Delusions Of Grandeur Vinyl & CDs

Review: It would be fair to say that Henry Maldonado, known more widely as Son Of Sound, has been one of the few revelations to come out of New York City since the early 2000's. For a city which gave us so much in the 80's and 90's, there have been relatively few new names to carry on the dynasty, but Maldonado's sleek and thoughtful style for imprints like Disrtrict 30 and Speak Recordings has provided a bit of life and love to the American Dream. Moreover, the man appears on Delusions Of Grandeur, one of our all time favourite labels when it comes to house, and one that we wish was more present again. The deal here is simple; Son Of House provides us with three sultry, laid-back house groovers with plenty of soul and homebred sensibility, rolling and pushing its solid grooves over bouncy, seductive melodies and feel-good charms.

Review: Thatmanmonkz is Scott Moncrieff to be precise, a Sheffield based producer who been making house music since around 1997 but more recently on Kolour LTD and of course Delusions Of Grandeur: where he's recognised as a label mainstay. His new album Colombusing is a mighty 14 track effort, and there's a wide variety of moods and grooves, not to mention collaborations! Some of those very hookups are the highlights on here, we must say. There's a couple of tracks with San Francisco minimalist/human beatbox Dave Aju; "Turn It Out" is a deep and sleazy funk jam with Cameo-ish vocals, while "Boogie Down" features the sweet lungs of Erik Rico whose Curtis Mayfield impressions suit this feelgood soul jam just perfectly. "Baked" features the deep poetry of NYC's Malik Ameer on this on this dope jam full of urban flavour. There's music to dance to too, rest assured: "Take U 2 My House" featuring Khalil Anthony is surefire deep house aimed squarely at the dance floor.

Review: Alma Negra steps up to Delusion of Grandeur to bring the vibes on this new 12" in a fancy die-cut and spot-varnished sleeve. The sounds are funky and disco-fried with 'Madrugada' riding on lavish horn leads and nice loose percussive beats. 'Funky Fever' ups the temperatures with some sleazy vocals riding on jangling and organic beats. 'Madrugad' then comes as a Yuksek remix that layers in more colourful synths and allows the steamy origin vocals to bring the heat and a dub mix closes down this party-friendly EP