Various – One Year Of Frole

A couple of weeks back I reviewed a single by Desos on Frole Records, which was the first time I'd heard of the Italian label. Following that review they very kindly sent me this compilation, which is being released to mark them reaching their first birthday.

I'm very glad they did, too, because this rocks. "Proper deep house in various shades" is the basic story, supplied mostly by artists you probably haven't heard of (unless you're more on-the-ball than I am, of course!) by with some familiar names – Kevin Griffiths, Moodymanc, Hector Couto, The Echonomist – cropping up on remix duties. Ellroy's Everything, which does strange, downtuned things to Whitney's Love Will Say The Day vocal, is one highlight; Echonomist's early 90s-tastic refix of Kevin McCallister's Swing Piomb is another, LDF vs Lostrocket's Loose In Mind yet another. Oh, and Gastek's laidback, organ-flecked Grey Crystal another.

You getting the idea yet? When I say "this rocks," I mean it rocks from start to finish. Go seek.

Out: This week

About: You can find Frole Records at their website, on Facebook or on Soundcloud.

Desos – My Underground

Bending the rules a bit here cos this came in late, but as it's on a label who haven't been in touch before now, and from the mighty Desos to boot, I'm prepared to make a rare exception!

It's a three-track EP. In its Original form, My Underground itself is an unhurried, classic-style deep house/deep garage affair, all shuffling percussion and pleasingly understated organs. A remix from Rio Padice pays homage to vintage Chi-town-style deep house, complete with throbbing 303 bassline, while completing the EP is Speach [sic], which is another slab of triplet-tastic Jersey bizniss with snatches of echo-ing sampled disco vox (but no speech as you might be expecting).

Brian Løgstrup AKA Desos seldom puts a foot wrong, to these ears. Same story here. Result.

Out: 27 November, but see above.

About: This comes on Frole Records, who are based in Naples, Italy and who are just eight releases old. Find out more by hitting them up on Soundcloud, on Facebook or at their own website.

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.

Demarkus Lewis – Smoke

Something of a dream line-up in TIWWD's eyes here, as deep house veteran Demarkus Lewis gets a refix from man of the moment Desos.

Lewis's original of Smoke is a mellow and atmospheric groover that mooches and meanders its way along nicely for six minutes, with synth bleeps n' squiggles providing the texture along the way. Desos then flips the script just a little by adding a long intro, a stripped-down and percussive affair with big one-note bass drops, that leads slowly back into the same vibe as the Original.

Make no mistake with this one: this is serious deepness for the horizontal heads.

Out: This week

About: This comes on San Francisco-based label Headset Recordings, who you can find at their website, on Facebook and on Soundcloud.

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.

Desos - Unknown Groove EP

Desos is, for me, one of the hottest properties in deep house music right now, so a team-up with Martijn's equally hot Deep Edition Recordings should surely be cause for celebration, right? Throw in remixes from Huxley and Dudley Strangeways and it should be a no-brainer.

And, well… it is! You get two originals, Unknown Groove and She Loves Deep, plus a refix of each, from Dudley and Huxley respectively. The originals both do that 'fractured beat' thing while the rerubs are more straight-up 4/4 floor-friendly; for me it's the Huxley Mix of the latter that stands out above the rest, but whichever way you slice it these are four deep house nuggets of the highest calibre.

Which is all you need to know, really.

Out: This week

About: You can find Durham-based Deep Edition on Facebook and Soundcloud.

Mr Leman - Deep N' Funky

Well, it's called Deep N' Funky… what else do you need to know?

I guess you need to know it uses both what sounds like it might be a Temptations vocal sample (but I could be wrong) and a somewhat 'abstract' female vocal loop, the pair of which sit atop a simple, driving drum beat and some nice Rhodes (?) chords buried deep in the mix. And I guess you need to know that the Desos Slow House Remix does what it says on the tin, while the Danny Lilwall Deeper Mix is a stripped-down drum rework for druggier floors.

I guess you need to know that Mr Leman is really Danish producer Rasmus Leman.

Mainly, you just need to know that this is some uncompromisingly raw, underground shit right here. And that it lives up to both the much over-used descriptors of the title.

Out: This week

About: This is only the third release from Copenhagen-based Gartenhaus, and suffice to say they've made a good impression so far. You can find 'em on Facebook or Soundcloud.

Dave Martins - Deep Control EP

With four mixes in total of two tracks, Deep Control and Deep Station, the clue's kind of in the name for this latest from Jesus Pablo and Di Rivera's Something Different label.

By sheer coincidence (cos I hadn't really noticed until just now, I was just taking things in alphabetical order) Dave Martins also hails from Switzerland (see Da Funk review below). Co-owner of Southpark Records – who've also featured on here before now – his particular take on deep house is from the techier end of the spectrum, and he's not afraid to get in a groove and stay there! I'm liking both tracks but Deep Station just edges it for me, the speech samples (of an old radio announcement) giving the track a little more texture.

Remix-wise, Desos takes Deep Control into slightly more ominous and brooding deep techno territory, while Sweden's Thomas Durrani sprinkles some disco dust over Deep Station and transforms it into the one mix here you might get away with playing to a less specialist floor (but without, I hasten to add, going cheesy or obvious in any way).

All told, a solid bet with four very playable tracks. It's an EP for the purists rather than the mass market for sure… but since when was that ever a bad thing?

Out: This week

About: Something Different sum up their ethos as "releasing music on a deep, tech and groovy tip for dancefloors worldwide". Amen to that! Find 'em online here