Sjef Wanders – Detroit Hustle EP

More connoisseur-friendly tackle here, on the latest from Seb Davidson's Nightbird Music.

Detroit Hustle itself teams raw, jacking Motor City beats with sampled hip-hop vox and snatches of the mighty Holloway tonsils, but goes slightly overboard on the rattling, incessant hi-hats for these ears. As a result I'd probably plump instead for the B-side refix from the UK's 4BeatClub, which is a warmer, more musical take that drops the diva vox and hissing cymbals in favour of some jazzy sax parps, though it does lack the original's sparse, stripped beauty.

Rounding out the EP is the sumptuous, garage-y late night groove of Many Ways, with its cheeky snips of a much-loved classic vocal. I won't spoil it by saying what one, though, you'll just have to check it for yourself!

It's a pity about those OTT hi-hats on the title cut – the same mix without them would be an utter, stone-cold killer – but this is a very strong release all the same.

Out: This week

About: You can find Nightbird Music on Facebook, on Soundcloud or at their own website.

Various - Nightbird ADE Sampler 2012

Our second ADE sampler tonight comes from Sebastian Davidson's ever-reliable Nightbird Music.

The EP gets off to a slow-burning, deeper-than-deep start with Rami Deejay's soul-drenched Burn Burn, then picks up the pace in fine style with the vintage/retro Chi-town deepness of 4BeatClub's The Warehouse. Phonic Funk's proper garage-y Aus follows, then comes Mass Digital's dark room vocal anthem-in-waiting Things We Done Together, before Fil Lavin's Nude takes us into the 4am eyes-wide-shut jacking zone and Peter O's gorgeous come-down treat Back In The Day soothes us off into the stratosphere.

Or to put it another way: six superb slices of deep house and proper garage done very, very right. It's a bit unmissable this one, really.

Out: Sunday (Oct 14)

About: If you happen to be going to ADE then I believe Nightbird are having a bit of a do on the 18th… otherwise you can find 'em on Facebook, on Soundcloud or at their own website.

The Soulshapes – Mandala EP

The Soulshapes will be a new name to most, but you'll probably know the members Rocco and Torre Bros from releases on such respected labels as Buzzin Fly, Freerange and Komplex De Deep.

Here, as The Soulshapes, they serve up a two-tracker for Sebastian Davidson's ever-checkable Nightbird Music, with Mandala coming in no-nonsense Original and Dub flavas. The Original is a 7.5-minute instrumental workout with both Afro/tribal influences and a hint of cosmic disco, while the Dub ditches the analogue synths and brings the African percussion to the floor.

Not being the biggest fan of Afro-oriented vibes this wouldn't be topping my personal Nightbird Top 10, I have to admit, but there are floors that lap this stuff up, and Soulshapes' fusion of ethnic  percussion with such a minimal approach overall is interesting, too.

Out: This week

About: You can find Nightbird Music on Soundcloud and Facebook.

J Kar – Romance Symphony

Quality bizniss as ever from Sebastian Davidson's Nightbird stable here, coming in four mixes.

In its Original form, Romance Symphony – with its soaring synth-strings, "for you" female vocal wails and fat, chunky b-line – sits right on the deep/prog border. Nick Hogendoorn's remix takes us more unequivocally into proggy territory, and will no doubt suit the relevant jocks down to the ground, but it's the Nick Devon and Seva K rubs, which go the other way and head off down the path marked 'just plain deep', that are – unsurprisingly – doing it best for me.

Nick's mix is a sparse, stripped-back affair with some cool jazz piano added, while the Seva K Dub is, er, even more sparse and stripped-back, and a bit warmer and dubber. And to be honest it's very hard to choose between 'em… I guess Nick's is a bit more club-friendly whereas Seva K's is more your post-club, zoning out on the sofa kinda thang, but I'm digging the two pretty much equally.

Making this something of a must-have.

Out: This week

About: Here's where to find Nightbird Music on Soundcloud and Facebook.

Malbetrieb & Rik Woldring – Diepe Vlakte EP

Some typically deep underground house vibes here from Sebastian Davidson's Nightbird Music.

Diepe Vlakte itself is a dub-informed cut sitting right on the deep house/deep techno borders, with the tiniest of chopped-up breathy female vocal snips sitting atop a fractured pulsating groove tailor-made for late-night smoking sessions. On the B, Vlakke Diepte is in a similar vein; this one's perhaps a little more floor-friendly but we'd be still only talking warm-up/afterhours play and it'd be equally at home on the sofa. And then finally there's a third bonus slab of deepness in the form of Malbetrieb & Sebastian Davidson's Song For M.

'Uncompromising' is the word here… this is proper head music for losing yourself in, not one for dropping at your cousin Trevor's stag night, as Nightbird continue to explore house music's more cerebral fringes.

Out: This week

About: You can find Nightbird Music on Soundcloud and Facebook. And Diepe Vlakte and Vlakke Diepte are I believe Dutch for, roughly translated, "deep and simple" and "simply deep" or something like that. Thank you, Google Translate.

Enthousisaste Gasten & Freak Strano – Slide It In

Sebastian Davidson's Nightbird Music serves up what is undoubtedly one of the label's techiest offerings to date here.

In its original form, Slide It In is a throbbing, pulsating deep house/deep techno cut that opens with a long dramatic intro, then settles into a bottom-heavy, bubbling groove, with a burst of hands-in-the-air tinkling synths in the middle. Seb's own remix brings the light, and is a sun-drenched, Balearic-leaning affair, while the Phonic Funk rerub takes us in a slightly proggier direction.

But for all their birdsong and lilting Spanish guitars, neither remix can compete with the original when it comes to energy and the sheer order-to-dance factor. Something of a departure for Nightbird, then, but a successful one.

Out: This week

About: This is number 30 from Nightbird Music, who can be found on Facebook and Soundcloud.

Sebastian Davidson - Earthrise EP Remixes

Ever-reliable Dutch producer Sebastian* serves up a remixed version of last December's Earthrise EP on his own Nightbird Music.

Up And Pg take care of remix duties on Earthrise itself, serving up a deep and fairly slow cut with the slightest of prog/tribal leanings, topped off with female vocal wails that sound almost like birdcalls. J Kar does the honours on Last Love Found with a late-night, driftaway kinda rub, and then finally BarBQ remix Johnny, adding a techier edge to what was originally a pretty mellow groover.

File under 'tracky shit' rather than 'peaktime slammers' but yeah, this is good stuff… Nightbird don't really do anything else!

Out: This week

About: You can find Nightbird here, here and here (Facebook/MySpace/Soundcloud)

*NOT French, as I said before.

Rami Deejay & Keely Timlin - Disengage

Finally for tonight, after all that nu-disco and prog, we return to deep house pastures with this latest from Sebastian Davidson's ever-excellent Nightbird Music.

This time we're at the soulful end of the deep house spectrum, with Disengage sporting a jazz-inflected vocal from Ms Timlin that reminds me a lot of the mighty Nicolette. The lazy, lounge-y original is complemented with an ultra-deep, piano-sprinkled Afterhours Remix from Ferdy, a techier, glitchier rub from Malbetrieb & Rik Wolding and, best of all to these ears, a stripped and dubby makeover from the mighty Karol XVII & MB Valence, which nonetheless leaves that vocal intact.

Nightbird seem to be continuing with their policy of focusing on quality not quantity; here, they've struck gold once more.

Out: It just says 'March', so sometime very soon is all I can tell you. Or now even, who can say?

About: You can find Nightbird Music on Facebook and MySpace.

Evren Ulusoy – Nocturnal

Now we go really deep, with this superb offering from Turkish house maestro Evren Ulusoy on Sebastian Davidson's ever-excellent Nightbird Music.

In its Original form, Nocturnal is all crisp beats, dreamy pads and bags and bags of reverb, topped off with a sultry female vocal that recalls classic NY/NJ house n' garage and underpinned by a jaunty but unhurried Chi-town b-line. Deep Class boss Fer Ferrari tuffens up the beats a little and adds some disco sprinkles, Dub Makers bring the bassline to the fore and turn the track into a sparse-but-intense 5am soundsystem delight, and Satoshi Fumi adds some analogue warmth and tinkling ivories for a more sultry, smoochy post-club ride.

Essentially the four mixes are just subtly different shades of very deep house, then… but nonetheless, this is class in a glass.

Out: This week

About: You can hook up with Nightbird Music via their Facebook and MySpace pages, while you can find out all you need to know about Evren Ulusoy at his own website.

Sebastian Davidson - Earthrise EP

Great to be back in touch with Sebastian Davidson and his Nightbird Music label, cos this is another high-quality offering from this ever-reliable stable.

Earthrise itself is a languid, piano-led house number with hints of disco and some sampled female vocal wails. Johnny is a slightly chunkier affair but still pretty unhurried, with a mournful, soulful kind of air about it. And then finally Last Love Found is just a tiny bit techier in its sound palette, but retains the overall warm-up/post-club vibe.

Earthrise is the pick of the three tracks for me I think but overall, what we have here are three prime house slices from the deeper side. Keep 'em coming Monsieur D!

Out: This week

About: Anyone who read iDJ when it was still alive will remember that Nightbird Music featured in our 'rising stars of deep house' round-up shortly before the mag closed. You can find 'em on Facebook, MySpace and Soundcloud, and here's a little write-up on Resident Advisor.

Phonic Funk - Dreaming Of You

First release on here for a while from Nightbird – we lost touch for a little while when my old iDJ email stopped working but it's sorted now – and I'm pleased to be able to report the French label hasn't lost its… knack (I nearly said 'touch' but I won't, for obvious reasons!)

Dreaming Of You is, for the first 3.45 or so of its life, a simple chugging deep/tech-house groove… before a big analogue synth crescendo sweeps everything away before it and the track drops away into a few moments of hands-in-the-air beatless bliss. And then in comes this trumpet… before we're back, now fully refreshed and energised, into the chuggery again. If you thought deep house couldn't do dancefloor drama, or if you thought you couldn't do big proggy breakdowns in a jazzy kinda way, think again! Awesome stuff.

And that's not all. Daniel Kyo's mix is even more dramatic, with a big, slow-building bottom-end that's positively hair-raising and more than a hint of The Man With The Red Face about the whole affair, while bonus cut Trapped (no relation to the Col Abrams classic) lightens the mood a little with some classic deep-but-uplifting house flavas.

Blending elements of prog, deep and tech house, this is, quite simply, a superb EP.

Out: This week

About: In one of the last-ever issues of iDJ, I named Sebastian Davidson's Nightbird as one of THE best deep house labels around. On this evidence, I see no reason to revise or retract that judgement at all! Find out more about 'em here