Back catalogue: Deep House

Review: Anane's soulful vocal delivery takes centre stage on her reimagining of this evergreen disco cut - originally crafted by Love Symphony Orchestra in 1978 - rebooted here through a series of new mixes from some massive house names. Dimitri From Paris delivers two irresistible cuts, his club mix a vibrant and energetic journey through classic house sounds, while his dub strips things back to a hypnotic groove. Masters At Work's 'Clap Yo Hands Dub' injects a dose of infectious energy, while Moplen's remix takes a more atmospheric approach, its swirling synths and hypnotic rhythms creating a mesmerising soundscape. Mousse T's 'Fantastic Shizzle Mix' adds a touch of soulful bounce, while Blackchild's remix delves into deeper, more tribal-infused territories. Two Soul Fusion's remix closes out the collection with a smooth and uplifting vibe, its soulful melodies and infectious groove leaving a lasting impression. A true classic reimagined through the lens of a host of diverse, talented producers.

Review: Whatever you were expecting from an album named 'Superflous', forget it. An exploration into all the many paths of light that refract from the prism of house music, Bagarre commands the dancefloor with every track, placing specific emphasis on keys - a side of the genre that the mainstream has fallen out of love with in recent years. The silky smooth jazz house of 'Espirit Coubertin', a more classic NYC brand of vocal house (beset with 80s synth phrases) in 'Truman Flow' and a divulgence into some driving piano acid house with chopped up vocals in 'Annees Folles' to even a more modern, turn of the century approach with the big hit 'Eurovision' - I could go on. A wonderful and tight package, this LP almost feels like a compilation for how varied and versatile the tracks are. The packaging being one of the selling points of course, the carbon impact of the vinyl production promising to be compensated by a French organisation. You certainly don't have to feel bad about dancing to this now.

Review: Can it really be 20 years since The Supermen Lovers raided the charts with their iconic anthem 'Starlight'? Well, it's a hit that hasn't dulled one iota since its original release, and it's got all the chops to get a new generation reaching their hands aloft, too. This commemorative release features a new mix of the flunked up filter house epic which comes in full-fat and dub form, plus a neater edit for the radio jocks out there. Perhaps it's that oh-so-sweet disco element you want to zero in on though, in which case B2's 'Disco Edit' will be the one for you.

Review: The mighty Dez Andres has hooked up with Parisian digger Victor Kiswell for a sublime new double album on Spot Lite that finds a perfect sweet spot between both men's sound. It stems from a party that explores Arabic grooves from Northern Africa and the Middle East and pairs that with low slung deep house beats and hip-hop inspired joints. It's woozy and warm, packed with killer melodies and hooky riffs and is right up there with some of Dez's best work. Highlights include the likes of 'Grand Meze In Gemmayze' with its dusty beats and 'Bounce The Casbah' with Middle Eastern guitars that ring out with great soul.

Review: Viken Arman is Alone Together on his superb new album for the French label Denature. The artist himself is obsessed with freedom and his sound sits somewhere in a nether region between house, jazz, hip-hop and minimal. Carefully layered and precisely structured as it takes listens on a colourful and kalaedescopic journey through different moods and grooves with plenty of worldly influences, it's the sort of deftly designed album that works both at home and in the club and packs in plenty of profound moments of emotion.

Review: French outfit Chateau Flight have spent two years in the studio making music, playing around and experimenting and now the fruits of that work are presented on this new album La Folie Studio. It is full of the sound of analogue machines conversing and the artists themselves speaking through their darkened basslines or eerie pads. Occult worlds are crafted, ambient soundscapes are cooked up and leftfield cosmic explorations occur throughout a journeying album full of a wide range of emotions. This lovely record features guests on the odd track such as Johnny Nash on guitar, Cosmic Neman mumbling on 'Mange', John Cravache playing 'his special organ" and Bony Bikaye singing on 'Esika Molimo Ezali'. It's an occult world of left of centre sound that will keep you coming back for more.

Review: Released in 1996, 'Super Discount' is the debut album by Etienne de Crecy, an influential figure in the French electronic music scene. De Crecy's influence helped to propagate certain genres, from the good old scratchy filter-house beloved of Daft Punk to the jazzier take on the house genre that St Germain and others gave it, all while establishing France's national identity on the global electronic music market. Packed with early collaborators from DJ Tall to AIR, this is more than just 'fun' music - it's got that classic French Midas touch.

Review: Super Discount was the hugely influential 1996 debut album by Etienne de Crecy. Several more volumes came and helped to define the French scene of the ear and they remain great inspirations to this day as De Crecy's work very much propagated certain other genres, from scratchy filter-house a la Daft Punk to the jazzier house genre of St Germain. This second volume is packed with plenty of names who helped to define the early French electronic scene such as Alex Gopher & Julien Delfaud, Philippe Zdar and DJ Mehdi. It's raw electro house that fizzes and spits with potent dancefloor scuzziness and energy even now.

Review: It is hard to overstate the impact that Etienne de Crecy had on the global, but specifically French, electronic scene. His debut album in 1996 brought all new sounds and references and set in motion a revolution that spawned everything from classic French touch to jazzy deep house by Saint Germain via what went on to become the Ed Banger-aligned electro house of Justice et al. It all started with the first volume of Super Discount and carried on through further volumes such as this third one which is as searing and vital now as ever.

Review: While he's still associated with the club-ready 'French Touch' sound he helped develop in the late 1990s, Etienne De Crecy has always had a much wider musical palette - as the legendary Super Discount series of albums proved. On Warm Up, his first new album for six years, the French veteran has leaned into this, delivering an album of songs designed to be listened to at home during the day. Of course, there are still nods to his dancefloor roots, but more pop hooks, nods to hip-hop, electro-pop and the lower tempo end of the nu-disco spectrum. More significantly, there are vocals throughout, delivered by an impressive cast list that includes Damon Albarn, Hot Chip's Alexis Taylor, Sports, Frank Leone and Kero Kero Bonito.

Review: Pierre-Alexandre Busson, a producer known for his multifaceted talents in both music and photography, steps further into his Destiino alias with a darkly ambient collection that stretches across downbeat house, industrial electronica and melancholic disco. Having made his name in the world of French electro, Busson's transition to Destiino was marked by an exploration of improvised compositions following his participation in a sound installation at the 57th Venice Biennale in 2017. This shift from his previous styles allowed him to dive deeper into moody, atmospheric landscapes. The current project, released under CHLOE's Lumiere Noire imprint, comes as a continuation of this artistic exploration, breaking from the dancefloor-driven energy of his past work to embrace a more introspective and expansive approach. Opening with 'Yokohama,' Busson sets a pensive tone, layering soft synths over a minimalist beat. 'My Crush' follows with a reflective yet upbeat mood, while 'Somlake' (feat. Inigo Vontier) weaves light, meditative textures. 'Transe Has No Speed' dives into dense atmospherics and 'Imagery' introduces a rhythmic, bodily groove. The second side offers 'Musique Electronique Repetitive,' using looping motifs to create a trance effect, while 'La Houle' brings fluidity and 'Morning Routine' soothes with its gentle vibe. 'Pulsar' (feat. Inigo Vontier) pulses with cosmic rhythms, and 'No Pain' closes with a melancholy, reflective note.

Review: French multi-instrumentalist and producer Mezerg (real name Marc Mezergue) is something of a one-off - a synthesizer, drums and theremin-sporting one-man band who has even invented his own unique instrument, a combined keyboard/electronic drum kit known as the "piano boom boom". He's perhaps best-known as a live performer but has received plenty of plaudits for previous releases, most notably 2021 debut LP Chez Mezerg. Vol Retarde de 42 Mn is that album's belated sequel and sees the Frenchman develop his existing trademark sound - a musically mixed-up blend of classic synth sounds, analogue electronics, warm basslines and unfussy beats that variously draws influence from titans of French electronic dance music (Justice, Jean-Michel Jarre etc), electro and, most frequently, colourful nu-disco.

Review: South African-born, Paris-based Portable is one of those cultured artists who doesn't release a lot, but when he does, it is more than worth hearing. And this is a bumper new drop from him on Circus Company in the form of Augmented Dreams, a new double album that takes its title from the use of everyday technological advancements "to achieve what were once only dreams or visions of past generations." He goes deep into minimal, techno and ambient to fuse totters the synthetic and the organic, the real, the imagined and the unreal on a richly rewarding album that makes for a complete listening

Review: Frenchman Rodriguez Jnr moved from his native Paris to the sunny climes of Miami not long after the pandemic. He had already started recording the music that features on this new album before he left, and finished it off in the US. You can hear the influence of both settings as he cuts more loose than ever before. His signature synth craft and elegant melodies remain, but there are also collabs with hip-hop's Stereo MCs, his own partner Liset Alea who is an esteemed vocalist, and Giorgia Angiuli. It adds up to a super smooth and sophisticated album with plenty of earworms.

Review: Aurore 404 know who to tap when it comes to doleful yet still soulful house, invoking Parisian producer Souffle Caramel (Romain Abreu) for a splendid six-tracker of the cleanest cafe-bound lyd-en-scenes we've heard in a good while. We're thoroughly impressed with what Abreu has whipped up here: storms, fusses, coffee creams. Welcoming but three session musician friends behind the espresso machine's controls - Anthony Colnard, Donald Devienne, Maxime Vioulac - the result is an easygoing, drizzle-against-the-windowpane, froth-hissing muse of an EP, mixing cleanly, livelily produced house with hygge midwinter jazz, chief among which has to be the careful drum brush lavers come breakbeat beatifics of 'Beautiful Swimmers'.

Review: Ludovic Navarre aka St Germain requires no introduction, and the French house legend has literally seen and done it all ever since his first productions began to surface and influence other house artists back in the early 1990's golden era. The majority of his music has been released on F Communications, but his latest studio album drops on EMI's Parlophone sublabel. The self-titled St Germain is a proper LP, not a mere collection of house tracks put together helter-skelter. Inside, you'll hear many of Navarre's influences and inspirations, from Afro tribal melodies, to jazzy influences and even Middle-Eastern chimes. It's a house album in structure, but much more than that beneath the surface...as it always was from the legend of French dance music.

Review: One of the greatest house albums of all time is 20 this year. To mark the occasion the legendary French producer behind it - Ludovic Navarre aka St Germain - has selected a sympathetic team of expert remixes to add their own spin to the still classic source material. Atjazz is the perfect man to open up thanks to his deep, lounge and of course jazzy house style. Osunlade then brings his shamanistic sounds to 'Sure Thing' and it glows as a result with Ron Trent later tackling the anthemic 'Rose Rouge' and slowing it down to a lush jazz dance. With DJ Deep, Nightmares On Wax and more also featuring, this is a must cop.

Review: Discover all the gems of house music in a double vinyl special collection selected by the Rex Club, the emblematic Parisian club that has hosted the greatest names in electronic music. Local legend Point G nails that French Touch vibe on the sublime classic 'Underwater', and there's the Masters At Work with India classic 'I Can't Get No Sleep' - a true zeitgeist of 90s US house, as is Logic's seminal 1990 anthem 'The Warning' - a staple of the Strictly Rhythm back catalogue. Another quintessential track from the club's heyday comes from the inimitable Etienne de Crecy on 'Prix Choc', the timeless, balmy summertime groove that is 'Byrdman's Revenge' by Mike Delgado, and representing the new school is Leo Pol on a similar vibe with 'Chantal'.

Review: Pont Neuf returns with an eight excellent volume of its Hexagonal Club series with a load more vital artists offering up their own distinctive take on deep house. The tracks have been sufficiently well sequence so as to play out like a DJ set, too. DJ Psychiatre kicks off with the lazy cosmic depths of 'Subtle Illusion' before a great female soul vocal brings warmth to Mira Lo's nice and vibey 'Don't Look Back.' The highlights keep on coming with the super serene sounds of Berzingue's 'Riviera' and glossy, glowing keys of KX9000's 'Meatloaf.' This is a stylish and European brand of deep house that makes a welcome addition to your racks.

Review: To mark the label's eighth birthday, the crew behind Paris's Pont Neuf Records has put together a fifth Hexagonal Club compilation. The series is rooted in the imprint's desire to showcase the best French dance and electronic music has got to offer, hence a line-up containing a mix of rising stars, scene stalwarts and heavy hitters. There's naturally plenty of high-grade material stretched across the two slabs of wax, including the sun-splashed, piano-sporting Mediterranean house heaviness of Maison Blanche's 'The Best of Times', the heady deep house smoothness of Tour-Maubourg's 'No Purpose Groove', the spacey synths and chunky low-end pressure of 'You Can't Understand' by THEOS, the breakbeat-powered dreaminess of Dylan Dylan's 'On My Mind' and the head-nodding beauty of DJ Psychiatre's 'Mister Rhodes'.

Review: French label Wagram knows a thing or two about putting out superb compilations that take a widescreen look at a diverse array of genres. For this latest double album release it carries on in its Africanism series with a second volume of house sounds with an Afro undertone. French legend Bob Sinclair appears several times with his lavish house sounds, and countryman Martin Solveig brings the heat with 'Heartbeat', a bright, prickly and vocal jam with plenty of irresistible hooks. It's a great collection of party-ready sounds.

Review: Wagram's always comprehensive compilation series is back with another deep dive into a specific sound, and this time it is French touch aka the Gallic take on early house that is in the spotlight. Plenty of the early pioneers feature like Bob Sinclar, DJ Gregory, Saint Germain and Tour-Maubourg, but so do some more recent explorers of that sound, namely Folamour whose gorgeously sampled and gospel-tinged opener 'Ya Just Need 2 Believe In Yaself' is an early highlight here. Add in some other favourites like DJ Deep's 'Learn 2 Love' and De Pompidou's 'Can't Be With You' and you have a great overview of this popular house sub-genre.

Review: Parisian based crew Hedzup have been cultivating an infectious sound through their events and releases, with WLAD reliably steering the ship while developing his own production style. It's a style which comes into sharp relief on this album KISS - an opus of warm, bouncy and playful minimal tech house with a heavyweight cast of collaborators. Oden & Fatzo and THEOS and Kong lend their talents to the seriously soul-slicked 'Korean BBQ', while Luca Donzelli keeps things shimmering and swinging on 'SeNor Espresso'. The production is gleaming throughout this record, so if you take your minimal house seriously then don't sleep on this one.