Back catalogue: Deep House

Review: Fusion Sequence is a new offshoot from the Mellophonia label that kicks off with a heavyweight release both literally - its 180g vinyl - and metaphorically. It features seven different artists offering up one track each on what is a widescreen exploration of fresh deep house. They are A Vision of Panorama, Eternal Love, Pool Boy, Wolfey, Laseech, Larry Quest and Jay Sound and between them everything from cuddly depths to more moody late-night deepness is covered on an EP that brings plenty of new perspectives. A fine inaugural 12", then.

Review: Daniela La Luz returns with her third album, System Reset, on her own label Dimension Of Being Human. Created after her long illness and her father's death, it parallels the planet's delicate state and the duality of joy and mortality in life. Written in Berlin and Munich, the artist connects past, present, and future as she sings in English, Polish, and Arabic. The AI-generated artwork complements her music's blend of light and darkness in a record that stylishly spans jazz, house, techno, pop, wave, electro, ambient, and dub while offering both dance-friendly tracks and beatless interludes. It's a poignant and personal work.

Review: It's 12 years since Dresden-born, Leipzig-based Martin Enke first made waves under the Trickform alias, and four years since he launched the Lake People project. Given his production vintage, it's surprising Purposefully Uncertain Field is his debut album. In turns uncomfortable, blissful, woozy and melancholic, it sees Enke confidently join the dots between shuffling Germanic deep house, early '90s "intelligent techno" (see the brilliant "Cooping"), yearning tech-house, aqueous ambience (the swirling "Bora" and glacial "Distance"), clanking drum tracks ("Glease") and loose-limbed IDM ("Drifting Red"). Throughout, there's a curiously distant sense of atmosphere, with detached melodies and ghostly pads riding tight, bubbling rhythms.

Review: RECOMMENDED
The DJ Kicks series has managed to outlast the vast majority of other DJ mixes we can think of - the good, the bad, the populist, and the plain cash cow. Even the mighty fabric compilations have rebranded and rethought, bringing the original legacy, FABRICLIVE included, to a respectful end at 200 outings. Strange, then, to think, that !K7's mighty offering to the world of "What should we listen to at the afters?" has arguably managed to become more relevant as the years have flown by.

There was a time when the series existed at the lighter end of club fare, with some examples barely even matching that description. These days, though, there's often a dance floor heaviness central to the selections, with Jessy Lanza's broken, bass-driven set a case in point. Pointless attempts to describe the music, and lazy track list namedropping aside, this is energy-packed, heads down, futurist stuff packed with infectious percussion.

Review: Belgian producer Larson dives deep into the origins of deep house on his debut LP titled Interlace Joy Motion. Taking influence from legends such as Larry Heard, Boo Williams, Chez Damier and Chris Brann, it's a true love letter to house music, and definitely one for the heads. Of the wide selection of moods and grooves, we particularly enjoyed the emotive Windy City-styled deepness of opening cut 'Our Inner Sun' before he throws a nice curveball with two versions of the contemplative electro cut 'Slack Breeze', before the glassy-eyed early '90s Stateside shuffle of 'High Jazz Travel' and the near spiritual moment that is 'Souvenir D'Enfance' with the undeniable influence of Ron Trent. Tip!

Review: Vick Lavender presents a captivating journey through soulful house music with 'The Time Traveler'. This double LP is a testament to Lavender's deep understanding of the genre, seamlessly blending classic influences with a contemporary edge. From the infectious grooves of '4-11' and 'A Space Love Affair' to the hypnotic rhythms of 'Acid Outpost' and 'Archive 80', the album is a masterclass in soulful house production. Lavender's collaborations with Ammawhat and Angel-A add further depth and dimension, while tracks like 'Misty' and '1981' showcase his ability to craft emotive and atmospheric soundscapes. The extended mixes on Side 3 and 4 provide extended journeys into Lavender's sonic world, highlighting his skills as a DJ and remixer. This is a must-have for any house music enthusiast, a timeless collection that will transport you to the dancefloor and beyond.

Review: Vick Lavander is a name that has always been a byword for deep house quality. His sound is couched in a classic template but comes with subtle tweaks and plenty of its own musical character. BEYOND is a bumper collection of beats which proves just that. There are silky and cosmically minded sounds like 'Time & Time Again' next to subtly jazzy dancers like 'Sunset BLVD' and dubby, elegant grooves like the life-affirming 'Grace'. The pace picks up with joints like 'Knights' but never at the expense of atmosphere and slows right down with swab-tinged downbeat delights like 'Good Timing'. A magnificently rich work.

Review: Greek DJ/producer Lex has been part of the scene in his home city of Athens since the dawn of the millennium, though it's only in the last few years that he's focused more on making music. The results of his efforts, which were previously showcased on 12" singles for Leng and Samosa Records, amongst others, have been quietly impressive. His debut album, Waving, continues in the same vein, utilising a pool of musician friends to craft cuts that blur the boundaries between sun-kissed, sofa-friendly Balearic warmth and subtly funk-fuelled, dub disco-framed dancefloor shufflers. The plentiful highlights include the stunning, tropical-tinged opener, 'Punta Allen', the organ-sporting vocal squelch-along 'Window Spells', acid-flecked nu-disco-meets-cosmic disco workout 'Silver Peace' and high-octane number 'Down My Soul'.

Review: The latest Lindstrom album is so good that he appears to have dispensed with the spell-checker for the copy i but it's always such a terrific pleasure to hear new music from the Norse disco titan that even the most uptight proofreader will surely forgive him. Back in the noughties, he and compatriot Prins Thomas flipped the script with their immaculately crafted take on the meta-disco sound. And though the frequency of Lindstrom's output has slowed over time, the quality of his production retains its magnificent allure. Syrius Syntoms begins with a bang i glistening synths, snappy drums and pristine melodics on 'Crkl' i before taking acidic turns via 'Thousand Island Man' and drifting into dreamland on 'Moo)n'. 'These Are a Few of My Favorite Strings' adds a little NY house bump, with evocative keys and low-end groove, while the feel-good arps and bouncy bass of the title track are vintage Lindstrom i full of kitsch sparkle and joyous main room energy. Top marks.

Review: Linkwood clearly enjoyed the process of recording his 2021 album Mono, which was created in a week in the Athens of the North Studio in Edinburgh, as he's repeated the exercise on Stereo. It's an impressive sequel all told, with the long-serving producer delivering an even deeper, warmer and more evocative excursion informed by his love of analogue deep house, classic sci-fi techno, the 80s compositions of Jan Hammer, intergalactic electro, drum machine-driven synth-funk and star-gazing ambient music. It sounds like it was primarily made with vintage synthesisers and drum machines, which when combined with his impeccable sound design and judicious use of outboard effects results in an enveloping, immersive and highly atmospheric sound that rewards repeat listens. In other words, it's another fine album to get lost in.

Review: Given their shared musical heritage - both are members of the extended Firecracker Recordings crew - it's perhaps something of a surprise to find that Face The Facts marks the first serious collaboration between Linkwood and Gav 'Fudge Fingaz' Sutherland AKA Other Lands. It's less surprising that the album is really, really good. Touching on warming synth-boogie, head-nodding downtempo jams, mutant beatdown, Balearic beats, sunset-ready soundscapes and warming analogue deep house, the 13-track set is notable for the pair's extensive use of dusty old drum machines, tactile instrumentation (think smooth Rhodes solos, languid guitar solos and blissed-out synths) and Sutherland's hazy, sometimes seductive singing voice.

Review:  Liv.e is an LA-based, Dallas-born artist who this summer has a reimagined version of her acclaimed sophomore album Girl In The Half Pearl served up after collaborating with Dallas-based producer Ben Hixon. Together, they transform the original tracks into an energised, feel-good experience that symbolises resilience and recovery after heartbreak. Hixon's innovative approach to each song adds a wholly different perspective on Liv.e's introspective lyrics with genre-blending production traversing, trap, broken beats, deep house and and blissed out grooves all with the vocals unifying the sounds with an otherworldly edge.

Review: Less than 10 months have passed since the release of Matt Lord and Dennis 'Dego' McFarland's first collaborative album, but the long-serving duo have already readied album number two. The pair have been working together on-and-off for years and are clearly kindred spirits, at least musically. There's a warmth, looseness and pleasingly effortless feel about much of the material on show, which - like much 2000 Black crew material of recent years - adds luscious synthesizer and electric piano motifs to rubbery bass guitar parts and crunchy beats. It's naturally rooted in broken beat, but rhythmically also pays homage to jazz-funk, hip-hop, Azymuth-esque jazz fusion and boogie. It also includes an excellent, acid-flecked collaboration with mutual friend (and fellow bruk stalwart) Domu.

Review: Some of Masters at Work man Louie Vega's greatest full-length projects have paid tribute to New York's 50-year dance music story, as well as his personal musical inspirations (most notably the Nuyorican Soul album he penned with long-time production partner Kenny 'Dope' Gonzalez in the 1990s). Expansions in the NYC, his latest epic excursion, treads a similar path, offering a large number vocal-heavy numbers that not only blend elements of disco, boogie, proto-house and house, but also feature some genuinely high-profile vocalists from that era (think Peech Boys' Bernard Fowler, Unlimited Touch). Vega also joins forces with 21st century house star Honey Dijon on the superb 'Feels So Right', while the hook-ups with Moodymann, Kerri Chandler and Joe Clausell are as inspired as you'd expect.

Review: Berlin via L.A. based Acid Test has a new one out this week on their Avenue 66 sub-label, which is focused more on leftfield electronics. It comes from esteemed German producer Jens Kuhn aka Lowtec, known for his releases on Out To Lunch, United States Of Mars and Playhouse who presents some rare and unreleased cuts from the vaults on Easy To Heal Cuts. As expected, there's dusty and understated fare aplenty on this one; from the contemplative night moves of 'Going Nowhere', or the low-slung mood music of 'Red Sparrow' (another alias of Kuhn's) to the bittersweet minimalism of 'Nature Thinks For You' and the sun coming through the blinds on Monday morning vibe of closing cut 'From Moment To Moment' - we're sure glad these tunes saw the light of day.

Review: The 2013 album, Ain't Nothing But A Groove, followed in the footsteps of its predecessor back when it as first released. It found the cult favourite LTJ delve into the rich world of disco and 70s groove with his unique touch. Mixing contemporary sounds with the timeless vibe that had become his trademark, LTJ explored this musical landscape like no other and brought forth a fusion of old and new that captivated listeners then and will surely do so again now as it gets a reissue on double vinyl via IRMA.

Review: Los Angeles' producer Luxxury has long specialised in the kind of opaque, warming, stylish and melodious fare that tends towards the timeless - retro-futurist, yacht-rock-tinged fusions of disco, AOR, synth-pop, boogie and blue-eyed soul that sounds like it was tailor-made to listen to while cruising down the Pacific highway in an early '80s convertible. Alright, his latest album, sees him subtly tweak that sound further and in the process deliver his most consistently entertaining full-length excursion to date. Our picks of the plentiful standouts include the slap-bass propelled dreaminess of 'Somebody Tonight', the radio-friendly dancefloor delight that is 'Be Good 2 Me', the yacht disco goodness of 'I Need Somebody' and the kaleidoscopic, filter-sporting lux-pop of 'Alright'.

Review: The Mellophonia label offshoot Fusion Sequence won us over with its well-presented and great-sounding first EP, and now a quick follow-up does the same. This one is another various artists affair that starts with some nice futuristic robot disco from Vanity Project. There is more organic and lush Balearic from Bobby Bricks and Pacific Coliseum follows that spine-tingling Ibiza sunset vibe. On the flip side, there is everything from late-night electronic house to lazy disco via Sorcerer's blissed out 'Just For Love' which would entrance any dance floor. There's as much quality as there is variation on this one, which makes it a useful EP indeed.