Alex Neivel & DJ Schwa – Le Clan EP

Better known as Shades Of Gray, here this Czech duo make an appearance on Chicago's legendary Large Music with a three-track EP under their own names.

Anything You Like gets the ball rolling, an unhurried, chuggy deep house groover with some great fat squelchy-bordering-on-acid bass and a slightly trippy feel overall. Le Clan features slightly tuffer beats but they contrast nicely with a jaunty, jazzy feel as the track progresses, complete with ever-so-Francais spoken vocal samples. The standout of the EP for me though is Perculator [sic], as the Prague boys team up with vocalist David Bowles for a very respectable (albeit misspelled) cover of the Cajmere classic that's somewhat deeper and groovier than the original, but works very well indeed.

But don't take my word for it: Czech it out for yourselves!

Out: This week

About: Large Music live here, and you can also find them here (Soundcloud) and here (Facebook).

PS: I'm sorry about the crap 'Czech' joke, I can't help myself sometimes. Just think what my poor girlfriend has to put up with!

PPS: And if it's any consolation, at least it was slightly less tenuous than the 'bouncing Czechs' one I had in mind…

ALBUM Nathan G - The Glow

A very fine house album here from Australia's Nathan G, on veteran Chicago house label Large Music. Nathan G has had previous releases on respected labels including Salted, Lo:Rise, Amenti and (mostly) Kinky Vinyl, and that experience shows as he serves up a long-player that manages to take in various moods and flavas while staying within the house blueprint nearly at all times.

For the lovers of very soulful vibes, there's The Promise, featuring Alexander East on vocals. If you're seeking that still soulful but slightly more bumpin' west coast vibe there's Together, this time with Lisa Shaw providing the vox. Rapture melds 80s boogie and classic piano house vibes, Cosmic String and Wonder Vision are late-night and dreamy (though still pretty upbeat), Slow Burning is slow n' sultry, Love Letters featuring Cecilia Stain is kinda quirky, mellow, jazzy and sexy à la Deee-Lite circa Dewdrops In The Garden, while The Glow itself is an object lesson in how you can make a whole quality house track based around a one-line vocal sample (from Degrees Of Motion's Do You Want It Right Now).

There's also a couple of more downtempo/beats-y cuts – the Hawaiian-influence Shangrila and the more hiphop-inspired Street Spice – and they're good too but overall, yeah… a very fine house album, is what you need to know here!

Out: This week

About: Founded by Jeff Craven, Large have been in the game since the mid-90s. Find out all you need to know and read an interview with Nathan G at their website.