Various – Finest NY House 2012

Not one but two sampler EPs here from King Street, following the label's usual, somewhat confusing strategy of putting out completely different yet identically titled EPs for Beatport and Traxsource.

In the red corner then we have the Beatport Edition. This is a seven-track affair, with contributions from Fisher & Fiebak, Satoshi Fumi, T Ruggieri, Iban Reus & Oliver Schmitz, M2, vexuS T and Mass Digital. Here, the emphasis is mostly on drummy, tracky shit: Ruggieri's Love Shines Through, Fumi's Shiny and Mass Digital's deeper Those Moments stand out.

In the blue corner, meanwhile, the Traxsource edition features a further seven cuts, this time on a more melodic/musical/funkier tip. Marco Bruzzano's Rebirth is one highlight, Quentin Kane's euphoric, Rod Stewart-sampling M.U.S.I.C another, with further contributions coming from Washerman, Alex Font, Phazed Groove, Urban Soul and Hamza.

As you might expect from a collection focusing mostly on up-and-coming names, there are a couple of tracks that fail to hit the spot but overall, both EPs do their job of showcasing the current house sound of NYC admirably.

Out: This week for the Traxsource edition; you'll have to wait till December 24 for the Beatport one.

About: As well as their own website you can now find King Street/Nite Grooves/Street King on Facebook and Soundcloud.

Speakdeep & Joy Lee feat S.Rorschach – Existentialism

We'll start out seriously deep tonight with this latest slab from Nite Grooves…

Existentialism features a slightly disturbing, semi-sung semi-whispered male vocal about "blood and death" from Rorschach and comes in three mixes. Gianlucca Peruzzi's is deep n' techy in a Berlin/east London kinda way, Marcoradi's is just a tiny bit more energetic and just a tiny bit proggy, while Blue Mondays' rub has a touch of the E2-E4s about it and is the most stripped-down and late-night of the three.

But to be fair, they're all pretty stripped-down and late-night! A peaktime floorfiller this isn't, a fine piece of electronic musicality it is. Though a rub with less of the vocal might not've gone amiss.

Out: This week on Traxsource, everywhere else from October 8.

About: You surely know where to find Nite Grooves by now…

Francesco Tarantini – Come Back EP

And finally for tonight… we've used the word 'garage-y' several times in the past couple of reviews so how about some of the real deal? If you head straight for Come Back (presented here in its Tribute To KC Mix, the Original having featured on the Miami 2012 EP a few months back) that's exactly what you'll get, proving the classic sound of New Jersey isn't dead and buried quite yet!

Come Back is the standout for me, and the one out-and-out garage gem, but it would be fair to say the NJ influences are in fact writ large across the EP's seven tracks generally… even as the Italian producer explores various shades of deep house music, from the soulful and jazzy to the techy and jackin', and proves himself equally adept at all of them.

The jazz-flavoured I Was and the sparse, twitchy heads' treat that is El Coche are two more highlights, but really picking individual tracks is superfluous. What you need to know about this EP is that: a. it shows Tarantini is 100% on top of his game right now, and b. you seriously need to check it out.

Out: This week (everywhere, that is… it's actually been on Traxsource a couple of weeks but I was busy then)

About: This comes on Nite Grooves, part of the King Street stable as you know, so here's a label link you've probably clicked before…

Deep Character & Mad Boss – My Hate, Your Love EP

If you ever look at the TIWWD Facebook page, you might recall I said last week about getting a big bundle of top-quality promos through from King Street… well, here's the first of the tracks in question.

Deep Character & Mad Boss are an Italian production team – there seem to be about 27 of 'em unless I'm reading the credits wrong – and what's most interesting about this one, I think, is that it fuses that current European, techy house sound with the more traditional sounds you more readily associate with King Street. Or at least, it does on the Bollo Remix of My Hate, Your Love itself, which I'd go so far as to call almost Chandler-esque in places. Almost.

As for the original of the track – your guess is as good as mine, cos it's on the EP but not on the promo! Not really sure why they do that… but anyway, rounding out the EP is Modern Theory, which is more overtly techy but equally strong. In fact it's probably my favourite cut here, what with its “Shaolin shadow boxing” vocal samples, throbbing bassline and long, atmospheric synth rises. Very cool.

Out: This week

About: This actually carries the Nite Grooves stamp, not the King Street one, but no matter – you can find them both here. You can also expect to see that link a lot over the coming few weeks!

Converge+ – The Air EP

New on Nite Grooves this week comes this five-track EP from Japan's Converge+.

RGB kicks off proceedings, an exercise in Ibiza-friendly, Spanish guitar-laden chillage but with surprisingly tuff beats, making this just as at home on the dancefloor or by the poolside. There's no doubting where Moyura's meant to be heard, though: it's a dark and rumbling instrumental tech-houser made for the small hours, while Acrobat continues in a similar vein, but this time with tribal overtones and with some gently tweeting flutes, used quite subtly in the mix, bringing the light

Title cut Air then takes us back into more traditional deep house territory, with cleaner kicks and some piano action that I'd describe as 'hands in the air' if it wasn't so understated! Some nice sax parps on this one, too. And then finally Eclipse starts out as another drummy workout but then slowly adds in more of those melodic/Balearic elements found in the other tracks.

Air and Moyura stand out for me but it's solid stuff all round.

Out: This week

About: You surely must know where to find King Street, Nite Grooves and Street King by now!

Dub Modo – Key From All Doors

Some seriously deep vibes here from Russian producer Dub Modo on Nite Grooves.

In its Original form, Key From All Doors is a spacey, dubby deep house-meets-deep techno groover made for warm-up, afterhours or post-club play. It's top-drawer stuff, but be warned: it's one for those that like it sparse and head-y, and those in search of lingalonga peaktime thrills will need to look elsewhere! A Locarini Remix then takes us into more uptempo and percussive tech-house territory.

The finished EP will also apparently contain a couple more tracks called New Step and Travel Comet, but they've not promo'd those so I can't tell you what they sound like! On the basis of the title track alone, though, this is one you need to check.

Out: This week on Beatport, everywhere else from May 20

About: Nite Grooves is, as you know, part of the mighty King Street stable.

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.

Oscar Barila - The Last Goodbye

Coming from rising Spanish producer Oscar Barila, this is an interesting release from Nite Grooves because, to these ears at least, it kind of bridges the gap between the label's traditional soulful house and the more contemporary/techy/European sounds they've been experimenting with recently.

So if you were imagining now-sounding, techy house beats (as opposed to tech-house beats, if you see what I mean), topped off with a soulfully-inclined, semi-spoken male vocal, then yeah, that's about the size of The Last Goodbye, with hand percussion fills adding to the overall 'Ibiza sundown' feel.

It's accompanied by a Maiki Remix which uses less of the vocal, and adds some urgency to the drums, a fat Chicago-esque bassline and dreamaway synth washes, making this one aimed more at the late, late floors, while bonus cut Vivre Sa Vie rounds out the EP, a more traditionally sumptuous n' soulful affair with, unusually, a sampled, spoken male vocal in French.

As I said before, an interesting EP that should have appeal for today's club kids and long-term King Street/Nite Grooves fans alike.

Out: This week on Traxsource, everywhere else from April 23.

About: For more info hit up kingstreetsounds.com

Various - Deep In Tech Part 2

After the various artists EP from 5 And Dime below, let's jump straight from one of the world's smallest and newest house labels to one of the world's biggest and longest-running, with another V/A offering courtesy this time of the mighty Nite Grooves/King Street.

You've got to hand it to King Street, really. Traditionally the label's been best known for US-style soulful house n' garage flavas, and they still do plenty of that… but they've also embraced the more contemporary, techy/European house sound as few labels of their ilk have. Old dogs can not only learn new tricks, it seems, they can actually do them pretty damn well! As such, if it's deep, driving tech-house grooves for strobe-y basement rooms you're after, this is well worth checking.

On offer, then, are four tracks from four artists. Chris B's Fiji and Converge+'s Quest are the tracks that lean most strongly to the techno side of the tech-house equation, the latter being notable also for a dark, rumbling, almost speed garage-ish b-line, while Kera's Convoi Exceptionnel and OMB's Stay With Me have a little more of that dreamy-druggy-proggy 'lost in music' kinda feel going on.

But these are fairly subtle (and highly subjective) distinctions. And again, I'm loathe to pick a favourite here because all four tracks will do their job admirably, and for an EP featuring four more-or-less newcomer artists, that's no mean feat.

Out: This week

About: You surely know where to find King Street online by now? As regards the artists involved, you might like to know that Converge+ is Japanese producer Hiroshi Endo while Kera hails from the Netherlands.

Francesco Tarantini - Mind Tracks EP

A six-track EP from Italy's Francesco Tarantini here, coming on the mighty Nite Grooves. Nite Grooves has always, of course, been King Street's home for the jackin', tracky shiznit and this EP is no exception!

In fact, I'd say Nite Grooves is pretty much the perfect home for this release, because across its six tracks it bridges the gap nicely between traditional NYC house (as you'd find on King Street) and more contemporary, techy European vibes (as you'd find on Street King). If it's tuff, no-nonsense heads-down deep/tech house for the dancefloor you're after then head for The Flow or Put Your Sunglasses on. If you want a little more of a Wave Music/Body & Soul-style ethno-infused vibe then check No Solution or Amazon, while finally the Eric Power B Remix of The Flow adds a few good-time disco tinges and The Great is an uncompromising slab of raw machine soul.

Admittedly I'm not so into the two Afro-y cuts myself but that's purely a matter of personal taste… this is nonetheless a very strong EP all round.

Out: This week

About: For more info on one of house music's longest-running and most-respected imprints, click here.