Noon - Turn Me On

Right, I know very little about the artist or the label here, so this'll be a quick one!

The original of Turn Me On starts out with somewhat Sneak-ish house/disco beats, and will roll its way into the mix quietly and keep the floor moving until the slightly tripped-out spoken female vocal comes in and slays 'em! Remix-wise, Dexel & LeManuel's remix moves us from deep into more tech house territory, Hakan Ludvigson's adds some drama in the mid-section but doesn't do a huge amount different, and Oliver A's has a Latin techno kinda vibe.

It's the original or Dexel & LeManuel for me but yeah, this is worth a dip for that freaky Eartha Kitt-ish vocal alone.

Out: This week. Today, in fact.

About: This can be found on SFX Recordings… who I now know, by the process of Googling their name and finding that link, are some six releases old and the new house/minimal techno project of a reformed trance dude.

Soul Sway - Don't Step Down EP

Okay, so who's up for a spot of top-quality, uber-deep house with a slightly techy edge but with plenty of soul and funk in its veins as well? Thought so. Then allow me to introduce this three-track EP from Soul Sway.

Er, except I've pretty much already said what I wanted to say about it! But I guess I can still tell you that Think is the most upbeat and 'dancefloor' of the three cuts on offer and comes with a little beatnik swagger all of its own, while Don't Step Down is the most soulfully-inclined – you could see it working in a future garage kinda set – and Round Two is most sparsely beautiful and late-night-sounding.

Or, I could just tell you this is an EXCELLENT record and you should buy it immediately. In fact yeah, I think I'll do that.

Out: This week

About: This comes to you courtesy of brand new London deep house label Savoir Faire Musique, which is run by my man Scott Harrington (also of City Soul Project). They can also be found on Facebook and Soundcloud.

Soul Sway, meanwhile, comes from California and is now based in Washington DC, but that's as much as I know.

Persica - 7am At Elrow

Well… here we are again then, back after a rather splendiferous long weekend at Shambala festival, and back in the blogging groove. Let's kick the week's proceedings off with this one, which just landed today.

A tribute to one of those nightclub-discotheque-dancehall things located in sunny Barcelona, the Original Mix of this starts with some shuffling percussion and the most fleeting (but insistent) of organ stabs, before the identifying "can you feel it?" shout brings in the kick. It then wanders into proper dark small-hours territory – if you're old like me you could imagine Junior playing this at the Tunnel – though a jolly little piano riff is also on hand to bring light to the darkness.

You also get two remixes from Darius Syrossian, but TBH neither particularly flips the script or anything. But no matter, that just means you end up with three solid mixes for more serious/underground floors.

Out: This week

About: This comes atcha on Mile End Records, always a reliable bet for tuff, techy house, who I've only just realised are based in Canada. Every day's a school day, eh?

Shambala festival - BRB

Just to let you know… for the next few days, TIWWD is going to be at the Shambala festival. So hold tight and I'll see you next week!

Pharao Black Magic - Heliopolis EP

And the big, big monster tunes keep on coming! This is turning out to be a great week. This particular big, big monster tune comes courtesy of the Basel, Switzerland-based twosome of Nicholas Probst and Konrad Sigl. As Pharao Black Magic they've been Nang remix regulars for some time but here they show what they can do under their own steam, and boy is it good.

Although it's billed as an EP, what you actually get are three remixes of the one track, Eye Of Horus. Take your pick from the slo-mo, lo-slung disco of Coyote, the Italo/cosmic grooves of Brioski or – my fave – the all-out piano-tastic Balearic house/disco assault of the original.

Be warned: this record may make you leap around with your hands in the air. Hell, it may even induce E-rushes all by its own self, no Class A's required. Now THAT'S a good tune.

Out: This week

About: Seems like a while since I reviewed anything from the mighty Nang… not quite sure how that's happened TBH. Ruddy flippin' brilliant label. Click the link to find out more or visit our new Swiss chums online by clicking here.

Floorplan - Sanctified EP

Okay, so this one's notable for two things. Firstly for being one of the most stylistically varied EPs I've been sent in aeons… and secondly for actually coming from Detroit techno legend Robert Hood. Blimey.

On the first note… opener We Magnify His Name even manages to be stylistically varied within the one track. It starts out sounding like a good-time filter disco cut, then surprises you by bursting into an all-out gospel number before settling down into a rollicking carnival-esque groove to see out the rest of its 9-some minutes. Fantastic stuff.

Second cut Baby Baby couldn't be much more different. It's a fast-paced n' bouncy techno number that sounds like nothing so much as the kind of nu-NRG the late great Tony De Vit made Trade famous for. That's right, kids – it used to be socially acceptable to be into deep house and garage, and dig Trade as well. It may seem strange to you young 'uns but s'true.

Misty-eyed nostalgia aside and back to the EP, and Basic Principle brings proceedings to a close, and what a close it is. It's a BIG organ-fuelled house/techno tune with an epic feel – think Plastic Dreams or Positive Education or The Man With The Red Face, that's the kind of big and epic we're talking.

So basically: old-skool legend known for sparse, uncompromising techno takes time out, makes some houseified shizzle, pisses all over 90% of everything else out there, gets on with his day. You gotta respect that… and you gotta get a hold of this.

Out: This week

About: This comes on Mr Hood's own M-Plant, naturally. And I should point out that doing the housed-up Floorplan thing isn't exactly a new venture for him, he's been doing it since the mid-90s. So it's no surprise he's really very good at it by now!

Make a joyful noise unto the Hood, for he is worthy :-)

Kyle Marshall - Callout

Seeing as we were just talking about retro-fied house in the Midicult review, now might also be a good time to tell you about this, because the Original and Bella Musica mixes of Callout do indeed sound like nothing so much as those alien-sounding electronic dance music records that started emerging from Chicago in the mid-80s.

For me though, the winner of the three rubs on offer is that by the Short Bus Kids' DK Watts, which goes down a slightly deeper path, but still has plenty of jack in its veins, rest assured.

Jackin' house music. Nuff said, really.

Out: This week

About: This comes atcha on Al Bradley's 3am Recordings, a stalwart of the UK underground house scene for a good decade or so now. Here's the usual Soundcloud and Facebook doingz.

Midicult - House Of Music

I hate people that over-use the word 'stunning'. The phone on your camera, for instance, does not "enable you to capture stunning images". It's okay for taking snapshots, is all. So when I say that this debut-not-debut release from Midicult (more on that in a mo') is indeed stunning, you'll know I'm not using that word lightly.

Opener Bathtub Gin is a midpaced tech-house groover, with a slightly syncopated, garage-y feel and chopped-up female vocal snippets alongside a male voice repeating the EP title from time to time. It's quality stuff and it'll have you bouncing in your seat for sure. Then there's Wooden Collar Paper Tie, which comes in no fewer than five mixes – the original, plus rubs from Groovik, Pete Weasel, People Get Real and Melos & Kyber. Some of 'em lean a little too far towards the minimal/glitchy/techy side of things for these ears, but the old skool Balearic-meets-acid house of M&K's mix is definitely worth a shout.

But the reason this is getting such glowing praise – including the dreaded S-word – is Suntrap, a quite remarkable slab of deep/minimal techno that I'm not even gonna try and describe. To appreciate its sparse, dubbed-out beauty, you really need to sit, like I did while slaving at the day job today, and listen to it in headphones four or five times on the bounce.

Couple Suntrap with Bathtub Gin, and this EP's a no-brainer.

Out: This week

About: This comes on Geordie label 22 Digit, about whom you can find out all you need to know on Soundcloud and Facebook.

As for Midicult himself… apparently it's a new alias for "a well-known producer who prefers to keep this latest project more secretive" and no, I honestly don't know who that is. Still, we all love a mystery, don't we?

Short Bus Kids - Day Party

Somewhat unusually for the SBKs, this latest release actually comes with remixes rather than just a whole bunch of individual tracks. There's even a Radio Edit! Which leads me to surmise Lance and DK are hoping for big things from what is, to be sure, one of their most accessible outings to date.

Featuring one Catherine Fluss ('Cat') on vocals, Day Party is a summery and uplifting cut in a not dissimilar vein to the kind of thing Andy Caldwell and Kaskade used to do on Om may moons ago. Don't worry, though, this is the SBKs we're talking about so it's not too horribly light and poppy… and there's some very cool sax work, too.

But DK's Underground Dub is probably the mix most TIWWD readers are likely to go for, a considerably deeper pass with crisp, insistent snares, chopped-up, echo'd snippets of the vocal and pads to make you go all warm and gooey inside.

Out: This week

About: As ever, this comes on the boys' own Bounce House Recordings

Various - New Breed Of Deep House

The standout for me of several King Street releases this week, this five-track EP on Nite Grooves does what it says on the tin and showcases some new talents in deep house music. What's not to love?

Vozmediano's Un Cafe S'Il Vous Plait gets the EP underway in excellent style, being an uptempo jazzual roller that comes on like St Germain on FAR too much of the aforesaid coffee. Nice. Up next, Whim-ee's I Will Tell You is almost at the other end of the spectrum, a very deep, languid and sensuous affair with breathy spoken vox. Masahiro Suzuki's Port Elizabeth is a dark, driving dancefloor cut with Afro-influenced drums and a proggy feel, while Synthaime's Ugly Tikita is a ker-razy synth wig-out that draws heavily on European techno and is almost a bit much for me, but then redeems itself with some great tactical use of Hammond (?) sounds to counterbalance its ear-piercing antics. And then finally there's Korova & Soundsystem's Harmonica, which is another driving dancefloor workout featuring the eponymous instrument rather heavily.

Nothing tops Vozmediano's offering for me but still, overall this is a nicely varied EP featuring a host of new artists, so DJs of many persuasions should find something to play here.

Out: This week

About: Nite Grooves has always been King Street's outlet for the trackier shiznit… but you knew that. So here's their website and we're done.

Tom Lown - Cloud Surfer EP

A transatlantic affair, this, as London boy Tom Lown, of recent Lost My Dog fame, serves up a five-track EP for Brooklyn label Warmth Records. There are three originals – Cloud Surfer, Side Stepper and A Night At Peg, plus remixes of Cloud Surfer and Side Stepper.

It's the floaty, late-night deep house of A Night At Peg that's doing it best for me, but the other two originals are also very playable, Cloud Stepper being in a similar vein and Side Stepper just a little more dancefloor-orientated. Remix-wise, Woohoo adds clattering drums to Cloud Stepper in a mix that leaves me cold; Gaby Dershin's mix of Side Stepper is worth checking though if you're after something a bit techier and more driving.

But I'm sticking with …Peg.

Out: This week

About: You can visit Warmth at their website or on Soundcloud.

Luca C & Brigante ft Ali Love - Different Morals

It's a funny old thing. Southern Fried used to be a great label back in the day… then for much of the later noughties I've gotta say they became a watchword for 'music I'm not gonna like'. Lately, though, something strange has happened and Southern Fried have been putting out some CRACKING tuneage once more. This being the latest example.

Like so many great tunes, Different Morals is deceptively simple. Just a big, throbbing technoid bass groove, some wibbly synths and a male vocal that's in a vaguely Seal/Prince kinda vein. But fuck me is this a big tune… and that's without even hearing it on the big system it cries out to be played on.

I should mention that there are remixes as well, of course - from no less a line-up than Matt Playford, Clockwork and Danny Daze, with Clockwork's rub being particularly worthy of your attention. But the one I'm gonna be dropping is still the original. It's a tech-soul monster.

Out: This week

About: Southern Fried will need no introduction but here's their website anyway. Luca C & Brigante, meanwhile, hail from Italy and can be found on Soundcloud.

Bang Bang - Hate Fleeting

Okay, so South African house didn't QUITE take over the world as it looked like it might a couple of years ago, but the scene down there is still going strong by all accounts. And here's the latest from one of the SA house scene's more successful exports, Bang Bang – AKA Matt Prehn, Matthew Loots and Reuben John.

Bang Bang have never been a straight-up house act, though, and this certainly isn't what you'd call an out-and-out house record. In fact, Hate Fleeting, with its soulful vocal and summery feel, is probably best described as dance-pop, in all honesty. But I should stress that's dance-pop in the sense of "accessible, pop-leaning tunes inspired by the lazy west coast house of Naked Music and the good-time funk of Earth Wind & Fire et al," rather than the "shit pop with horrible trance-lite synth riffs" those words would normally imply!

Still, while some of the six mixes are perhaps a little TOO poppy for normal TIWWD tastes, the self-explanatory Leigh Deep Way Too Deep Mix and langorous, melancholic Lotus Remix should see you right for those warm-up or post-club sessions.

Out: This week

About: This comes atcha on Oh So Coy Records, which is run by Matt Prehn himself – who's now based in Switzerland, it seems, and who's also Leigh Deep, dontchaknow? Busy lad, our Matt. Anyway check 'em on Soundcloud.

PS I think Lotus is actually Matthew Loots, as well, but don't quote me on that!

Hohle - Conviction

Another winning deep house cut here from Martijn's Deep Editions label, who for me haven't put a foot wrong so far.

Mixes - five of 'em in total - come from a pretty impressive line-up of current talent, including Sasse, Submantra and Martin himself. Between them the mixes cover a range of deep styles but it's Sasse's lush, laidback deep disco that's working best for me… but even better than that is bonus cut Innocent Eyes, a slightly more uptempo cut which gives the female vocal plenty of room to breathe atop a 303 bassline and some lush keyboard stabs, in a way that recalls vintage Stonebridge garage productions from the early 90s. Nice!

Out: This week

About: As I said… Deep Edition aren't that old as a label but pretty much everything they've done to date has been bang on the money. Check 'em out for yourselves on Soundcloud (where you can currently HEAR THIS) or Facebook.

Hohle themselves, meanwhile, are Kieran Clare and Lloyd Lindo, residents at Leicester's City Fly, plus engineer Francis Sevier.

Zerbaman - Dub Foundation EP

Time for some dubstep action, methinks. Been listening to quite a lot of dubstep lately and I must say, it annoys me when people dismiss it for the wrong reasons.

Some people seem to think it's all about cheesy Nero/Magnetic Man purple pop with the horrible AutoTuned pop vocals. Alternatively, they think it's all about the gnarly tear-out gorestep (AKA 'chavstep' round these parts) side of things. It's like someone thinking that Hed Kandi comps reflect all there is to know about house music! If those people would just dig a little deeper, they'd find quality nuggets like this.

There are three tracks on offer. Cagney VIP is an eight-minute cinematic number sprinkled with pianos - you imagine it'd work best in a DJ set as a tension-builder before a BIG drop. Laura is more ethereal, bordering-on-ambient affair, not a million miles from the dubbier moments on early Orb albums, and then finally, Foundation itself is another moody, midpaced soundscape piece with some fine analogue synths of the kind more normally found on nu-disco records and cheap 80s sci-fi soundtracks.

If you dig Burial, Youngsta or Distance, this is well worth checking.

Out: This week

About: This comes on US/UK label Plush Recordings. You can hit up their website for more info, or find Zerbaman himself on Soundcloud.

J Fader – Promises EP

Five tracks and a total of eight mixes here from rising UK talent J Fader, who hails from Portsmouth – not generally known as a hotbed of house talent – and who's had stuff out before on Clean House and Slick Music (it says here).

For our purposes today though, we're gonna have to treat Mr Fader (I very much doubt that's his real name, don't you?) as an unknown newcomer… which makes the quality of the music contained herein all the more pleasing. Cast your mind back to a time around 1995 or so, when UK garage was just on the brink of emerging but hadn't quite yet fully distinguished itself from US house – think early productions by Booker T as Underground Mass, Grant Nelson, Fran & Ricky in various guises, Gavin M in his 'DJ Face' days, etc – then you're somewhere in the right ballpark as regards the overall vibe here.

Not going to go into individual tracks one-by-one cos there's too many of them, but the EP as a whole is long on crisp, skippy beats, live-sounding basslines, warm pads, jazzy minor-key piano licks, yada yada yada… you get the idea. If you remember the days when UK garage had more in common with the deep house scene, long before loads of hip-hoppers came in and spoiled it… well, you're gonna love this. Class in a glass… of Moet, natch.

Out: This week

About: This comes atcha on Beats Me Music, who are based in the equally unlikely location of Eastbourne, and from whom this is the fourth release. Hmmm..... is there some kind of south coast 'proper house' revival going on that I don't know about, or something? That may merit some further investigation… so here's their website.

tONKPROJECT/Ebencrib - 2 Years Of Behaviors

Like the Drop music comp below, this is an album that's had many plays on the stereo before I sat down to blog about it… this time though we're actually on time with a review. Hurrah.

The album's credited jointly to tONKPROJECT and Ebencrib, though both are in fact aliases for just the one man, Laurentiu Zarzu, while the title refers to the fact it's being released to celebrate two years of Laurentiu's label, Behaviors. So much for the bare facts of the case then… but what does it sound like?

Like 12 tracks of startlingly good deepness, in a nutshell. Don't expect any instant hi-octane dancefloor thrills here: some of the music would be perfectly at home on the deeper floors circa 4am or so, for sure, but even the more uptempo numbers are aimed at the head as much as the feet, and the album's overall vibe just begs you to sit back, spark up a rather large 'cigarette' and lose yourself in the music. Or, likely as not, in the spaces between the music.

Seamlessly interweaving deep house, deep techno and ambient vibes, dubwise in parts and a wee bit proggy and blissed-out around the edges, it's an album that's likely to get many plays on your stereo, too.

Out: This week

About: Laurentiu Zarzu AKA tONKPROJECT hails from Romania, and you can find him on Facebook or MySpace. You can also check out his Behaviors show on Proton Radio.

Various - House Bound

Okay, so this actually came out last week. Somehow I didn't get around to writing about it on the blog, but a new compilation from the mighty Drop Music is just too juicy a prospect for TIWWD to ignore... not that being on heavy rotation on the stereo could exactly be called 'ignoring' but you know what I mean.

Now, you probably think you know what a Drop Music comp's gonna sound like. And sure, there's plenty of their trademark East Midlands deep house bump on offer here… but there's more to House Bound than that. It's an album that shows the label branching out perhaps more than ever. Hence you get the funk-fuelled nu-discoisms of Kinky Movement's Deja Vu sitting alongside Phil Weeks' weirdy-warpy-warbly (in a Leftroom/Diynamic/Wolf+Lamb kinda way) Love You More and The Sound Diggers' Dynamic, which comes on like one of those 'nu old' funk bands given a fairly hefty pair of house music cojones.

And you get Asad Rizvi's closer Boom, which with its R&B-style vocal sounds pretty much like classic UKG to me (specifically it reminds me of Bizzi's Party). Alternatively, if it IS more traditional Drop grooves you're after, then try Larry Fives' acid-y Make A Move. Or Giom's bumpin' Inverted Coma. Or Freaky Behaviours funktified Temptation. Or Robert Boogert's frankly completely freaking ace Turn Me. And of course we can't really miss out label bosses Laurence and Andy, AKA Inland Knights, who supply the summery, west coast-y opener Do It Again.

Anyway, you get the idea. All told, you get 11 tracks of varied, but always top-quality underground house music for your hard-earned… and there really isn't a better way you could spend it. Like I said, this album was too good for TIWWD to miss. You shouldn't either.

Out: Last week. Sorry. But, y'know, it hasn't gotten any less great over the past seven days or anything.

About: Find out more about Drop Music – though if you don't know who they are by now, you should be heartily ashamed of yourself – by clicking on the link above. Or indeed here, if you're too lazy to scroll back up.

Nick Hollyster & Robin Orlando - Hey Mama

The latest from Galway's ever-excellent Elevation Recordings reworks chunks of vocal from The Temptations' Papa Was A Rolling Stone. It's not the first time that's been done of course, but it's done well here – and subtly, because they've not used the chorus at all.

The original is a deep house cut with a tribal/Afro kinda slant, the kind of thing you might expect someone like Jerome Sydnenham, Danny Krivit or Jephte Guillaume to play. The Re:You Remix has a more chopped-up, skippy vibe and de-emphasises the vocal, Pete Moss takes us into 'deep n' proggy' territory, Pablo Fierro's mix is more stripped-down and spacey and finally Frogs In Socks make the most of the vocals while also going for a skippier feel, making the hype sheet comparisons to Todd Edwards not entirely unjustified.

It's Pablo Fierro and Pete Moss's mixes that I'm feeling the most but this is a strong package that'll appeal to deep house heads of many persuasions.

Out: This week

About: You can find Elevation Recordings on MySpace, Soundcloud or Facebook.

Evil Chris Sword - Summer Track

Feels like a while since we had anything from Sean Biddle's Chicago-based disco house imprint Bid Muzik on here, so here's their latest.

As is fairly typical for Bid Muzik, Summer Track is a unpretentious, energetic and uplifting slab of disco house based on a VERY familiar sample. There's just the one mix, so not much else to say really, except that you've got to give it up for anyone called Evil Chris Sword. I wonder if his parents christened him that?

Out: This week

About: You can HEAR THIS and find out anything else you need to know at Bid Muzik's Soundcloud and Facebook pages

Kamo - Hulme EP

I used to live in Hulme, which for those not in the UK is a somewhat, ahem, 'run-down' part of Manchester*. So, evidently, do Aussies Kamo… and to celebrate that fact, they've put together this hard-to classify EP.

The track that's doing it most for me is Gin N' Wine, a bumpy, off-kilter slab of future garage. I guess you could also just about apply the 'future garage' tag to I Have You, though I'd personally say it's more just a downtempo cut than anything. My Submarine then takes us into bruk beat territory, before we end with Lights Out, which comes on like a Harold Budd ambient number at first before breaking out into a kind of future garage/R&B/broken beat fusion-type thing.

Like I said, it's hard to classify overall but this is forward-thinking stuff for sure, and definitely worthy of your attention.

Out: This week

About: This is on Losing Suki, which is an offshoot of London-based label Hypercolour

*Actually to be fair it's a lot better now than it was, it's all been demolished and redeveloped and cleaned-up and stuff. But while I was living there I got mugged once and had a gun pointed at me another time, and they found someone murdered directly below my bedroom window (albeit five floors down)… and I only lived there four months. In the good bit!

Mr Gil - Stronger EP

Didn't I just say last week that I don't think Low Pressings have put out a duff record yet? Well, here's the latest from the label, and they still haven't.

Opener Crackhouse ain't nothin' but a steady, driving tech-house groove, but there's nothing wrong with that, is there? Stronger itself takes a while to get going, but about two and half minutes in, it explodes into a proper funk-fuelled romp and no mistake guv'nor. And then finally, Take Me Baby is another funk-driven cut, this time nodding cheekily to a certain Lipps, Inc classic in the b-line department and chucking all manner of freaky-deeky synths'n'FX over the top. Quality.

Out: This week on Beatport, and then at the end of the month everywhere else.

About: Mr Gil may or may not be this Brazilian dude, I'm not entirely sure, though it'd kind of make sense. Anyway, you can visit the Low Pressings website to find out more about the label, or just click here to see what they've got to say about this particular release.

PJC Project - Tiger Spider EP

Okay, let's kick off the TIWWD week with some good old-fashioned straight-up house music, courtesy of PJC Project.

Messing With My Mind is a deep-ish cut with vocodered vox… it's good but not essential, TBH. The title cut Tiger Spider is better, though, a slowly-building deep house dancefloor groove with a hefty shot of disco juice coursing through its veins… but the REAL treat here is Gonna, a tuff-but-soulful number busting some lush piano chords and chopped-up fem vox.

What we're Gonna do right here is go back… see what I did there?

Out: This week

About: Don't know much about the label this is on, Quadraphonic, other than that they're UK-based. They're on Facebook and MySpace but boys, some actual information would help!

Other cool stuff this week

Just time for a quick Sunday night round-up of other releases worthy of your attention in the past seven days...

Alvina Red & Manuel Perez

Belle Caravelle

Chunky, main room-friendly but non-cheesy house with prog and disco influences

Label: Ooze Recordings

Dualton

Lovesong EP

Very now-sounding stuff with influences from both house and techno. The Edwin Oosterwal Love Beats Remix of the title track is my fave.

Label: We Dig Music

Franky B AKA Cryptic Monkey

Purple Clouds EP

More quality tech-house from Smiley Fingers, though it's the housier DJ Simi remix of The Cloud Digger that's floating my boat the most. That said, the junglist touches (airhorns and rastaman vox) on Resina Boy are also interesting.

Label: Smiley Fingers

J Phlip

Barbary Coast EP

Typically forward-leaning, tech-tinged house grooves from the ever-dependable dirtybird, with a little added hip-house meets ghettotech flava on Bootyberg.

Label: dirtybird

Various

SUOL Mates

A V/A sampler EP from Chopstick & Jonjon's excellent SUOL label, showcasing their knack of blending techier and more soulful elements perfectly. Slo-mo house/nu-disco gem HowthefuckdidIgethome is worth the price of admission on its own.

Label: SUOL Recordings

Michael McLardy - Spring (Remixes)

Michael McLardy's Spring was first out earlier this year… now here it comes again with four spanking new mixes, with the Original also included.

That Original was, and still is, a very likeable little deep house dancefloor shuffler with the very slightest of techy leanings and some garage-y treated female vox, all of which of course makes it pretty much perfect to TIWWD's ears! And so to the remixes…

The Soulplate ReDub is a slightly more upbeat pass with a sparse-but-lush feel reminiscent of classic Jersey garage (think Strobe, Eight Ball etc) and an understated Chi-town bassline – just perfect for later in the night, when the spirit is willing but the legs are weak. The brilliantly-named Jackin' Wez & The Groovedoctor supply a mix that takes us further into the sounds of classic Chicago with its tribal-ish rhythms, the Viper Strike Remix is stripped down to the max and more percussive but still deeply, deeply groovy, while finally the Late Night Dub is another sparse rub but this time emphasising the techier, druggier elements.

All told, a fine set of remixes of an already-fine track – go seek.

Out: This week

About: This comes atcha on Cardiff-based label Pole Position, who can be found here. Michael McLardy has also had stuff out on quality labels like Baker Street and Deep Edition.

Micha Mischer - Summer Nights EP

A three-track EP here from Germany's Micha Mischer, who first appeared on this label (Manchester Underground Music) with his remix of ROTD's Fettle.

Opener The Night Before is a mid-paced, lazy houser that sits somewhere between prog and deep on the sliding subgenre scale, if you see what I mean, and gets a little bit Balearic and euphoric around the edges… one for those hazy post-club sessions.

On the B, The Morning After is another proggy, melodic number in its original form, with warm piano chords, a mournful sax and multi-layered strings providing the musicality over an unhurried, insistent rhythm. The dancefloor ante is then upped on the Universal Solution Remix, which de-emphasises the melodic elements in favour of driving, pacier beats and some spaced-out synth action.

Overall, perhaps a little bit more 'floaty prog' than is usual for TIWWD, but worthy of a place in your box all the same.

Out: This week

About: Can you guess where Manchester Underground Music are based, peeps? That's right… former adopted hometown of TIWWD (way back when) Megacity 0161, where the label's been focusing mostly on putting out undiscovered local talent for several years now. Find out more here.

The Sleeper - Every Day

It's only just over a week since we had a freebie from Serbian producer The Sleeper on here, and now here he comes again with this new single for Croydon-based label Evasive Records (or more specifically, their sub-label Evasive Deep).

Every Day itself is a deep, dreamy tech/tech-house cut with a floaty female vocal… it reminds me a little of something but I'm not sure what, maybe Underwater Love by Smoke City, or something by Nicolette? But I'm kinda preferring the Dub mix anyway. Rounding out the EP you then get Free Your Mind, which is my favourite cut of the lot – an unhurried, smoked-out slab of deep, dubby techno to delight your cerebral cortex.

Out: This week, properly, though it's been on Beatport for a little while already.

About: You can find Evasive Records on MySpace.

Deepgroove - Atlas

Always happy to show some love for Lee and Grayson… dey is my Brizzle peepz, innit? Tee hee. Fortunately, they also happen to make rather good records. This is one of them.

Admittedly, Atlas itself is a bit too much of a straight-up drummy techno affair for me personally, though it'll work on the right floors for sure. But for TIWWD's purposes today, we'll be flipping straight to the B-side, where the Kley Remix goes down more of a tech-house route with jaunty beats and the vocal brought to the fore – making this another winner from Messrs Pattison & Shipley. Hurrah.

Out: This week

About: As with a lot of Deepgroove's stuff, this is coming atcha on Underwater. And here's Deepgroove's own Facebook page as well.

Silicone Soul - Alive From The Opium Den

Silicone Soul releases don't come along very often, but when they do, you can pretty much guarantee they're going to be of the highest quality. This latest EP from the Scottish twosome is no exception.

The title track is a druggy, chuggy tech-houser with a very, very slightly tribal feel to the drums and an insistent male vocal chanting the title. Put it like that it doesn't sound like much, but play it loud and it'll slay 'em for sure… all eight minutes of it, particularly when you get to the end and the horror film (Vincent Price?) speech samples come in.

You also get two mixes of Time Mariner's Mirrour (sic). The original does the slightly-tribal thing with the drums again, adds some Eastern-sounding instrumentation and really ain't nothing but a groove – albeit an effective one – but I'm personally more taken with Kiki's Darkroom Dub, from the Bpitch Control dude, which goes through the door marked 'less is more' and will be perfect for those late/early moments on afterhours floors.

Out: This week

About: This is of course on Silicone Soul's own Darkroom Dubs label – in fact its their 50th release, so happy anniversary guys! You can find Darkroom Dubs on Facebook and MySpace, or visit the Bpitch Control site for more on Kiki.

Various - Deep Pressings Vol 5

The latest in Low Pressings' line of Deep Pressings EPs features three tracks from Enrique Vela, Lucas & Hugo Sanches and Dhaze.

The latter delivers Drop The Line, a midtempo tech-houser with a lolloping kinda groove that'll keep 'em moving for sure. Vela's Space Monkey is a deeper cut with a futuristic feel and touches of space/Italo disco in its use of squelchy synths and rising strings, while finally Hot Roll from Lucas & Sanches is a more driving, uptempo number, coming from that zone where the tougher end of deep house merges into proggy, main room tackle.

Three varied tracks, then, making for a very solid EP and another worthwhile addition to this excellent series.

Out: This week generally, though it's already been on Beatport for a couple of weeks.

About: Low Pressings is run jointly by Chas Burns in the UK, and Hernan Cerbello in Argentina, and I don't think I've heard a duff record from them yet! Find out more here.

Sav Manganaro - Way To The Funk EP

Another top-quality EP here from the slighly mysterious Wired Music. This time out, deep house with a funk twist is the order of the day.

Way To The Funk itself is a midtempo deep houser with a prominent bassline and soul/gospel-flavoured vocal snips (albeit with the vocal samples used as an instrument more than anything). Never Change is a more overtly nu-disco cut with an even phatter b-line and a "some things will never change" vocal hook in a 70s funk stylee (think Brass Construction or Cymande), and then finally Talking To You is another phat funker with an almost Afro feel.

Personally, I'm digging all three, nuff said!

Out: This week

About: Find out more about Wired Music here (it's a Facebook group so you'll need to be logged in for the link to work, I think).

Contract Killers/PFM Formula One - Plush001

Don't feature enough D&B on this blog really, if I'm being honest. So let's rectify that RIGHT NOW with this killer split 12" featuring Contract Killers and PFM Formula One.

Contract Killers bring us The Life Moments, which is a hi-octane roller and no mistake guv… yet while being energetic enough for the festival crowds, it also has enough musicality to appeal to the more discerning heads too, with nary a nasty electro/trance riff or cheesy vocal in sight. There's a couple of breath-getting breakdowns in there for ya as well. Over on the B, meanwhile, PFM (etc) come with If You Were Mine, a liquid-y stepper with a distinctly soulful vibe, making a pleasing contrast with the frenetic energy of the A.

A big thanks to JunglePress/dnbradio in Canada for sending this through.

Out: This week

About: This comes from new US/UK label Plush Recordings – here's their website to find out more.

Various - Munich Disco Tech Vol 12

After all last night's shenanigans across the UK – including right here in Bristol, right on my own girlfriend's road! – it seems odd to be talking about house music on here... but the show must go on, eh?

And so to this, the latest in Great Stuff's pretty much essential Munich Disco Tech series. After what I said a few posts back I feel it's only fair to point out that there's NO oompah-loompah beats and cheesy swing samples here… just five cuts of underground house/tech-house jackery from (deep breath) DJ Chus & D-Unity (with Burn In Hell in two mixes), Anthony Attala & Tone Depth, Rainer Weichold & NIck Olivetti, and Solo. Mostly familiar names this time out, then, but that's no bad thing cos in this instance it makes for a very strong EP.

Not gonna go into all the tracks individually cos we'd be here all day. Suffice to say there's not a duff cut among 'em, but if pushed I'd pick Attala & Tone Depth's weirdly-named Lionel Cookie as a highlight.

Out: This week

About: Find Great Stuff online here… over the past couple of years they've become one of my favourite labels of the moment and like I said, pretty much all the MDT releases are must-haves. You can HEAR most of the tracks from this one at their Soundcloud as well.

Giom & Joshua Heath - Connection Lost EP

Two artists who should need no introduction to readers of this blog team up for a pleasingly varied three-track EP on the ever-reliable Lost My Dog.

Connection Lost itself is, admittedly, exactly the kind of East Midlands-ish deep house bumper you'd expect from this pair, and this label... not that TIWWD was ever gonna have any problem with that. But then Mister Marvellous takes an altogether more discofied route to the dancefloor, working that late 90s disco-house revival vibe, albeit in a slightly more subtle and understated manner than most. And then finally we have Techno Idiots, which is (as the name might imply) an altogether techier affair that draws comparisons on the hype sheet to the early Croydon tech-house scene (cast your mind back to the days of Wiggle, Terry Francis, the late Kenny Hawkes, etc), and quite justifiably.

Three strong deep/tech house tracks, then, suitable for a range of floors/sets/moods/DJs. Excellent work yet again, LMD!

Out: This week

About: You really, REALLY ought to be familar with Lost My Dog by now, but just here's their website just in case

Luca Bernardi - The Ex Is Back In Town

Young Italian Luca Bernardi comes good here with a wryly-titled EP for Factoria/Factomania offshoot Formula Records.

In total, you get two originals plus a remix of each. The original of The Ex... itself is a jaunty tech-houser with swing flourishes, of the kind so beloved of the likes of Erase and Great Stuff; it's fine but I'm personally preferring the slightly deeper and more chugging David Herrero remix. Fish & Chips is in a similar vein, albeit this time with more of a main-room, almost proggy feel. Again, though, it's the deeper remix I'm feeling more, which this time comes courtesy of German duo DENIED.

Out: This week

About: As stated, this is on Formula Records, part of the Factoria/Factomania stable headed up by my boy Wally Lopez. Find out more here.

Micha Klang - When We Dance EP

A very solid offering here from newbie label Act Natural – this is just their third release.

When We Dance itself is a midtempo deep houser that builds slowly from a percussion-led intro with some nice warm organ stabs and snatches of vocal; there's also a breakdown in the middle with faint echoes of Def Touch's classic Nasty Rhythm, which is certainly never a bad thing. Tsuba boss Kevin Griffiths then ups the dancefloor ante a notch on his Basement Dub of the same, replacing the two-note synth bassline of the original with an altogether funkier and more organic-sounding part.

Rounding out the EP you also have Every Day and My Feet. Both are in a deep, chugging tech-house kinda vein; the latter edges it for me for being just that wee bit funkier, but like I said it's a strong EP all round.

Out: This week

About: Act Natural is headed up by one Jamie Ward and has been working the likes of Matt Tolfrey and Mic Newman. More info here.

Alex Kenji - Those Good Vibes

In its original form, this is one from the commercial, big-club end of the house spectrum, with a filter disco-type main hook and the kind of ear-piercing top end you associate with 'dirty Dutch', electrohouse and other things we generally consider bad words… but never fear, cos the Samuele Buselli Remix on the flip is an altogether more satisfying proposition.

Said mix starts with a simple enough percussion loop, out of which a big phat bassline and some LUSH chord stabs slowly emerge. Those are then topped off with two competing vocal samples – a random voice intoning 'get bump' or something equally nonsensical, and snatches of what sounds like police radio – and the occasional, VERY brief horn stab. And even that's making it sound busier than it is – this is a proper sparse, heads-down delight.

Out: This week

About: This is on Street King, who of course are an offshoot of the mighty King Street. Find out more about one of the all-time great US house labels here.

Honey Dijon & Sebastian Manuel - Tonite

A strong peaktime house offering here from two producers who are now both based in NYC, but hail from Chicago and Buenos Aires respectively.

Tonite in its Original form is a chugging, driving kinda affair with a female voice (sampled, I'm guessing?) entreating you to "tell him that I want to make love to him tonight". Possibly a more personal message than I'd necessarily feel comfortable passing on personally but there you go! It's still an energetic enough number to work on mainstream floors, but with enough of a classic house feel to suit more knowledgeable crowds as well.

The real treat for me, though, is the Nonfiction Remix, which comes courtesy of one Jose Tobar (AKA Nonfiction, you understand). Here, the classic house feel is accentuated thanks to some barely-there but well-chosen vocal snips… whether they're samples or 'homages' I'm not sure but older heads should recognise elements of both Naked Music NYC's I'll Take You To Love and Hardrive's Deep Inside tucked away inside the mix. Which should bring a few smiles.

Out: This week

About: This is just the third release from Get Up Records, who are based in NYC. The label's run by House Of Stank and the likes of Tedd Patterson, Johnny Fiasco and David Harness all have releases lined up ready to go… you can find 'em online here or check out House Of Stank's own website and MySpace

Dynamode - Jin Joint

Another one from a label that's something of a TIWWD stalwart… Greece's Erase Records.

In keeping with a lot of Erase's recent output this works the familiar tech-house + jazz formula... this time though, Scottish duo Dynamode have eschewed the usual cheesy swing in favour of a lovely little minor key piano lick. As long as you're not too tired of those oompah-loompah beats just yet, it's a really rather likeable cut, coming complete with a more stripped-down and serious-minded remix from Italy's Andrea Loche & Corrado Zonnedda.

Out: This week

About: Find Erase online here... or check out Dynamode on Soundcloud

Various - What Happens Now Vol 2

A very solid V/A EP here from Denmark's ever-excellent What Happens crew.

First up we have the no-nonsense rolling deep/tech house of The Red Spotlight by young Danish producer Chris Sane, who also serves up Listen From Behind, which is in a similar kinda vein – think San Fran to Berlin via the East Midlands and you're somewhere in the ballpark. Bumpin'.

Next is another Chris, the UK's Chris Rawles, whose Roomdriver is another tasty slab of tech-house jackery. Mr Rawles also then gives us the slightly deeper and more funktified Hick Up, before the EP comes to a close with Super Classico, a fat, lazy groover with a phat b-line and a pleasantly driftaway kinda feel courtesy of Israel's Roni Be, and finally a tuffer tech-house bullet from Greece's Distant Fragment in the form of Altered Matter.

The latter cut's perhaps a little close to straight-up techno for me but taken as a whole, this EP kicks some serious ass. Show some love people!

Out: This week (except on Beatport where it's been out for a bit already)

About: What Happens, in case you didn't know, is run by my boy Tim Andresen over in Denmark and the label's been on a serious roll of late! More info here and at Tim's own website.

Pedro Bueno - Duckface

You've got to love a record called Duckface really. Especially when the cover's got a picture of rubber ducks on it as well.

Thankfully though this particular record has merits other than just its comedy title and endearing sleeve alone. I'm particular about that sort of thing, don'tchaknow? In its original form, Duckface is a midtempo affair that you'd want to file somewhere between tech-house and nu-disco; Ed Lee's Disco Remake, unsurprisingly, ups the disco ante somewhat.

With a full-phat b-line, some slightly rave-y snares and a familar "ecstasy" vocal sample, it's a very solid bet for your floor, what more do you need to know?

Out: This week

About: This is the latest from Norman H's Essex-based Stripped empire... find 'em online here and here and here.

FREE deep house cut by The Sleeper

Another freebie for ya... I will get round to some reviews again soon, I promise, it's just that with all the shenanigans going on at this end I'm kinda playing catch-up with the downloads at the mo'.

But anyway, Craig Stewart's DCS Trax is a label you should be familiar with by now if you're a regular reader of this blog: a UK-based imprint that blurs the boundaries between deep and soulful house nicely. Here for your downloading pleasure today, we have a track taken from their latest EP which is in stores now… if you dig this, there are Harold Heath remixes on the EP itself, which you can buy at Traxsource.

But in the meantime, here's the freebie goodness...

The Sleeper - Drum & Wild - Original - (DCSTrax) by Craig Stewart - DCSTrax

About: And if you want to know more about DCS Trax, you can find 'em online here... actually at the moment all you'll see is a pretty swirly pattern but you can email from there if you need to.

Yet more free dubstep bizniss

I know we just had some free dubstep shenanigans the other day but I got sent this DJ mix by 2D yesterday and it really is rather good. Very good indeed, in fact.

In 2D's inimitable style it blends ska and (proper) dub influences into the dubstep pot to create a damned heady brew that's sure to make you, ahem, wind up yer waist. Or something. Anyway it's ace, and here it is – I'd SERIOUSLY recommend grabbing this one even if you think you're not a dubstep fan. It rocks, quite frankly.

2D -POST URBAN DJ Mix by resin records

And as if that wasn't enough, you can also get your hands on 2D's own In The Cold Night in all its full-length glory:

2D - In the Cold Cold Night by resin records

All this freebie goodness is by way of promoting 2D's new single, Soundboy Chronicles. So it's only fair for me to mention that you can buy that and other Resin Records releases here HERE.