New releases today: House

Review: Razor-N-Tape's Family Affair series makes a welcome return here with a third great instalment. This series is something of an annual end-of-year tradition by now (OK, it's arriving a touch late) and this one hits as hard as any with five tracks taken from the full and standout compilation. It is two great remixes of classic RNT material that gets things underway with Ezel offering a dub of Cor.ece and Bruce Leroys sublime deep hose mix of Guinu, then JKriv's 'Better Than Her' is a fat bottomed bit of deep cut electro funk and elsewhere Kim Anh gets raw and cosmic, and Cody Currie's 'Ghost' is broken beat perfection.

Review: Michael Gray brings his famously soulful sound to this new release on Sultra and it very much taps into a timeless vibe and old school disco feel. The grooves are nice and loose, the percussion is organic and fresh and the vocals, which re-sing a real classic, solar to the heavens next to mid tempo beats. After the A-side extended mix featuring Kimberly Brown & The Sultra Gospel Singers comes 'Never Let You Down' (feat Anthony Poteat & LaMay - extended mix). This one is a little deeper, quicker and funky, but is no less impassioned with its live vocals and lush synth work all bringing the good time vibes.

Review: Some 29 years after it first hit record stores, Nick Holder's sought-after Fruit Loops EP returns in remastered and reissued form. The long-serving Canadian was already four years into his career - and many 12" singles deep - when he delivered the four-tracker, which offers a funky and seductive take on deep house rich in disco and boogie samples. Check first the Chic-sampling disco house roll of 'Dance, Dance, Dance', before moving into the more complex (but not less attractive) 'Keep On Running'. 'The Message Is Love' does a brilliant job in turning choice loops and samples from MFSB's 'Love Is A Message' into heady house gold, while 'Clap Your Hands' makes merry with the stomping brilliance of Hamilton Bohannon's most famous tune ('Let's Start The Dance').