Various – Collected Works

Speaking of labels you've got to hand it to… what I love about OFF Recordings is you never know quite what you're gonna get. One OFF release can be soulful/garage-y, the next tuff and techy… as long as it's good music they don't care too much for pigeonholes, which is how it should be.

It's no surprise, then, that this four-track sampler EP takes in a range of styles. The EP opens with HNQO feat Bip's As I See, a deep/tech chugger with a fat, chunky b-line and a breathy spoken female vocal. Oddly reminiscent of Superstars Of Rock's classic Orange Sunshine in places, you'll recognise it from the "D to the O to the O to the D… E.P.M.U.S.I.C… go!" refrain – though as to what 'Dood EP Music' means, your guess is as good as mine.

Javi Bora, Le Vinyl and Melohman are up next with Destruction, a low-temperature techy groove with an "annihilation… destruction" vocal hook, female wails and a tuff, no-nonsense bottom end, which is followed by Mantra from Hector Couto and S.K.A.M, a more peaktime kinda cut that sits on the deep house/nu disco borders and works a voal sample lifted from Mainline (the Jason Load version, not the Black Ivory one – as also sampled by Love Revolution's Give It To Me Baby back in the day).

Finally, Detroit Swindle's The Standard Of Dialogue is another cut that owes a great deal to classic early 90s NYC – the "hehs" in particular recalling House Of Gypsies' Samba, so much so that it MIGHT actually be a sample, though I'm not 100% sure – and that's topped with a black power/conscious rap-type (second) vocal exhorting "motherfuckers" to "realise" and "reject mediocrity" and so on.

Ageing disco dolly that I am it's Mantra that wins out for me, with Detroit Swindle coming a close second. But it's all good, as they say.

Out: This week

About: You can find OFF Recordings in all the usual places, such as… leading social network Facebook! Cloud-based audio sharing service Soundcloud! And at their very own homepage on the World Wide Web! Isn't the 21st century marvellous, eh?

Neil Rush – Your Lies EP

A three-tracker here from Dance Through Life, doing their bit as ever to keep the house music flag flying in New York.

Your Lies itself is a chunkily-basslined trip into inner space… think vintage Strobe on steroids. Never Never Never is an even dreamier affair, but underpinned with surprisingly fierce n' firing 4/4s, while finally Get A Rush is a an epic, blissed-out, end-of-nite type track with a little more of a European feel.

If the Lower East comp below is the sound of underground London in 2012, then this is the sound of underground NYC. And that's SURELY something you'll be wanting to keep an ear on, no?

Out: This week

About: You can find Dance Through Life here, here and here (website, Facebook, Soundcloud)

A7L - The Best Of Time

Right then, not sure how many reviews you're gonna get tonight…  it's been a stressful few days what with deadline week at the day job and the girlf being in hospital. But there's at least time to tell you about this one, a) because it's great and b) because there's just the one mix.

What a mix it is, though. The Best Of Time consists of little more than straight-up house beats, a rumblin, bubblin' bass-synth riff and female power-vox… and not even all that all at once, a lot of the time. There's space in the production here you could comfortably navigate a smallish galactic nebula through.

This is big, echo-y, tuff and credible vocal house in the classic NYC stylee, made for big speakers, big rooms and very little lighting, and the only thing wrong with it is it ends too soon! It's like 1995 all over again. Me like.

Out: This week

About: A7L are the Italian duo of Luca Meeucci and Andrea Sutera, and on this particular outing they've had a little help from the label owner, who just so happens to be none other than… Mario Piu. Proof that house really does conquer all eventually! Anyway, it's on Mr Piu's Fahrenheit Music… their website seems to be STILL 'under construction' but hey.

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)

Data Vault – Need You

A nice easy one to start with today cos there's just the two mixes! It's also the debut release from a new label, which is always exciting.

In its Original form, Need You is a tuff-ish tech-house roller with the emphasis on the slightly Afro percussion and "need you" vocal, backed up by voice-as-instrument stabs and pushing synths. Remix duties are then taken care of by Terry Lee Brown Jr, in whose hands Need You becomes a far mellower and deeper affair, 7.5 minutes of pulse and chug with a dubby, 'tribal jazz' kinda feel.

Two quite different mixes, then, but both are strong dancefloor propositions, making for a very respectable start for the label.


Out: This week

About: This comes to you courtesy of brand new NYC-based imprint Undulate Recordings, which is headed up by Billy Disciple and Al Alvarez… the latter of whom also goes by Data Vault, funnily enough. Anyway, you can find them here, here and here (website/FB/Soundcloud)

Chris Burns – 410 Paradox Underground presents…

Another new label, this one headed up by no less a personage than Ultra Nate. For the label's debut offering, they present a seven-track EP from Washington DC-resident Chris Burns.

Legends is a truly deranged dark n' druggy percussion workout with shouted (as in shouted, not spoken) aggro-queen vocals, coming in Original and even-sparser Walk Dub flavas. Shake! continues with the big dark room vibes, another strobe stomper with a nagging organ sound and big diva vox that also comes with an accompanying dub. We Get Deep is in a similar vein only sans diva, I'm Free is a more musical, soulful affair with vocals from Denise Henderson and Michelle Webb, and then finally with Hey Mick we're back to the big Vasquez/Murk-y drums.

There's not a HUGE amount of variety on offer, then, but no matter: this is music made for big dark rooms and dingy red-lit basements, and it'll work well there for sure.

Out: This week

About: Can't seem to find a website for 410 Paradox Underground, but you can follow the lovely Ultra on Twitter if you're into that kind of thing.

Dominic Dawson - Flashback

2Coming from UK producer Dominic Dawson, whose production/remix CV takes in the heavy-hitting likes of Strictly Rhythm, Guidance and Paper, this is a very contemporary house cut despite the lyrical subject matter, wherein a spoken vocal pays homage to disco days gone by.

The Original Disco Rub is a lively, piano-driven affair, and the most likely to appeal to those in search of retro/classic house vibes. Yakka's deeper house Remix is cool musically though I'm not sure the pitched-down vocal really works; the Grand Street Metrotek Remix is a techier, tribal-tinged workout; but the real news here is a remix from the mightly Kruse & Nuernberg, who supply a stripped delight in the form of a Backstage Mix, complete with an accompanying instrumental.

Solid stuff from Nite Grooves.

Out: This week

About: I'm gonna port this blog over to WordPress soon… when I do, we'll able to just have a label links directory, and then I won't have to keep trying to think of new ways of telling you where to find the King Street website. Which will be good.

Jay Dynan - Hover Buzz EP

A newie here from Dance Through Life, a recently-founded label out of NYC… and I've gotta say things have been shaping up very nicely so far!

This one's a three-track affair. Hover Buzz itself is a midtempo deep houser with some gorgeously tinkling understated pianos and female "ay-ahs" sitting atop crisp beats and a rising b-line. Move Your Body sticks with the keyboard sounds but is a more sparse n' stripped cut with something of that lo-fi jackin' feel of vintage Chicago trax, though no, the vocal sample isn't the one you're probably expecting! And then finally Memories Of You goes the other way, being a more sumptuous, musical and soulfully-inclined number with a distinct garage-y feel (which is also true to some extent of Hover Buzz).

All three are very solid tracks, making this an EP you really owe it to yourself to check out.

Out: This week

About: You can find Dance Through Life on Facebook and Soundcloud, naturally, or at their own website.

Vozmediano – Kill The Disco EP

You may remember that Spanish tech-housers Vozmediano cropped up on King Street's New Breed Of Deep House V/A sampler EP not so long since, with the excellent Un Cafe S'Il Vous Plait. Well, now they're back on the legendary New York label with an EP all of their very own.

You get four tracks and five mixes, in total. All I Said is a decent enough if slightly generic slab of NY-style house, while Tango does what you think it's gonna do but in much less of a cheesy oompah-loompah style than you're probably expecting, and comes complete with a Nacho Marco Remix that for me is the standout cut of the whole EP, with the tango elements relegated to a secondary role in what becomes a big, driving houser suitable for main rooms and more underground floors alike.

Green Worm is a rawer-sounding house cut with more than a little of the early Strictlies about it, and then finally the EP comes to a close with Kill The Disco itself, a jerky, cut-up, experimental affair awash with reversed sounds, random bits of Afro chanting, sudden incongruous disco loops that burst in out of nowhere and disappear again just as quickly and, well, you get the idea. It's crazy but you know what, it just might work…

All told there's plenty to enjoy and a little bit to digest, too, making this one of King Street's best releases of late for me.

Out: This week

About: For more info, hit up www.kingstreetsounds.com

Various - Henry Street Grooves

Subtitled 'Classic Deep, Funky & Jazzy House From New York City', this rather excellent comp will be a trip down memory lane if you're one of the older heads like me, or is an essential history lesson if you're a young 'un/newcomer.

For those that don't know, Henry Street Music was a mid-late 90s house label outta Brooklyn. Big on disco cut-ups but taking in a variety of flavas in their time, in much the same way Strictly did but without the horrible 'licensing Vengaboys' bit at the end, they hit biggest with Bucketheads' The Bomb but as well as that chart-busting, Chicago-sampling classic, they put out a hella lot more, er, deep, funky and jazzy house to boot. Come check my vinyl shelves if ya don't believe! The list of artists who released on the label is like a Who's Who of 90s US house: Armand Van Helden, DJ Sneak, DJ Duke, 95 North, Mike Delgado, Davidson Ospina, Scotti Deep, Todd Terry, Mateo & Matos, That Kid Chris, E-Smoove… ah, happy days! Sigh.

BBE put out a Henry Street comp called The Story So Far: 1993-1999, back when the label was still going, so it seems only fitting they're behind this retrospective collection comprised mostly, as far as I can tell without spending ages A-B'ing tracklists, of cuts that haven't featured on any of the previous Henry Street albums. Some of them coming from some of those big-hitters I just mentioned, but many of them more obscure nuggets.

So, like I said: a trip down memory lane for some, an education for others… and pretty unmissable whichever one of those applies to you. This was how we did it, as Montell Jordan once sang, sort of.

Out: Now (but again, only since last week)

About: If you want to find out more about Henry Street, you can start with their Discogs entry. BBE, meanwhile, can be found online here.