Rob Clarke – Sometimes EP

There's no stopping the Beats Me Music boss right now, as he follows last week's Organica EP with a five-tracker on the mighty Bounce House.

The EP's made up of three mixes of Sometimes itself, plus two bonus cuts. Sometimes is a fairly stripped-down deep house groove in its original form, the sparse production allowing the chiming synths and the hefty sample from Whitney's classic Love Will Save The Day to really ring out.  Label boss DK Watts supplies a remix that's a little more chugging and throbby, while a 3am Classic Dub sees Al Bradley in typically fine and very deep, afterhours-friendly form. Elsewhere on the EP, Repeater is a techier, synthier and slightly spooky, ominous kinda joint while Solar is more organic and warm-up friendly.

TIWWD has long believed Beats Me Music deserves a wider audience, and Rob putting out nuggets like this on respected labels like Bounce House certainly won't harm their cause any!

Out: This week

About: You can find Bounce House Recordings on Soundcloud, on Facebook or at their own website.

Chemical Warfare – Temprano [Gavron Reblitz]

On to this week's reviews, then, and we'll start with this one which is nice and easy cos there's just the one mix!

Or rather, just the one remix. Temprano is a track that previously featured on the Forward Motion EP, and here it's remixed into a seriously heavy tech-house groove by Gavron, main man at the Musiquarium in Leeds. You'll recognise it from the "children of house, I'm praying for your soul, I'm praying for all the freaks" spoken vocal.

Big, dramatic house music for those 4am dark room moments.

Out: This week

About: This comes of course on Al 'One-half of Chemical Warfare' Bradley's own 3am Recordings, who you can find on Facebook and Soundcloud.

Carlo Gambino & Al Bradley – Automatick

I've deliberately saved this till last tonight, cos it's the best of what has been a very fine bunch all round.

At least, it is if you're old, because the minute you hear the vocal you'll be grinning from ear to ear! On Automatick, you see, this pair of cheeky Yorkshire scamps have brazenly lifted the vocal from Dee D Jackson's minor 1977 disco hit Automatic Lover… better known to those of us who spent the early 90s dancing on podiums, hugging strangers and blowing whistles as Friends Of Matthew's Is There Anybody Out There? Which means that if you ARE a househead of "a certain age" then this record is pretty much impossible not to instantly fall in love with.

Musically, it's actually a very contemporary-sounding slice of deep/tech house coming complete with a slightly more disco-fied pass from Nick Devon and a marginally tuffer/techier Ceri rub. Which left me wondering, what would an 18yo clubber today – who wasn't born when Friends Of Matthew soundtracked a million and one stranger-hugs – would make of it? And then I remembered how blown away I was on hearing Is There Anybody Out There? for the first time, and decided that to young, fresh ears this will probably sound just as good now as that did to me, then. So everyone's happy.

For many reasons, TIWWD doesn't do a 'tune of the week' or anything like that. But if I did, this'd be it without a doubt. Utterly, utterly crucial.

Out: This week on Beatport, everywhere else from 1 Oct.

About: Despite Carlo getting top billing this comes not on his own Midnight Social but on Al's own 3am Recordings, who live on Soundcloud and Facebook mostly.

Incidentally, hearing this made me wonder who Friends Of Matthew actually were, given that we never really heard from them again… and it turns out two of them were Mike Grey and Jon Pearn (pre-Hustlers Convention even, never mind Full Intention). Every day's a school day, eh?

Ruben F – On The Dancefloor

Something of a 'usual suspects' feel to the blog tonight, with three labels representing who get a LOT of TIWWD love I know, but when they keep putting out records as good as these what's a boy to do?*

So this one, then, comes on Al Bradley's 3am and features three mixes of Groovin' plus bonus cut The Man Machine. Groovin' starts life as a garage-y organ groove, gets a slightly more contemporary-sounding refix from Poussez Vs Toast Burglars (!) that features elements of both tech-house and nu-disco, then on the Terry Vernixx High Desert Remix becomes a more percussive affair that'd be suited to terrace play, but without losing the deep/soulful timbre of the original. The Man Machine rounds out the EP on a deeper techy tip, with disembodied sample speech and a simple nagging organ/synth riff.

And between 'em, any DJ who plays deep house should find at least something to spin here.

Out: This week

About: You can find 3am Recordings on Soundcloud and Facebook.

*Actually I think you're supposed to build 'em up for six months then knock 'em down to make yourself look 'clever' and 'cool', that seems to be what a lot of dance music magazines/blog/etc take great delight in doing… but I've never played that. Never felt the need…

Rob Clarke & Al Bradley – Apache Communications EP

A split release here from two names that will be very familiar to regular TIWWD readers, with one track apiece from 3am Recordings label boss Al Bradley and Beats Me Music main man Rob Clarke.

Apache on the A comes from Mr Clarke and is a comparatively uptempo slab of slammin' deep house with plenty of bounce in its veins (and its big-ass b-line), and a Zebedee-like bouncy springy noise thrown in to boot! Over on the B, Al's Skirmish is slightly more sedate, and features spoken male "you must be crazy… can you dig it?" vocal snips and mellow piano chords atop a tribally-inflected backing that sounds a bit like the music from Crash Bandicoot. Sounds weird, I know, but it works.

Very soon we're promised an Apache Communications Remixed EP, with Al reworking Rob's cut and vice versa. But these two originals will do nicely for now.

Out: This week

About: You can find 3am Recordings on Facebook and Soundcloud.

Ceri – Would You…

A very now-sounding release from 3am, this one, sitting right on the point where deep, tech and progressive house all join hands and, as such, likely to find a place in many a DJ's set.

The Original of Would You… works echo-y, tribal vocals and wails over a relentless throbbing bassline, an ominous, chiming synth riff and crisp, straight-down-the-line percussion. The Matt Akita Remix goes to town with added percussive elements, turning the track into a summer terrace kind of affair, while the Rhythm Rebounds Remix from Matteo Floris, in contrast, takes us in a more techno-oriented direction with a different b-line and sparser, reverb-drenched production.

Yesterday's one review was of a tune for those moments where you want to turn the dark up. Continuing in a similar vein, this'd be where you start edging back towards the light.

Out: This week

About: You can find 3am Recordings on Soundcloud and Facebook.

DK Watts – Don't Wanna See You

The Short Bus Kids/Bounce House man comes to the UK's 3am Recordings, with an EP comprising three mixes of the title track plus bonus cut No-One.

DK's original of Don't Wanna… is a fairly uptempo number that blends deep house and nu-disco influences, with some psychedelic-ish tinges around the edges too. Mark Jones (the Irish one, not the Wall of Sound one) then takes us on a deeper journey with it, but with a rock-solid 4/4 kick that ensures the natural home for this rub is on mangled afterhours floors.

Gotta say I'm not quite so into the Alex Alterskye Remix, which adds a disconcerting second vocal that sounds like an elephant in pain… but no matter, cos No-One rounds out the EP in fine style, another uncompromising dancefloor stomper that brings a little classic west coast flavour. Which is never a bad thing in TIWWD's books!

Out: This week on Beatport, everywhere else from 2 July.

About: Al Bradley's long-running 3am Recordings, located in sunny Heckmondwike, West Yorkshire, can be found on Facebook and Soundcloud.

Ben Dean feat Bryony Matthews - Find Me

From one Ben to another… this one's called Ben Dean, and is a Manchester-based Kiwi who now returns to the label where he made his production debut some nine years ago, Al Bradley's 3am Recordings. And the prodigal son doesn't disappoint, with a sterling slab of straight-up deep house in five mixes.

The original's a mid-paced affair with Chicago-esque bass and a yearning, soulful vocal from Ms Matthews. Remixes then come from the pick of the UK deep house crop. Label boss Al serves up a dark and moody dancefloor dub with a big fat bassline that comes remarkably close to 'bassline' territory (or at least 'bassline house' territory, before it went all cheesy and urban-electro). Long-term cohort Carlo Gambino takes us on another deep, dark n' dubby ride, but this time one that's more suited to home listening/post-club play, Rob Clarke keeps the vocal intact but beefs up the beats and ups the tempo a little while finally, Ben himself dons his Backfoot guise for a steppy, laidback, garage-y pass.

Classy stuff all round, with Backfoot and Al sharing the honours for me.

Out: This week

About: Find 3am Recordings on Facebook and Soundcloud if you want to know more – you can HEAR THIS at the latter too.

Dexter Duplong - Steel Town Blues EP

This is number 60 from 3am Recordings, and doing the honours is one Dexter Duplong, who hails from sunny Newcastle (our second northeast connection of the night, but purely by coincidence).

Two tracks in a total of four mixes are what you get, kicking off with Jasmine's Groove, a pretty decent slab of nu-disco drawing heavily on vintage 80s electrofunk for inspiration. It's cool, but even better is the 3am Deep Dub from label boss Al Bradley, who quite interestingly fuses the retro vibes with a little chunky, contemporary tech-house flava.

On the flip, Baker Street boys Paul Hardy and McKai pull off a similar trick with Steel Down Dancer, but it's the original of this for me… cos it's on the original that as phat and funky-arsed a slap bassline as you'll hear all year really gets to stand out, alongside a hip-house style rap vocal.

With a mixture of house, tech-house, nu-disco and boogie grooves, then, this is a very strong EP that should find favour with a lot of DJs.

Out: This week

About: Here's 3am Recordings on Facebook and Soundcloud, then…

Poussez - Sandcastle Society

A five-tracker here from Poussez, taking in mixture of deep house and slo-mo/downtempo styles… and featuring as disturbing a sleeve as you're likely to see all month. Brrrr.

Sandcastle Society itself opens proceedings, a slow-moving deep houser with a heavily reverbed female vocal, throbbing b-line and plenty of dreamy atmos. Hairy Jaw drops the tempo yet further, being a low-slung groove with a spoken (male, French) vocal and a vaguely Balearic feel to the percussion – one for those lazy beach/poolside sessions. Hairy Jaw then gets dragged to the dancefloor by a brace of dubs from the ever-prolific Danny Ward AKA Moodymanc, his Close Shave Dub being my pick from the EP as a whole, before finally the rather peculiarly-titled Trinity Remix [Original Mix], which again is downtempo and somewhat filmic, closes out the EP.

Good stuff as ever from Jafar and Maxime. Apart from the cover, which is just wrong.

Out: This week

About: Poussez run their own label Artizan Music, but this one comes on Al Bradley's 3am Recordings, the latest label to join an illustrious list the lads have recorded for that also includes Toolroom, Neurotraxx Deluxe, Universal Vibes and Hudd Traxx.

For more info on Poussez, see their own website which features a handy player with snippets of almost everything they've done!

2 Billion Beats - Babylon

The latest from 3am was intended, says the hype sheet, as a tribute to the sound of vintage UK deep house labels such as Paper, Toko and Pagan. Accordingly, they've drafted in the duo of Tom Lonsborough and Col Hamilton, AKA 2 Billion Beats, to do the honours.

In its Original form, Babylon tops off midtempo beats, a throbbing bassline and warm synth washes with trippy, Eastern-sounding synths, making for a track that probably sounds at its best when you're feeling a little 'altered'. The Höhle Remix is doing it for me, though, dispensing with the head-frying wibbles and wandering down an altogether more post-club, hazed-out route, while completing the EP is a stripped-down, dubby take from Matt McHenry that's aimed at very, very late floors, and that brings back the trippy high-end without it being quite as in-your-face as on the Original.

Definitely the Höhle rub for me but if you like it a little more wonky and leftfield, the other two should suit you nicely.

Out: This week on Beatport, 19 April everywhere else.

About: You can find on Facebook and Soundcloud. Oh yeah and before anyone feels neglected, I should mention the hype sheet did namecheck Glasgow Underground and 2020Vision as well… and quite rightly so.

Matteo Floris - Someone Is Rockin' EP

The experimental meets the traditional here, on an EP from 3am packing some VERY different mixes.

In the experimental/leftfield corner we have two originals from Floris himself. If you like your beats fractured, your rhythms chopped and stuttered and your headspace fucked with, then you should dig both Someone Is Rocking and Stolen Party, both of which also come complete with chopped-up snatches of Cockney vocal. Think of the kind of deep house that might appeal to fans of Domu, 4hero or Luke Vibert…

But in the traditional corner, we have two remixes that, I must admit, are more up TIWWD's disco dolly street. In Michael Scott's hands, Stolen Party becomes a bass-led deep houser with slight overtones of 80s groove/boogie. But the real star of the show is label boss Al Bradley, who shows the young 'uns how it's done on his Rock Your Body Dub of Someone Is Rockin'. Layered, echoing 4/4s, rising synth stabs, a rumbling b-line and sparingly-used sax squiggles join the tiniest of vocal snips here to create a proper deep house delight that'd be just as at home on the dancefloor or the sofa.

With cuts to suit a range of tastes, then, this is worth checking all round. But Al's Dub is the killer for me.

Out: This week

About: You can find 3am Recordings on Facebook and Soundcloud.

City Soul Project - Future Retro EP

Something of a collision of UK deep house heavyweights here, as City Soul Project come to 3am and Howard Sessions, Rob Small and Al Bradley get on the remix tip.

In its Original form, lead track How We Used To Do It is typical of the kind of sultry, top-quality late-night deep house we've come to expect from this pair, starting out with big spacey chords and crisp 4/4s before building into a jazz-tinged keyboard workout aided by a fat b-line and the occasional space disco stab. Howard & Al's Lip Service Remix then strips the track right down into a proper sparse throbber for the deepest of floors, while Rob heads in the opposite direction, tuffening up the beats a little in a way that could help this reach out to the tech-heads.

Three quite different mixes, then, but all will suit their purpose to a T. Throw in bonus cut 1984, a fairly self-explanatory nu-disco/electrofunk squelcher, and you've got an EP that's really something of a must-have. Go seek.

Out: This week

About: You can find 3am Recordings on Facebook and Soundcloud.

Al Bradley - Power To The Peaceful

There are times when you hear a familiar vocal sample and you think, oh God, not again. If, for instance, I never hear another dubstep/garage/D&B track with that 'six million ways to die' sample, I won't be complaining. On the other hand, there are those times when you hear a familiar vocal sample and you think, 'I can't believe he's used this… but it works'.

And in the case of Jetstream here, it certainly does work. The sample in question exhorts you not only to continue pushing, but to do so more forcefully, and sits atop muted Sound Factory-esque drums and a simple looping piano riff on the Original mix, or (my pick) an epic slab of Mr Fingers-ish deep/Balearic house on the Joe Morris Coloured Smoke Remix. It's great.

And that's only the B-side! On the A, the Original Mix of Power To The Peaceful pitches sampled Civil Rights-era speech over a sparse, echo-y deep house backing starring some gorgeous Rhodes work, while Gambino's Unruffled Mix is a midtempo near-breakbeat shuffler featuring some fat, squelchy analogue synth sounds.

Excellent stuff all round, but Jetstream just pips it for me. So I'll keep on pushing it harder.

Out: This week

About: This comes not on Al's own 3am Recordings but is in fact the second release (I believe) on Carlo Gambino's Midnight Social Recordings.

Rob Small presents Uncle Rico - All That Jazz

Rob Small takes time out from mastering for the world and his brother, to deliver this three-tracker for 3am under his Uncle Rico guise.

The original of All That Jazz explores the area where jazz and deep, dubby house/techno… to remarkably pleasing effect, it must be said! Universal Solution's Remix tones down the jazz elements (bar the spoken vocal) in favour of a smoother deep house ride, while the Jamie Adam Tune Remix takes us in a proggier direction. But while both are playable for sure, neither competes with the original for sheer out-there freakiness.

House music for the mind as well as the body. To coin a phrase.

Out: This week

About: The mighty 3am Recordings don't need any intro from me by now, surely? But click the link anyway – it'll take you to their Soundcloud page where you can HEAR THIS for yourself.

THIS JUST IN! 3am remix competition

We'll have more compact and bijou reviews tomorrow but for tonight, Al Bradley has asked me to help spread the word about a nifty remix competition they're running for all you producer/remixer types out there. So, take it away, Al…

"To celebrate the forthcoming release of Rob Small pres Uncle Rico All That Jazz (TAM055) in December, 3am Recordings has teamed up with Rob to offer budding producers and remixers that chance to feature on a full release on 3am in 2012, and also to remix the debut release from Rob's Uncle Rico project, A Different Groove. Originally released in 2010, the track (TAM039) had amazing support from Giom, City Soul Project, Pete Dafeet, Murray Richardson, Da Funk and more. The two winning remixes will be chosen by Rob himself and 3am Recordings label manager Al Bradley, with the winners being announced just before Christmas.

Rob’s tracks and remixes have been released on labels such as Artform, Monique Muzique, Evasive, Soulman, Assembly, Soundz and many more, alongside his own TUG Underground imprint and 3am Recordings, so this is a chance to remix a track which iDJ Magazine called ‘a future classic’ and put your own spin on it.

To obtain the remix parts and be kept up to date on 3am releases, future projects, free tracks and mixes, simply send an email to info@3amrecordings.com and you will receive an email giving the link to the remix parts and all the details for entering the competition."

So there you have it… get emailing! If you want to know more, here's the 3am Recordings link you'll be needing.

Jesus Pablo – Dancing Chords

There's the proverbial clue in the name here because the Original Mix of Dancing Chords, at least, is all about the pia-pia-pianos…not in a screaming, tinkling Italian rave way, though. Or even in a minor-key, jazzy way. More in a rollicking, almost rock n' roll (think Great Balls Of Fire) or tango-inspired way.

Hmmm. As you can see I'm kinda struggling to describe this properly, but once you hear its incessant jaunty ivories, topped off with brass stabs and underpinned by simple rolling beats, you'll know exactly what I'm on about. Definitely one of the month's quirkier and more interesting house releases, this one, and you can see it appealing to fans of Stimming, Solomun, Ripperton et al.

Remix-wise, we're back in slightly more familiar dancefloor territory, as Roland Nights goes for an upbeat, vibe on a mix that's carnival-esque and Ibiza-y in parts and really quite deep in others, while Audiotonic serves up a Phuturebound Dub that has a lot more space in the mix, which only makes those BIG piano chords sound even bigger!

Out: This week

About: Both Jesus Pablo and Roland Nights have made many appearances on Lost My Dog but this one comes courtesy of Al Bradley's ever-excellent 3am Recordings.

Carlo Gambino - Bad Habits

More quality from the ever-dependable 3am Recordings stable here, with a range of mixes to suit various different times/moods/
DJs/floors.

The original of Bad Habits – which features, on all mixes, a very distinctive spoken vocal of some guy talking about how he's got no plans to give up his bad habits just yet – is a dark, throbby deep/tech-house thing. Claire Ripley's remix is still in a tech-house vein but considerably more driving and floor-friendly, with some nice whompy bottom end. Joe Morris then gives us a languid 3am Dub refix taking us into cosmic disco/Balearic territory, and then the Kirsten Sees Mix is on a cleaner, less techy, more straight-up house tip to start out, then gets intriguingly wonky and jazzified as it goes on. I'd pick a fave but it's a bit pointless... they're all good and will all work dropped at the right time.

And that's not all, because you also get two mixes of Hissyfit, a deep and acid-y workout in its original form coming complete with a slightly darker, techier rerub from 3am main man Al Bradley, wearing his Chemical Warfare hat.

Excellent work all round, really.

Out: This week

About: You can find 3am on Facebook and Soundcloud. And you probably should.

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.