Alleviated US Vinyl & CDs

Review: Amongst Larry Heard's many, many celebrated achievements in the field of pioneering house music, the Gherkin Jerks tracks have a certain magnetism thanks to their downright nasty rawness. The original late 80s 12"s have been revisited in the past, but now the bonus tracks originally released on a comprehensive 2013 compilation get their own outing, cut to wax for the first time to serve all those who love their foundational house as rough as it comes. 'Psychotic Fantasy' is a dissonant masterpiece of gnarly acid, while 'Rezynator' has a slightly more melodic demeanour alongside its own grubby brilliance. The 'Original Full Take' of 'Ecstasy' is a slow-burning monster of needlepoint 303 tweaking and bludgeoned beats which jacks out for a full eight minutes.

Review: Any new album from deep house pioneer and all-round legend Larry Heard is good news, but especially so when it's credited to his best-known and best-loved alias, Mr Fingers. Around The Sun Pt 1 is Heard's first album under the alias for four years and, unsurprisingly, it's as musically expansive, evocative, and atmospheric as they come. Naturally, it's rooted in the warming, dreamy, subtly jazz-flecked deep house style he's been tweaking and improving over decades, with occasional forays into sun-kissed downtempo grooves ('Touch The Sky'), angular acid tracks, Heard's take on dub house (the deliciously deep, micro-house influenced 'Marrakesh') and summery Balearic house ('Shimmer'). All in all, it's another masterpiece from deep house's most significant pioneer.

Review: If you dig deep house - hell, electronic music full stop - then you should be rather excited by the arrival of Cerebral Hemispheres, the first Mr Fingers album for 26 years, and the first of any kind by Larry Heard since 2003. As you'd expect, the album is exceptionally good, with Heard's famous musicality and fluid keys-work coming to the fore throughout. While rooted in melodious, huggable deep house, Heard naturally uses the opportunity to veer off in the myriad of different directions, touching on jazz, dub, downtempo grooves, soul, samba, tech-soul, deep acid house and much more besides. It has the feel of a genuine future classic and could well be his strongest album to date. Given his track record, that's a bold claim, but Cerebral Hemispheres really is that good.

Review: It could be argued that Larry Heard's first album as Mr Fingers, 1989's Amnesia, was the first full-length to show the rich musical potential of deep house. It was certainly the greatest house album of its period and remains - as this reissue proves - a timeless classic. Now pressed on three slabs of wax rather than two to make it more DJ-friendly, the set pairs stone cold Mr Fingers classics such as 'Mystery of Love (Dub)', 'Can You Feel It' (presented in its arguably superior instrumental form) and 'Washing Machine', with lesser-celebrated treats such as the breathlessly jacking and percussive 'Slam Dance', the lusciousl;y kaleidoscopic 'Stars' and the early morning delight that is 'For So Long'. It's an album every house head needs in their life.

Review: Larry Heard once said that he stumped upon his trademark dusty deep house sound rather by mistake - he was simply trying to recreate the instrumental disco of his childhood on the limited machinery he had available at the time. Either way, he went on to explore and exploit its most spiritual and spine-tinging aspects across a faultless discography that often looks to the cosmos for inspiration. That is true of this second volume of his Around The Sun album on his own Alleviated Records. It's another fine showcase of Chicago house, deep house, jazz and r&b that is utterly timeless.

Review: Larry Heard offers up a mesmerising history lesson on this collaboration with spoken word artists Piccolo JT and Rio Love, from Sharpsburg, North Carolina and Chicago respectively. There's an educational, empowering purpose to these four tracks, as our hosts guide us through reflections on important Southern social gatherings and overall social observations accompanied by some of Heard's inimitable productions. There's variety to the music as it flows from mellow deep house to bugging melodic techno and back again - as vital as any Alleviated record you care to mention, but with an added message.