Groovin Italy Vinyl & CDs

Review: In 1992, a trio of Italian house music producers brought to light one of house music's inherent contradictions: that a genre can be both ex-centric, and hold a stylistic centre. So far, house's haecceity, it's hearty essence, has held firm for nearly 50 odd years. And some records nail the inner sound of a sound, as though experiments need not only take place on the outskirts, beyond the walls, but also using the building blocks kept enclosed within the fortress. On this Groovin reissue, Davide Ruberto, Patrick Duvoisin and Ricky Montanari triply unveil the piano as one of the coremost ingredients of house music, with staccato chords standing right out on the titular 'Alright, Alright', of which there are four mixes here. Here's an unusual kind of rawness, blending as-do building blocks with a minimal but perfectible soul.

Review: Groovin Italy are the foremost label in our ranks to set their sights upon digging up and refining the very best sonic gemstones out there. Said blood diamond seam is the mythical yet plentiful vein known as deep house; here our local artisanal miners revitalise the precious contribs that especially once made splendid the faded gods of Italo house. From Italian DJ and producer Massimino Lippoli, a key figure in Italy's early house and progressive scene, to MCJ & Sima, Italian house duo, and Sima, who doubled up as vocalist and productive powerhouse, every track here is unerathed in mostly pre-polished, with the end jewellers over at Groovin needing very little work to do. David Syon's 'Swinground' closes things on a naive, part misshapen maccle, with what sound like hand-programmed brasses and pogo-synths played in above a twitchy but happy groove.