PABLO VALENTINO Vinyl & CDs

Review: Creative Swing Alliance member Pablo Valentino has a strong track record when it comes to solo productions - see his fine EPs on Endless Flight and Faces Records for proof - so you'd expect this outing on MCDE to hit the spot. It does, of course, despite being the producer's first solo outing for nearly four years. Highlights wise, we're really loving the deep, loose and languid, jazz-funk influenced shuffle of "My Son's Smile" and the woozy, electric piano-driven instrumental hip-hop deepness of "Good Ol' Days", though the slightly more driving and percussive club cut "Atlantic's Calling (One For Portugal)" is also superb. Ge-ology's fine deep house-meets-Detroit techno take on "My Son's Smile" completes a near perfect package.

Review: Creative Swing Alliance member Pablo Valentino has made some fine deep house over the years, much of it blessed with the distinctive swing of MPC drums and more than a few nods to jazz, but rarely anything quite as classy as this outing on Spanish label SAFT. For proof, look no further than opener 'Look Deeper', a kind of Dilla-does-deep house affair laden with starry electric piano motifs, eyes-closed female vocal samples and jazzy bass, and the dusty, sample-heavy beatdown vibes of 'X Rousse' (where musical polymath Bruno Havert guests under his Patchworks alias). Elsewhere, 'Bagaco' is a classic-sounding slab of dusty and warming deep house smothered in hazy stabs and Ron Trent style percussion, while Seb Wildblood's remix of the same track turns it into a spacey, dubby and ultra-deep breakbeat shuffler.

Review: Pablo Valentino delivers a four-track EP of soulful and funky house music on Handy Records. The title track features Mangabey on vocals, guitars and piano, creating a catchy and uplifting groove, with Kai Alce providing a smooth remix that adds more percussion and drums for a deeper vibe. On the flip side, Valentino showcases his versatility with two more tracks: 'My Fucked Up Left Ear' which is a jazzy and broken beat affair, and 'Not Yet' which is a minimal and hypnotic roller.