Chiwax Classic Edition Germany Vinilo y CD

Review: Steve Bug is one of the titans of the European underground and his label Pokerflat very much defined the tech house sound of the early noughties. His own Ho EP played a part in that and now it gets reissued on Chiwax's Classic Edition. 'Ho (Future Line I)' is a full throttle tech house weapon with dubby low ends and icy hi-hats, while Future Line II cuts up the beat into a more broken pattern. 'Girls On Lighters' keeps it deep with pulsing synths and humid chord infusions over thudding kicks and 'Mohair' closes out this most timeless EP with some more glitchy textures and late night sounds.

Review: Chicago has many legendary figures, but one who stands proud among many is DJ Deeon, a low-end legend and widely considered to be the true Godfather of ghetto house. He dropped this EP originally back in 2013, and it is one of many that soon became classic, which is why it gets this remix from Chiwax. 'Happy' perfectly summarises Deeon's sound - booming and heavyweight kick and drums, smart samples looped perfectly and big hooks. 'The Truth' speeds things up and brings that Ghetto sleaze, and 'R U Sure' is a more minimal sound that still bangs like a heavyweight. 'Gigabytes' is full of caustic synths and blending melodies that bring sheer chaos to the club.

Review: Chiwax is reissuing a couple of the very many superb EPs that DJ Deeon has put out over his peerless career. The Windy City native is known as the Godfather of Ghetto house and always brings more bump and sleaze to his sounds than anyone else. His Freak Mode EP dropped back in 1994 but still sounds like nothing else as it pioneered a new juke and footwork sound. 'Yo Mouf' is tight, loopy, manic and irresistible club music. 'Work This Dick' brings his signature tongue in cheek vocal filth, 'Off Freakmode' has a futuristic twist and 'Hoodrat' is non-stop drum funk for sweaty situations. A legendary EP.

Review: One of Chicago house most unique and salty tousled producers, Gemini's music will always be well regarded. It gets reissued every so often to prove that fact and always sells out as no one made house as intensely emotive and rhythmically fresh as him. This EP previously appeared on Classic shortly before he stepped out of the fray and it's not hard to hear the signs of his mental health struggles to come in the playful lyrics of the title track, but throughout the EP is the evidence of what a gifted house artist he really was. From the playful, bubbly bounce of the lead track to the heads down low end trip 'A Taste', this is essential, still.

Review: The late great Chicago house pioneer Paul Johnson will always be greatly missed. Few producers manage to cook up the sort of rawness that he did so often throughout his career, which indulged legendary EPs for top labels like Dance Mania. Here his In The Kitchen '95 EP gets served up by Chiwax's Classic Edition series. 'Come On Children' is a perfect embodiment of Paul's sound - raw drum funk, slapping hits and sweat-inducing vibes. 'Buzz Buzz' is a head-wrecking acid jam and 'It's House' is pure ghetto funk. There is high-speed sensuousness 'Movin Baby' and hypnotic depths to 'I'm A Freak (& Your Girl Is Too).'

Review: Dana Kelley gets a lot more recognition these days since the excellent Boston Boy retrospective compilations which came out over the past year or so. The late US house heavyweight has a huge legacy behind his various aliases, and now Chiwax are looking at the Beta 12" from 1999. Opening cut 'Left With Nothing' is a powerful dose of deep house with a vocal turn from David Walker, while 'Nastiness' shows how gnarly and experimental Kelley could make his productions when he wanted to. 'Armageddon' is a hot and heavy worked with pumping compression creating the kind of locked in, sweaty atmosphere basement raves are made for.

Review: US house music producer Dana Kelley's 'Beta' was originally released in a 1999 and became a late era tech house classic just ahead of electronic music moving towards big trance and prog sounds. It is an expensive original to find nowadays so this Chiwax reissue is welcome indeed. 'Beta' exudes a hypnotic energy that is driven by pulsating rhythms and intricate layers of synthesizers to make for a fine fusion of techno, house and ambient elements that will still captivate the dancefloor today. 'Left With Nothing' is a deeper opener, then things get more raw on 'Nastiness' and 'Armageddon' is drenched din soulful pad work. 'Got 2 Groove' is a stomping percussive groove with a busy and cosmic lead.

Review: Chicago great Boo Williams has not had the best of times of late, with various health scares leaving him bed-bound and in need of financial assistance to pay costly medical bills. No doubt royalties from the sale of this EP - a reissue of the long-serving deep house producer's 1999 Nuclear Transit EP - will help. Of course, it's an EP that is well worth adding to your collection regardless of Williams' issues. Opener 'Trance Fusion', for example, is one of his most hypnotic, warm and tactile tracks to date while 'No Man's Land' offers a more electronic-sounding slab of locked-in headiness. Elsewhere, 'Teckno Drome' sees Williams join the dots between chunky deep house and the star-lit futurism of Motor City dance music, while 'Tree of Life' is a gorgeous trip into spacey deep house positivity.

Review: Raw but slinky Chi-style deep house from Boo Williams, a key fixture of the Illinois city's nightlife since 1981. 'A New Beginning' and its sequelae 'The-B-W Groove' and 'Phasis' are surprising contrasts here, providing affective sonic snapshots of the city's many blocked, narrow streets. The former of these two tracks serves steam-trailed strings and gulping chords down below, whilst the later jacks up the high knob to enclose an FM-bobbing bounce, around which spitting 909s, tuned cowbells and overdriven kicks collect.