Tartouffe France Vinyl & CDs

Review: The sixth release on France's quietly impressive Tartouffe imprint comes from Roger Gerresson, a producer who made his mark a few years back via a series of 12" singles on Fear of Flying. His Tartouffe bow contains two tried-and-tested treats that should appeal to those who like their deep house chunky and off-kilter. He begins with the skewed A-side bounce of "Half Trip", where short and sweet soulful vocal samples, wonky organ riffs and filtered sax licks rise above a bustling bassline and jaunty drumbeats. Flipside "Leafs 2" is an altogether deeper experience, even if the skittish rhythm track is undeniably wonky. This time round, the talented Gerresson makes excellent use of trippy, dubbed-out chords and spacey, Motor City style melodies.

Review: On his first 12" of 2018, Mickael Janeret is in a particularly spacey mood. Inspired by Neptune, the four-tracker combines his usual electronic warmth and crunchy deep house drums with the kind of intergalactic, futurist musical elements more often found in proper Detroit techno. This fusion is particularly notable on the superb title track and undulating deep space house of acid-flecked roller "Abyss", though it can also be heard amongst the gentle acid lines, saucer-eyed chords and glistening deep house electric piano solos of "Atlas". To complete a fine package, Janaret doffs a cap to supersonic dub techno via the darting space synths and thickset deep house rhythms of "Odyssey". Stellar stuff, all told.

Review: There's something rather theatrical about the way Voliere goes about his business. He first caught our attention in the autumn of 2015 with the Monsieur Loyal EP, which was split into two "acts", with each track representing a different "scene" within it. He's retained the same format for this follow-up. Acte I (of 2) naturally begins with "Scene 1", a shuffling, heads-down tech-house number whose obvious thrills are derived from the Frenchman's dexterous drum programming. "Scene 2" is a warmer, richer and breezier affair, drawing greater influence from deep house and included a deliciously extended break down. Finally, he opts for more bumpin' beats and a little more melodic intent on closer "Scene 3", which sits somewhere between Parisian tech-house and vintage Chicago deep house.