Back catalogue: Deep House

Review: Couch Acid Recordings chief Paul Graham doesn't release many records, but what he does put out under the Booshank alias is invariably excellent. Graham's latest outing - a label debut for Butter Sessions that marks his first release for two years - is certainly quietly impressive. All three original tracks are melodious, atmospheric and evocative, with Graham wrapping attractive synthesizer lines and vintage ambient techno style electronics around fizzing drum machine rhythms (see ace lead cut "FTH" and sludgy closer "Come On Honey". The centrepiece is undoubtedly the chiming, mesmerizing ambient wonder that is "Andys", a track that Gonno brilliantly turns into a breakbeat-driven club stomper on his must-check B-side remix.

Review: On-point Aussie label Butter Sessions latest excursion is of mysterious origin. All the Melbourne imprint will say is that Consumer Watchdawgz is: "a collaboration between two mysterious figures from down under". Regardless of origin, there's something wonderfully retro-futurist about the untitled A-side, which peppers a dense, mid-90s European techno rhythm with cascading, IDM style melodies lines, spacey electronics, and "intelligent techno" style motifs. The B-side continues this intergalactic theme at a house techno, with rock solid kick drums being joined by ragged acid lines, drifting ambient chords, and lightly alien lead lines. Both tracks are pretty darn good, all told, and should excite anyone who went to techno clubs in the 1990s.

Review: Sleep D's Butter Sessions label has consistently hit the mark since launching back in 2013, largely through showcasing the work of a talented group of Melbourne-based artists. This time round they look further afield, offering a debut to Adelaide misfits DJ Dogg and Furious Frank. They hit the mark from the off, setting off towards the stratosphere with the leftfield techno wonkiness of "Space Call" (think trippy electronics, pulsating bass and Sheffield style bleeps). Their intergalactic inspirations are mined further on flipside "Flamen Galah", which deftly combines elements of spacey deep house, dub-wise techno, and bubbly electro. Friend-of-the-family DJ Fett Burger steps up to remix that track, giving it a rougher, break-driven feel, whilst retaining the duo's spacey pads and heavy bass.

Review: The latest 12" from Australia's fast-rising Butter Sessions imprint is a truly pan-global affair, featuring Vancouver producer Jayda G, globetrotting Sex Tags man DJ Fett Burger, and Melbourne-based label bosses Sleep D on the remix. In many ways, the opening "Steel D Flanger Mix" delivers what you'd expect to hear, with synthesized panpipes and a bustling bassline riding an endless wave of dense, tropical house percussion. Sleep D go smoother and more starry on their decidedly intergalactic - and oh-so alluring - Rainforest Version, before rounding off proceedings with a typically Sex Tags-like chunk of ultra-deep, ultra-sparse dub house. Given the talent involved, it's no surprise that Velvet Vortex is ace.

Review: Butter Sessions latest must-check release comes courtesy of Melbourne-based rising star Furious Frank, whose recent EP on Paper-Cuts was particularly impressive. "Ahora Si" is similarly inspired, with the young Australian producer placing Ivy Barkakati's "Sueno Latino" style whispered vocal over a bold, alluring blend of jangling dream house pianos, rugged acid lines, sunrise-ready chords and loose-limbed analogue beats. He provides his own dream house style interpretation (the brilliant "Frank's Sunrise Mix") before inviting Ivan to give his take on the track. He adds some tribal percussion whilst retaining the cut's inherent dreaminess before Canadian producer D. Tiffany re-imagines "Ahora Si" as a bass-heavy chunk of UKG/breakbeat house fusion.

Review: When Butter Sessions approached Ewan Jansen about doing a release with them, the Perth-based '90s survivor was more than happy to open up his bulging archives. The resultant EP, Best Intentions, contains a pleasingly eclectic collection of tracks that were apparently recorded at various points between 2002 and 2016. Many will be attracted to the lucid, Balearic deep house breeziness of opener "Credo" and the slightly trippy, low-slung analogue house excursion "Harbinger", both of which reside on the A-side. There's plenty of intoxicating thrills to be found on the flipside, though, with impeccable ambient jazz number "On The Beach" and intelligent techno bubbler "Blueprint" standing out.

Review: One year after dropping back in 2023, Jennifer Loveless's bonafide anthem 'Pleasure' is back in the form of three thrilling reworks and a dub mix which expand its appeal into new realms. Parisian maestro Bambounou kicks things off with a jackin' remix bursting with energy while Lisbon-based veteran and Ibiza favourite tINI follows and offers up a bass-heavy electro-inspired rendition nodding to old-school vibes. Jennifer Loveless and label heads Sleep D close the EP with an 'Indubm-3ntal mix' which is a hypnotic, dubbed-out techno journey layered with deep and atmospheric textures. Together, these fresh interpretations are primed to ignite dancefloors once more.

Review: The latest EP on Sleep D's on-point Butter Sessions imprint comes from another unsung hero of Australia's electronic underground, Low Flung AKA Moortown Records chief Danny Wild. Dreamy, tactile and analogue-rich, we can confirm that "Dribble" is really rather good. Check, for example, the huggable, head-in-the-clouds deep house warmth of "Deep Dribble", and the fluid ambient brilliance of "Shallow Sleep", where hazy field recordings are smothered in slowly shifting electronics. The warm and woozy vibes continue on the flipside, where the gently jaunty dub house/deep house fusion of "Exotic Dirt (Blend 43 Dub)" is followed by the dub-wise IDM trip that is "Air Dry".

Review: Melbourne's Butter Sessions are back, this time with local upstart Cale Sexton with the new East Link EP. Starting out with "E-Tagging" which has the early nineties deep house sound going on, featuring some lush analogue pads and an e-sax which was a nice touch particularly. Label head honchos Sleep D get on board to lend a helping hand on the pumping electro disco odyssey "Peninsula Link" while "Unsure Everything" featuring Samuel Davidson gets ultra deep, bittersweet and emotive like classic Mr Fingers.

Review: Emerging from 'the depths of Melbourne's South East' area, Butter Sessions is an impressive new label from the roving warehouse night of the same name, with founders Sleep D at the helm on the first release. Previously seen impressing on fellow Australian labels Cuckoo Music and Death Strobe, the Sleep D pairing of Maryos & Corey have stepped up their production game notably on the Jackal EP. You could throw around labels like TTT, Sex Tags and LIES as signifiers here, but Sleep D still have their own production personality and there's a sense of marauding fun that's apparent from the off. Lead track "Street Cleaner" is French filter house brushed with rough hewn jacking drums, whilst "Rawtz" is typical of the raw, unprocessed house you'd find in a current Kyle Hall DJ set and is made all the more special by some jagged editing. Face down and switch up to 45 and "The Frankston Jackal" is an acid techno stomper that teeters on the brink of all out chaos.

Review: With founding fathers Sleep D at the helm, Melbourne operation Butter Sessions made an impressive first manoeuvre into the world of record label ownership with The Jackal EP issued last November. Sporting three cuts of raw, unprocessed sounds that wedged themselves in-between house and techno, Sleep D set the tone for what to expect from Butter Sessions and it's nice to see the label expand on this approach with their second release. Taking the form of a various artists split release, Butter Sessions Vol 2 looks and sounds great, with Sleep D themselves calling shotgun and laying down "The Magic Arpet Ride" whose synth based pun doesn't detract from what dovetails between moments of new age bliss and twisted rawness. Sometime Firecracker Booshank adds some tuffness with "Action Satisfaction" whilst "Acre Summit" is perhaps the most frenetic sounding production from Tuff Sherm yet. A deviation into deeper territory is afforded with the excellent "Base 60" from Dan White which closes proceedings.

Review: When we first copped the title of this EP, we half expected it to be filled with the aural equivalent soggy sausage rolls, stale crisps and half-drunk cans of cheap lager. Happily, Aussie techno and house producer Tuff Sherm - here in partnership with the previously unknown Patch Free - is too good a producer to fall into that trap. The title track is a sparse, stripped-back bumper, with both producers making hay with merely a handful of elements (bare rhythms, glacial melodies and hissing cymbals). "Sound 1" is an altogether stranger concoction, while "Pusillanimous" makes great use of dense, organic production and trippy vocal samples. Excitingly, techno titans Frak also provide a remix of the latter in their trademark fuzzy, heads-down style.

Review: What happens on Turner Street stays on Turner Street. Unless it's pressed to wax then it's everybody's business. The debut EP from the duo comprising Rings Round Saturn and Midnight Tenderness, expect nothing short of six sweet break-based pieces that range from the mystical, floatation tank jacks of "Glasshouse" to the hectic, hardcore homage of "Dunes" via a soul-spinning jungle take on their 2016 STW debut "Stoned Wax" and all vibes in between. An exceptional project debut from the Aussie duo. Butter up!

Review: Whether using the ambient Rings Around Saturn guise, or more dancefloor-focused Dan White alias, Rory McPike's influences always tend towards the vintage. Following a one-track contribution to a Butter Sessions 12" last year, the Melbourne-based producer makes his full debut on local label with a trio of cuts that explore the sounds of the early '90s in a number of different ways. This is perhaps most apparent on A-side "The Hammer (Think Mix)", where orgasmic gasps, 808 State chords and Detroit-influenced melodies usher in a pitched-down hardcore-era breakbeat, rave sirens and surging sub-bass. "Just A Beat" doffs a cap to the more psychedelic end of early-90s techno, while the immensely beautiful "Sacoid" joins the dots between ambient house, intelligent techno and the deeper end of Motor City grooves.