DJs: Most Charted - Deep House - Most Charted In 2011

Review: Lovers of the golden era of Chicago House and attractive vinyl packages will be adding Rush Hour to their Christmas card list very soon thanks to this luxurious 5 x vinyl box set version of previously unreleased Virgo Four material. Our friends from Amsterdam have truly excelled in all respects here, lovingly presenting twice as many tracks as the CD version of Resurrection. Rescued from dusty shoeboxes full of DAT tapes, the 30 tracks showcased here could be considered long-lost house classics. Certainly, the mix of early deep house, slinky vocal numbers, next-level acid experimentation and raw, midtempo dreamscapes is the equal of anything that emerged from the Windy city in that productive period from 1986-1990. If you're a confirmed house head, you need this in your life.

Review: Right, you know the drill. New Firecracker 10". Sumptuous artwork? Check. Killer music? Checkity check. Gavin Sutherland aka Fudge Fingas is the man behind the seventh instalment in the cult series, with A-Side cut "What Works" showing a move away from the soulful strains of his recent long player for Prime Numbers and towards moody, shuffling Detroit house. It seems fitting that remix duties are handed to Vakula - it was Firecracker after all who first showcased the Ukrainian producer's sounds to a wider audience - and despite his prolific form in recent times, his appearance here still feels very special indeed. Unsurprisingly, he turns in a memorable, highly atmospheric remix of "What Works", before another Fudge original, the chiming sea of calm that is "Mass X", rounds off an essential release.

Review: MK is now a global house star, but it wasn't that long ago that he couldn't even DJ. Instead, he'd pioneered the dub house sound in the 90s then gone off to become a hip-hop super producer. One of those early gems he crafted was his dub of 'Given' back in 93. It got put out by fellow Detroit great Omar S in 2011 and even today is a crowd-pleasing favourite with the muted horn stabs and garage-inflected, dubbed-out beats. Once you add in Omar S's own 'Sarah', a raw analogue deep house cut with plenty of FXHDE hallmarks like dusty hi-hats and wonky synths and you have a brilliant 12" that is now available once more.

Review: Parisian label My Love Is Underground has not put a foot wrong since its debut release from Nathaniel X back in early 2010. Since then we've had the Paris Underground Trax 12" by an anonymous (not for long) producer; and now we see Jerzzey Boy pop up with their first release under since 1993. That's 18 years. Where have these guys been in that time? Surely not doing anything more important than producing sumptuous house records like this. Anyway, consider our caps doffed to MLIU, who awake Curtis Edwards and George Lockett from their production slumber/hibernation with the Lost Cuts Part 1 EP. Just like all previous output on the label, there's no filler, with the old school house keys of "Around 94" complemented by the equally retro vocals of "Like A" on the A Side. There's just as much fire on the flip, with the jacking rhythm of "So Down!" and emotive deepness of "Get It Started" - indeed the vocals on the latter mark it out as the favourite at Juno HQ. Essential.

Review: Omar S teams up with Atlanta based producer Kai Alce for this killer new 12", with the FXHE boss openly suggesting the second B-Side offering is 'ringtone worthy'! The Jive Time EP features three original productions - "Not Phazed", which takes up the whole A Side, while the EP's dancefloor-friendly eponymous track shares the flip with ambient house track "Incognigro". Alce, a Detroit native who now resides in Atlanta, has had a fine year, releasing a tidy little 7" on FXHE back in April as well as a collaborative EP with Englishman Phil Asher and Atlanta vocalist Kayenne. Killer release.

Review: Surprisingly, this is Detroit house veteran Rick Wilhite's debut album. When you consider his length of service and gargantuan reputation in deep house circles his first releases slipped out in the early 1990s, after all it's unsurprising that the release of Analog Aquarium is considered something of an event. And rightly so; you'll struggle to find quite as good a collection of high grade Motor City house. Shuffling between loose, lazy Beatdown excursions (check the brilliant Theo Parrish/Osunlade collaboration "Blame It On The Boogie") and upbeat, drum-heavy deep house floor fillers ("Deep Horizon") via jazzy analogue dubscapes ("Muzic Gonna Save The World"), it's a predictably formidable set.

Review: A welcome return for both Prime Numbers and Linkwood - with the latter presenting three variations on the house theme in the first of two EPs due out this year on Trus'me's excellent label. "Dirty Love" calls shotgun, bossing the A Side with the sort of rough around the edges house flex that demands movement of your feet. Filled with alien noises that flutter around the searing burn, it's the multiplicity of rhythmic shifts that elevate this track into the realms of special. From the euphoric heights of the A Side, the flip transposes you to the murky depths of house music potential with two untitled jams channelling Larry Heard. "Untitled 2" in particular unfurls into something quite bewitching!

Review: Absolute beast of a track from Omar S here - a real statement of intent for the FXHE boss and a shoe in for those end of year lists we all like to indulge in. "Here's Your Trance Now Dance!" is a pretty self explanatory title as the waves of glistening synth patterns that rise throughout are truly trance inducing. Beneath this constantly ascending processing of gleeful melodic touches is simplistic yet delicious sounding crisp machine rhythms, subtle arpeggios and infectiously warm bass nudges. This is a track that bears repeat listen through headphones to let the magic fully seep in so imagine the devastation it will cause at 2am in a sweaty basement somewhere. Essential.

Review: 4Lux boss Gerd steps out on another Clone offshoot, gracing the Basement series with a forgotten gem found on some dusty old DAT tape. "Time & Space" appears in its original form on the A Side - all spectral sliding strings and booming house vocals set to a backdrop of metallic bass and twisting percussion. It is however the 2011 update from Gerd himself which will prove most popular thanks in no small part to the speaker menacing click clack of those 808 drums. Keeping it Dutch, the flipside holds a clutch of remixes from Rotterdam duo Duplex - their Northside remix is a percussive heavy warehouse jam of the highest order whilst the Southside remix naturally heads in the opposite direction for some squelchy deepness. Big release from the Clone fam and as per usual comes with the download codes!