DJs: Most Charted - Deep House - October 2011

Review: Kolour continue their well laid plans to hand pick the best rising disco and deep house talent from across the globe with Australian producer Francis Inferno Orchestra at the helm for the label's twentieth release. The Melbourne based producer's stock has risen exponentially this year, with notable appearances on Wolf Music and Sccucci Manucci. "Sing To Me" demonstrates the FIO prowess with aplomb, featuring tough mid tempo beats, heavy bass thumps and a soaring filtered hook. Flipside, "Go Easy On Me Girl" operates via a more standard house groove embellished with a dash of disco shuffle, though proceedings are quickly overtaken by the deep pads and pumping chord patterns.

Review: Omar S is clearly having fun this year - the subtle euphoria of "Here's Your Trance Now Dance" was followed by a new studio album, released recently with about six days notice - and now he's popped up with a new 12" featuring Colonel Abrams on FXHE. The legendary urban crooner turns in a typically soulful vocal turn on "Who Wrote The Rules Of Love", which comes in three versions: two R&B mixes (short and long) and a remix from Shadow Ray. It's the Shadow Ray tweak that will turn on the house heads, with a beefy acid line and chopped up vocals forming the backbone of the arrangement. Those who get in quick can grab the lovely coloured vinyl version!

Review: Warm and chugging disco-tinged house is on offer once again from the imperious Delusions of Grandeur, with the Foolin EP arriving with Germany's Manuel Tur at the wheel. Sticking with his usual synth heavy and sultry style, Tur strikes an immediately gritty tone of funk with tightly plucked guitar riffs, swooning brass and soulful vocals on the title track. On the flip, an instrumental version of "Foolin" is accompanied by "The Traveller", which treads percussive realms with a heartbeat drum platform that pushes this otherwise orchestral and ambient track ever forward. Piano keys dance gently as string beds ascend against scatterings of brass and tinny crashes; our pick of the bunch.

Review: The sixth release on the excellent Parisian imprint My Love Is Underground comes from Inner Sense - aka French producer Henri Fontaine - who serves up only his second ever solo release (his first was back in 2006!) Sprawled across the A-Side you'll find "Lowdown", a jam that brings to mind the output of New York house dons Masters At Work (indeed look closely at the centre of this record and you'll see the totally appropriate inscribing "1993 forever"). Swirling chords combine with a thumping kick, stuttering keys and, of course, a killer vocal wail for a slice of what can only be described as Proper House Music. "Wanna Dub With U" opens proceedings on the flip with the kind of thumping bass drum and funk-infused skipping hats that would make it a snug fit in the Kerri Chandler back catalogue and, again, the vocals are absolutely gorgeous. Finally, "Rawllin'" wraps up the EP on a more stripped back yet equally groovy tip. Limited to 500 copies on rather fetching 180g orange vinyl - essential.

Review: Sparklingly brilliant return for Vakula on the Firecracker affiliated Shevchenko label, seemingly founded to give the Ukrainian the space to fill his creative impulses. Again referencing the cultural heritage of his homeland, with a hand stamped quote from foremost Ukrainian poet Leysa Ukrainka, Vakula's first release in a minute begins with the aptly titled "You Cannot Resist". Heavy jacking rhythms combine superbly with guttural filtered tones and are countered by the rising crescendo of glistening piano touches and far reaching pads across the opening few moments. However, as with seemingly every production from Vakula, the ease with which he travels through various sonic moods within the space of a track simply captivates. Flipside and there's so much detail to the ecstatic rhythmic pulses of "Rural Dances" it's hard to decide what to focus on - perhaps the most immediately satisfying aspect being the bleeping melodies that sound like R2D2 high on MDMA. Arriving on thick set clear vinyl, there's little reason not to indulge.

Review: Aside from bringing attention to the brilliantly deranged Honey badger, an animal whose thuggish disregard for nature's food chain can only be applauded, Lovebirds deserve props for three further examples of his knack of fusing classic strains of disco with a contemporary house bump. Arriving on the Teardrop imprint that putout their seminal take on "Love & Happiness", the Honey Badger EP sees Sebastian Doring in fine form. "Chasing Things" positively glides across the A Side, with a neat contrast in elements as the melodic elements are treated to all manner of subaqueous filtration, allowing the crisp bumping rhythms the sort of prominence that we imagine sounds sublime on a boat just off the Petrcane coast. Elsewhere, "Running Backwards" is a master class in switching moods within the duration of a track whilst "Don't Give A Shit" heads for some straight up filtered disco ish.

Review: Intriguing as ever, French label Rootz stick with their mystery artist theme for their ninth cut simply titled Rootz 009. Not knowing who it's by or what (if anything) it's called, we can simply give you the lowdown on the beats as we hear them. "Rootz 009", much like the label's previous cuts is dripping with classic, well produced house vibes. No frills and no fuss, this release focuses on intricate drum programming, steady and hypnotic beats and the hook of stabbed chords and looped vocal pockets. Arranged in a meandering and soothing way, we may know jack all about it, but we certainly know it's jackin'.

Review: A new imprint arises from mainland Europe in the shape of the mysterious Rawax with the debut twelve presenting a quartet of Untitled Tracks from Siberian producer Unbroken Dubs. Given the mood present throughout and the location of the producer, obvious parallels can be drawn with the excellent output from Ethereal Sounds, and that should be recommendation enough for people to investigate. Should you require further enticement, this release opens with wormhole traversing rhythms cutting through the sonic ether, though distant chord embellishments add a touch of warmth to the slightly alien tones that circulate constantly. The subsequent two tracks continue in this manner as Unbroken Dubs seeks to flush the stripped down patterns of drums and fuzzed out bass in ever increasing expanses of sonic dust. It's the final track where a more apparent sense of urgency is introduced as the Siberian lays down a tropical shower of percussion over intrusive chords.

Review: The seventh release on Fear of Flying's ltd offshoot dealing in the deeper end of the house spectrum sees recent Leftroom and Visionquest contributors Burton and Lawson team up for a clutch of tracks which will only boost their ascendency in the production ranks. "Take Me Away'" is all about the melancholic chords that shimmer across the delicate pads, augmented by faint strains of field recordings demonstrating that the duo have the talent to slip outside the confines of main room deepness. FOF alumni Schatrax and BLM step up to remix the track, with the former adding more tension to the groove, whilst the FOF label slips into expansive dub mode on the flip. Some liveliness is introduced on the final, loose limbed jack attack that is "Tell Them Phill Sent Ya".

Review: The traces of mutual influence that can be jotted between the camps in Washington, New York, Den Haag and London via imprints new and old in Creme, Future Times and Long Island Electrical Systems should be expanded to Greece and include fledgling label Echovolt. In its short life, the Athens based imprint has already graced us with releases from LIES, Steve Summers and Professor Genius and their latest is a true mark of their ambition. It sees Danny Wolfers aka Legowelt return to the label for a full release, having remixed the LIES track "Comeback Dust", and continue his rich vein of form this year. The Poverties Paradise EP finds Wolfers in a somewhat pensive mood, splaying utopian next century jack material from his enviable array of analogue synths and drum machines, with "Horizons" the one real departure towards something more electrifying. Despite his prolific nature, it seems like there's plenty of inspiration left inside Danny Wolfer's brain and long may the status quo remain!

Review: The two men behind one of New York's finest parties - Jacques Renault and Nik Mercer - start up their own label with this auspicious 12". Appropriately, the first release comes from Runaway, the house-centric production duo of Renault and Marcos Cabral. "Indoor Pool" is probably their best deep chugger since "Brooklyn Club Jam", and it appears on the A-Side of this release alongside an ace Slow Hands version that boasts some bewitching piano flourishes. Flipping over, Soft Rocks deliver a typically squelchy, drum and arpeggio-heavy revision, while Future Times darlings Beautiful Swimmers (a fine choice of remixer given the track's name - now that's serendipity) round off a faultless release with a sleazy analogue vocal version that will only enhance their growing rep.

Review: Hypercolour's Glass Table offshoot hits the spot once again, as Studio Barnhus' perma inked Axel Boman continues a fine run of production form with the Lucky Tiger EP. Anyone who's been clever enough to indulge in a recent Boman production will delight in what's on offer here, not least opening track "Esteban Peligro". There's plenty of little production nuances that shine through when checking via headphones, but the scuttling groove and gently dubby rhythms provide enough energy and pulse over a large system too! Alongside it, Boman indulges in some sweeping acid house fun on "Naomi" which has a nice undulating feel to it, never exploding into the sort of overt 303 workouts that are all too easy to succumb to. Appleblim and Al Tourettes bring some Bristol atmosphere to the release, transforming "Esteban Peligro" into a scratchy sounding mutation of techno and dubstep which aligns nicely into a gloopy flex after surfing the expansive, sonic ether of its opening minutes. Arriving with the trademark risque cover art and gaudy picture disc, this is a classy twelve alright.

Review: ** Full Vibe Repress ** Sometimes a record comes along that perfectly captures the mood and sound of a particular corner of the music world. This double pack compilation from DC imprint Future Times is most certainly one of those releases, joining the dots on an international network of underground house artists spanning both coasts of the US and mainland Europe. New York imprint L.I.E.S. feature heavily with Steve Moore and his namesake Summers both contributing tracks - Summers also appears as Confused House - along with label overseer Ron Morelli under his L.I.E.S. moniker. The latter's "Comeback Dust" - originally out on the excellent Echovolt imprint - is given a stripped down rework from Maximillion Dunbar for the opening track. Whilst there is plenty of raw warehouse business here, Vibe 2 includes tracks that aren't afraid to deviate away from this towards carefree experimentalism, see for example the hi nrg camp bump of Alexis Le Tan's "Marathon Man" and the almost horizontal sprawl of "Volatile Memory" from Steve Moore. Highly recommended.

Review: Launched in 2010 with a stated focus on the early nineties' earthy and raw deep house sound, My Love Is Underground have been putting out stunning vinyl-only cuts since and now, for their seventh release, US artist The Groove Victim enters the fold with Chosen Tracks. Kicking off with "That Night On 17", GV puts his deep house mastery to immediate effect as reverbed synth stabs hum, low slung drum beats ricochet and a warm groove drips effortlessly through every corner. On the flipside, "Club Drama" packs a fist punching effect with rapid hats and a round, undulating bassline, while "GSP Groove's" synths are pitched to the nines against old school organ keys. Essential!