Dreams", the lead cut from the producer's first outing on Italian imprint Neroli, is a perfect example. Dancefloor chops are provided by a rolling drum machine rhythm, while life-affirming positivity comes via Scott's canny use of spacey chord sequences and fluid, Larry Heard style piano motifs. It's a simply sumptuous track. It comes accompanied on side B by the deeper and woozier "Remember When?", where gentle pianos cluster around a bubbly electronic bassline and brilliantly stereo panned percussion, and the lingering synth solos and spacey electronics of hip-hop tempo slow jam "New Day".

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Review: Some five years on from their last outing as Full Circle, Joakim and Alexis Le-Tan once again join forces to deliver two intoxicating slabs of pitched-down psychedelic madness. Previous releases in the series have been based around breathing new life into early Goa trance obscurities - primarily by slowing them down to a chugging house tempo - and there's a similar feel to the two tasty tracks on show here. A-side "Age Of Time" sets the tone, brilliantly mangling Daniele Baldelli style Afro-Cosmic disco-rock riffs and tribal percussion with hypnotic, pitched-down trance beats and the kind of mind-altering TB-303 acid lines once found in Psychick Warriors ov Gaia records. Turn to the flip for the similarly trippy vibes of "Pure Pose", where pulsating acid bass and hallucinogenic synth lines rise and fall above a chugging, slowed down breakbeat.

Review: Detroit Beatdown member and all-round Motor City legend Norm Talley is back on London imprint Landed, with this special release for Record Store Day 2019. Following up a terrific run of releases on FXHE, People Of Earth and Classic, he serves up "Beyond Time" with the driving and hypnotic dub techno excursion of the title track, followed by some dusty hometown style of deepness on "That Detroit Bounce" before closing it out with an infectious looped up disco re-edit in the form of "A Love Story".

Review: Given her remarkable rise to prominence last year, it's not that surprising to find that Katie Campbell AKA Roza Terenzi's first release of 2019 is also her most high profile yet. It sees her pop up on Dekmantel for the very first time with a spacey, synth-heavy four-tracker. There's plenty of subtle variation between tracks, too. Compare, for example, the deep space electro shuffle of "3IY", whose elastic synth bassline is particularly addictive, and the shimmering, slo-mo soundscape that is the effortlessly gorgeous "Bricks". Elsewhere, "Freak N Tweak" sees Campbell wrap rising and falling lead lines around a cyber-hip-hop beat, and "Open Me" is a sparkling, grandiose chunk of bass-heavy house/instrumental synth-pop fusion.

Review: Following the excellent first installment of archival material from former Psychick Warriors Ov Gaia's Robbert Heijnen, Platform 23 return with another four stunning digs from the vaults that further flesh out the mysterious allure of this singular artist and his peak early 90s era. "Shadow Play" manages to be many things at once - bumping late 80s deep house, dubby rhythm study, spine-tingling proto trance, and much more besides. "What A Life" has a more techno-minded tint to its programming and sequencing, but it's still definitely on the eyes-closed trip-out trajectory as it snakes its way through thick plumes of pad. "Sacrifice" puts rattling percussion at the front of the mix to create an exotic, outernational feel, and "Tepu" takes things heavier with a submerged tribal beat underpinning a murky low end throb and dubby processing.

Review: 14th Level Of Paradise come good with another stunning selection of high grade jams from core members of their crew. Vincent Floyd drops a remix of Vincent Inc that leans in heavy on a wistful early 90s sound that splits the difference between B12, Stasis and Larry Heard. Lola Allen and Vincent Inc's "Gonna Be Alright" takes things slower and spacier, while their "NuDisco Book 1" locks into a classic slice of disco funk to set the floor ablaze. Julian Sanza remixes Vincent Inc's "Time Machine" to close out the EP, taking a sophisticated, sweet natured approach to disco house.

Review: After the warm reception of his Baseline 88-89 release, Huckaby continues to develop his own S Y N T H label with another EP of solid, dubby house music. "Sandcastle" is positively minimal in its construction, with a clean groove decorated only with occasional spurts of delayed atmospherics and a subby bassline, begging to be slid under something else in a similar restrained groove. "Flashbacks From The M1" is equally functional, although the moody chord that comes scrabbling through the core of the track lightens the mood somewhat. Either way, these are tracks designed to slowly bleed into their counterparts, albeit without the dryness that comes with brazenly marketed 'DJ tools'.

Review: Low Budget Family is a Moscow-based label related to DS Bar, run by Sergey Pleshakov and Leonid Lipelis. Their next release is by Pasha Mikheev aka Cable Toy: a former game soundtracks/ad music maker who found himself attending parties more frequently in recent years and eventually making dance music himself. "Doktorhaus" is his debut release and features the raw/jacking early Chicago vibe of the title track (feat SBP4) on the A side, while on the flip label co-head Lipelis teams up with Mikheev on two neon-lit and evocative versions of "Boden".

Review: Rick Wade is one of the most dependable forces in the deep house diaspora, continuing to plough his furrow of heads down, smoky groovers as the trends, scenes and hypes ebb and flow around him. This turn on Sudd Wax (which has previously released the likes of Norm Talley and Gari Romalis) finds Wade in pristine form, not least on lead track "Mannish". "DTroit" has a killer swing and woozy feel to the melodies that could send dancers into an unexpected, gentle kind of rapture, and "Bottomless Anger" occupies the B side with a rich spread of keys twirling up in the ultra-classy deep house that Wade has made his own all these years.

Review: Leon Vynehall's stunningly picturesque "Midnight On Rainbow Road" was one of the undoubted highlights of Gerd Jansen's second Musik For Autobahns compilation, which was released in the autumn of 2015 by Rush Hour. Here, it gets a deserved single release, with the original - a hypnotic, driving-inspired blend of fluid electronic melodies, a wispy percussion and Jonny Nash style glistening guitar lines - being complimented by a brand new "Beat Edit". This adds a slowly unfurling, head-nodding rhythm that takes the track further towards Detroit Beatdown territory. In essence, though, it sounds like an early '90s ambient house jam. That's no bad thing, given that Vynehall seems to have emphasised the sun-kissed beauty of the original in the process.