Juno Recommends Funky House: November 2022

Review: Milan scene stalwart Dirty Channels presents another edition of Take It Easy, with Bugsy at the controls on this one. On side one there's the sweltering disco inferno of 'Love For You' with some squealing 303 acid facing off with some powerful female vocals, receiving a terrific remix by the ever reliable Jamie 3:26 up next - who injects the track with more dancefloor dynamics. Over on the flip, there's another heater for you on the loopy filtered house adventure 'Sick & Tired' which gets served to a makeover by the label chief himself.

Review: Episode 8 of Cruise Music Vinyl Jams includes a mix of old and new releases so we start the A side with Mirko & Meex and their huge track Praise You, which is followed by Mark & Danny's Down Down Down.
On the B Side we have one of our biggest artist, Peter Brown and another great track, Hang On.
Last but not least we have James Ingram - Can You Dig It which is peaktime superfunky jackin track from a few years back.

Review: London label Make A Dance is having a busy year with a new sub-label or edits, a big recent outing from Yorkshire post-punk band Deadletter and ow this new various artists series. It features a characterful mix of house cuts, firstly the big synth stings and stomping drums of Hard Drive Library's 'Allegro For Strings.' The Make A Dance production outfit then contributes 'Nanyuki Nights' which is all stiff arps, Italo melodies and chugging drums. UK fav Andy Ash then brings some retro goodness with big piano laced house anthem 'Drums For Acid' and further cuts from Tom Carruthers and Asa Tate make this a party starting EP well worth copping.

Review: Cruise Music Vinyl Jams Volume 7 is here so let's start with the Cruise Music crew, with their funky, uplifting collaboration, Keep On Groovin, a must-have track for your summer dancefloors.
Next up is one of Rimini's finest, Corrado Alunni, with his heavy disco groover Dance Baby Dance.
On the flip side we have one of our best artists SAMO and his huge track Strangers, while on B2 we have Makito and one of his best releases Bustin Loose.

Review: This tidy two-tracker brings together a couple of sought-after gems from one of the true masters of neo-soul and soulful deep house, Peven Everett. On side A there's a chance to cop hard-to-find 2010 single 'Heat Up', a Clavinet-heavy chunk of organic, soft-touch, up-tempo soul meets deep house brilliance in which Everett's effortlessly slick and smooth vocals rise above rubbery bass guitar, heady keys and tasteful beats. Head to side B for something never-before-released on wax, the much requested 'Fantasy Eyes'. More electronic sounding but still loose, warm and organic, it's a similarly inclined chunk of dancefloor goodness that once again boasts some superb lead vocals from the veteran Chicagoan.

Review: Brace yourself for another blockbuster bout from the mighty Calvin Harris. His album series Funk Wav Bounces is an artful foil which might well prepare you for studio offcuts and casual noodles, but no, this is as premier league as electronic music can get. For volume two, Harris has called on a head-spinning cast of talent with lead single 'Potion' carrying Dua Lipa and Young Thug, while the rest of the record features people you may have heard of like Stefflon Don, Justin Timberlake, Pharrell Williams, Busta Rhymes, Snoop Dogg and a whole lot more besides. Matching his production prowess with his undeniable ear for a hook, Harris is on track to become your favourite producer extraordinaire all over again.

Review: After making his mark with a few high-grade edit EPs for Basic Fingers and Razor N Tape midway through the last decade, NYC-based DJ/producer Arsenii returns with a new project, Bliss Street Queens. There are no edits in sight this time, just a quartet of original productions that offer a distinctly nostalgic, warming and colourful interpretation of deep house. He sets his stall out with 'Celestial Frogs', adding sustained, intergalactic-sounding chords, effects aplenty and a brilliant bassline to unfussy beats, before opting for a jazzier, sun-splashed sound on the similarly deep and squelchy 'Find Me'. On 'Enjoy The Sirens' the Siberian exile makes great use of eyes-closed acid lines, lilting chords and emotive melodies whilst retaining his trademark elastic synth-bass, while 'Spiritus Sanctus' sits somewhere between deep house, electrofunk and sunrise-ready electro. Delicious!

Review: On his contribution to Watergate's mix series, Biesmans has decided to showcase his own tracks, and mostly a dizzying array of previously unheard collaborations with some seriously talented producers. It makes sense then that the German imprint has decided to show off the best of these across two vinyl samplers, of which this is the second. It's a great collection all told, with opener 'Quantum Computing' - a bumping piano-house hook-up with one of his musical heroes, Mathew Jonson - and the effortlessly funky nu-disco workout 'Me Gusta Acid', co-produced by Kid Simius, standing out. Elsewhere, solo cut 'Hipster Paradise' and Johannes Albert collaboration 'Luft' are also well worth a listen.

Review: Bob Sinclair is a French house legend and someone who played a big part in the famous French touch sound. He came back to the fore during covid lockdowns for his endlessly long and playful live streams. Now, maybe to strike while his profile is extra hot, his 1998 album Paradise gets remastered and reissued. It is packed with big and catchy house hooks, great vocals that are ripe for singing along to and timeless production that oozes nice analogue textures. A real gem of the house sounds that were emerging at the end of the last and start of the new millennium.

Review: For our money, early house music - or any house music, for that matter - doesn't get much better than Raze's utterly perfect 'Break 4 Luv.' That rolling bassline never quits, the effortless vocal conveys a sense of romantic yearning we can all relate to and the crispness of the drums just keeps the whole thing bumping next to timeless synth-strings. So we're always going to be glad when it gets reissued as it does here with an Our Tribe club mix which is heavier and little less lumpy with added synth work.

Review: Benny Benassi first presented 'The Biz' and their global smash 'Satisfaction' back in 2002. Almost two decades later the rasping bassline is as iconic as it ever was with the robotic vocals hinting at the French touch scene that pre-dated the release by a few years. Here it comes again no doubt to great receptions from the next generation of party lovers. There is a fizzing Isak extended mix as well as a more freewheeling and melodic Greece dub version then last of all is 'No Matter What You Do' (Sfact LP edit) which is all spoken word samples, electro-house drums and crunchy hits.

Review: BBE is the kind of label you can trust with any kind of reissue project, and when they call upon DJ Spinna and Kai Alce to look back over the foundations of house music, you know you're about to get a masterclass. This intermittent series has seen the two US DJ/producers picking through seminal house joints, editing the most crucial mixes to fit on a 7" as a neatly presented series for anyone wanting to point out exactly what house music really is. This time around they've turned to Sandee's 'Notice Me' - a Latin house joint from 1988 which rocked clubs like Tunnel and Palladium in NYC and Riviera in Chicago upon its original release.

Review: If you hadn't heard this one back in '92, where were you? Probably not even born yet, but that's just us showing our age. Undoubtedly one of techno's first forays into the mainstream, Snap! represented a wave of artists alongside the likes of 2 Unlimited, Technotronic, The Shaman and The Grid who provided many an anthem which now a true zeitgeist of this golden era. BMG presents this much welcome vinyl reissue of the German Eurodance outfit's now legendary sophomore effort The Madman's Return; a Michael Munzing & Luca Anzilotti production featuring vocalists Penny Ford, Turbo B and Thea Austin and the hits 'Rhythm Is A Dancer', 'Exterminate' and 'Colour Of Love'.