Back catalogue: UK Garage

Review: Warehouse Tools takes listeners on a nostalgic journey through the vibrant world of UK house music, showcasing the iconic sounds of Hooj Choons. Opening with Farayen & Liam Parkins' 'Where Do We Go (Jamie Unknown Remix)', the track blends high-energy euro house with New York-style house rhythms, offering a dynamic trip back to the early 90s. Dan Newman's 'Movin'' follows with a melodic Balearic progressive house gem, featuring heavenly piano moments paired with a serious beat that creates a dynamic vibe. On the flip side, Dean & Di After's 'Wicked Dreams' brings retro energy to the forefront, evoking the essence of house music's early days while offering a fresh perspective. Finally, Shade Guevara's 'Ted or Dead' delivers a piano-driven breakbeat, showcasing a vintage sound that encapsulates the roots of house music. This compilation is a well-crafted tribute to the genre, perfectly balancing nostalgia with contemporary energy.

Review: The brand new Mush Trax label makes a head-turning debut here with some naught garage and house cuts from the depths of Dorset. Footprint opens up with the straight-up shuffler that is 'Light It Up. It's got old school flavours all over it - the piano stabs, the original Chicago house vocal and the melodies. It's the same story with Dunman's 'Hot' with its filthy backless bass stabs, yelping vocal cries and steel-plated US garage drums. Completing this highly effective EP is Ash Brown with another throwback garage anthem in 'Whompa.'

Review: Gun fingers should very much be locked and loaded before you drop the needle on this eight volume of the 2tuf 4u label's Undeniable Grooves series. It's another rich various artists affair that covers all bases: Johnny U-Tah keeps things dry and 2steppy with 'Sun Comes Up' and Fresh II Waves then bring a US garage feel with the horn stabs of 'Scream N Shout.' Confused Identity & Gungo Peas's 'U Gotta Mov' is an irresistible lithe and nimble garage shuffler with cut up vocal stabs and Stixy D & Tempreture keep it deep, low-slung and dubby with their late night gem 'Camden Palace.'

Review: "Underground dance music" got its name for a reason: the black market is where the good stuff is! The ninth release on the underground-allusive, daytime-elusive Undergroove label moot a congregation of sound spivs, turntablist tricksters, deep house dealers, and many other scraggly clientele, for a fresh and unregulated yield of homegrown Lyon talent. Said to have channelled electro house and garage house going in, lord knows what has come out the other side, but we can aver its dankness: Lazer Man and and Funktroid nod to twin moods of desperation and forbearance commonly seen in criminal underworlds, with the stoic grind of the street represented in unfazed, steely electro beats. Real fiends only let loose on the B-side, where Local DJ's 'Dreams Of Radio' and Aladdin's 'The Ali-ens' quell any residual fears through glitchy purples and ghostly tech backings.

Review: Drew Lustman's longstanding FaltyDL moniker makes a welcome return with a debut full length record for the eminent Central Processing Unit label. In The Wake Of Wolves deconstructs Lustman's usual rough dance sound for a less predictable album-length breakdown, retaining his usual arid textures while playing up the more sound-designed and maximalist ends of his craft. In the pithy words of CPU: "This could pass for Four Tet or even Hannah Diamond at points, the steady build of pulsing synths and looped vocals recalling a more mysterious version of the PC Music sound." Whether you totally agree, you'd have to agree FaltyDL has at least taken on something of their contemporary future-pop/digisonic aesthetic and incorporated it into his own; this is most evident on the glassy pirouettes and gladiate complexities of 'Minds Protection', or the tenebrous post-punk descensions of 'New Friends', or many maximized IDM trap-doors and toolroom hard-clips of 'Workout'.