DJ SOCH Vinyl & CDs

Review: DJs this one is for you, The Makossa Man is back AGAIN after its 18 years of hiatus with more of their covers and remixes of the original 2003 EP. Limited to just 300 copies this is a much-welcomed love letter to DJs and the original EP, giving it a lease of new life and being a much-anticipated sequel to the sold-out original Makossa Man Remix EP that is set to release later this August. Carlos Nilmmns and Simoncino are a welcome return to the roster, serving up another plate of fantastic tribal deep house. The rhythms are infectious and hopefully serve as samples for some incredible DJ sets to come.

Review: Black Angus Records founder DJ Soch is no stranger to ChiWax, having made his label debut in October 2023. Curiously, this is the previously prolific producer's first outing on wax since then - and it's a doozy. The four tracks on show are undoubtedly classy, fusing the far-sighted, intergalactic ethos and analogue-rich approach of Motor City dance music with the warm tactility of Italian house and the soulfulness of garage-house. He begins with the rubbery synth bass, loose machine drums and spacey pads of 'Walking To The Beat', before reaching for some vintage soulful vocal samples and oodles of sonic smoothness of the delightful 'Kiss My Baby'. The R&B vocal-sampling 'Lost On My Way' sits somewhere between the two tracks (with added synth-sax solos), while 'Soul Deep' is a breezy, sun-drenched delight.

Review: DJ Soch is known as the Italian Stallion because of his deep house prowess and here he lands on Four Framed Music with new EP Speaking of House that shows why. 'Dance With Me' is house music with what sounds like Roy Ayres style vibes melodies over the top. 'Happyness' has a more late night vibe with zoned out chords and 'Magic Day' then sings with a hi-tek soul and future facing chord work that reminds of Detroit. There is an infectious skip and joy to the warm, deep, jazzy vibes of 'Good Bye' that closes out the EP with a feel good factor that is hard to ignore.

Review: Inhale Exhale bring six full new circular round-trip breaths to the fold, focusing on heartwarming and soulful summer deep house tunes. Intended mostly for outdoor disco BBQs, 'INEX 017' packs a fruitful punch. Opening proceedings on the A come 'Make It Right', 'Understand U' and 'Tears Of The M1', a power-of-three intro tracking a vibeful descension from crystalline waters, synth organs and high string samples down to the chillest of vinyl-crackly, primal mini tech moods. Then there's the unmissable mirror image on the B, podding 'Everytime', 'Clyde' and 'Keep The Stabs', the last of which is an especially delicious, refractive groove.

Review: The Raw Materials label out of Italy does what it says on the tin note more here with a fine collection of direct-to-dance floor house sounds from various artists. The second volume of the label's Hand Crafted Club Tools Vol 2 EP starts with Manuold's old school, piano-laced jacker 'Acqua Light' before Curl's loose and percussive teaser 'Good Vibration' swells the heart. There are twisted bassines goodness in LSZ's 'Dontfightyourmama' and the variation keeps coming on the flip where DJ Soch goes deep and dreamy on 'Shuttle Of Dream' and Davide Del Vecchio taps into more Italo house dreamscapes on 'Less Is More.' DJ Rou slows things down to a beatdown crawl on heavy closer 'Cut Street.'