Back catalogue: Deep House

Review: After spending much of the last five years confined to the United States, Ron Trent is off on tour this year. As a way of re-introducing himself - not the deep house legend needed to do that of course - he has partnered with Rush Hour to release Lift Off, a fresh double album of previously unheard music. More defiantly dancefloor-centric than his previous album, the decidedly cosmic and downtempo 'What Do The Stars Say To You' (as WARM), the two-disc set sees the Chicagoan combine his usual percussively-layered grooves, warming basslines and colourful synth sounds with nods to all manner of musical influences old and new. The results are uniformly superb, with our picks of a very strong bunch including the spacey future-boogie of Leroy Burgess collaboration 'Let Me See You Shining', the spaced-out, slow-motion epic that is 'Woman of Color', the AM radio-friendly Balearic pop of 'Just Another Love Song' and the undeniably gorgeous 'Street Wave'.

Review: After almost three decades, Kompakt Records is set to deliver its' 500th release - a ridiculously impressive landmark that few electronic labels have previously achieved. To mark the occasion, the Cologne-based imprint has decided to deliver an anniversary compilation featuring (mostly edited) versions of some of its most iconic club hits, underground gems and early obscurities. It does a terrific job in explaining, via music, the label's contribution to European electronic music culture - think 'maximalist' minimal, off-kilter tech-house, ambient pop, synth-heavy hypnotism and twisted, off-kilter nu-disco. Naturally, all of the label's most significant contributors are present (Superpitcher, Justus Kohncke, Robag Wruhme, Gas, The Orb, Jurgen Paape etc), alongside artists you probably didn't realise had released on the label.