So many tunes, so little time 29

As ever, more things I'd have liked to blog about this week than I found time to, so here's this week's 'other stuff' round-up…

Starting off on a tech-house tip, the Captain Bongo Remixes EP from Alex Beautifun on Russian label Beautifun Records features no fewer than 12 (12!) remixes of the one track, all inna tech-house style pretty much so if you can't find something to play here… The Purple Flowers from Andy Ascenscio on BWG Records features five tracks sitting somewhere between deep house, deep techno and minimal, and is well worth checking out… Daneel's Melancholy EP on Stripped Digital is aptly titled, packed as it is with deep, thoughtful progressive house grooves… related label Unrivaled Music serves up Mr No Name from Dexter Ford, a fine slab of deep house with remixes from Patrick Podage and Two House… KB's Groove comes from DJ Linus on Dave Elkbas and friends' fledgling Initials label and is very now-sounding deep/tech bizniss with a spoken vocal and a more-minimal-than-thou techno remix from Kris Wadworth…  King Street serve up the goods for the soulful floors with remixes of Roland Clark pres Urban Soul's Love Is So Nice and Before You Reach For Love from Reelsoul and Music Note respectively… there's some quality deep house on offer as DJ Romain feat Hype and Mobius Strum team up for a split EP called Luv In The Club on Germany's Ama Recordings, Romain's title track standing out for me… and more deep house but with a Gallic twist from London's Act Natural, who give us the After You Lay Down EP from DJ W!ld…  Duckhunter brings the deep techno menace and bubble with Lasso for Wolf Trap, with flipside Poison Ivy the one to check here… Funk Forward didn't waste time thinking up clever names for their Funk Forward EP on Endemic Digital, they spent that time crafting some very fine, VERY deep house grooves instead… though I'm not sure how you'd explain that to Chilean duo Gitech, who ask What Is House? What Is Techno? on an equally fine two-tracker of tuff, glitchy tech-house for Silicon Records… and there's some more house-techno confusion, in a good way, courtesy of MUM who bring us the four-track European Sun EP from local hero Greg Fenton… no such confusion with Higher Ground from Haldo & Stereo Junkie feat Silvio Gigante, which comes on Rebus Records and is definitely one for the soulful floors whichever of the eight mixes you plump for, given the ubiquity of Silvio's Stingily/Sylvester falsetto… whereas on the other hand, the Bora Bora EP from Lyle Quach & Oz Romita is straight-up techno, but y'know, in a good, funky kinda way, particularly on the housier Artificial Track… Nicky Shah's Freak is I think the first ever Bounce House release NOT to get an unreserved thumbs-up from me, purely because US R&B-style singers telling me how "freaky" they are sets off the same alarm bells as when a middle-aged accountant in a Donald Duck tie says "I'm mad, me". The music's the usual high-quality Bounce House fare though… if you want REALLY freaky, then head for the latest from Four40, cos the deep, involving and frankly beautiful Silverchair from Pale is as forward-thinking a slab of future garage as you'll hear in many a moon… Reed & Radley are a pair of former northern UK ravers now based in New Zealand, who've set up a label called Green Grass Recordings, with the debut release being the extremely checkable Mum's The Word EP from R&R themselves… Research do the nu-boogie thang (rather well, it should be said – check the uber-squelchsome Dub in particular) on the mighty Paper Recordings with Day By Day… we're back on a techno/tech-house tip with the Werewolf EP, which comes from Rework on French label Meant Records, with the technoid punk-funk strut of Touch Yourself the standout for me… Rob Duke's Bush Pumpers EP is home to more tech-house that leans towards the techno side of the equation, and comes on French label SFX Records… still on a techno/tech-house tip Umek gives us It Is Simple But It Works Like Fcuk on (of course) 1605 Music Therapy, which isn't intelligent, isn't from Detroit but, y'know… AND FINALLY for tonight, the MVO EP from Volster comes on Microfreak and is techno of a much deeper hue, complete with a remix from Sei A though the original is the one for me…

Phew! It's been a pretty hectic week so I've gotta say some of the above didn't really get the justice they deserved. Sorry to the artists/labels concerned, suffice to say dear reader that if you're as pushed for time as I've been then the Andy Ascencio, Pale, Funk Forward, Reed & Radley and Gitech releases are particularly worth checking out. Oh and that Day By Day Dub Mix – that kicks ass too.