NORM TALLEY Vinyl & CDs

Review: There is a heavyweight selection of names on this first release from Norm Talley's promising new label Upstairs Asylum. Firstly, the man himself is a Motor City heavyweight who links with fellow luminary Omar S on the opener 'Muggy Detroit Heat.' It's an intense and steamy house track that bristles with raw melody. On the flip, French house icon D'Julz reworks a tune by Norm in cahoots with the one and only Moodymann. This one is all cuddly chords, romanic vocal chops and warm, rough edged house beats for those cosy basements.

Review: Norm Talley returns to his Upstairs Asylum label alongside fellow US house pioneer Delano Smith for Straight Up No Chaser, an eight-track opus featuring four solo cuts each. Talley's gritty, dubbed-out, low-rolling house style is present and correct throughout with the loopy chords of 'Blak Bottom' getting things going, 'The Flip' getting more cavernous and aqueous and 'ISO Vision' leaning into dub techno. 'Believe It' is a soulful deep house looper, while Smith gets bubbly with 'The Bassline', lays down thumping kicks on 'Travels 23' and his trademark synth smears on 'The Drive' while 'Remembrance' is a heady dub house cut that locks you into a state of perfect hypnosis.

Review: Kai Alce's pretty much faultless label NDATL looks to a fellow American house heavyweight here in Detroit soldier Norm Talley, who is head of his own Upstairz Asylum label. First up is a textbook hard edge but deep house sound from Norm on 'Gonna Be' He then keeps things brilliantly deep on 'Power' which is laced with insightful spoken words. Things are just as essential on the flip side with 'The Bounce' making sure dancefloors do just that thanks to Norm's next level drum sounds, then comes the hypnotic 'The Truth' before Norm shows a different look than usual with the more soft and tender delights of 'Dearly Beloved' ft Jerald Dameyon.

Review: Detroit legend Norm Talley calling his new EP Deep Essentials suggests that, somehow, everything he makes isn't deep and essential. But it is. Anyway, here are five more perfectly designed grooves that sink you into a warm, smoky basement and keep you there. 'Holla-Day' has those trademark sharp hi hats and rolling drums, 'One Track Mind' has a hypnotic synth loop you hope never ends and 'Deeptroitsrumental' is a fantastically rickety drum workout that is primed for dance floor action. 'D-Toolz' rounds out with a sense of edginess, the promise of a big techno breakout that never comes but keeps you locked in hope.

Review: You'll struggle to find any deeper or more alluring tracks in Norm Talley's catalogue than 'Powder', the wonderfully hypnotic, locked in and subtly spacey opener from the Motor City producer's 2011 EP on Mixmode, Tracks From The Asylum. It's a good thing, then, that Talley has decided to reissue the sought-after EP on his own label. The Detroiter doesn't put a foot wrong throughout, with the chugging, beatdown-inspired brilliance of 'Lost', which boasts some sublime piano solos, and the up-beat hustle of 'Private Party' being equally as essential as 'Powder'. Speaking of that track, Delano Smith's 'More Powder' version is also worth a listen, featuring as it does slightly bolder synth riffs and a tougher, techno-influenced groove.

Review: Recently Norm Talley launched a new label, Upstairs Asylum, and delivered a much-needed sequel to his superb 2011 EP on Mixmode, Tracks From The Asylum. A decade on from the record's original release, he's finally got around to producing a sequel. The native Detroiter predictably starts in fine fashion via 'Gonna Luv U', a chunky and locked-in house number rich in groovy bass, bold piano motifs, ear-cathing sax riffs and colourful P-funk samples, before heading ultra-deep via the beatdown-influenced haziness of 'Detroit Dubz'. 'In Your Soulz' sees him add energy-packed hand percussion and chiming lead lines to a bustling deep house beat, while 'Digital XTC (Detroit Mix)' is a spacey, hypnotic workout that sounds like it was tailor-made for dark warehouses in the hours approaching dawn.

Review: With this four-track EP, Alex 'Omar' Smith welcomes fellow Detroiter Norm Talley back to his FXHE label for the first time since the release of his 2017 debut album "Norm-A-Lize". The quality threshold remains high throughout, from the brilliantly bass-heavy Motor City deep house futurism of EP opener "The Runner" - all booming sub, swinging machine drums and looped space synths - to the jazzy deep house bliss of closing cut "Starz". In between you'll find the similarly enjoyable, Theo Parrish-esque jazz-house drums and glassy-eyed musicality of "I'm Feelin' Hot" and the sparse dancefloor dreaminess of "Twi-Lite".

Review: Following his impeccable album Norm-A-Lize last year, Detroit's City Boy Player returns to Alex O Smith's FXHE imprint with five more soul-stirring sessions. "Foundation" lives up to its name with a classic spoken sample and 11pm mood-changing struts, "Detroit 2 Step" has a touch of the Bonobos with its woozy oboes over lightly swung, organic drums. "Fan Ta Cee" flips the mode for something a lot deeper and darker (think Theo's classic remix of "Falling Up" and you're not far off) while "Consciousness" is a cool creative percussive tool with a swooping rise that sweeps and dips in all the right places. Finally we're sent packing with the bold chord-striking piece "Friday Night". If this doesn't have you marching, nothing will.

Review: Although not as celebrated as many of his Motor City contemporaries, Norm Talley has been a key figure on the Detroit deep house scene for the best part of 25 years. Here he presents his debut album, a set that appears exactly 20 years on from the release of his debut 12". It's a largely warm, rich and inviting affair, with Talley combining samples from classic disco, soul and boogie jams with his own drums, keys and chords. The results are uniformly superb, with highlights including the beatdown style hypnotism of "Dub Station", the disco-house bounce of "Alright", the deep and percussive dreaminess of "Earth Vibrations" and the brilliantly jazzy "Paradise Garage", where Talley cuts-up killer electric piano solos over a sumptuous, jazz-funk inspired house groove.