Feft & Liam Geddes – Nu Skool Dubs EP

A split EP here from two names that should be familiar to TIWWD readers by now, with both tracks paying their respective nods to the early days of UKG circa 1995-98.

Feft gives us Addicted, which is all Tuff Jam-ish bumpin' bass underneath a more contemporary-style treated vocal, while Liam Geddes's contribution is BRIXTN, which is a little less straight-up garage and more kinda… deep house with very garage-y leanings! You get the overall idea. And yeah, loving 'em both.

Now, does this mean five-button suits are gonna come back around as well? Only there's loads of 'em in charity shops and I do hate to miss a bargain…

Out: This week

About: This comes on Form-and Function: Soundcloud Facebook

James Silk - Night Girls EP/Paid My Dues EP

Not one but two new EPs out this week from a producer TIWWD has been trumpeting for quite some time now, James Silk.

First up is the Night Girls EP on Family Matters, a four-tracker featuring All Night, Automatic Sistematic, Love You Right and Oh Girl. As is Mr Silk's wont, contemporary-sounding deep house infused with soul and a strong sense of house music history is the general order of the day: the standout cut for me is All Night, which works the vocal from Pulse's The Lover That You Are over cavernous beats.

The Paid My Dues EP, meanwhile, comes on Form-and Function and features three more original Silk trax, with big squelchy basslines featuring prominently and the atmospheric 1.21 Gigawatts the pick for me.

Two strong EPs that merely serve to confirm James Silk as one of the hottest young producers around.

Out: This week

About: Form-and Function can be found on Soundcloud and Facebook, while Family Matters live here.

Danny eM – One Of Those Nights EP

And sticking with labels that are very familiar to TIWWD readers, here come Form-and Function with this three-tracker from Danny eM.

One Of Those Nights itself is a slow-building groover with layered, chorused vox, tinkling synths and a vaguely blissed-out, euphoric, surging kinda feel – a track that could fit into deep, tech or prog sets. Pieces is a more abstract tech/prog affair with otherworldly synths and heavily treated (female) vox, while the standout for me is She Was, a meandering and floaty late-night cut that's nonetheless underpinned by solid kicks, and as such will be equally at home at the afterhours or on the sofa.

If your tastes err towards the epic/abstract/soundscape-y end of the spectrum then any of the three tracks here should suit; if you're more a 'straight-up deep' kinda guy/gal then just head straight for She Was. Alles klaar?

Out: This week

About: Form-and Function can be found on Facebook and Soundcloud.

Simon Mattson – Drive

More deep house grooves here from Form-and Function.

In its Original mix, Drive is a slow-building groove long on evolving, Arp-like synth sounds, bass throb and a very distinctive "we're gonna driiiiiive, drive all night" chorused M/F vocal. Feft's remix is chunkier and a wee bit prog around the edges, the Stefan K mix brings busier percussion and a slightly techier feel, while the Miami Ice rub is slower edges towards skinny-jeaned indie-dance territory.

The original's the one for me here though – a unique-sounding little gem that's got 'warm-up' written all over it.

Out: This week

About: You can find Form-and Function on Facebook and Soundcloud.

James Silk & Jobe – Baby Baby

And from one of TIWWD's most-tipped of 2012 (Dave James) to another, James Silk, whose latest for Form-and Function doesn't disappoint one iota.

In its Original form, Baby Baby is all chunky bass, crisp kicks and earnest male vocal… a big room peaktime vocal anthem in the making, quite possibly. It also wouldn't have sounded out of place on Cleveland City circa 1994! But it's actually the flipside refix from Liam Geddes that's exciting yours truly more.

With the vocal cut down, chopped up and recycled in stab form, this is as chunky, sumptuous and beautiful a slab of, let's not beat about the bush, UK garage music as you'll hear this month AT LEAST. A proper locked-down underground soul bumper for the deep heads, don't sleep!

Out: This week

About: You can find Form-and Function on Facebook and Soundcloud.

**UPDATE 13/9: Please note Jobe is co-producer of this record and NOT the vocalist as I suggested yesterday!

James Silk – Downside EP

The latest here from a rising producer that I've sung the praises of on TIWWD more than once…

It's a four-track affair. The title cut is a big, throbbing slab of contemporary-style deepness that does strange, twisted things with the vocal from Diana's disco anthem Upside Down…  I don't THINK it''s actually a sample, but it's been so sonically messed-with it's kinda hard to tell! Part of me wants to scream 'sacrilege' but a) it works, b) the track's definitely an entity in its own right, rather than a shoddy rip-off of Ms Ross's classic and c) not everyone is an old fart like me and 90% of clubbers that hear it won't care, or possibly even realise!

So it's getting the TIWWD thumbs-up after all. Elsewhere, Turning Over reworks Clarity's 1985 boogie/R&B nugget The Way U Make Me Feel and gives it something of a late 90s disco-house-in-Ibiza twist, coming compete with a (TBH not vastly different) Eivissa Edit just to hammer the point home, while What You Waitin' For doesn't, as you might be expecting, take a bite from the Jungle Bros but instead is another throbby, now-sounding deep dancefloor cut, with a looping "if you want it you can have it, come get it" vocal, the overall effect being not dissimilar to being transported back to The Tunnel in ’95 with Vasquez working his big dark room magic.

Another sterling effort from Mr Silk then, once more demonstrating the young producer's remarkable knowledge of his musical heritage.

Out: This week

About: This comes from Form-and Function, which is co-run by Endemic's Wez Saunders but seems to exist as a more separate entity… here's where to find 'em on Soundcloud and Facebook.

PS: Just kinda catching up with this week's tuneage so that's probably your lot for tonight, unless of course anything absolutely blows my socks off :-)

Miami Ice – The Way You

Another simple two-tracker here from Germany's Markus Greulich, AKA Miami Ice, who's previously appeared on the likes of Lost My Dog and Endemic Digital.

The Original of The Way You is fairly heads-down and moody deep/tech chugger, though looping vocals and a killer organ line bring the musicality and save it from being just another set-filler track. File this one somewhere between east London and the east midlands! Over on the B, meanwhile, Demi (of Be Yourself/SOS/Balance fame) serves up a percussion-led remix that takes the track into prog/tech territory.

It's the original all the way for me, though – when you've got a top-drawer organ line like that, why on Earth would you ditch it? It's insanity, that's what it is.

Out: This week

About: This comes on fledgling UK label Form-and Function, who are themselves connected to the Endemic Digital empire and who can be found on Facebook and Soundcloud.

Oh yeah and if you dig this then also check Miami Ice's track Kehta from Endemic's Three Years On compilation… now that really IS a killer organ track!