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.

Dale Howard – Signals EP

Two related releases in a row, now. First up, TIWWD fave Dale Howard comes to Jesus Pablo & Di Riviera's Something Different for an EP that marks one year in the game for the label.

With previous releases on Lost My Dog, Off Recordings, Neurotraxx Deluxe and more, Howard's known for his musical and garage-informed take on the deep house blueprint, and so it is here. Signals itself is a midtempo, organ-fuelled groover, while Sub Text packs slightly more slamming kicks but otherwise goes deeper still with its echo-y low-end rumble (see what they did there?). Remix-wise, meanwhile, Evan Iff pumps up Signals somewhat and adds a "get on the floor" vocal loop, while Matt Masters' rub of Sub Text adds tribal percussion to make it more 'afterhours' than 'post-club', if you see what I mean.

It's Signals (Original Mix) that stands out for me but these are four very solid tracks – happy birthday fellas.

Out: This week

About: You can find Something Different on Facebook and Soundcloud.

Deep house soldiers

And next, three releases from three well-known, well-respected names in deep house.

First up, Pete Dafeet gives us the Family Affair EP, a four-track/five-mix offering. Expect the usual high-quality deep house in various shades, with the dubby, slightly techy Lungs the standout for me. It's actually the Fred Everything remix of Lungs, to precise; elsewhere, Demarkus Lewis remixes Love Undercover while Giom has a go at Beneath The Fold, making this something of a 'family affair' indeed.

Out: This week

About: This comes of course on Lost My Dog, what with Pete co-owning the label and that… 

Next up we have another from the same stable, as Dale Howard takes us off on a deep, garage-y tip with the Inner City EP. All four tracks are very playable, but the jazzy overtones of C'mon and the Tuff Jam-ish bump of C'mon stand out for me. Niceness!

Out: This week

About: Here's another Lost My Dog link, for their Soundcloud page.

Our third and final deep house hero for this little mini-roundup is Matthieu Duchesne, who this week is doing the honours for Savoir Faire. Actually I say 'final' but there's a couple of other very familiar names involved as well. The original of Kind Of Funk is a heads-down, rolling deep house groover, but you also get remixes from Martijn and Dave James, the former taking us just a wee bit deeper, the latter doing his usual uber-deep and dubbed out thang… and as usual stealing the show for me! But again, a strong offering all round.

Out: This week

About: Here's where to find Savoir Faire Musique online, as if you didn't know already.

Various – Remixes Vol 3

On now to a brace of EPs featuring a Who's Who line-up of TIWWD 'usual suspects'.

First up is this one, the third in Something Different's series of Remixes EPs (I'm told there'll be four in total). Aartekt, Dudley Strangeways, J-Kar, Left-Minded and Matthieu Duchesne are the artists getting the remix treatment, while Bubba, Stanny Abram, Ashley Casselle & Justin Steel, Dale Howard and Dilby are those dishing it out. Given that pretty much all of the original tracks featured on this blog first time around, and given that pretty much all the remixers are TIWWD regulars as well, this EP shouldn't take much explaining – it's packed with exactly the kind of deep/tech goodness you'd expect.

But special mention must be made of  Casselle & Steel's rub of J-Kar's Baby Dreaming – always something of a TIWWD fave to start with, their deep, squelchy refix of this garage-leaning groover is the reason you need to go out and get this EP.

Out: This week

About: Find Something Different on Soundcloud and Facebook.

Dale Howard – Some Other Guy EP

And speaking of Dale Howard, here he comes again, this time with a four-track EP for Berlin's ever-excellent OFF Recordings.

The clue's in the title with the main track, as Mr Howard lifts a chunk of Heard It Through The Grapevine* and places it, heavily treated, atop a midtempo, bassy deep house groove. "Simple but devastatingly effective" would be the cliché juste, methinks! Elsewhere on the EP, No Need is another simple, loping and bassy groover but with both male and female vocal snips this time, Trickster is a sumptuous, (UK) garage-y thang and the throbbing 4am dub-house-disco of District brings the EP to a close.

Deep house music that sounds contemporary yet at the same time pays homage to classic sounds… what's not to like?

Out: This week

About: Find OFF Recordings at their website, on Facebook and on Soundcloud.

*Possibly someone other than Marvin's version, I'm not 100 per cent sure

Jesus Pablo – Playing In The Sun

And speaking of very familiar names, here comes house music's busiest Liverpudlian once more.

Everyone seems to be doing the laidback, summer-y thing at the moment and Playing In The Sun, as the name suggests, operates pretty much in just that kinda territory. Dale Howard's remix beefs things up a notch but the standouts here are a brace of rubs from the mighty Jay Tripwire. His Deep Mix is, well, pretty gosh-darn deep – in a 'small hours in a dark club' kinda way as opposed to a 'getting mellow on the beach' way – and brings the meandering sax line to the fore, while his Warehouse Mix is darker, more twisted and, generally speaking, pretty spiffing all round.

Quality stuff as ever from Senor Pablo.

Out: This week

About: This comes on San Francisco's Headset Recordings… so here are the website Facebook and Soundcloud links you'll no doubt be expecting.

Dale Howard – Merrt EP

Time now for some quality deep house music courtesy of that home of quality deep house music, Lost My Dog.

In total you get four tracks from Liverpudlian producer Howard, plus a remix of the title cut from no less a personage than Ian Pooley. Merrt in its original form does that 'techy beats but with soulful, garage-y overtones' thing that's so popular right now, while Pooley's remix is more funkified and adds a little disco gloss. Elsewhere, Connection is a straight-up small hours chugger, while Get A Grip and Sabbatical take us deeper still, with the latter probably my favourite cut from the whole EP, working sampled civil rights-era speech and some LUSH piano chords.

Another strong release from a label that seldom puts out any other kind.

Out: This week

About: Lost My Dog can be found at their website, on Facebook and on Soundcloud (and on Twitter, MySpace, Last.FM and YouTube, come to that, but I'm not pasting links all bloody night). While you're there, you can grab their latest podcast, which features a guest mix from Mr Pooley, too.

Dale Howard, I should probably also point out, has previously had stuff out on Fear Of Flying, Neurotraxx Deluxe, Witty Tunes and Loco Records, as well as running his own Static Audio imprint.