Simon Bryant – Tongue Tied EP

I'll say it right now, the sleeve for this is horrible. If there's one thing I don't want to see more than two emos snogging, it's two emos snogging where their tongues appear to have morphed into a piece of meat. There's just no need. But hey… just cos I don't like it doesn't mean it should be censored, so feast your eyes if you dig that kind of thing. You weird twisted freak.

Anyway it's not what they come wrapped in, it's what they taste like that matters. And Guilty For You, here, tastes to me like a modern-day big room vocal anthem in waiting – you could easily imagine this getting rinsed by the likes of Huxley, Maya Jane, yada yada yada.

The wonkier Tongue Tied operates in more familiar Hype Muzik house-prog-techno territory, while Uneasy Queasy is big, dramatic and a bit scary. Both will find their fans, but it's Guilty For You that'll push this up the download charts. Put your hands up for Southend.

Out: This week

About: You know where to find Hype Muzik by now.

The Rimshooters Vs Snax – Pledge Allegiance

Some upfront, contemporary-sounding house vibes here courtesy of boutique Parisian label Her Majesty's Ship. It's available on limited edition hand-painted vinyl and everything!

There's three mixes on offer, and they vary quite considerably. The original is a midtempo slab of disco house/nu boogie, and very satisfying in the 'fat squelchy bass' department. But the vocal's a little European/synthpop-sounding so better to these ears is the Box Office Poison House Dub, which… well, y'know is housier and dubbier, what can tell you? Finally, and just pipping the latter for me, is Rimshooters' own Acid Dub which… oh, come on.

With house, ahem, "back in" right now*, I do get a bit anxious sometimes if these young 'uns with their funny jeans and haircuts are gonna get it right. Records like this reassure me no end.

Out: This week

About: You can find Her Majesty's Ship on Facebook, Soundcloud or their own website. This is only their fifth release, by the way. Oh, and if you want the vinyl, have a peep at Resident Advisor for a list of previous HMS stockists.

*a phrase that makes me laugh cos for some of us, it's never been out… for the past 20 years or more. Tsk, kids! :-)

Copyright feat Andre Espeut – Lifted

Don't overlook this killer from Defected. Not so much for the A-side Lifted itself, though. That's a big room, driving houser with soulfully-inclined male vocal exhortations to lift your hands up… it's okay, but nothing that special.

Which is why I say don't overlook this, because if you'll do you'll miss out on both Sometimes, a deeper house cut with tuff, rolling drums, samples from the same vocal Moby used on Honey and parping sax, and most importantly the Pablo Fierro Remix of Lifted, which drops deeper and adds a stonking great fuck-off Robin S-style organ line. And makes itself an unmissable purchase while it's doing it.

Defected might not be the hippest label to be biggin' up but I don't care – made by a pair of true UK house and garage legends and given a polish by one of the best of Europe's new wave, this is a genuine bomb.

Out: This week

About: You can find Defected here, here and here (web, Facebook, Soundcloud).

Kings Of Tomorrow – Let Me Tell You Something

Some very solid, club-friendly house grooves here from Mr Sandy Rivera, AKA Kings Of Tomorrow.

There are two mixes of Let Me Tell You… to choose from. The original mix by Sandy on his own is big n' bouncy in a back-to-95 kinda stylee, while over on the B, Sandy teams up with C Castel for a deeper, more melodic pass.

It's the almost bassline house-ish original that's working best for me but both will have their fans for sure.

Out: This week

About: Nice to see Defected actually promo-ing their singles again…you can find the UK house stalwarts at their own website, on Facebook, on Soundcloud and (get them!) on YouTube.

Kyodai – Shakin'

Dubai's leading house label Audio Tonic serve up a fresh slab from Spanish producer Kyodai here.

In its Original form, Shakin' is a lively, uptempo houser with old-skool rave-y synths and "shakin', can you feel the beat?" female vocals. It'll do the do on the more commercial floors but of perhaps more interest are the remixes – as well as a self-explanatory Dub, it comes with rerubs from Daniel Solar and The Revenge. Solar drops the pace a little on his remix, toning down the synths for a deeper house ride, while The Revenge give us a Bodyfusion Dub that takes us into hypnotic, looping afterhours territory.

So: good solid Saturday night fare for a range of situations, basically.

Out: This week

About: You can find Audio Tonic at their own website, on Facebook or on Soundcloud.

Comon – Everything

What we have here is that most exciting of entities… a brand new label! Kizz Kizz Records is its name, and it's been set up by Comon, a recent arrival on the house scene with Da Da Da on Toolroom. Here, he delivers the label's opening salvo.

"Pure and soulful deep house at its best" is how the hype sheet describes Everything, but I'd take that with a pinch of salt if I were you: it's neither particularly soulful, nor particularly deep. But we're not here to hate, and as accessible, big-room vocal house goes you've certainly heard a lot worse. To these ears, at least, it conjures hazy memories of a certain Mediterranean island…

Most importantly, though, it's a brand new house label. And such are always to be encouraged.

Out: This week

About: Kizz Kizz don't seem to have much of a web presence in their own right yet, but you can find Comon on Facebook and Soundcloud.

Soul Holder – Dusty Vinyl EP

Like the Spring Tube release below, this is an EP of house music with a decidedly classic/old skool feel.

Anyone who picked up MUM's ADE sampler a month or so back will recognise the funktified roller that is One More Time, but here it's joined by four more cuts. Edited comes on like the deeper end of classic French filter disco, Let It Go is a more sedate, quietly rumbling groove, Respect starts out percussion-led, then introduces a simple three-note bass synth hook and a "gotta have music" vocal, while finally Don't Break, with its echo-laden production and big chunky bass hook, leans a little more towards that contemporary deep/tech sound.

Apparently the EP title comes from the fact that a lot of the sounds here were indeed sampled from vintage house vinyl… in which case props must go to Soul Holder for capturing that classic vibe without ever resorting to the obvious.

Out: This week

About: You can find Manchester Underground Music on Facebook.

Joyce Brooke – Broken Love EP

Without a doubt the most garage-inclined release I've heard from Manchester Underground Music to date, this three-track EP from London duo Joyce Brooke kicks some serious ass.

The Way It Is has something of a surging, euphoric feel, driven by a rumbling two-note bassline and topped off with classic-style fem vox'd that are chipmunk'd just slightly in that 'early bassline house' kinda way, while Wish You Love goes a touch deeper and rides beats that are more stuttered, almost broken in places. But good as both are, the winner here for me is Hypnotized, which places a resung Do It To The Music vocal atop dramatic synth sweeps and a fuck-off struttin' b-b-b-b-b-b-bassline.

Go on, move. Etc.

Out: This week

About: You can find Manchester Underground Music on Facebook.

Dubesque – Rebote EP

Some peaktime/big room-friendly but non-cheesy house grooves here courtesy of UK label In My House.

Rebote itself is a tuff but non-dark affair with slammin' kicks, an insistent, brassy main synth hook and a hip-house-style vocal, while Cuidado is a more relaxed and limber groove with a slightly discofied feel and cut-up fem vox. Rounding out the EP is Bonus Tool #2, a 'bonus beats' take on the latter.

Rebote is the one, though – a track that'll let you reach out to more mainstream floors without losing credibility along the way.

Out: This week

About: They don't actually seem to have a website of their own but you can get in contact with In My House via the Soulful Edge Promotions website.

Killer Beatz – Feel It

Some no-nonsense driving peaktime house bizniss on this latest from Influential House.

In its original form, Feel It is a pumped-up disco houser with parping, soaring sax, made for those high-octane moments. But if that's a little too much for you, the remixes might help. Shane Long & Kane Harris tone down the spangle somewhat and give the track a long intro that almost leans towards UKG, Tony Divino gets busy with the chops and stutters on his mix while the Alex Muirden Just Felt It Remix almost feels like a different track in places, and is the one that might take the track to the cooler floors.

Solid butt-moving tackle for the less posey spots.

Out: This week

About: You can find Influential House on the Book Of Face

Various – Housecream EP

Only the sixth release here from French label Creaminal Grooves, and it's a V/A ep featuring label boss Sweet Freex (AKA Groove Guardian) and three other artists.

Straight-up, no-nonsense house grooves are the general order of the day. Housecream comes from Xmass and is phat, chunky n' funky, Sweet Freex's Mama House is classic NY house from the tuffer side given an Arabic-style vocal, D-Rakki's Bring It Down is a tech-house workout with a vocal reminiscent of Magic Carpet Ride, while finally Made & Marty's Jazzer is a marginally deeper offering, without much particularly jazzy about it but with a neat chopped n' looped female vocal.

There's no great reinventing of wheels or anything but these are four solid dancefloor cuts from a new label, show some love people!

Out: This week

About: You can mostly find Creaminal Grooves at their own website.

Jonny Buzz – Piano Poker

Gonna try and be quick with a few things today, so with this one we'll cut straight to the chase. The Ace and Diamond mixes of Piano Poker are two perfectly playable slices of unpretentious, uptempo, uplifting good-time Saturday night house music which you'll recognise on the floor from the treated female "come on closer, take me under" vocal and, of course, the liberal sprinkling of old-skool pianos.

But the killer here is the the King Buzz Dub, which takes us properly back the old skool with firing Awesome 3-esque near-breakbeat percussion and a hefty vocal lift from DSK's uber-classic What Would We Do?. To say "It's not clever, but it is big" has become a bit of a dance music cliché, so instead I'll just say this isn't clever… but it is FUCKING MASSIVE.

And that's swearing. Play loud.

Out: This week

About: This comes on Influential House, who you can find mostly on Facebook.

Mystik Mike – Higher Baby

Now for some straight-up house music courtesy of Canada's Kozmik Hype Recordings.

There's just the two mixes of Higher Baby. In its original form, it's a vaguely disco-leaning peaktime dancefloor cut, with a rolling funky bassline, space-y synths, luxurious pads, parping sax and echo-ing, garage-y fem vocal snips – Joey Negro would be proud! On the B, the Darren Marshall Remix is a slightly tuffer, dubbier pass, with yet more nods to classic garage in its swung rhythms.

I think Marshall's rub nudges it for me but both mixes are very playable.

Out: This week

About: This is only the third release from Kozmik Hype, who can be found online at their own website, on Facebook or on Soundcloud.

Takasi Nakajima & Maarten Mittendorff – Circulate EP

We continue the Japanese connection here, with this two-tracker from probably the hardest-to-spell duo in the history of the world.

Again there's just the two mixes. In its Original form, Circulate is a dark, driving and chunky affair, sitting right on the house/techno border and scattered liberally with live piano and sampled string downsweeps, the overall effect making me want to get the word 'Garnier-esque' down from the top shelf where I've put it out of reach to stop myself using it too much. But no, I really mustn't. Anyway over on the B, the Ian O'Donovan refix is in a deeper, darker vein still.

But only slightly so, I should add. There's not a lot in it really, and either mix will do you proud if/when you need a peaktime, energetic, crescendo kinda track without sullying your set with the over-obvious.

Out: This week

About: This comes on Toronto-based techno imprint Restructured.

Martin Virgin – Take My Love EP

Some classy house/deep house fare from Unrivaled Music here.

Take My Love is an upbeat affair with proggy synths, disco flourishes and an uplifting vibe overall… it's possibly a bit late to be a 'summer anthem' but it's in that kinda vein, while Move It Good is a deeper dancefloor groove with an almost garage-y swing to it and some gloriously cheesy 80s sax licks. But the killer here is Swag, credited to Martin Virgin with Saxtone feat Highleef. This pulls off the remarkable feat of both a) being a credible, jazz-flecked deep house dancefloor roller and b) sporting a male vocal that sits somewhere between Tony Di Bart and Chris Rea.

It shouldn't really work but as unlikely as it sounds, it works so well… check this one asap.

Out: This week

About: You can find Unrivaled Music on Facebook

Tom Taylor & Gareth Whitehad feat Robert Owens - I Came To Dance

And from a brace of brand new labels to one of the UK's best-loved, with the latest from Lost My Dog.

They've pulled off something of a coup this time out, securing the vocal services of the mighty Robert Owens. The Chicago veteran's distinctive tonsils are in full effect here, informing us of his intentions vis à vis the rhythmic movement of his body in time with the music and the emotional and spiritual benefits thereof, over a backing that a time machine-equipped raver wandering in from 1989 would have no problem whatsoever in identifying with. The Deepened Remix shouldn't take much explaining, while a brace of rerubs from label co-owner Pete Dafeet go down a more small-hours, acid-y path.

Straight-up house music the way we used to do it, nuff said.

Out: This week

About: Find Lost My Dog here, here and here (web, Facebook, Soundcloud).

Jace Syntax – Sinister Microns

Another new label here… this time one based in Portsmouth, UK, called Murge Recordings.

This is only their third release but beyond the low-digit catalogue number there's not a lot else 'newbie-ish' about it at all. Sinister Microns in its Original form is a bubbling, driving cut sitting right on the house/techno borderline, while a Mark Ambrose Remix takes us into deeper, darker acid territories and will be the one for more headstrong floors. But the standout for me is the Colin Dale Remix – a highly polished, classic-sounding production that shows just why this veteran London producer has so many friends in house and techno camps alike.

Quality house and techno grooves… a brand new UK label… you know what to do folks. And if you don't, try asking Robin S for some suggestions :-)

Out: This week

About: After I gave positive feedback on this, Kelly at Murge was kind enough to send through the label's two previous releases as well. Which means I can safely tell you that a) this isn't just a one-off on the quality front and b) if classic-style dark, driving acid house and techno is your thang then you need to be keeping an eye on these guys. Which you can do by visiting their website, Facebook or Soundcloud.

Farfan & Seb – Not Yours EP

This EP reminds me of one of my favourite jokes. What do you call some cheese that doesn't belong to you? Nacho cheese!

Anyway, excruciating cheese puns aside, this is the latest from Unrivaled Music and a simple two-track affair. The title cut is a squelchy, rough-edged marriage of jackin' acid, tuff tribal drums and lo-slung disco/boogie sleaze… and it works. Fuck big beat and the Chemical Brothers, THIS is what 'amyl house' should sound like! Boat Wreck on the B, meanwhile, is a somewhat smoother ride with R&B laydeez supplying the vox, but that 'grubby warehouse at 5am' feel isn't dispensed with entirely.

It's the A that's doing it best for me, though.

Out: This week

About: You can find Unrivaled Music at the Endemic Digital Facebook page.

House of Stank – Make U Jack 2012

In which House of Stank's 2008 Dust Traxx offering gets another run-out with new mixes from Inland Knights, Manny Ward and HoS themselves.

Also included are the original mix plus the original set of re-rubs from Ron Carroll, The Connection and Santiago & Bushido, making a whopping seven mixes in total. And with a remix line-up like that, and a title like Make U Jack – which does pretty well sum up what this track's all about – it's hard to imagine any decent house DJ not finding something to play here. I'm not gonna go into all seven mixes individually – I've got a cold and a headache and couldn't really claim to be in the mood – but the IKs rub and HoS's own refix stand out for me. Like I said though, you can't really go wrong with this package.

Remember: "There's only one track that'll make you jack, one groove that'll make you move, and that's house"!

Out: This week

About: This comes on Get Up Recordings, HoS's own, US-based label. They're just eight releases old but have already put out material by the heavy-hitting likes of Tedd Patterson and Honey Dijon… and here's where to find them if you want to know more.

Pete Dafeet - Freeze

Gonna do last week's 'best of the rest' round-up later on but it takes a while, so first let's have a listen to this latest from Lost My Dog main man Pete Dafeet…

There are three mixes of Freeze, plus bonus cuts Grit Your Teeth and Mistakes. In its original form, Freeze is a big, dancefloor-oriented house cut packed with old-skool bass and piano sounds. The Shades Of Gray remix is a little more electronic-sounding and adds hip house-style male vox, but it's the more stripped n' jacking Murat Kilic Remix that I'm feeling most, I think. As for the other two, Mistakes is another bouncy cut with spoken vocal snips and more nods to vintage Chi-town, while Grit Your Teeth continues in a similar vein.

Or, generally speaking, you could just say that… dis is summa dat gud tracky shiznit, yagetmi?

Ahem.

Out: This week

About: Find Lost My Dog at their website, on Facebook and on Soundcloud. Oh yeah, and in fairness to Ian and Naj I should point out that Pete is only ONE of the LMD main men!