Tags: Soulful House

Review: Sneaky remix action alert! We're not sure who DSO is (or are) - internet searches come up blank - but the two tracks on this 12" genuinely hit the spot. A-side 'Love You More' puts a new spin on the Sade classic of the same name, adding the '80s soul star's vocals to a hypnotic deep house groove, dreamy chords and occasional flecks of wine bar saxophone. Over on the flip the shadowy remixer(s) offer-up a radically different new take on Erykah Badu's 1997 hip-hop soul gem 'Apple Tree', reimagining it as a rolling chunk of deep house warmth. It's basically soul-fired, 21st century hip-house with enough depth and atmosphere to please deep house heads.

Review: This one was already getting plenty of support and many plays before it even came out. And it's easy to see why, because both tunes are brilliantly atmospheric house cuts that offer more than just a nice groove. 'Memory By Flyway' (original Tribute mix) has a grainy, lived-in feel, with warm chords smeared over the bumping beats and a spoken word vocal adding extra depth. The Justin Spiritual Navigation mix reworks the drums into a more funky, skipping framework but keeps the vocal musings and adds some spiritual keys for a proper heady trip.

Review: The Plastik People label has been going along nicely for its first few releases, with label head Marc Cotterell stepping up and coming correct last time out. Now he calls upon various artists with Dave Charlesworth taking care of the a-side of Nice Ripe Cuts. He offers two super slick garage cuts that cannot fail to make their mark on the club and it's no different on the flipside except D Lux & Y No combine first for '25 Miles' and then S R offers the irresistible 'Pressure.' An essential 12" for anyone looking to bring some fresh garage flavours.

Review: The last few years have really seen Paul Woolford reach the top of his game in many different ways. Be it bowel emptying rave as Special Request, festival baiting piano house tunes or chart topping pop dance crossovers under his own name, the man is proving himself to have a real golden touch. He sure does crank out all these tunes at a prolific rate, too, but you still feel he does everything with meticulous precision. This DJ Kicks is a case in point. It touches on all the many different facets of his sound from glossy and feel good house to early Chicago classics, post-rave dreamscapes to brutal jungle breaks. What a legend.

Review: Long-serving, jazz-loving deep house duo Kemetic Just have been working with Terrence Downs for years, with the singer's soulful vocals appearing on many of their tracks over the last two decades. There's no original mix of 'We R Culture' here, but rather a quartet of club-ready remixes. DJ Spinna leads the way with vocal and instrumental variations of his 'Galactic Soul Mix' - a gorgeously colourful, pin-sharp shuffle through synth-powered deep house loveliness with all of the intricate musical touches and kaleidoscopic keyboard solos you'd expect from the NYC producer. Elsewhere, Wipe The Needle re-frames the track as a breezy, musically rich slab of jazz-funk-tinged broken beat of the sort regularly served up by Dego and Kaidi Tatham, while the Househeads mix is a carnival-ready, samba-house treat.

Review: For those who've yet to check out his productions, Envee is regarded as Poland's number one producer of underground dance music with soul. This EP sees his make his belated bow on soulful dance music institution Local Talk, with a little help from legendary UKG producer (and all-round studio don) Zed Bias. There are two Envee originals on show: 'Sum Luv', a gorgeous, sun-splashed, modern soul-meets-slow house head-nodder smothered in organic instrumentation and eyes-closed female vocals, and the jazz-funk-flavoured broken beat swell of 'Styrax'. Both are remixed in a club-ready style by Zed Bias. His wobbly, sub-bass-sporting two-step take on 'Sum Luv' is simply sublime, while his similarly UKG-powered take on 'Styrax' recalls the soulful jazziness of his Phuturistix project.

Review: DJ Pirna's new EP has a rather unreconstructed title in 'It Smells Like Bootyhole On Mars Bring Me Back To Earth!' but there is nothing wrong with the beats. The six tunes are all sizzling dancefloor workouts that draw on juke, house, footwork and electro and first up is the soulful sound of 'Where You Are Is Not Who You Are' before 'Trashman' gets all wonky. 'Freak Show' is a thrill gin and high-speed electro looper, while deeper atmospheres pervade the slower 'Cleanin' Up', jazzy overtones of 'Real Thang' and then last of all is the title cut with its spinning hi-hats, funky breaks and boogie bass.