GREEN VELVET Vinyl & CDs

Review: Toolroom head honcho Mark Knight has pulled out all the stops here and joined forces with some of house music's biggest names. His ow-slung new tune 'The Greatest Thing Alive' is a collab with the one and only Chicago don Green velvet plus James Hurr and it has already made an impact on global dancefloors since its digital release in October last year. Between these talents they all dig deep and cook up something perfectly chunky and detailed with fresh percussion. It's the sort of tune that will blow up in Miami and has the addition of Green Velvet's take on the classic 'Mannish Boy' from Muddy Waters.

Review: Toolroom is now one of those house labels that sits at the top table wit the likes of Nervous and Spinnin. It has turned out big room sounds for many years and made label founder Mark Knight a star in the process. Here he has put together an eighth volume of the sampler series that showcases what the imprint is all about and his own track with Green Velvet and Rene Amesz is a highlight with its dark, sleazy grind and tech house funk sure to lock in the club. Elsewhere Danny Howard offers up an extended re-edit of Adrian Hour's 'Hear What They Hear' and on the flip is the bulky 'Out of My Head' by Watermat & Raumakustik and a tense trip courtesy of Deeper Purpose's 'The Stutter.'

Review: Techno team-ups don't come bigger than this, as Drumcode's overlord of all things mega-tech Adam Beyer links up with Chicago's agent provocateur Green Velvet to give you your next stadium shaking anthem. This isn't the first time Beyer and Velvet have worked together - you could find them on the 2018 track 'Space Date' for one thing - but there's a sense 'Simulator' will become their calling card as a formidable double act. It's simply huge, catchy as hell and full of all the fireworks you could wish for from a super-sized techno workout, all guided by Velvet's unmistakable voice ducking and diving around the expertly engineered mix.

Review: ** Camera's ready. Prepare for the Repress ** Curtis Jones is never one to rest on his laurels, as his staggering back catalogues as Green Velvet and Cajmere can attest but such is the force of his personality that a new release still feels like an event. "Bigger Than Prince" capitalises on Jones' knack for a vocal that lambasts the less earnest quirks of the dance music industry, while creating the hook to make the track a bomb in the same instance. Production-wise, there's a measured strut to the track with some choice growling bass synths and an underlying disco flavour that suits Jones just fine. On the remix front, Circus turn to The Martinez Brothers to hammer out a rolling, percussion focused version perfect for big room mixing, while Hot Since 82 turn out a similar line in boompty peak time damage.