Juno Recommends Deep House July 2019

Review: Originally released in 1977 "Come Go with Me" is a song by R&B group Pockets, which charted reasonably high in various charts at the time. This issue features a respectful resplice by New York City's master of spiritual life music himself: Joaquin Joe Claussell. The original version on the A side is featured for your enjoyment - that's a given - and you can enjoy this timeless classic featuring producer Verdine White's amazing production.

Review: Having recently rounded off his Prolific Trilogy 009 series with a third and final collection of deep and groovy club cuts, Samuel Andre Madsen returns to action via a tightly wound two-tracker full of funk-fuelled grooves and rush-inducing moments. There's something wonderfully loose-limbed about flipside "Alright", a post two-step club cut rich in foreboding acid bass, looped spoken word samples, acid flashes and twisted tech-house electronics. It's good but nowhere near as life affirming as lead cut "Fury's Laughter", an acid bass-propelled peak-time stomper blessed with the most wide-eyed and spine-tingling breakdown we've heard this month. The clips alone are giving us chills, which is always a good sign.

Review: Somewhat poetically, Anthony Naples describes his third album, "Fog FM", as a "house music transmission filtered through fluorescent static, from a station out of place and time". You'll certainly find some blasts of evocative radio static dotted around the album - see the drowsy wooziness of ambient numbers "Channel 2" and "Channel 3", not to mention the pops and crackles wrapped around sub-heavy, stripped back peak-time workout "Unhygenix" - but the lasting impression is of a smartly-produced set of mostly club-ready cuts that subtly doff a cap to many sub-genres of house and techno. It's a superb set, too, with highlights including the wayward techno intensity of "Benefit", the "Brown Album"-era Orbital heaviness of "Purple Iris" and the tough, dubbed-out deep house headiness of "Lucys".

Review: The Mysticisms label once more turns its attention to rarefied gold dust from the annals of deep house history, this time shining a light on Soiree Records, which was helmed by cult favourite Drivetrain. Nu-C Zn's "That's How Lovers Be" was an unconventional but oh so sweet curio back in 1995, and now it's been revived with Drivetrain delivering a new mix of the track that lets the smoky keys, plastic sax and gorgeous vocals hover tentatively. UK house stalwart Nail is up next with a bumping, crafty update on the track, while Scott Grooves lays down honey-coated keys that shift the mood of Nu-C Zn's original into a different emotional headspace.

Review: Spanish label Mate kicked off in style with Javonntte and Jesus Gonsev, and now it's back once again with another smart pairing of high class house heads. The ever prolific Gari Romalis is all over the A side with the upfront pep of "No Way Around A Groove" and the late night shuffle of "Start The Game (Detroit On The Move)". Rafa Santos lands on the flip with the romantic lilt of "Love Song" and sweet, subtly kinked synths coursing through the centre of "Mystic Voyage". It's another fine combination of artists offering up highly workable contemporary deep house jams for discerning spinners.

Review: Running and pushing the boundaries with his versatile musical skills, Giovanni Damico aka Ron Juan tends to be a hard worker. The fact that his musical journey started well about 15 years ago, Giovanni has released top notch records on labels that bring resonance in today's industry such as Star Creature, Lumberjacks in Hell, Bordello A Parigi and swiss boutique label deepArtSounds. His latest piece of work is a five track, afro funk influenced mini Album entitled "Express Yourself". It's an eclectic journey thru Giovanni's deep mind and thru his huge collection of synths and instruments.

Review: South Korean star Peggy Gou continues her seemingly unstoppable rise by serving up her first ever DJ mix CD. It's a contribution to one of the longest running series in the business, DJ Kicks, and she's used the opportunity to showcase the depth and variety of the music in her crates. Beginning with the classic early '90s ambient of Spacetime Continuum, Gou flits between humid, mid-tempo Balearic house (her own "Hungboo"), acid-fired downtempo electronica, throbbing 1990 peak-time anthems (Weatherall's ace but largely forgotten remix of Sly & Lovechild), hypnotic techno minimalism, main room throb-jobs (Hiver), pulsating electro, classic breakbeat hardcore, post-dubstep, dark tribal drum jams and sunrise ready Motor City brilliance (Deniro).

Review: The Sudd Wax label got off to a strong start with Gari Romalis, building on the foundations of the parent digital label to now bringing respected artists to vinyl. This three-track set from Norm Talley plumbs all kinds of depths, from the metallic mystique of "Magic Wand" to the dusty string swoon of "Black Tea", and the hushed and haunting whispers of pads setting out a gloaming mood on "Feel It". This is subliminal deep house at its finest, marked out with character and warmth, and never just playing it safe for the sake of it. Top marks for Talley!

Review: Moods & Grooves proudly introduces Cape Town's Tshepang Mokoko aka LoopZ The Maestro. Raised in a musical family, he was exposed to several genres of music including jazz, soulful house, hip hop, and deep house. A temporary move to Johannesburg focused his lens on deep house as it was the dominant genre. Influenced by AtJazz, Black Coffee, Culoe De Song among others, he spent time in the studio developing his own sound. Positive feedback from early demos fueled his passion to pursue music full time and finally, it's ready for release. Shallow dreams is a musical journey through the beautiful landscapes and soundscapes of Cape Town. Each track contains a mental glimpse of the area's natural wonders, art, and design.

Review: Whereas the first volume in Joaquin "Joe" Claussell's "Cosmicdelic Africa" series focused on sneaky re-edits by the Sacred Rhythm founder, this second instalment focuses on original productions "for the dancefloor and the head". In other words, Clausell has offered up DJ-friendly extended versions of some of his most cosmic, Afro-centric creations. There's much to enjoy throughout, from the psychedelic rock guitar solos, restless bass, layered Latin house rhythms and rainforest sounds of Cosmic Ritual's "Abraxas (Demo Sketch Mix)", to the piano sporting cosmic house positivity of Mampo's "Emarofo Tech (Extended Sketch Mix)", via the spaced-out electronics, hallucinatory synth lines and sparse drums of intoxicating downtempo workout "Mundo De Agua (Psyxchdelic Transfusion Mix)".

Review: Second time around for Ransom Note's essential reissue of the late, great Boyd Jarvis' sublime "The Music Got Me" - an alien, otherworldly proto-house instrumental that became a NYC club anthem when issued on Prelude under the Visual alias. Jarvis and Timmy Regisford's mesmerizing "original dub" kicks things off, creating a hypnotizing mood via an awesome bassline, cascading synthesizer melodies and sparse vocal hooks. It's accompanied by a stellar re-dub by Nick The Record and Idjut Boys member Dan Tyler. The pair smothers key sections of the track in tape echo, dub delay and ricocheting reverb, in the process creating a druggy, wide-eyed early morning classic. To round things off, Bawrut re-imagines the early '80s jam as a twisted, mind-altering acid house jacker.

Review: In recent years, Detroit Swindle's outings away from their own Heist Recordings imprint have been few and far between, so it's nice to see them popping up on Will Saul's Aus Music imprint. He's done a good job A&R-wise, with all three tracks hitting the expected highs. The Dutch duo are in fine form with "Wado Baya", a rubbery chunk of hot-stepping Afro-house where bleeping electronic melodies and glassy-eyed chords rise above a snappy-but-bouncy groove. "Rhythm Girl Swing" sounds like a slipped and slightly skewed take on hypnotic mid-90s house - all trippy riffs and slowly rising filtered motifs - while "Vibrations" sees them join the dots between warm and woozy early '90s deep house and organ-rich New Jersey flavours.

Review: By all accounts, Son of Sound and Jus' Ed have been pals for years, though this is the first time they've penned a joint release. They begin with the fluttering, riff-propelled deep house bounce of "Cuchfritos", where rubbery drum fills help to create extra energy, before notching up the tempo via the spacey, synth-fuelled stomp of "I Have You On My Side". The swinging, jazz-dance friendly organ garage swing of "Bridgeport 2 Brooklyn" brilliantly draws the curtain down on Side A, before the duo kick off the flipside with the ultra-deep beauty of "Wicked Self", whose undulating synthesizer solos are particularly tasty. As if that wasn't enough to set the pulse racing, closer "Manhattan's Projects" is a fizzing chunk of rolling and spacey peak-time house.

Review: From Copenhagen with love. After two years of planning, tweaking and fine-tuning, Danish groove monkeys Kasper Marott and Alfredo92 are proud to present their new label Axces. Repping their local crew, the label represents a community of artists including this single's co-producers Carl Emil and Lauge. "Os To" (which translates to 'the two of us') is as cute as it sounds. Dreamy, cosy, unhurried. "Fest Pa Taget" (party on the roof) raises the psychedelic factor a little as unearthly bubbles and chimes spin 360 around a jaunty rolling percussive beat. The start of something exciting and fresh; everyone has access to Axces.

Review: Following 2017 and 2018 outings on Concrete Music and Bass Culture Records, French producer Leo Pol returns to the Iile imprint he founded in 2016. There's plenty to admire across the five included tracks, from the rubbery acid bass, sweaty drums and glassy-eyed melodic breakdowns of opener "626 Mafia", to the sturdy beats, hustling drum fills, filter-laden chords and sweet vocal samples of closing cut "Keep This Thing". Leo's collaboration with Max Ulis, "On My Face", is a thrillingly high-octane fusion of ghetto-house, techno and woozy New Jersey garage, while "FEM" is an acid-flecked chunk of sun-kissed deep house breeziness that sounds like it could have been made in Italy in 1992.

Review: While he's tended to maintain a fairly steady stream of singles, Robag Wruhme has never been a prolific producer of albums. It took him seven years to deliver a full-length follow-up to debut EP 'Wuzzelbud "KK"' and another eight to get round to creating "Venq Tolep", his latest album length exploration. So was it worth the wait? Undoubtedly! Beginning with the hazy grooves, gentle melodies and simmering strings of "Advent", the veteran German drifts between slow-motion ambient pop ("Westfal"), ethereal soft-focus deep house ("AK-Do 5"), intoxicating beat-free soundscapes ("Volta Copy (Ambient Version)") and undulating, glitch-heavy workouts that doff a cap to both pastoral techno and the glistening IDM of British greats such as Plaid and Boards of Canada.

Review: Norwegian producer Henning Severud AKA Telephones has decided to launch his own label. Fittingly, he handles the imprint's debut himself, dipping into his archive to serve up three tracks recorded at different times between 1998 and 2018. Our pick of a warm, colourful and loved-up bunch is "Aquatrak (FM AM Mix)", where jangling, Balearic house style piano riffs and dreamy chords splash around atop a chunky disco bassline and rolling drums. The quality threshold remains high throughout, though, with the '90s New Jersey-influenced deep house flex of "Amerikadegari (453-459 Mix)" and the late '80s Italian deep house vibes of "Hurricane (Purple Mix)" being almost equally as good.