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.

Kid Mark – In My Hood EP

A solid house three-tracker from Kid Mark, courtesy of Deso Records.

In My Hood itself well warrants its choice as lead track, coming on like vintage Strictly Rhythm circa 1993, all NYC beats, rough-edged strings and a fat pumping b-line, topped off with female vocal snips. Railroad is in a similar style but slightly more stripped-down and percussive, and lacking the title cut's garage-y warmth, while Cristina moves into more contemporary territory with its subtly-applied Afro vox and tinkling keys but keeps those raw Shelter-esque beats a-comin'. But it's In My Hood all the way for me.

Out: This week

About: Deso Records is of course Brian "Desos" Løgstrup's label and can be found here, here and here (website, Facebook, Soundcloud)

Desos – Ghetto Love

As you may or may not be aware, 11 blokes from England will be playing a game of football against 11 blokes from Ukraine tonight, with a view to seeing which of them gets to play a game against 11 blokes from Spain next week and which of them gets to go home and be hated by their entire nation.

Now, I'm not the world's biggest football fan by any means but it seems rude not to go to a pub and shout at a large screen to mark the event, particularly when the sun's shining. So this will probably be your only blog review tonight… the record in question is a bit of a cracker though, it has to be said.

Regular readers will know that Desos (AKA Brian Løgstrup) has been one of TIWWD's favourite producers of the past year or two, and he doesn't disappoint here. It's the original version of Ghetto Love that's doing it best for me, a proper slab of uncompromising deepness with drifting, mournful sax sat atop sparse, crisp beats, lingering piano chords and an unassuming throbbing b-line. But the acid-tinged and slightly more driving Detroit Swindle KFC Rework ain't too shoddy either.

As I said, more quality stuff from a producer you really need to be keeping an eye on.

Out: This week

About: This comes on Desos's own Deso Records. Click the link for their website or find 'em on Facebook and Soundcloud.

BeLeftBeRight - The Wings Of The Mind EP

Some top-quality deep house here from Deso Records, a label from whom we've come to expect nothing less.

BeLeftBeRight are Silvio Zanfardino and Ivan Garzone, two childhood buddies from Naples, Italy, and here they serve up a four-track EP. Beat Mentalist Box is an atmospheric, almost cinematic affair with fluttering synths, pads that go on forever and chopped-up breathy vocal snips. Exclusivity is a little slower and more laidback, riding a simple breakbeat with old-skool synth stabs and more of those long, lingering pads. I Can Do It ups the tempo a little but is still pretty mellow affair with its warm chords and gently tinkling ivories reminiscent of early Italo house, and then finally Fly High is a bigger, chunkier Rhodes-driven cut.

Classy stuff all round… but then as I said, we've come to expect nothing else from the Danish label.

Out: This week on Traxsource, everywhere else from 7 May.

About: You can find Deso Records on Soundcloud, Facebook, MySpace and at their own website.

Vivid - King Of Karma EP

Okay, so now here's one that I haven't got any connection with and that isn't late, either! To wit, the latest single from the currently very hot Deso Records.

In total you get three original tracks plus a remix of Aphrodisiac. King Of Karma itself is a nice chuggy deep houser with disco/funk tinges, half-buried snippets of (French?) female vocal and an overall uplifting kinda mood, while Dream A Little is all about the big, hip-shakin' b-line, tinkling lounge-y keys and warm, enveloping pads n' chords. And again with the vox en Francais.

Aphrodisiac then operates in tech-house's deepest, dubbiest pastures, with Latin guitars and spoken-or-should-that-be-whispered vox (from our Gallic ladyfriend once more) bringing the a touch of light midway, before a Leftminded Remix thereof pumps up the beats considerably, ditches the six-string and takes us into 4am heads-down territory.

All told, another strong offering from Deso, with Dream A Little or the Leftminded Remix of Aphrodisiac taking top TIWWD honours.

Out: This week

About: You can find Denmark's Deso Records at their website, on Soundcloud and on MySpace

Desos – Girl You Look Good Tonight

We'll kick off this week's reviews with a couple of releases from producers who, coincidentally, were mentioned in yesterday's/last week's as well… starting with this one from Desos who, following on from his excursion on Deep Edition, returns here to his own Deso Records label.

Girl You Look Good Tonight is as soulfully-oriented a track as I've heard from this remarkably talented producer to date. Simple, looping percussion and a two-note keyboard riff provide the basic framework atop which sits a wistful male vocal that means this could play on 'deep' and 'soulful' house floors equally well, while on the B, the Alex Agores Midnight Dub ups the tempo and beefs up the beats, while adding a glorious synth riff that harks back to classic Ital house of the early 90s and some extra vocal elements.

Said additional elements are, I BELIEVE, sampled, and I also think I should know where from… but it escapes me right now. Still, never mind that right, the important thing you need to take away is that this is some top quality house music, whichever mix you go for. What a splendid way to get the week started, eh?

Out: 13 February ('today', when I wrote this… but 'yesterday' now, thanks to my broadband falling over at home…)

About: You can find Deso Records on Soundcloud, on MySpace or at their own website.

Mark Kruse & Thomas Dieckmann - Walkin'

More absolutely top class deep house action here courtesy of Denmark's Deso Records, who I was singing the praises of on this blog less than a week ago. So I won't bang on about how good the label is again today, I'll just tell you about this record.

It's a nice simple affair, with just the two mixes of Walkin' itself. The original is a fairly uptempo but still decidedly deep affair with hints of classic Jersey garage in those warm organ sounds and the soulful vocal (which, BTW, is kinda vaguely Alabama Blues-y… well, just a bit blues-y generally really I guess). It's a killer… but then on the flip you also get the Echofusion Deeper Then Jazz Remix, which is also a killer, this time largely eschewing the warm, organic Jersey sounds for a slightly more bleepy, synthy, echo-y, dubby kinda ride.

Decisions decisions, eh?

Out: This week

About: Find out more about the very hot Deso Records by hitting up their website or Soundcloud page