Smallville Vinilo y CD

Review: Very unorthodox and textured deep house from Edward with the self-referent 'Eddie Green' EP. The fourth record on Smallville, this one bolsters the label's enduring status as a weirdo's deep house favourite, with A-siders 'Primal Dream' and 'Blue Glue' bringing a kind of Seussian or Carroll-esque adventurism to the genre. All manner of slippery, slimy, verging on post-organic sound effect - be they from chup-chup birds, slerber gerbs, and every other 'nonsense' organism imaginable - are heard on these otherwise mechanistic beats, which, merely between the cracks, sound as alive as a collective fungus' inner mycelial core. Then, on the B, by far the standout is 'Eddie Green', which bowls down a suddenly, seemingly endless speedway of neon-lit whizz-past scenes, yet tempered by a still surreal animism shared on the A.

Review: Last year, Home of House Records founder - and the producer responsible for the first release on the admired Kalahari Oyster Cult imprint - delivered his first new EP of music in over five years. The creative juices now flowing again, he's landed on another admired imprint: Hamburg stable Smallville. He begins in confident mood via the new age house-meets-vintage-Italian house hustle of 'Move Your Body', where Enigma style synth-flutes and elongated chords flutter around a squelchy bassline, before opting for a dreamier and more thickset classic deep garage-house sound on 'Feel The G'. The Italian producer reaches for more sublime ambient house chords, jazzy bass and eyes-closed melodies on flip-side opener 'One Kiss One', while 'Isola 89' sounds like his tribute to the 'paradise house' of Don Carlos and Sueno Latino.

Review: 24 years into his career as Lawrence, Peter M Kersten continues to deliver devilishly deep house workouts that somehow manage to be both effortlessly immersive and percussively propulsive. There's plenty of examples of this trademark style on the Gravity Hill EP, which marks his return to Smalleville after a nine-year absence. Check first the title track, where soft-focus pads, poignant piano motifs and deep bass ride a rock-solid house groove, before turning your attention to the dusty, opaque, slowly unfurling dancefloor beauty of 'Beaver'. Kersten opts for a warmer, drowsier and more hypnotic deep house sound in the similarly gorgeous 'The Swamp', before he doffs a cap to Green and Brown Album-era Orbital via the looped intergalactic synth sounds, analogue synth-bass and swinging house beats of 'Stargazer'.

Review: While his productions have graced many fine labels - Die Orakel, Pampa, Mule Musiq and Giegling included - Christopher Rau has been integral part of the Smallville Records family since 2009. High quality deep house is the order of the day throughout Abspace, his first EP for the label since 2020, with the yearning, slow-build positivity of the gorgeous title track being followed by the immersive, sci-fi bliss of 'Set It Off', whose melancholic chords add a bittersweet touch to an otherwise loved-up affair. Over on side B, 'Do It' sees him successfully doff a catch the classic Mr Fingers productions (with a touch of Move D on the side), while 'One More Time' is a melodious, riff-heavy affair that's as saucer eyed as they come.

Review: Having made a name for herself via a series of fine EPs for Shall Not Fade, Chiwax and Tresydos (the latter in collaboration with Vince Void), rising star Lis Sarroca makes her Smallville label debut with a quartet of typically impressive cuts. The Spanish producer is in fine form on opener 'Atacote', where positive and gently sunny piano motifs and Italian dream house influenced pads ride a smooth bassline and shuffling deep house drums. 'Breaks Reminder' sees her successfully fuse the immersive dreaminess of classic Smallville deep house with shuffling electro-breaks and tight TB-303 acid lines, while 'Early Years' is a sumptuous slab of picturesque deep house dreaminess. To round off a brilliant EP, she serves up the revivalist electrofunk-meets-early European house excellence of 'Might Be'.