Review: On the long-serving deep house label's latest reissue, Large Music takes us back to 1997 and one of the most beloved (and these days, hard to find) EPs by Washington, D.C duo 95 North (AKA Doug Smith and Richard Payton). As it did first time around, the EP contains four contrasting versions of 'Jazz Ascension'. The EP-opening 'Red Soul Mix' lives up to its name by wrapping breezy flutes, syynths, pianos and spoken word samples around a bumpin' bassline and classic-sounding US deep house beats, whilst the 'Red Dub' delivers a stripped-back and groove-focused take on the same musically expansive mix. Over on side two, the slightly darker and more bass-heavy 'Hard Dub' compares favourably to the then contemporaneous work of fellow Washington, D.C-duo Deep Dish. A handy, spoken word 'Washapella' rounds of an essential reissue.
Review: German producer Acid Pauli drops a vinyl-only double-header aimed squarely at the hips and the heart. It's a new release, limited and loud, bringing together the long-sought-after 'Marvin' with the all-new 'Roger' i two deeply soulful cuts that swing between heat and haze with effortless touch. 'Roger' opens with a nod to Minneapolis i a slinky, synth-laced burner full of funk-inflected restraint, powered by a groove that bears Echonomist's unmistakable weight. It's slick but loose, landing somewhere between low-lit house and late-80s slow jam futurism. On the flip, 'Marvin' returns with its smoky textures and deep, melancholy pulse still fully intact i all soft pads, subtle tension and an undeniable sense of movement. It's soul-drenched and floor-ready, made with care but designed to move. This one's for dancers who like their records tactile, timeless and just a bit mysterious. Don't sleep i it won't stick around long.
Review: Approach Release have done more than just approach release; they've actually sealed the deal on releasing - all while managing to work in a great deal of inhalatory EBM tension too - what with this new tenth addition to Talking Drums' Drum Chums vinyl series. Here the pair steer the brazy train through heady style-blends over four shapeshifter tracks; 'So Wrong' sallies forth with snarling synths and rigid drum patterns before a ghostly vocal twist pulls the whole thing into a haunting Italo dreamscape. The mood lifts with 'LuvLuvLuv', where slo-mo soul meets glistering psychedelia - equal parts groove and wooze, the track's as suited to sunrises as slow dances. Flip over to 'E-Killa' for an inflammable powder trail of Afro-disco and fizzing tropicalia, built to move a room from the waist down. Fade cut 'Lou Cee', finally, is a heartfelt Balearic blear; a finale that's as sentimental as it is stylish.
Review: Polish label FOMO_ debuts with the first in its news Spectral series, and who better to kick off with than the ever innovative ASC. He is a master of musical tension and abstraction and shows that with four tracks that build up the pressure and never let it go. 'Calm Under Pressure' is soothing up top with its smeared, spectral pads, but there's pent-up tension in the low end that keeps you on edge. 'Dark Arches' soundtracks an underground cavern with haunting pads and icy, watery droplets and 'Maelstrom' gets more direct with jostling broken beats, hissing trails and unsettling deep space mystery. 'Torsion' is the most maximal of the lot - an in-your-face collage of loopy, snappy drums and sordid synth sludge.
Review: Emergent talent B Ai, hailing from China, contributes to Paris-based label and Chat Noir family member Cosa Vostra, following storm surging releases on Motivation, Altered Circuits and Picnic Records. Spanning post-EBM lasershot fires and SFX-ed spanners-in-works, 'Act5' kicks off 'Blue Or Red' with a tense introductory interstate hyperride, while 'Glance Back' offers us a contrasting chance to look back down the road on whose mac we've just blazed a thick, blackened tire tread trail. Diego Santana crops up on the B1 titler, guiding through a tight Italodance au-diorama, while another fellow producer, David Agrella, lets us down further on the synth tubular breather 'Danse'.
Review: The first ever release by the elusive Benedict on 12". 'Can't Stop' is a lacrimal liquescence of red-lit dance music, one that does an impressive job of obscuring its vocal sample source, though they've not stumped us: the siftage in question is The Internet's 'Hold On' (2018). Syd Tha Kid's condensed vocals are made nymphlike in their buttery brush-up against warbled deep house prods, marking out a truly luxurious listen.
Review: Bristol producer Borai (Boris English) and London's Denham Audio (Peri Ashwood) pulled off a remarkable feat with 'Make Me/No Good', an unequivocal release put out on Higher Level Records in 2019. Repurposing the unmistakable hookline from Donna Allen's g-funk jacker 'Serious' from 1986 into a fully re-recorded sample all their own, 'Make Me' set alight the feet of the breaksy raver, striking serious gold in the classic formula of easily-recognised old-school-soul vocals and sculpted tearout heft. As anthemic as its original B-side, 'No Good', the original latter half of the record now comes substituted by Big Ang's Rave To The Grave mix, whose blooping trooper sound design and mains-hum Reeses provide an ecstatic alter. A can't-go-wrong reissue by the Room Two camp.
Review: Esente Records' young journey continues with a second offering that builds on the good work of the first. This one comes from Bucharest's BRYZ and is a masterclass in refined electronic minimalism. Opening up the trip is 'Slippery,' a fluid blend of supple rhythm and texture with plenty of characterful sound designs and details peeling off the beats. 'Self Definition' follows with introspective tones that invite personal exploration and on the B-side, 'She's Infinite Bliss' delivers an ethereal, almost otherworldly atmosphere while 'Eternal Sheevy' closes the journey with a timeless, lingering resonance. Each track reflects the deep, minimal aesthetic Esente is known for-subtle but not lacking power, and introspective yet dancefloor-ready.
Review: Originally released in 2023, this record quietly turned heads with its singular blend of UK-rooted rhythms and forward-leaning sound design. Now reissued, it finally gets a second life and the wider attention it deserves. The producer, a longtime figure in the scene with more than twenty releases under different monikers, brings a depth and precision that only comes with years behind the boards. 'Fathom' opens with a fast broken beat that feels equal parts urgent and submerged. The textures are mechanical and murky, like a deep techno transmission beamed up from under the floor. 'The Cusp' follows with a completely different angle. This one leans into the IDM side of things. It's spare and skeletal, filled with deep bass swells and a structure that feels more like a shifting sculpture than a club track. On Side-B, 'Markers' blends fast dub mechanics with intricate programming. There's a trace of Autechre here, but filtered through a system more grounded in soundsystem culture. It rolls and unravels in unexpected ways. 'Trooper' closes it out with cinematic flair. Strange melodies stretch through space, evoking science fiction landscapes and distant worlds. It's not just club music. It's sound architecture for curious minds and adventurous ears.
Review: Bogota's DDE Signature Tracks is the imprint run by the Discos del Espacio Record Shop crew and now it unveils its second outing in the form of 'Force Control', a four-tracker from the UK's Tom Carruthers. Carruthers brings his signature raw, no-frills take on vintage house music and channels the early spirit of acid house with a fresh yet faithful twist. The EP serves up rugged, late-night rhythms steeped in tension and groove as skeletal drum patterns arrive with an industrial edge. Though a stripped-down, floor-focused journey that nods to the genre's origins, this is also a fresh take on the classics that is packed with high class machine soul for underground heads.
Review: Remarkable future deep house from an artist whose reputation speaks for itself, nonetheless through the wing-flapped wings and freedom trills of the past. As he came of age in New Jersey in the mid 1980s, Kerri Chandler's groove-driven productions and rapt DJ sets could easily be said to have "evangelised" the dancefloor, with the deep and soul-bearing tilt of his sound seeming to promise salvation. Undoing and atonement come to those who shrive not in speech, but by moving their feet. 'Caged Bird' first came in 2020 - well past Chandler's 90s purple patch - but nonetheless contained as ever the slickly sophisticated jazz and vocal reflections likely inherited from Chandler's father, the late great jazzer DJ Joseph Chandler. Nae sings on the track, and her lyrics name-check Maya Angelou, who adapted the infamous poem 'Sympathy' by Paul Laurence Dunbar under the name 'Caged Bird'.
Review: Cinthie returns to Heist with another stormer of an EP, packed with peak-time tackle and knowing nods to her rave roots. Following the titanic success of 2023's 'Piano Heaven' i also on Heist i the Berlin-based maverick had plenty to live up to on 'Get Up', and she certainly doesn't disappoint. 'Deep Inside Love' is a euphoric house pumper with uplifting keys and big room swagger, while 'Higher' leans into the rave nostalgia that typifies much of today's underground club milieu i all stabs, vocals and hands-in-the-air intention. 'Get Up' drops the tempo just a touch, offering a warm, dubby breather laced with classic house moods. Rounding it off is a slick remix from Demi Riquisimo, who gives 'Higher' a semi-retro twist. As ever with Cinthie, this is club music with heart, soul and a large dose of fun.
Review: The Paris-based producer pulls in a tight circle of remixers, each putting a distinct spin on a few of his recent tracks for his own Bass Culture label. Darren Roach's remix of 'Money, Honey, Monday' stretches the original into a spacey, progressive journey. The atmosphere is thick with delay and synth haze, but it still hits with the steady pulse of a house record built for peak time. Sweely steps in on 'Nu Bass' with a funkier approach. It's playful and full of bounce, guided by a deep bassline and flecks of disco that make it hard not to move. Melodic without getting sugary, it's a proper mood lifter. Side-B leans into the deeper end. DJ Deep's version of 'Nu Bass' goes darker and more hypnotic. It's tracky, minimal and slick, perfect for long, late-night times where you want to lose yourself. Hostom wraps it up with another take on 'Money, Honey, Monday'. This one built around a rolling bassline and polished production that gives it a bit of a restrained punch. A solid pack with plenty of replay value.
Review: The somewhat furtive Knaresborough dance music superlabel Luv*Jam, and one of their many underwing imprints The Legend Of Gelert, jointly present an aquiline new release "from secret new artist" (sic), Dan Eds. There are a few Dan Eds doppelgangers out there, but none fit the exact identificatory bill of this acid tool technologist, whose 'Golden Eagle' and 'Pon2Fron' amount to breathtaking birds-eye windhover hunts over rolling acid landscapes. Tin Man fans will rejoice at the B2 especially, for its creative riding of upper ADSR acid thermals, squeezing out emotions we never thought squeezable from the sound.
Review: New heat from Datawave is always going to be worth tuning into, and so it proves with this new one on Wave Function. His signature fusion of dreamy synthscapes and kinetic rhythms shines bright from the off with 'Hyperborea' soothing mind and soul while the body shifts its behind. 'Dawnlights' has lazy acid modulations drifting between the slower beats, then 'Drifting' is as hopeful as the dawn of a new day with it arching chords and celestial synth twinkles. 'Aquila' has a more pronounced broken beat pattern and prying bass, but still plenty of deft melodies, and 'Landscapes' is a dubbed-out thinker.
Review: Roy Davis Jr, a staple of Chicago's house scene, partners with Jay Juniel for a reissue that encapsulates the raw energy of late '90s underground house. Originally released in 1997, this remastered edition brings new life to the gritty, soulful rhythms that first defined the era. Davis, known for his iconic track 'Gabriel', layers deep bass and atmospheric textures, while Juniel's experimental edge infuses the tracks with an unpredictable twist. Opening with 'Transition', a steady groove builds to 'Musical Sense', where spoken word and complex beats converge. On the flip, 'Funktion' and 'Digital Rhythm' hit with infectious basslines and high-octane energy. The remaster gives the original its due clarity while preserving the essence of Chicago house's emotional depth. This reissue isn't just a nod to the past, but also a reminder of why this sound still dominates dancefloors today.
Review: Derral is a young and exciting producer based just outside Barcelona. But if you didn't know that and were to judge purely off his music then you would assume he was some Italian producer from the 90s who had been digging in his archives for some unreleased material. These are lo-fi, dreamy house tracks with a real sense of bang but also quality emotional depth. 'Tree Man' is particularly glorious with its neon details and old school piano chords while 'State of Mind' brings a touch of acid to a jacked up Chicago house beat.
Review: Something ineluctable about the year 1999 haunts music. It's as though the cusp of the millennium wrought a flurry of pre-terror romance, that last slice of postwar epochal gold reaching an ecstatic, elliptical peak before the crossing of a limp, millenarian threshold. Ernesto's second EP for French label Sour leaves us as loosened and open as any such nostalgic rendezvous could, assuming you were born before the fated date. Over brilliants like 'Morning Sweat' and 'Hardware Boogie', the producer joins the likes of Moop Jr. and Lekind in crafting timbral and sophisticated tactiles, chunked analogue basses and filter-designed keys, deepening and advancing our taste in Gay Paree sensuality.
Review: Fratii ro Brazil finally serves up a fourth chapter, some two-plus years since we last heard from them. This one welcomes Ertmi, who appeared on the lashes seance VA back in 2022. His 'Vom Vom Vom' has got minimal classic potential: the synthetic drums and rubbery and funky with crisp hits defining their contours as muted, muffled, mutating synths marbled the groove, and a muttered vocal hook plays out of its own accord. It's playful after-party perfection to unite the whole floor. Two remixes rework it for different moments - Paul K brings a ghoulish energy, and Alex Font & Beckhauser rework it with more housey drums.
Leave Those Memories (feat Veronica Marini) (5:32)
Review: Italian duo Lorenzo Fortino and Brody return with their third collaborative release, further refining a sound that drifts between deep house, electro and moody, politically conscious techno. Their work has always carried a sense of purpose, but here it feels more dialled-iniless ornamental, more direct. Opener 'Our Truth' stretches over seven minutes, layering synth washes and sparse drum work around processed vocals that feel halfway between meditation and manifesto. 'Homemade Mould' is tougher, rooted in chunky house drums and dubbed-out atmospheres, tapping into the rawer side of their shared palette. On 'Deep Freedom', they introduce vocalist Veronica Marini, whose debut here is remarkableiher voice rises with clarity and control through a lyrical call to action that's both elegant and forceful. That same control shapes 'Leave Those Memories', where she softens into something more introspective, folding jazz phrasing into a smoother, bittersweet house groove. Both tracks also appear in instrumental form digitally, but it's Marini's presence that elevates them into something quietly luminous. While rooted in the familiar structures of club music, this release reaches for something deeper and often gets there.
Review: Danny Howells is one of the UK's natural electronic music treasures. He was there in the early days of prog and remains a singular artist who now debuts on another fine institution in Radio Slave's Rekids. His new EP that blends deep house warmth with subtle progressive flourishes and finds him teaming up with keyboardist Elliot Herrington. The title track shimmers with late-night fuzz, while 'Thrunk' builds around a rare-for-Howells bass-first approach that has already made it a favourite among selectors like Honey Dijon, DJ Sprinkles and Jennifer Loveless. All in all, another triumph for Howells.
Review: Made famous for their mammoth mammary Brainiak-issued sophomore record Blow (1996), The Infinite Wheel came in 1996 as the North London based ambient trance collab of James Johnson and Mark Smith. Many a psychedelically tinged downtempo record would just as easily sporulate across the likes of Nu Groove and R&S, but it was this Brainiak exclusive from 1994 that really took the edible. 'Java Dub' is a psychic dub breakthrough, with its steamtrain bells and eighth note expansions making for a proper tonal tunnelling. 'Enviro', just as it was, has us puckers our lips to its ambient acidic sours, as cascades of percussive pulsion rain down like disembodied parts of a collective self.
Review: Kessell (Spain's Valentin Corujo) returns with his new EP 'Savage Garden' on Polegroup. The EP's name is certainly not to be confuddled as a reference to the boyish queer-affirmative trip hop duo of the same name; the emphasis here is rather on a truncated techno paradise, with a five-horned satyr gracing a classically styled front cover. It marks but one of many pummeller techno releases put out by the artist since 2013, though it's only his second after 'Nothing Left To Say' (Pole, 2023) to surrealise academic or Renaissance cover art. 'Hidden Echoes' and 'Seeing Beyond' stand out as the main darkened, textural edenics to saturate this utter floor stressor of a record, as though a giant hydraulic press were menacing the crowd from above.
Review: MessenJAH Movement is on a roll after its first three outings and this fourth is just as momentous as it explores conscious dub. The A-side showcases the unmistakable voice of King Lorenzo on 'Down Ya Inna Babylon', which is a heartfelt collaboration years in the making. It's backed by a militant yet soulful MessenJAH Movement riddim and a heavy dub version mixed in-house with stepping rhythms and shiny digital leads. On the flip, Black Swan marks a long-anticipated link-up between Locks MessenJAH and EverestDub, who has been a key figure in Bristol's dub scene since 2008. The track pays tribute to the roots and legacy of Bristol dub and is named after the iconic venue that shaped UK sound system culture.
Peace, Love Not War (Kenny Dope extended mix) (5:35)
Peace, Love Not War (Kenny Dope instrumental) (5:19)
Review: New York City was the early block city foment of The Fatback Band, who would, on the official account, see their names written into history as some of the pioneers of funk at large. Aside from their disputed four-to-the-floor point-sourcings with 'Oops Upside Your Head', The Fatback Band were equally known for many a hit, including 'I Like Girls' and 'Yum Yum (Gimme Some)', and the formula for such repeated successes has been expertly localised by some as resting in the charismatic wiles of one Johnny King, the founding member whose proud, biped posture and wicked vocals brought to the group a firm and charismatic leading presence to the group. This originally 2004 cut by working Master Kenny "Dope" Gonzalez hears us lean into the funkier ends of the latter's remix-craft, as 'Peace, Love Not War' is given a profound kneading and planing across an excoriating final funk beat.
Review: Theo Kotts taps into some irresistible garage magic here on the cult Fuse label which has long been dominating the sound of the London underground. 'Dark At 3pm' is an urban sound with subtle nobs back top the original UKG sound with dark breaks and fizzing synths. 'Forward Motion' is a nice bouncy slammer with some balmy pads softening the edges and 'Glow' brings a little more heady melody to the fore, although the drums still cruise nicely. 'In Search Of' shows yet another side with crispy breaks and pitched up vocal hooks while 'Strides' slips into darkness once more.
Review: Definitive Recordings throws it back to 1994 for 'Do It' a house classic by Las Americas, which is a legendary project by David Alvarado. Newly remastered for 2024, this edition includes the original version as well as a refreshed Chuck Phulasole remix and two dynamic new takes from Italian producer St. David, who brings his vintage-inspired style in all its glory. He delivers a playful 'Big Tool Mix' with vocal flips and infectious grooves alongside a funkier 'Drum-Tool Dub' packed with sharp guitar licks. The original's hypnotic basslines and soulful vocal hook still shine, while Phulasole's deeper remix adds rich keys and Moog warmth. Lovely stuff.
Review: DJ Nobu's avant-garde Bitta label looks to fellow Japanese great in Osaka-based Erik Luebs for its next trick. As always with this fine imprint, the sounds are about balancing transcendental synths with deep tech rhythms. They are masterclasses in economical arrangement and on the surface don't do much, but when you tune in properly, they are mind-melting trips, starting with the mystery of 'Granite Monolith'. 'Irradiated Body' has loopy synth sequences unfolding at great pace with pristine accuracy and 'Coming Up For Air' gets a little more extroverted with dubby kicks and the sound of overloaded AI machines getting ever more frenzied. 'Facing The Horizon' is a flickering, optimistic and mildly euphoric sound for dropping when the sun peaks through the blinds and you celebrate getting through another night of darkness.
Review: Italian duo Mathame return with a new single, which they wrote to embody the essence of summer through its energetic melodies and uplifting vibe. It was created during their 2024 tours across Mexico and Asia and was refined through live performances in New York City and Ibiza. It has all the hallmarks of a summer anthem, frankly - the sentimental dance-pop vocals, the big synth waves, the happy melodies and the big, bold, accessible drums. It's well produced, bright and shiny and is easy to sing back when dropped on vast festival stages.
Review: The French duo Minimum Syndicat land on Dutch label Zodiak Commune with a double-barrelled dose of mind-altering machine funk. 'Knowing That We Know Nothing' opens with a cold-blooded electro crawl, all dystopian pads and twitchy circuitry, while the G303 remix rips it wide open with slamming kicks and acid phrases that slither like live wires. On the flip, 'Disclosures' ups the BPMs in collaboration with fellow Parisian Voiron, its militant acid techno groove sharpened into a peak-time burner. G303 returns to mutate that track too, saturating it in overdriven 303 squelch and off-grid snare flurries. Raw, unrelenting and brilliantly engineered i this is the kind of record that weaponises philosophy for the dancefloor.
Review: With fine EPs on Seven Hills, Flight Mode, Spectral Bounce and Mephis to his name, Uruguayan producer Molen is an artist on the rise. Here he makes his bow on the admirable Craigie Knowes, an imprint renowned for its high-quality threshold. He sets the tone with the head-nodding, 90s IDM style excellence of 'Machanism' - all 'Selected Ambient Works' chords, spooky electronic textures and manipulated hip-hop beats - before charging towards the dancefloor on the Drexciya style electro hustle of title track 'Machine Dreams'. Over on side B, 'Replicant' sees him bolt waves of psychedelic, early progressive house style acid lines and TB-303 tweaks to a punchy electro breakbeat, while 'Dream 2' is a gorgeous slab of shuffling, mid-tempo electro marked out by attractive melodies, lilting acid lines and immersive chords.
Review: Cultured dub technician and minimal man Sebastian Mullaert returns with K-Files, a vinyl-only label launched in collaboration with longtime ally Ulf Eriksson of Kontra Musik. He says that each release centres on one track reimagined through multiple distinct versions, thereby offering DJs and deep listeners tools for exploration, mood and transformation. The debut is a spacious, dub-infused trip that demands patience and full immersion, from the gauzy chord texture of 'Track 1', to the loud, smeared leads of 'Track 2' via the more propulsive drum rumbles and tumbling percussion of 'Track 3'. The final interpretation is a heavy ambient soundscape dense with melancholy.
Review: The Clergy Ten Year anniversary celebrations continue with a fourth special instalment of their various artists series. It's packed again with the sort of high-functioning techno that DJs always need to construct powerful sets, and that dancers will respond well to thanks to its detailing. Norbak opens with the moody minimalism of 'Sinto', Sciahri explore a more uptempo sound with grainy, gritty loops on 'Antartide' and Phara's 'Faint' gets more twisted with hellish effects and caustic textures all getting you on edge while the pummelling drums bounce out their muscular rhythm. These are evocative cuts for techno storytelling.
Review: For the latest missive on their reissue focused Rezpektiva imprint, Parisian label KMA60 takes us back to 1997 and the sole release from Bert Boon and Jaco Van Rijswijk as N.O.T, 'The Sound'. Flipping the order of the '97 12", this edition begins with the pair's original mix - a warm, colourful slab of purist, UK style early tech-house of the type most associated with Pantone-obsessed producers Circulation. On the flip-side opening 'Nice & Tide Mix', the Belgian duo opt for a chunkier and more bass-heavy late 90s deep house sound - all restless keyboard stabs, sampled house beats, effects-laden vocal snippets and winding acid lines - while the 'Dream Mix' is a bold, heavy and lightly psychedelic techno reinterpretation.
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