Deep House Recommendations February 2012

Review: London-based deep house label Ornate Music come through with another gem in the shape of the latest EP from Dubbyman, filled with robust, beatdown grooves. The EP opens with "Time & Sensibility", creating an all-enveloping atmosphere with its oven-warm pads and rich analogue bass, punctuated with jazzy chords and vocal murmurings. "Kirigi Is Coming", meanwhile, showcases Dubbyman's excellent knack for crafting Moodymann style textures with the depth to boot, combining a solid rhythmic snap with drawn out vocal landscapes and Detroit-referencing melodies. Finally "Uuuuhhhh!!!!" closes the EP with its breathy intro and low slung filtered grooves combining with bubbling laser sound effects.

Review: If you managed to snap up Shane Linehan's My Initial Grooves 12" the first time round, we doff our caps to you. Released in the super limited quantity of 100, they sold out more or less instantly, and had house heads salivating over the Cork-based producer's knack for sculpting deep, tracky grooves. Here the two tracker gets a proper release on Linehan's own Basic Groove imprint, with the chord driven epic "Hidden Harmony" - one of those tracks that has everyone rushing over to the DJ booth to find out what the hell is playing - hogging the A-Side. The equally raw "Make It A Ritual" appears on the flip, marked by a Kerri Chandler-esque kick drum (i.e. booming) and the most cavernous bass line we've heard in some time.

Review: After more or less owning 2011 with a surprise album, a collaboration with urban crooner Colonel Abrams, an ahead-of-the-game reissue of Marc Kinchen and the all-conquering "Here's Your Trance Now Dance", FXHE don Omar S kicks off a new year with Wayne County Hills Cops Pt 2 (where, we ask, was Part 1?), a hook-up with the mysterious OB IGNITT. The eponymous A-Side is characterised by the kind of glistening synths last seen on "Here's Your Trance...", with a rugged analogue bass line giving the track with the requisite bump. A tired cliche it may be, but this could easily soundtrack an 80s cop movie: clearly Omar has this in mind given the 12"'s title and the fact the record's centre label features a doctored image of Eddie Murphy from Beverly Hills Cop! On the flip, Omar S provides his own remix, drowning the synths in dubby textures and showering them with shuffling hats for a more heads-down take. Another killer 12" - business as usual at FXHE, then.

Review: Fine Art is one of our favourite little labels here at Juno, with each release from the London via New York imprint a joy to behold both sonically and visually. The latest, from Auckland-based Hit It & Quit It radio host Frank Booker, contains two sublime excursions into low slung jazz-flecked house spread across two sides of 10" in vinyl. Title track "Hope" teases an infectious looped guitar lick with pan-pot percussion and occasional flourishes of piano, while "No Delay" delves deeper still, with oven-warm chords undulating hazily beneath the ebb and flow of live sounding drums and the most subtle of bass lines.

Review: Amongst the many new albums to get excited about in 2012, those of a gallic house persuasion will surely list Megamix, the forthcoming 4th studio long player from veteran French producer I:Cube highly on their want lists. More so once your ears have soaked in the three tracks on this Lucifer En Discotheque 12" - all of which feature on the forthcoming album on regular haunt Versatile Records. I:Cube fans will be familiar with the multi faceted sounds that feature here with lead track "Transpiration" a gloriously sweat filled paean to various stages in dance music history, seamlessly combining 90s era rave stabs with the percussive swagger of punk funk and his own leftfield inclinations. Alongside this "Jah Menta" proves to be equally experimental in its melodic approach as it does subterranean and scratchy in its rhythmic directions, whilst the title track is a driving synth wave oddity of the highest order.

Review: Irish label Apartment come through with a superlative second release: everything about this twelve inch breathes class and style and bodes well for whatever the imprint does in the future. Sometime Fine Art contributors TR One are at the helm for "Drum Dance", a decidedly dusty exploration of rough hewn house music, all gently placed analogue drum rhythms embellished by neat percussive elements and the steadily rising procession of woozily hypnotic chords that appear from the misty ether midway through. The beatdown sensation is only improved when you drop the RPM down to 33 for some lolloping slo mo house excellence. You couldn't ask for two more well chosen remixers than John Heckle and Juju & Jordash really, and both excel on the B Side. The former adopts a slower pace, filling the expanses with the kind of fidgety machine funk textures that would have Jamal Moss nodding in approval over a delightfully thick heaving kick. The latter Amsterdam based duo opt for a widescreen dub revision that veers brilliantly through moments of expansive delight and bass heavy house sludge with an ease we've come to expect from Juju & Jordash. Fans of amusing run out groove inscriptions will be satisfied by this twelve inch too.

Review: Swiss based Italian DJ Gianni Siravo has been slipping out house music in one form or another for a good few years now, most recently as part of Azuni (fans of Boe and Quintessentials will recognise the name). Undergoing a solo studio endeavour as Washerman, Siravo gets off to a flier with the double drop Kutz From The Basement EP for the Zurich label Drumpoet Community. As you'd expect from the title, the Washerman sound is focused on no nonsense house music primed for exposure in basement spaces. The simmering euphoria of A Side track "Basement Chord" is tempered brilliantly by the inherent dark, murky tones of flipside track "Basement Dub".

Review: Italian imprint Neroli borrow the talented Swiss born and Spanish based Skymark from Modern Sun Records for this five track EP that showcases his many ranges, traversing beyond deep house at times to incorporate jazz and funk. Lead track "Thank You (Ed)" eases you in, its gentle tones paying homage to larger than life Brazilian musician Ed Motta, and it doesn't prepare you for the undeniable funk of "Clavins Debauchery", one of few tracks to merge sleazy slap guitar with finely judged house tones. The remainder sees Skymark stick closer to the deep house template with three tracks featuring the vocal talents of Jair Santiago with the slow burning "Stay True To Myself" a clear highlight.

Review: The Secretsundaze main man Giles Smith teams up with Martin Dawson for some Two Armadillos jams, newly minting their self-titled label with this sumptuous three-tracker. As has been the way with their releases to date, the vibe of warm deep house comes emanating through, not least on the sultry tones of "Walk In The Park" with its oozing square wave bass line and Rhodes chords. "Ronin" is a touch more uptempo, while "Another One (For Larry)" could well be a tribute to Larry Heard, the way the distant lead melodies occupy a mysterious space between sadness and joy simultaneously.

Review: Following swiftly on from her thrilling debut release for L.I.E.S. the talented Xosar arrives on Rush Hour with the equally enthralling Ghosthaus. The first thing you notice here is the effort that's gone into the release visually, with a clear red twelve housed in a transparent sleeve and complemented by a smartly designed insert. Musically, Xosar matches if not surpasses these artistic standards, continuing the foundations laid down on Tropical Cruize with two productions that are complemented by an equal amount of Legowelt remixes! The title track is suitably spectral, gradually flushing the straight up dusty kicks with spooked out analogue flourishes tinged with sadness and complemented by Xosar's own guttural moans. A similar downtrodden sensation runs through "Rainy Day Juno Jam" which obviously features plenty of brooding Juno flourishes over a sparse downpour of percussive hits. Both tracks are edged towards danceability by Legowelt without losing the elements of Xosar's production that make them so bewitching.

Review: The inimitable Chicago Skyway makes a triumphant return to the Uzuri imprint with the Londinium EP which also features a stellar remix from Mr Hakim Murphy! Whilst it's clear from the track titles that conceptual inspiration was gathered from the humble city Juno calls home, musically Sean Hernandez is still rooted in his Midwest origins, although beneath the dizzying hypnotic melodies of lead track "London Streets" is the type of clacking wood block percussive nicks that you might hear on a Hessle Audio B Side. Hakim Murphy embellishes those percussive elements on a beefed up remix that evens the balance between the rhythmic inclinations and the waves of utopian sensation over a subtly effective analogue bass line. On the flip, "Traffic" makes for a suitably overstuffed percussive ride through vintage electro ideals whilst the harsh textures and sounds that permeate through "Noise" remain even closer to the title!