TIWWD is away for a while

As I mentioned yesterday, won't be on here for a week now and there's a ton of stuff I wanted to blog about this week and haven't had time. But Mrs TIWWD is going to get cross if she gets here and I'm not packed, so you're gonna have to make do with a list, I'm afraid…

Sorry to the producers/labels involved, you would have got more airtime but I ran out of week!

Adam Brass – Monte Verde EP (Hype Muzik)
Andy Lemac & Stride – This Time Around EP (Evo Music)
Ben Clarke – Everybody EP (Sleazy Deep)
Cesar Coronado – Voodoo (Fiakun)
Chunk Live – Wired Times (Menomale)
Danny Quattro – The Floor EP (Form_and Function)
Deep Mariano & Yoshitaca – Oh Yeah! (Nite Recordings)
Denny Trajkov – Millennium Park: The Remixes (Artefact)
Evan Iff – Glory EP (Large Music)
Golden Sails – Iceland (Honeywax Records)
James Silk & Andre Crom – Perfect Thing (OFF)
Lijan – The Juggler (Collage Recordings)
Marco Veronese & Massimo Cassini – Slavine EP (Medicine Music)
Maverickz & Konstantin Yoodza – Moved EP (I Am Techno)
Mihalis Safras – Liza Banana (Nite Grooves)
Oli Furness – If I Was (Say Aah!)
Pete Gooding – Underneath (Smiley Fingers)
ReKreation & Saytek – Dub Poetry EP (Deep Edition)
Ricardo G - Analog Clash (Tokyo Red)
Serafimoff – Touch My Body (Unrivaled Music)
Stefan Kaye – Focused EP (Savoir Faire Musique)
Stefano Ritteri – The Rules Of Control (Defected)

And that's just the crème de la crème, I told you it was a crazy week for releases! In an ideal world every one of those would get a full review… meantime in our more usual So many tunes… vein, you might also want to check these:

B Cliff – Juncture (Formula Records)
Baccarat – Cloudiness Soul EP (So Cycle)
Charles Ramirez & Gary DF - Jail Story (Hall Of Fame)
Cyan C/Raw – Acid Blossom EP (Them On The Hill)
Danniel Selfmade & Charlie Demir – Libre La Vida (Stereo)
Dual feat Giovanna – Soul Searching (Way Of House)
Helder Teixeira – Be With You EP (Sounds Of Juan)
Julian Marazuela – Turquesa (Endemic Digital)
Kimara Lovelace – Circles [Remixes] (King Street)
La Source – Superstyle Disco (N.O.I.A)
Leandro P feat Daniel Reis – African Seed (Nylon Trax)

Octave One – New Life (430 West)

Taras Bazeev – Monocle (Guava)
The Love Theme – Rope [John Tejada Rmx] (Plumbline)
Vince Fierro – Take Your Night (Nocturnal)
Wehbba – Common Ground (Tronic)

As for NEXT week's releases… they're just gonna have to wait till I get back. Meantime, this seemed appropriate to leave you with… TTFN!

Tom Conrad & Andre Bonsor – Nocturnal EP

With this being the last full TIWWD review for over a week, I wanted something out of the top drawer to leave you with…

There's just the two tracks to choose from here, but what fine tracks they are! On the A, Esoteric is a mellow, post-club kinda cut, its lingering pads and trippy synth squiggles underpinned by a fat n' funky b-line and topped off with sampled mission control dialogue. Over on the B, After Dark takes us into even deeper territory, placing a one-line snippet of the Rock Creek Park vocal over luxuriant synth washes and crisp, insistent 4/4s.

Classic-style deep house done very, very well. What more do you need?

Out: This week

About: This comes on US label Seasons Recordings, who are based in Costa Mesa, California and can be found on Facebook, or you can visit their online store.

Andrade – Inconditional EP

Four varied deep house nuggets here from French producer Andrade, brought to you by Yorkshire-based label Hudd Traxx.

Housed is up first, a midtempo, hip-swayin' affair with chorused vocal snips and synths that nod towards classic electrofunk/boogie of the early 80s. Inconditional itself follows, a far pacier jazz-house cut that makes me want to revive the word 'boompty-boomp', and is followed in turn by The Dragon Shot, an atmospheric late-night ride. Completing the EP is Deep Impact, which has a proggier feel about its bubbling synths… by the end of the track, you could almost be listening to early Orb or System 7.

With a pleasing variety of flavours executed supremely well, this is most definitely one to check.

Out: This week

About: You can find Hudd Traxx on Soundcloud or at their own website.

ALBUM Matthias Tanzmann – Remixes 2002-2012

DC10 regular Matthias Tanzmann has been providing the world with deep, techy house gems for a whole decade now. And to celebrate the fact, here eight of his finest remixes to date are gathered together in long-playing record album format.

The originals come from (deep breath) Booka Shade, Freestyle Man, Marlow, Luna City Express, Clé, Dash Dude, Michael Melchner and Gamat 3000, but like they say in Airplane!, that's not important right now… what's important is me telling you that if you're after some dancefloor-oriented deep/tech house grooves that are, generally speaking, fairly tuff and percussive but without getting stupid about it, this is a very solid bet indeed.

Which I just did, so job done.

Out: This week

About: This comes on Tanzmann's own Moon Harbour label, who can be found here, here and here (website, Facebook, Soundcloud).

Psi-Acoustic – Dreams From East

Okay, listen up… after tomorrow, TIWWD will be leaving you for a week or so. Just a week or so, though, so don't get scared. BUT, I've got about 37 million things to do before then, and it's been a crazy week for releases as well* so by no means everything I wanted to get reviewed this week is going to. You have been warned.

This one, though, I had to tell you about. Coming on French label Deep Movements, it's a quite superb five-track EP that sits somewhere between deep house, deep/dub techno, scratchy lo-fi Ninja-esque funk-hop, ambient/uneasy listening and, well, you decide. Dreams From East Pt 2 is fairly easily classed as dub techno while Morning At Frankfurt Airport is straight-up ambience, but as for the rest, I'd struggle to know what genre pigeonhole to put it in.

I just know that if you're looking for late-night smoker's grooves, with at times a slightly unsettling edge, you won't find much better right now.

Out: This week

About: I don't think Deep Movements have featured on TIWWD before so, hello French people! You can find out all about 'em on Soundcloud, Facebook or at their own website. Merveilleux.

* Always happens this time of year, with people trying to get stuff out before Xmas

Jack Dixon - 10997 EP

Hot on the heels of label boss Matt Tolfrey's artist album, here comes the latest from Leftroom, or more specifically Leftroom Ltd.

It's a four-track affair. Circle is a deep/tech house chugger with intricately programmed drums and a treated male "give it all to me" vocal (at least I think that's what he's saying). Hexagon is in a similar vein with even more intricate percussion and more treated vox, while PS Triangle is a more straight-up deep house number with cleaner beats, one that'd be most at home post-club or on afterhours floors. And finally, Square is an atmospheric number with grainy, cinematic synth washes and, yep, those distorted vocals again. 

Out: This week

About: You can find Leftroom at their website or on Facebook.

Vilius J – Changes Of Life EP

A three-tracker here from Quadraphonic that'll appeal to fans of techno and tech-house alike.

There's three tracks to talk about. Summer Is The Reason is a densely-layered, echo-y tech-house dancefloor roller with proggy overtones, while Synthetic edges closer to out-and-out techno territory. But somewhat perversely, it's actually dark and scary techno opus Morph that's earned this its place here today.

Dark, scary techno isn't usually TIWWD's favourite genre, as you know, but good music is good music, innit? One to put on when you want to, I dunno, frighten a bunny rabbit or something.

Out: This week

About: You can find Quadraphonic on Facebook and Soundcloud.

ALBUM Riccardo Russolillo – Let Me Call My Name

Woah… this one came out of nowhere! Usually when you get a full album by an artist/producer you've never heard of, it sets alarm bells ringing – it's often the sign of something self-released and self-indulgent. Not so here, though – this is one of the most impressive debuts I've heard for a long time.

Lightly tech-ified deep house is the order of the day, with 10 quite mellow yet still floor-friendly tracks – all instrumental, or all-but instrumental – that are pleasingly devoid of obvious hooks and dramatic breakdowns, instead tending to just get into a groove and then chug and pulse along there nicely. And we all know what less is, don't we? If you dig deeper imprints such like Fullbarr, Etoka or Lucidflow, you'll dig this – it's definitely one '4 da headz', as they say.

But while it's easy enough to sum up the album in genre terms, it's harder to find the right words to tell you just how sumptuously produced it all is – or how impressive it is for a first offering. Let's hope there's more like this to come because on this evidence, Russolillo is already shaping up to be a serious talent.

Out: This week

About: This comes on Italian label Four Fingers Hand, who can be found on Facebook.

Danic – Walk EP

And speaking of techno peeps getting their house groove on (see Umek review, below), here Italian label Deeperfect give us what's one of their housiest offerings to date.

It's a simple two-track affair. Walk itself is a midtempo cut that chugs along driven by a simple looping bassline and crisp, clean beats, topped with a simple looping keys riff and what appears to be a heavily-treated vocal sample from Walking On Sunshine (the Eddy Grant/Rockers Revenge one, not the Katrina & The Waves one). B-side Locked, meanwhile, operates in that spacious, booming deep/tech vein that's so popular in big dark rooms in east London and Berlin, and sports ethereal female vocal snips.

Originally a straight-up techno label, Deeperfect long since established its credentials as a provider of tech-house grooves; here, they prove they can do straight-up house music equally well.

Out: This week

About: You can find Deeperfect on Facebook, on Soundcloud or at their own website.

Umek & Mike Vale – My House

Long the househead's favourite techno producer thanks to his funky, loopy take on the genre, Umek has of late reinvented himself as a fully-fledged tech-house purveyor par excellence.

That transformation continues apace with this latest offering, as Umek teams up with fellow Slovenian producer Mike Vale to create a tech-house floor-shaker that leaves you in no doubt, thanks to the endlessly looping "my house" vocal, exactly which side of the equation it leans towards – a head-frying techno synth breakdown five minutes in notwithstanding.

Tech-house of the highest calibre is what we've come to expect from Umek, and it's what he delivers here. It might not do anything massively innovative or clever but it'll move bodies on the dancefloor without a doubt… which is probably why they stuck to just the one mix!

Out: This week

About: This comes on the mighty Great Stuff, a label who can likewise generally be relied upon!

Kyodai – Shakin'

Dubai's leading house label Audio Tonic serve up a fresh slab from Spanish producer Kyodai here.

In its Original form, Shakin' is a lively, uptempo houser with old-skool rave-y synths and "shakin', can you feel the beat?" female vocals. It'll do the do on the more commercial floors but of perhaps more interest are the remixes – as well as a self-explanatory Dub, it comes with rerubs from Daniel Solar and The Revenge. Solar drops the pace a little on his remix, toning down the synths for a deeper house ride, while The Revenge give us a Bodyfusion Dub that takes us into hypnotic, looping afterhours territory.

So: good solid Saturday night fare for a range of situations, basically.

Out: This week

About: You can find Audio Tonic at their own website, on Facebook or on Soundcloud.

Various – Sampler #One

We seem to be on a new/fledgling labels tip today, so here's another one! I'm a bit confused cos the hype sheet says this is the third release from Initials, whereas the catalogue number is INITIALS004… but anyway, they're new, let's leave it at that.

Well, not quite at that. First, I need to tell you that they're based in London and this is a three-track sampler showing what they can do. Doing the do first is Romanian producer Boola, who gives us the vaguely menacing Ren'tors, a bass- and drum-heavy, heads-down tech houser with a strange, wobbly lead synth  that sounds a bit like a flute and a bit like a Theremin. Next up, Milde Shag from Ste Roberts is a deeper cut with insistent, driving drums, plenty of bass throb and some atmospheric, techno-style FX, while rounding out the EP is a new Analogue Cops remix of DJ Linus's K.B's Groove.

Ste Roberts takes top honours for me but as introductions go, this is pretty promising all round.

Out: This week

About: You can find Initials on Soundcloud and Facebook.

Chris James – Kind Of Heavy

And from a brand new UK-based label, we move to a German imprint that's reached the grand old age of release number three!

Headed up by Dirk Hermann and Andreas Mueller, Klangkultur Schallplatten are based in Cologne, but this particular offering comes from Chris James, who hails from much closer to home (Birmingham). His original version of Kind Of Heavy lives up to its name, based as it is around a large, chunky yet still somehow understated bass riff, topped with breathy fem vox.

Stepping up to the plate on remix duties we have two names that will be very familiar to TIWWD readers. OFF Recordings boss Andre Crom supplies a more stripped, percussive rub that puts the bass riff through some kind of sonic mangle and adds gloriously squelchy synth stabs, while Lost My Dog fave Dale Howard comes (as is his wont) with the rich, garage-y vibes, adding a second, male vocal part to boot.

It's Dale's rub that stands out for me but there are strong mixes here to suit a range of floors.

Out: Friday (November 30)

About: Despite putting out just three releases to date, Klangkultur Schallplatten was founded in 2010 so they're definitely going down the 'quality not quantity' route! Find 'em on Soundcloud, on Facebook or at their own website.

Comon – Everything

What we have here is that most exciting of entities… a brand new label! Kizz Kizz Records is its name, and it's been set up by Comon, a recent arrival on the house scene with Da Da Da on Toolroom. Here, he delivers the label's opening salvo.

"Pure and soulful deep house at its best" is how the hype sheet describes Everything, but I'd take that with a pinch of salt if I were you: it's neither particularly soulful, nor particularly deep. But we're not here to hate, and as accessible, big-room vocal house goes you've certainly heard a lot worse. To these ears, at least, it conjures hazy memories of a certain Mediterranean island…

Most importantly, though, it's a brand new house label. And such are always to be encouraged.

Out: This week

About: Kizz Kizz don't seem to have much of a web presence in their own right yet, but you can find Comon on Facebook and Soundcloud.

Midicult – Who Am I?

"Ten minutes of hypnotic tech house" is how the hype sheet describes this one. And yeah, that's about the size of it.

If I just left it at that though you'd probably be a mite disgruntled. So in more detail… nah, "ten minutes of hypnotic tech-house" pretty much nails it for the original! I might add though that we're talking tech-house in the 'deep and groovy', as opposed to the 'fierce and jacking' or 'minimal and a bit scary' sense. Remix-wise Tom Ellis's rub is a little more house-ified and rolling, Jerico ups the BPM slightly and throws in some vintage house/rave synth sounds, while Steve Leggett flips the script entirely and takes us into more leftfield, downtempo territory.

The latter's actually the rub I'd be least likely to play but Mr Leggett should at least be applauded for his more imaginative/inventive approach. As for the other three… crucial stuff all round but if pushed I think Tom Ellis takes the gold for me, with the Original mere microns behind.

Out: This week

About: This comes to you courtesy of 22 Digit Records, who live in Newcastle and also on Facebook and Soundcloud.

Dylan Debut – Sound System EP

Couldn't not show some love for this one, really, seeing as Mr Debut (I suspect that might not actually be his real name, BTW) is based, like TIWWD itself, in sunny Bristol.

That said, there's really no regionally based favouritism required cos this is a fine slab of floor-friendly deepness, just as we've come to expect from Beats Me Music. Sound System itself is a chunky, funky midtempo groover with the lightest of lounge-y overtones, Walki Talki is a deeper ride with sampled black consciousness vocals and a decidedly New York kinda feel, I Need is a more uptempo affair driven by a full-phat funk bassline and finally Pokki Talki is a stripped-down, loopy cut for the afterhours floors.

Another extremely checkable outing from the boys down in Bournemouth.

Out: Friday (30 Nov)

About: You can find Beats Me Music on Facebook or at their own website.

Evren Ulusoy – Saints And Sinners

From the dancefloor-oriented bump of the Inland Knights, we move onto some (even) deeper grooves from prolific Turkish producer Evren Ulusoy.

There are four mixes of Saints And Sinners to choose from. The harder kicks and layered FX of the Original make very late floors its natural home. Ilias Katelanos serves up a rub that's warm, drifty and musical and perhaps more one for post-club play, while the Prosis Remix is a tad more funkified, with a lil' garage-y swing in its veins. But the standout of what's a very fine pack generally for me is the Jerri Kay Remix: it's sparse, dubby and bassy and really lets the "I like it" female vocal hook shine through.

Quality head-noddin' bizniss for those that know!

Out: This week

About: This comes to you courtesy of Greek label Flat Groove Records… it is in fact their first ever release, so hit 'em up on Facebook and show some of the L-word!

Inland Knights – The Break Out EP

We start off the week's reviews in fine style, with the latest from two of the UK's best-established and most respected of deep house practitioners.

Given that the IKs' take on deep house has always leaned heavily to the 'bumpin' and floor-friendly' side of things, as soon as I tell you the title you've probably already got a pretty good idea of what Bounce might sound like… and you'd be right. So all I need to tell you is that it features an insistent high-end synth riff and a hip-hop style vocal. The rest of the EP is made up two mixes of Broken: the original is a fusion of boogie-fied deep house with phat ravey buzz bass, while the MAM Remix takes us a notch or two deeper.

There's no particular new ground broken or anything, admittedly: this is archetypal Inland Knights/Smokescreen fare. But no-one does this shit quite like Laurence and Andy do it, do they?

Out: This week

About: This comes not on Drop Music, but on Leeds-based Outcross Records, which is run by Matt Hughes and Miguel Campbell (AKA, of course, MAM). Find 'em on Soundcloud, on Facebook or at their own website.

DJ Mishakov – Prophet Of The Streets

Another label here that should be very familiar to TIWWD readers by now, with the latest from Tokyo Red Recordings.

There are two mixes of Prophet Of The Streets, and they're really quite different. In its Original form, it's a very playable deep houser with sampled (movie?) speech and some beautiful garage-y piano chords, underpinned by driving kicks and off-beat hi-hats that lend it plenty of the requisite dancefloor energy. But fine as it is, the killer here for me is the Nu-Disco Mix, which drops the tempo slightly and adds a big phat fuck-off squelching bassline.

And to put it simply, there's nothing that'll win you friends round these parts like a big phat fuck-off squelching bassline! Another winner from my boy Sydney's stable, then.

Out: This week

About: Find Tokyo Red on Facebook. Gotta go now run out of Sunday…

PhaTGuyZ – Our Chance EP

The latest here from UM Records, which as you should know by now is brought to you by Richie Hartness and the other peeps behind the excellent Deep House Fans page on Facebook. They know a thing or two about deep, techy house music, it's fair to say, and it shows in the calibre of the material they sign.

Our Chance itself is a chunky but unhurried deep house groove, with elements of both prog (in the general floaty, dreamy feel) and nu-disco (in the spangly analogue synths), and comes complemented by a tuffer, drummier Max Mikheev Remix. The EP's second original is Next To You, a deep, percussion-led journey topped with female vocal snips and more of those vintage synths, which in turn comes accompanied by a Rishi K Remix that heads off into even deeper territory, ditching the militant snares in favour of more straight-ahead kicks and some lovely warm, evolving bass and synth sounds.

Like I said, the UM crew know a thing or two about deep, techy house music…

Out: This week

About: Find out more by visiting UM Records on Facebook or Soundcloud.

Matteo Barile – Inspirations EP

In keeping with something of nostalgic/ retro/classic theme to a lot of this week's releases, here's another that wears its Inspirations on its sleeve – quite literally!

There are just four tracks on the EP. Keep It Raw does what it says on the tin, pairing old skool Chi-town drum sounds with more contemporary-sounding throbbing bass and whispered vox. There are more of those raw, jackin' beats on Unstable Mind, Ocean Way is a fat  n' funky deep house dancefloor cut with some great organ sounds, while finally the more soulful King Street features a full female vocal atop a sparser, dubbier backdrop with a smidgeon (but just a smidgeon) of that future garage vibe.

Four very strong tracks paying homage to the glory days, from a producer who wasn't even BORN until 1990. Expect big things.

Out: This week

About: This is the first to land in the TIWWD inbox for a while from Denmark's ever-checkable Deso Records, and a very welcome arrival it is too. Find Deso on Facebook, on Soundcloud or at their own website.

Situation – Midnight

Our fourth and final S is for… Situation, a Welsh collective who've previously appeared on Nang, among others.

There are four mixes of Midnight itself, plus bonus cut Feel Like A Queen. In its Original form, the title track is a sumptuous and garage-y deep house groover featuring a jazz-tinged vocal from one Lauren Rimmell, space-y synths/FX and some light flecks of Spanish guitar. Remix-wise there's an accompanying instrumental, Griffin gives us a more tripped-out pass that flirts with broken beats, while Space Coast (them again! see below) deliver an outstanding Dub for those more jacking, afterhours moments.

Feel Like A Queen, meanwhile, is classic-style jazzy, soulful house that will delight fans of Fred Everything, Ralf Gum, Matty Heilbronn, King Street etc. Oh, and Ms Rimmer doesn't half sound like Latrice Burnett on this one as well. So that's me sold, then.

Out: This week

About: This comes on Dutch label United Recordings, who can also be found on Facebook.

Sleazy McQueen – I'm Tired

Some sophisticated grooves here sitting somewhere between nu-disco/nu-boogie and classic US garage. And with quite an impressive remix line-up, too!

Pete Herbert's remix makes much use of classic-sounding house pianos, in keeping with the current obsession with all things vintage… it's like early 90s Italo-house served with a nu-disco twist, basically (and also comes with an instrumental even though there's only a couple of lines of vocal to start with). The Yam Who? Rework has beefier drums and makes more use of the vocal, as well as some classic organ sounds, while the Space Coast Remix is a dubbier and more contemporary-sounding pass.

All four mixes are very strong, making this another must-check. We're doing ever so well today, aren't we?

Out: This week

About: This comes to you courtesy of a brand new label, Lost Paradise… not entirely sure where they're from geographically-speaking but you can find 'em on Facebook. You've gotta love a label who describe their music policy as "It's deep, it's disco, it's acid but most importantly, it's house music" really, haven't you?

Sunner Soul – Scream EP

More S-based deep house goodness, again from a label that have featured on TIWWD many times but again, standing out even when compared to their already impressive back catalogue.

There are three tracks and four mixes in total. April and Scream are by Sunner Soul on his own, the former a warm and bass-y late-night sofa surfer with the very lightest of prog tinges, the latter a more uptempo jaunt into old-skool house territory (check those pianos!). Desperado meanwhile is a joint effort with another S-man, Sergey Silvertone, coming in dreamy, melodic and again slightly proggy Original, or slightly more uptempo, Balearic and floaty Submantra mixes.

With just enough variety to be interesting while remaining coherent as an EP, these are four great tracks don't just satisfy on the musical front, but pack in lots of S's as well. We're all about the S's today.

Out: This week

About: You can find Acryl Music on Soundcloud, on Facebook or at their own website.

Santiago Santamaria – Old Blues EP

Today's reviews are all brought to you by the letter S. Satisfaction is surely certain in this sizzling sensational Saturday special!

Our first man who begins with S is Argentina's Santiago Santamaria, who here serves up two tracks that will delight lovers of deep house and/or deep New Jersey garage. Sporting warm pads, gorgeous Rhodes, lightly tinkling hi-hats and floaty female vocal snippets, both Old Blues itself and Changes are proper sultry late-night delights.

I know I generally rate Savoir Faire releases anyway, but this really is something special. Go seek.

Out: This week

About: You can find Savoir Faire Musique on Facebook and Soundcloud.

ALBUM Pete Dafeet – Family Affair

It's been a long day so I'm keep this kinda quick. Some facts:

1. Lost My Dog is without a doubt one of the UK's best-loved deep house labels
2. Pete Dafeet is one of the three jolly affable fellows that own and run it, and also one of the label's most prolific producers.
3. Here, he seamlessly blends together 14 of his contributions – taking in some forthcoming bullets as well as lots of previously unreleased mixes of back catalogue shizzle – inna superstar DJ in the area mashin' it up throwin' it down and rockin' down the house kinda stylee.
4. Or, you can buy it digitally, in which case you get 18 tracks in all their full-length glory, without the above turntable frolics. In case you fancied doing some of that yourself. I think they've still got some of the three vinyl samplers, too.
5. The mixes come from, among others, Fred Everything, Demarkus Lewis, Moodymanc, Pezzner, Nacho Marco and Giom.
6. It's every bit as groovy and floor-friendly as you want it to be. Hurrah!

Out: This week (as an album – the vinyl samplers have been knocking around for a bit)

About: You can find Lost My Dog at their website, or on Facebook or Soundcloud.

Deymare – While She Danced EP

More very deep vibes here, but we move from the chilled-out ambience of Nikosf into those pastures where deep house and deep techno collide.

Deymare is Finnish producer Tomas Björkman, and here he presents us with three tracks in a total of four mixes. While She Danced itself features raw techno drums counterpointed by some very soothing keys, all topped with sampled snippets of both speech and [briefly, and in heavily treated form] song. Back In Time has more of the soothing keys but this time underpinned by layers of shuffling deep house percussion, while finally Rising comes in two mixes. The Original is deep house in the original Chi-town vein, while Deep Space Orchestra's remix leans a little more towards the dancefloor, with an insistent old-skool keyboard (Rhodes?) riff and wibbly-wobbly noises galore… all the better for blasting you off into inner space, my dear!

If you like your deep house slightly more leftfield, this is a must-check.

Out: This week

About: This comes on Music With Content, the label that's sprung out of successful Manchester club night Content. It's only their second release so show some love, people – here's their website and Soundcloud.

Nikosf – Remembrance Remixes

It's been another hard day so to make up for it, in tonight's reviews we're on a seriously chilled-out tip. First up, this remix EP from Etoka Records.

You know that point where deep house gets SO deep it essentially turns into ambient/chill-out music? Well that's about where we're at with this, particularly if you're talking about the two Alveol rubs of More Than Sad or Lazzich's take on Gray Morning. The Verano mix of Summer Afternoons and Nikosf's own End Of Summer Colours Mix of Sensual Colours, meanwhile, do actually have a 4/4 beat behind them, but we're still at the very, very deepest end of the house spectrum.

Not one for rocking the clubs with then and, to be fair, these are tracks you'd want to find the right time and setting for. Right now, though, they're sounding pretty perfect.

Out: This week

About: Etoka are based in Liverpool and can be found at their own website or on Soundcloud.

Various - DeepWit Autumn Air

From a new label in Holland, we move on to a label in Denmark that's, while not actually that old, already well-established on the TIWWD favourites list. Proper deeper-than-deep house is what DeepWit excel at, for anyone who's just wandered in, and so it is with this five-track sampler.

Loz Goddard's How It Was places sampled speech – actually a sampled speech, if you see what I mean – atop a gently pulsing, hypnotic groove and leaves it to do its thing. Monsieur Electronique's Mind Bomb is another late-night sofa surfer, while O'Berg & Leverin's The Piano Factory unsurprisingly foregrounds the eponymous instrument – in a lilting, minor-key, Harold Budd kinda way as opposed to a hands-in-the-air rave anthem kinda way, you understand. Lloyd Trimmer's Honey isn't ACTUALLY an early 90s deep NJ garage gem on Strobe, of course, but sure sounds a lot like one, and then finally there's Way Out by Dave Martin & Deephoniq, which again is best served after dimming the lights, sitting back and sparking up a fat one…

It's admittedly probably a 'heads-only' affair but since when was that a problem? Crucial bizniss!

Out: This week

About: You can find DeepWit on Soundcloud, Facebook or at their own website.

Various – As Heard At ADE

It has been, dear reader, something of a trying day, for reasons I won't bore you with. So gonna keep it to a couple of V/A eps tonight, the first of which is this seven-artist, seven-track sampler from fledgling Dutch label Trick Track Records, who recently hosted their first ADE party.

Trick Track are based in The Hague and describe themselves on Soundcloud as a "deep house/nu-disco/tech-house" label. Which is as good a way as any to describe the overall melting-pot vibe here! William Medagli & Thallulah give us Flavor Does It, a bouncy, bassy tech-house groove that uses big chunks of the Dr Love vocal – big dark rooms beckon, as indeed they do for Nicola Nolli's Mercury, which is in a similar vein but instrumental. Albert Santizzo & Micket Franc's In Zoo Boogie is a deep little chugger sporting an unlikely-sounding fusion of soulful vocal snips and Theremin-type wibbly-wobbly noises, Chris Luzz's Jungle Juice is a sparser,  tribal-inflected workout and, well, there's some more goodness in the form of strong cuts from Lightzoff, Nick Safado feat Andrea Love and Colino.

All told, it's very checkable indeed. So check it!

Out: This week

About:  Something else Trick Track have to say about themselves:

The ideal of Trick Track Records is to generate the future and the past into a unitary sound of electronic music and give the listeners a moment of quiet in the sound, finding themselves wondering with their mind in places never thought of.

I'm not entirely sure what that all means either, but anyway as well as the sound of the cloud you can find 'em on Facebook or at their own website.

Kurtz & Young2star – Flame

Finally for tonight, we have some more deep house vibes courtesy of the ever-prolific Endemic Digital.

There are four mixes of Flame. The Original is deep and dreamy but features one of those 80s synth-pop style vocals – they're all the rage at the moment but not my favourite personally, so I'd be looking for a mix that foregrounds them a little less. To that end, there's a slightly dubbier Mr Fresh LTC Remix and an actual Dub Version, the latter edging it slightly of the two… but the standout overall for me is the Marco Soave Remix, a lush, late-night pass that manages to out-dub the Dub!

Out: This week

About: Here's a label link you've seen a few times before, then…

Demarkus Lewis – Place In The Shade

Dallas's own deep house legend Demarkus Lewis returns to San Francisco label Headset Recordings.

There are three mixes of Place In The Shade to choose from. The original's a lively little number with intricate percussion, nu disco-tastic synths and some old skool-sounding vocal snips, while Ross Richards' Shady Rework is more heads-down and chuggy, with the emphasis firmly on the groove. But the standout for me is the remix by Serbia's Mass Digital, in whose hands the track becomes a proper bassy 5am throbber whose essential darkness is alleviated by some more of those sparkling synths.

Whichever mix you plump for, though, you're getting a Demarkus Lewis record – and I don't think he's made a bad one yet…

Out: This week

About: Headset Recordings can be found on Facebook, on Soundcloud or at their own website.

Knuckle Walkers – Instinct

An EP of very contemporary-sounding house grooves here courtesy of Danish label Gartenhaus.

Knuckle Walkers are a Copenhagen-based duo, comprised of Soeren Reith-Hauberg and Jens Lindahl., and they serve up three original tracks here. Food Chain is a midtempo, lolloping kind of affair that uses some familar gypsy/Balkan sounds in a pleasingly less familiar way, the accordions stretched out till they sound like something from an Ennio Morricone western theme. Massive is a glitchier, techier cut with a warping bassline from the dubstep/bass music school of thought, while Frontiers is a more atmospheric, meandering number. Rounding out the EP is a Strung Fellows Remix of the latter, which adds some acid-ish bass throb.

If you like your house a little more leftfield and forward-leaning, this is one to check for sure.

Out: This week

About: You can find Gartenhaus on Soundcloud or at their own website.

Groove Bugs – Woman Cheeta

A pleasant surprise from Chicago's Bid Muzik here! See, I've nothing against the label's trademark balls-out, hi-octane disco-house… it might not be the most cerebral of genres but there's a place for tuneage like that on Saturday night dancefloors for sure. But I don't often really have a lot to say about it, which is why Bid Muzik releases frequently crop up in the So many tunes… round-ups on TIWWD but don't often get a full review.

This is a different story, though. Think big room house with electro edges, but done from a proper house perspective as opposed to a 'making idiots jump up and down' perspective, topped off with a bad-gyal ragga vocal and some female scat vox thrown in for good measure.

There's just the one mix and, as I've already said, it's not what we've come to expect from Bid Muzik at all. But, reminiscent as it is of early Basement Jaxx or some of Morales's old Bad Yard mixes, it could certainly be one to reach for when more energy is required.

Out: This week

About: Find Bid Muzik on Soundcloud or Facebook.

Sef Prod – Maya

And we stay in Italy for this three-tracker from a label that haven't featured on TIWWD before, Yulia Records.

Sef Prod is actually a duo who go by the somewhat unlikely names of Frank and S.o.u.l, and here they turn in three very solid deep house dancefloor grooves. Maya itself features a big chunky bassline and cut-up vox in that currently v. hip deep/tech stylee, Jack fuses a very similar b-line with more old-skool sounding beats and atmospheric reversed vox, while On The Beach is a tad warmer, funkier and more in a 'traditional' deep house vein.

The latter is my pick but as I said, all three are very playable.

Out: This week

About: Yulia Records, as I now know, are based (like Romeo and Juliet) in Verona. To find out more, see their website or Soundcloud page.

ALBUM Various – Deeperfect Street's Stuff Vol 2

What's that you said?

Oh, you didn't say anything.

That's weird. I could have sworn I heard someone say, "Thanks for the Great Stuff review Russ… are there any other labels you know of who consistently turn out very dependable and floor-friendly tech-house goodness? And who have a compilation out this week full of gems in said vein, with which I might feasibly 'rock' the proverbial 'house?'."

Clearly I didn't. My bad.

If I HAD heard someone say that, though, I'd have answered, "Yes, my friend. Italy's Deeperfect is just such a label, and you're in luck because – unbelievable coincidence though it may seem – they, like Great Stuff, also have a label compilation out this week."

And this is it. Tracks  – seven of 'em in total so I'll let you decide whether you want to call this an album or an EP – come from (deep breath) Deas & Lubica, Alex Gomez & Bias, Blacktron, Chiqito, Madutec, Michael Myers and Taktfast, and as with the Great Stuff comp, tough-ish but party-centric tech house is the general rule, with a couple of more techno/prog exceptions thrown in and, strangely, another nod to the speed garage days in the form of the vocal on Gomez & Bias's Slow Movement.

Out: This week

About: You can find Deeperfect on Soundcloud, on Facebook or at the website of parent company Sound4Group.

ALBUM Great Stuff Grooves Winter Edition

Right then, I'm notoriously rubbish at finding the time to do enough album reviews and there's a few of the blighters this week, so let's start as we mean to go on and kick the week's reviews off with this latest label comp from Munich's mighty Great Stuff stable.

There are 12 tracks in total, coming from such familiar names as David Penn, David Amo & Julio Navas, Filthy Rich and Roy RosenfelD, as well as various newcomers. Obviously with 12 tracks from 12 (or more, given that some are collabs) artists there's gonna be some degree of variation on offer but overall, Great Stuff's trademark blend of rollin', chuggin', party-friendly tech-house is the order of the day.

Special mention needs to be made of Filthy Rich's Rave In A Cave with its big n' dirty speed garage-style bassline, but basically yeah: if you're a Great Stuff fan (whieh I am) then this won't disappoint one iota. It might not have any great surprises in store either, but it won't disappoint.

Out: This week

About: You can find Great Stuff here.

So many tunes, so little time 33

You know the deal… the best of the rest of this week's releases

We start off on a dubstep tip with Tears, a superbly deep, dark and moody rumbler that comes from Blueprint courtesy of Section 8 Dub… Southpark Records take time out from all that bouncy tech-house to deliver two more laidback, drummy and Afro-tinged workouts in the form of the Stereo Abidjan EP by Brekowsky & Jonnynes… Carl Taylor then drags us onto the disco-tastic floors with Debbie's Groove, a heavy-hitting, high-octane Sneak-ish roller on EPM Music complete with the happy-clappiest Robert Hood remix this reviewer's ever heard! Click the label link to hear it for yourself… but if that's all a bit much and you like your house music more on the horizontal side then Cyanwave's Anxiety Of Acceleration should suit your needs nicely, fine slab of uber-deep vibes that it is… Daniel Selfmade's Two Cats EP is home to three dark, rolling tech-house cuts and comes on Infamous Recordings… sticking with the techy vibes we have the Rock It EP from Gaga, with two fierce, almost Trade-y cuts for the tuffer tech-house floors, coming on 1605 Music Therapy… pause…

resume… Hugo Ibarra's four-track Heavenly EP for Stripped Digital is one that'll delight the progressive house diehards… meanwhile sister label Hype Muzik surprise us with the Brothers & Sisters EP by Jack Steinel, which is also in a Balearic/prog kinda vein and is, I think, the deepest and most melodic release I've heard from the label yet… you wouldn't say the same about Lissat & Voltaxx's Cuckoo EP for Great Stuff, which instead sees US back in tuff, rolling tech-house territory, and THEM serving up a new White Chocolate Rework of last year's summer anthem Sunken Bells Of Ibiza as one of the EP's three tracks… aah, now HERE's what happened to the third in Spring Tube's set of three third-anniversary EPs! The I Amsterdam EP features three tracks in a more 'typically Spring Tube' proggy vein than the other two, and funnily enough comes from an artist called Shimmer, though presumably not the same one from 1993 I was comparing Evan Iff's single to earlier in the week… and finally for this week, Tsezar brings us a single that's called French In America and comes on Bid Muzik, so you almost certainly don't need me to tell you that high-octane filter disco is the order of the day.

With THANKS ALSO this week to: Audio KoDe, Axel Karakasis, Chris Page, Dosem, Dualitik, FaltyDL, Forest, Hexadecimal, Ilya Korman, Jan Van Lier, Lo Fi Beats, Lydecker, Madutec, Marcos Cruz & Danny Martin, Maverickz, Namy feat Josh Milan, Rude Audio, Sergio Marini & Lucas, Sound Gypsy, thatmanmonkz, The Barking Dogs and Tom Hades. As ever, sorry if you didn't make the cut this week, I'm sure there's some splendid tuneage I've cruelly overlooked in there but there's only so many hours in the day!

ALBUM Matt Tolfrey – Word Of Mouth

Having just made some slightly sniffy remarks about 'east London hipsters' (see Deep Cycle Vol 2 review below) I should point out that it's braying, snotty-nosed 24-year-olds in those stupid elasticated-ankle jeans and sailor tops I object to, not necessarily the music they listen to. I mention this cos Leftroom is, I believe, quite popular with those very same irritating NO2-snorting club brats… yet it's also without a doubt, one of the UK's finest deep house labels.

So when label boss Matt Tolfrey serves up his debut artist full-length, you'd expect pretty good results, and Word Of Mouth doesn't disappoint. Managing to sound contemporary, look to the future and evidence an awareness and appreciation of house music history all at the same time, it actually delivers pretty freaking awesome results, truth be told.

Regular readers may remember how taken yours truly was with the first single, Turn You Out, back in August; well, it sounds just as fresh and essential now, only now it's accompanied by nine more cuts of equal quality. Simply speaking, this is a superb debut that's been well worth the wait… whatever cut of jeans you happen to be wearing.

Out: This week

About: You can find Leftroom at their website or on Facebook.

PS I should probably try and make this blog a bit less 'bitter, grumpy old man'-ish, I know. But what's a bitter, grumpy old man to do?

ALBUM Various – Deep Cycle Vol 2

If you asked me what my favourite things are, I'd give you a list that included chocolate, sex, Mexican food… and getting albums sent by labels I've never heard of before, packed with deep house gems from artists I've never heard of either.

Well, I've not had any Mexican food this weekend* but I did spend last night at Mrs TIWWD's house, I have got an open box of Lindor… and I did get this in my inbox, a 16-track compilation from new (this is their 10th release) Croatian label Deep Site Recordings. And three outta four ain't bad!

I'm not going into every track, given that there are 16 of the blighters, but suffice to say that a good 13 or 14 of 'em are absolutely crackin'. And while there are a couple of familiar or vaguely familiar names involved (Loz Goddard, for one), as I said most of 'em come from peeps who are all-new, or at least all-new to these ears.

Which makes this album eminently checkable… and far more interesting, to these ears, than any compilation featuring all the current East London hipster faves. Let's keep it underground, people.

Out: This week

About: You can find out about this (on this evidence) highly promising new label at their website, on Soundcloud or on Facebook.

*Unless you count Doritos. I was at a house party where 'nibbles' were served and I couldn't swear that no Doritos were involved.

DJ Aguy pres Black Silk - Floating Remixes Pt 2

As the name subtly hints, here comes a second set of remixes of this reissued vintage Black Vinyl gem from 2003.

Three of 'em, to be precise. Whereas Remixes Part 1 stuck (by and large) to the soulful feel of the original, though, the three rubs here venture a little further afield. Label boss Alan Russell defies the current vogue for all things heavily treated and electronic, turning in a Wadadli Deep Mix that's all fluttering Spanish guitars, tribal-ish hand percussion and not a lot else except a pulsing bassline. Black Silk's own Beat & Vox 2012 Mix does what it says on the tin in a Tenaglia-tastic and Lawler-licious kinda fashion while the Black Silk Mainstream does the "big room tech-house with prog/trance leanings" thing.

Mixes to suit a range of tastes, then… which is what such packages are about, surely?

Out: This week

About: You can find Black Vinyl on Facebook.

Frank Naht – D.C.O

Usually like to start Sunday on a mellow kinda tip but this week let's go through the other door and kick off with one that's straight from the dark place.

Uncompromising fierce tech-house/techno is the order of the day here. The Original features a Laurie Anderson-esque vocal atop warping, industrial percussion, the Elon Remix brings the hard-as-nails drums, the Francys Remix is an exercise in dark, creepy minimalism, while the Data Vault Remix takes us into an even sparser, more cinematic deep techno zone.

This is about as out-and-out techno as TIWWD gets but it's quality stuff, rest assured. Eyes down now.

Out: This week

About: This comes on Billy Disciple & Al Alvarez's New York-based Undulate Recordings. Find 'em on Soundcloud, on Facebook or at their own website.

Deep Herman – Deep Dreams EP

Good as the Dual T and Thomas AS releases are – I don't write about things I don't like on TIWWD – I've saved the best till last here. I don't know quite what's happened with Spring Tube suddenly transforming themselves into a reliable source of proper deep house grooves, but I'm glad it has and long may it continue!

So yeah, this is the second in a week from the Russian label… it's actually one of three EPs they're releasing this week to celebrate their third birthday (I'm not quite sure what I've done with the other one but anyway). Deep Dreams itself is warm and hypnotic, Feel The Same is a notch livelier and a wee bit techier and features a distinctive "let's wait and see" movie-sampled male vocal, while Hey You Feel Me is more drifty and late-night.

Generally speaking though, "proper deep house grooves" just about sums up all I've got to say, really! Top stuff all round.

Out: This week on Beatport, everywhere else in two weeks' time.

About: You can find Spring Tube at their own website or on Facebook.

Oh, and as I'm always calling them a Russian label, I should point out they're actually based in the US… but they're run by Russian dudes and they release a lot of music by Russian artists (Deep Herman is from Belarus) so same difference I guess.

Thomas AS – Wonderful In Your Eyes EP

More deep house vibes here, this time courtesy of a label called Tanzbar Digital who, despite this being their 78th release, are I believe making (fanfare of trumpets) their very first appearance on TIWWD.

Having said we're on a straight-up deep house tip tonight, of the three EPs this is the one with the most techy/proggy leanings. There are three mixes of the title track to choose from, all of which feature the same whispered/spoken female vocal and all of which are in a warm-up/post-club kinda vein. The Philippe Ort and Original mixes are pleasingly hypnotic but the Angelo Draetta Dub & Dumb Mix would be the rub most likely to get yours truly, at least, up and dancing thanks to its vintage Chicago-style percussion.

Rounding out the EP is bonus cut Lost Mind, which ventures into techno territory with its looping, terrace-friendly percussion and warping, distorted bass synth sounds.

Out: This week

About: Tanzbar Digital are, unsurprisingly, German and can be found at their own website, on Soundcloud and on Facebook.