FRED P Vinyl & CDs

Review: Fresh from delivering a fine album of drone and ambient excursions on his own Private Society imprint - the inspired Message To The Universe - Fred Peterkin returns to the dancefloor via a surprise outing on Synchrophone. As usual, what's on offer brilliantly blends deep house rhythms and textures with the kind of more spacey and dubbed-out elements more often heard in Detroit techno and hypnotic tech-house. A-side 'The Sound Exchange' is particularly potent, with Peterkin wrapping a typically tough-but-tactile groove in ghostly chords, hand percussion hits and echoing synth riffs. Over on side B, 'The Sonic Tour' is a brighter and more colourful riff on a similar sonic blueprint - albeit with deeper, heavier sub-bass and sustained synth strings - while 'The Kingdom' pairs a thickset groove with sweeping strings and twinkling pianos.

Review: Fred P continues to be a prolific driving force in deep house, with his own Private Society label carrying a huge amount of his work these days. On this latest single he maintains one of his other close working relationships with Parisian institution Synchrophone, delivering three cuts of his refined, endlessly immersive music. 'Dance Of Rhythms' is a driving, sharply defined cut with a lot of action occurring in the lower register while the higher frequencies have acres of space to stretch out in, all the better to keep your head mellow while the hips sway. 'The Beauty In The Sound' is a more pattering affair and 'Vibe Science' favours a nagging drum pattern which nods towards jazz funk as much as techno. This is quintessential Fred P mastery, through and through.