Back catalogue: Deep House

Review: Party starting outfit Bizarre is back with another offering of leftfield club cuts. The A-side of this one has been carefully curated by founding members Felon5 & B.Love. Their cosmic house excursion starts with the playful robot funk of 'The Talkbox Track' and then takes in the silky space tech of 'M Is For Muff' which is effortlessly cool. Jhobei & Oliver R then step up with 'What's On Then' which is another mix of warped bass and neon synth lines over popping tech funk and then Love & Charleze conspire to send you home on a nice warm hearted disco tech vibe with their 'IC3D' featuring some super synth expressions.

Review: Mojuba is a real stamp of quality when it comes to more traditional house sounds with a heavy US bent. This new EP is another standout in that mood with Chicago original Bernard Badie behind the beats. It's a fiery one to start thanks tot he yelping female vocals that busy out of the mid tempo house drums. After that party-starting opening gambit comes the more wonky 'Bounce' with its tanging sound effects and taught bass. 'This Track' explores a slightly garage-tinged sound with scraping hits and swinging drums and last of all is 'Open Up' which is a heads down gem for the afters.

Review: Is there a more fun and hard-to-pin-down label than Studio Barnhus? The plaything of Swedish artists Kornel Kovacs, Axel Boman and their mate Petter Nordkvist it has done it all from trancehall to bubblegum house via pop edits and plenty in between. Now they look to Stockholm boys Ari Bald & CJ Scott once more for a new EP that bangs hard and has a great sense of character, much like their label debut here last year. All four of these house cuts are full-flavoured slammers with heartfelt vocal samples and lovely naive melodies that really make their mark.

Review: Get yourself geared up for festival season with some fierce party starters certified with the Glitterbox stamp. Melvo Baptiste leads the charge with 'Sweat', a sizzling disco house stomper with Dames Brown giving the biggest diva energy on her show-stopping vocal. Lovebirds bring unbridled joy on the Philly string swoon and slinky b-line funk of 'Burn It Down', while Art Of Tones & Inaya Day keep it peak time on the sassy strutter 'Give My Love'. Young Pulse & Fleur De Mur complete the set with 'Smooth Sweet Talker', another bright and bold vocal cut par excellence.

Review: People Of Earth strides into the New Year with a new project called The Elements Series. Part one welcomes some serious names, not least Detroit's ambient and techno master John Beltran who kicks off with 'Nuyorico' a joyous, chord-laced house groove laden with organic percussion. Javonntte's 'Tropical Feelings' is another of his textbook deep house cuts with whispered vocals bringing a spiritual vibe. Atlanta's main man Kai Alce does his do with the jazzy synth energy of shuffling house cut 'Benefit' (NDATL instrumental mix) then Byron The Aquarius pairs things back to dusty drums and humid chords on 'Sun Gods'. This one is only for the real heads.

Review: Ben Sun brings his radiant rays of melodic beauty to this fresh new deep house platter on the small but already well-formed Cyphon label. 'Tether' opens up with bright and synth synths zipping about next to heartfelt vocal coos as raw beats power things onwards. 'Self & Other' then bumps its way through Detroit synth magic and hooky percussive sounds and 'Apex' slows down but is another house outing drenched in mellifluous and meaningful chords. 'Shores Of Mind' closes down with warm, rippling acid and lazy, hazy chords to round out the EP with the best of the bunch.

Review: Rebirth kicks off its 2024 with a remix EP that serves as "a tribute to the Brescian music scene in its many facets and declinations." The full original project is a complete 12-track album that brings together many different sounds, scenes and generations, with the best bits now assembled on this new 12". The revered deep house master Fred P opens up with some texture spiritual synth depths, K-Lone brings some nice house swing to his version of 'Paline' and edit maestro Rahsaan also keeps it paired back and late night on his soulful take on 'Scent Of An Old Life'. A great reimagining of some moving musical adventures, then.

Review: Mule Musiq has been an ever-present in the electronic underground but has never gone out of favour in the way so many labels do after their initial rise to the top. This new outing for the New Year puts Kasper Bjorke together with El Agua Es Profound for two originals that come with two remixes. 'Pau' is the sort of elegant elecrtronic sound you expect of this label - serene synths and nice clean drums with subtle hooks. The Bella Boo remix bliss things out even further and then 'Andrea' brings some cheery piano chords to a breezy and sunny groove that is perfect for open air dancing under wispy clouds. There is some extra pace to the Longhair Offshore dub for busier dancefloors.

Review: Kulture Galerie has got off to a superb start with a release that got the attention of big names such as Laurent Garnier, Midland and Vladimir Ivkovic. The pressure is on, in that case, to follow that up with a second release that makes just as much impact and the label passes the test with flying colours with a various artists' collection featuring some big names. Chief amongst them are Detroit don John Beltran with his scintillating hi-tek soul workout 'Canarias', and Bohm with the densely woven synth layers and dusty drum programming over the gorgeous 'Tactical Options!' Add in the more hard edge drums of 'Metropolitan Soul Museum's 'Negative Mouth', the melodic elegance of 'Bankastraat' and the acid madness of Tramic's 'Lanterns' and you have a vital 12".

Review: House doesn't get much more Chicago than when made by Boo Williams. The big man has been turning out the jams for decades, always with an irresistible sense of low-end bite and top-end fun. This outing on the French label Phonogramme comes on clear wax and is another crucial 12". 'Melodic Groove' is just that, with rolling drums and soft melodies perfectly intertwining while 'Nite Vision' is a more broken beat and percussive affair with swirling pads up top. 'Artificial World 2023' (feat Jamiel Patton) gets your head amongst the stars with its bright, lush keys and skipping soulful drums and last of all is another heady and cosmic house roller in 'Song & Dance' (feat Jamiel Patton - Planet mix).

Review: ***B-STOCK: Sleeve damaged but otherwise in excellent condition***


The second release on 3 Mats features a cast of emergent artists dealing in the vibrant seam where electro synthesis and techno focus collide. If you rate labels like Partisan and EYA you'll be into this record, without a doubt. Frankfurt producer Philipp Boss opens up the record with 'Die Schone', a collaboration with Gianluca, while Gabriel Belabbas creates a rolling warm-up delight of electro breaks with an iconic sample on 'Dance With The Speaker'. Muelsa's 'The Future Is A Trap' is a raw, boxy machine workout and Nico Lampariello finishes the record off with an acid laced workout for the darker side of the dance.

Review: Defected's vinyl series continues to commit the label's biggest digital releases to wax for the first time, and this special twentieth edition has been created in partnership with Shelter, the housing and homeless charity. Together, in July 2023, the label and charity launched 'From House To Home', which pioneers an ingenious idea; taking 'house music' to its utmost logical conclusion, deploying reworks classic house tracks as fundraisers for helping secure actual housing for the homeless. On this latest edition to the series, Germany's Jonathan Kaspar remixes Breach's revered deep house anthem, 'Jack'. Then comes the bubbling Mason Collective and Bipolar Sunshine collab 'People In Love', shortly followed by the recent pop hit by Arielle Free, 'Feels So Good', before a round-off in the form of a generational collaboration between production pioneers Bob Sinclar, A-Trak, and Mele with 'Deep Inside Of Me'.

Review: Bread & Souls is a new project dreamt up by Italian entrepreneur and music lover Franco Fusari. For this he invited Mark de Clive-Lowe to direct and produce his roving vision: a series of collaborations with the cream of boogie and jazzdance's best performers and instrumentalists, including the likes of Bembe Segue, Vanessa Freeman, Paul Randolph, Rich Medina, Tommaso Cappellato and more. Under the banner of Bread & Souls, these eight originals and six remixes hit hard yet smooth, sliding down the proverbial aural gullet like a well-made Manhattan.

Review: Steve Bug is going on 30+ years of writing electronic music and travelling the world as a top DJ with no signs of letting up. It Just Happened is his latest and finds its way to the legendary and iconic Nu Groove records. It must be daunting to release music on such an amazing label. 'It Just Happened' has all the makings of a classic worthy enough for the Nu Groove logo. Veteran Cle who has worked on many projects with Steve is featured here as well. For those that really know Steve Bug's background, they know he is equally involved in house music as he is with techno. Tracks like 'Crew Thing' show his ability to make a standout house track while 'House Music Transcends' closes things out with your hands in the air. We respect Steve Bug so much for his work over the years. When he is old skool mode like he is on this EP, you just have to say respect to the man. Respect!

Review: A decade or so after making his debut, Greek producer Lee Burton is rightly revered as an artist with a trademark sound and a variety of rock-solid EPs to his name. Chris Stussy has long been a fan, hence bringing him to his Up The Stuss label for the first time. Burton has delivered, giddily skipping between sub-heavy, acid-laden peak-time hedonism ('Sinewaves'), rolling deep house funkiness smothered in intergalactic melodies and spacey chords ('Burning'), deep and acidic techno (the big room ready headtrip that is 'ITICF'), and the kind of immersive, loved-up and acid-flecked house goodness that's tailor-made for those light moments just before dawn ('Love Motion').

Review: A rare outing for Josh Butler's occasional Origins Rcrds imprint, which has so far released a handful of singles and EPs since launching in 2017. It sees the rising star and Kerri Chandler favourite join forces with Bontan, a fellow UK producer best known for his outings on Hot Creations and Crosstown Rebels. It features three passes on 'Call You Back'. There's the original mix, a fluid, loose and sub-heavy slab of tech-house/deep house fusion rich in undulating melodic motifs, sparse riffs and shuffling drums, a fine DJ tool based around the melodic hooks, percussive builds and vocal samples and a rock-solid build-release-build drum track built around weighty kick-drums and hissing drum machine cymbals.

Review: Byron The Aquarius (Byron Blaylock), from Birmingham, Alabama, debuts his latest EP for French Synchrophone sublabel Phonogramme, 'Dey Know Vol. 1'. Topping up an already hugely impressive backlog of releases on the label recently - from the likes of Abacus, Steeve O'Sullivan and Vitess - the producer and water carrier adds to their catalogue for a varied scrubdown of the more militant ends of techno's sonic politic. An impressove sense of variation is achieved on the expositionally minimal 'Black Is Black', which contrasts greatly to the ensuing space-quagmires of 'Dr Devil' and then the crude, bleepy and frank analog sonics of 'Real MF From The Avenue'. Dreamy narrations of local life abound, precluding the closing 'Rock That 808!!!', a track that is far more sophisticated and well-developed in sound than its wilfully blase title might suggest.

Review: House music doesn't get much more storied and authentic than that served up by the iconic New Jersey label Nu Groove. It very much shaped the clary sound of the 90s and still has fans excited today whenever reissues drop. This is not that, however, and is in fact a new set of recent cuts from veteran Swiss producer Deetron and underground mainstay Bruise. The sounds are inspired by the soulful techno and house that emerged in the Mid West and build on solid drums with silky loops that look to the future. 'AM_909' in particular is a lush and warm cut of epic proportions.

Review: Welcome to Nila's Quest, a brand new label that starts as all good day's should, with a healthy serving of breakfast. It's an Argentina Breakfast, to be precise, and the first of what we can only assume will be a series of releases under this title. Jovit is first out of the blocks with the cosmic and crunchy tech house of 'Gamma Goblin' while Ian Puchetti then gets all blissed out and beach with his Ibiza tinged deep house cut 'Dreams'. There is a charming sense of 80s synth nostalgia to the snappy beats of Bruno & TOBI's 'Te Quiero' then Dual Sense's 'Morning Driver' closes out with a perfect soundtrack to late night driving.

Review: Fool's Paradise is the exciting new label from Toolroom Records' Mark Knight. Coming straight from the heart, it's a natural progression from his hugely acclaimed 2021 album release, 'Untold Business', which saw Mark go back to his roots, paying homage to the more funky, soulful, and vocal house from the 1990s from where he came. With a focus on real instrumentation and production, coupled with great songwriting, this new Toolroom sublabel will be a platform for high quality house music designed to stand the test of time. Launching the new label with a mighty bang and delivering the first in our exciting new vinyl sampler series is head honcho Mark Knight, who joins forces with his Australian Toolroom labelmate, Sgt Slick, and British Soul sensation, Beverley Knight, on a dynamite cover of Prince's 1979 classic, 'I Wanna Be Your Lover'. Respectfully transporting the song onto today's dancefloors, Mark & Sgt Slick deliver a classy uplifting soulful house production, loaded with funky guitars, warm pads and sublime key performances. Adding the icing on the cake and putting her own stamp on things, Beverley belts out one of her signature spine-tingling vocals, garnished with lush harmonies and BV's that would indeed make The Purple One proud. Completing the vinyl package is dance music stalwart, Opolopo, and British soul icon, Jaki Graham, whom together bring the dancefloor heat with their new single, 'Fire'. Powered by a potent soulful house groove from Opolopo, loaded with warm piano hooks, emotive synth melodies and a sublime popping bass hook, 'Fire' see's Jaki flaunt her electrifying vocal talents with a show-stopping performance on this irresistibly catchy song.

Review: Slothboogie are back with more of that disco-fied deep house goodness courtesy of Ruff Stuff and Bress Underground, two Italian producers devoted to the classic approach to the genre. 'Foundations' is a slinky, funked up late night workout with a loopy, hypnotic feel, while 'Sliding Sine' has a more synth-focused, dub-splashed approach. 'The Community' is a rawer jam with tough drums that wouldn't sound out of place on a Chiapet record, while 'Something About It' is peak time garage house at its finest. If you need to work the floor good and proper, these jams won't let you down.