Back in stock: House

Review: For her volume in K7's legendary DJ Kicks series, Cinthie Christl has delivered a righteous, life-affirming, no-holds-barred club mix that spends much of its time (though by no means all) showcasing old school and contemporary (if self-consciously retro-futurist) garage-house and deep house jams. That means groovy basslines, bumpin' beats, infectious organ motifs, diva vocal samples and surging piano riffs aplenty. Of course, there are diversions -see the crunchy breakbeat dreaminess of Ben Hauke, the squelchy Chicago deep house of 'Emergency Tech' by Boo Williams, the micro-house of BMW and the acid-fired shimmer of Anna Wall - but it's the loved-up brilliance of the classic-sounding house cuts from the likes of Terrence Parker, Adriyano, Ruff Stuff, Amir Alexander and Niles Cooper that linger longest in the memory.y.

Review: If there's one label to trust with presenting a faithful and knowledgeable overview of the '90s garage house sound, it is surely Z Records. Joey Negro's evergreen stable has been a bastion of the music since its inception, and this second volume of gold standard tracks is as well-informed as the first. Serious cuts and mixes from the likes of Satoshi Tomiie, Kings Of Tomorrow, Kerri Chandler, Marshall Jefferson - the list of big hitters goes on. But it's not just marquee bookings - there are some seriously headsy jams in here that will even have connoisseurs learning a thing or two. Bursting with musicality, soul and grooves by the pound, this is exactly how a comp should be done.