Outplay Vinyl & CDs

Review: Fouking heck; is there any stopping this dynamic, vibe-hungry Dutch duo? Having buttered us up with funk on Outplay, they're now letting rip with three mating calls that are almost guaranteed to get you weak at the knees. "Mating Call" is premium uncut disco house that's rich in positivity and feels. "Just Feel Good" lives up to its name with its loose off grid groove and distant, hazy party feels running point throughout while "Down Below" winks good night with lavish Rhodes and a subtle but infectious percussion arrangement. Mate rates.

Review: Fouk member Johannes Peeman has delivered some superb solo EPs as Junktion, including killer outings on Times Are Ruff, Sleazy Beats Black Ops and, most regularly, OUTPLAY. Here he returns to the latter label with his first fresh 12" in almost 18 months. He hits the ground running with swinging, loose-limbed sample-house workout 'Just a Disco Thing', where jazzy bass, tight organ stabs, sparkling synths and funk vocal snippets cluster around a superb broken house rhythm, before opting for a chunkier, woozier deep house sound on 'Real To Me'. Over on the flip, 'I Got Somebody (Yeah Man)' is a rolling deep house warmer blessed with squelchy synth-bass, while 'Tribute' is a superb slab of detailed, musically expansive deep house with an exquisitely dreamy, head-in-the-clouds finish.

Review: Hans Peeman seems to be using the alternative New Franklin Theory alias to deliver music that combines dusty, dreamy deep house tropes with tons of original boogie and electrofunk instrumentation. As this second New Franklin Theory 12" proves, it's a winning formula. The majority of the five tracks are propelled forwards by deep house beats and squelchy synth basslines, with Peeman altering the levels of disco and boogie instrumentation atop. For starters, check the bustling beats, rubbery synth-bass, jazz-funk flourishes and incessant energy of "Afterburner", the wonderfully deep and dusty shuffle of "In Orbit", and the pleasingly loose, tropical-tinged beats, spine-tingling deep house chords and loved-up vocal samples of killer EP closer "The Holtzman Effect".

Review: New Franklin Theory: A shadowy new name with subtle clues from the label that we are likely to already know the identity behind the beats. Dare you unravel the mystery at such an early stage or should you simply enjoy the grooves for what they are? Either way the music speaks for itself; "Overhill Road Variation #1" taps deep into the roots with Chicago charm. Chunky, loopy and lean elements comprise to create an almost overwhelming groove. "Variation #2" meanwhile shakes with more of a foggier Claussel-style mysticism with more organic percussion, softer bass and guitar textures that could almost be highlife. The theory continues...

Review: Russian team Scruscru meets Meowsn on the 13th release from Outplay, Each of the respective artists have worked on cult labels like Nervous, Star Creature and Sloth Boogie and here cook up some sample heavy grooves that draw on jazz, big chords and sparkling synth sounds. The tracks have a real playful sense of character and tongue in cheek charm which makes them race even quicker into your affections. At times echoing the broken beat scene London was so well known for a few years ago, at others, something entirely new, it's an EP that certainly couldn't be classed as unlucky, despite the cat no.