Sergio Fernandez – Modern Rock EP

We move now more into deep/tech (as opposed to straight-up deep house) territory, with the latest from Spain's ever-checkable Cray1 Labworks.

Modern Rock itself is tuff and techy, a percussion-driven affair just made for Balearic terraces. It's fit for purpose without a doubt, but to these ears the remix by Hector Couto and label owners Soulrack and Mikel_E does it better: it's deeper, warmer and more musical, foregrounding various snippets of (M/F) spoken vocal and the bassline rather than the drums. There's some flute in there, too. And then finally there's bonus cut Dokser, which fuses the warmer sounds of deep house with the kind of tuff drums we used to always associate Spanish house with, back when Chus, Ceballos and the Stereo crew were about the only players in the game!

A solid offering that'll keep the underground floors moving for sure.

Out: This week

About: Cray1 Labworks' website seems to have been 'under construction' since the days of General Franco, but you can at least find all their contact details there… for any other information, Facebook or MySpace are your best bet.

Oh, and you can HEAR the Couto/Soulrack/Mikel_E remix on Soulrack's own Soundcloud as well

Hector Couto - Gabeta

Some nice deep dancefloor vibes here from Spain's Hector Couto, coming on Cray1 Labworks.

Opener Calle 8 is a midtempo deep houser roller with trumpets and pianos a-tootlin' and a-tinklin' atop crunchy beats. Title track Gabeta ups the tempo ever so slightly and is all about the funky-assed bassline, plinky keys and chopped vocal stabs, until it gets a more energetic, percussive, bordering-on-tribal refix from Yvan Genkins. And then finally there's Sometimes, a jaunty, bouncin' deep house dancefloor cut in classic west coast style.

Four very solid tracks that'll keep 'em moving for sure.

Out: Saturday (18 Feb)

About: Cray1 Labworks are based, like Hector himself, in sunny Espana. Find 'em on Facebook and MySpace.

Picx - Kind Of Situation EP

More lush deep house here courtesy of Spain's Cray1 Labworks label.

The EP opens with two mixes of Kind Of Situation itself. The original is deep/tech house with garage-y female vocals and the merest hint of prog, while the Mr Bizz Old School Rework goes for the dancefloor jugular with militant snares and a throbbing Chi-town b-line. Moving on, My Love is an even more upbeat n' stompy deep house dancefloor cut with jazz sensibilities (think brushed snares and parping sax), before Soul Connection rounds out the EP with a more sophisticated, late-night, lounge-bar-in-space kinda feel…

Sterling stuff all round, and highly recommended.

Out: This week

About: Find Cray1 Labworks on Facebook and MySpace. This is their 30th release so nice going, amigos :-)