ALBUM Pete Dafeet – Family Affair

It's been a long day so I'm keep this kinda quick. Some facts:

1. Lost My Dog is without a doubt one of the UK's best-loved deep house labels
2. Pete Dafeet is one of the three jolly affable fellows that own and run it, and also one of the label's most prolific producers.
3. Here, he seamlessly blends together 14 of his contributions – taking in some forthcoming bullets as well as lots of previously unreleased mixes of back catalogue shizzle – inna superstar DJ in the area mashin' it up throwin' it down and rockin' down the house kinda stylee.
4. Or, you can buy it digitally, in which case you get 18 tracks in all their full-length glory, without the above turntable frolics. In case you fancied doing some of that yourself. I think they've still got some of the three vinyl samplers, too.
5. The mixes come from, among others, Fred Everything, Demarkus Lewis, Moodymanc, Pezzner, Nacho Marco and Giom.
6. It's every bit as groovy and floor-friendly as you want it to be. Hurrah!

Out: This week (as an album – the vinyl samplers have been knocking around for a bit)

About: You can find Lost My Dog at their website, or on Facebook or Soundcloud.

Deep house soldiers

And next, three releases from three well-known, well-respected names in deep house.

First up, Pete Dafeet gives us the Family Affair EP, a four-track/five-mix offering. Expect the usual high-quality deep house in various shades, with the dubby, slightly techy Lungs the standout for me. It's actually the Fred Everything remix of Lungs, to precise; elsewhere, Demarkus Lewis remixes Love Undercover while Giom has a go at Beneath The Fold, making this something of a 'family affair' indeed.

Out: This week

About: This comes of course on Lost My Dog, what with Pete co-owning the label and that… 

Next up we have another from the same stable, as Dale Howard takes us off on a deep, garage-y tip with the Inner City EP. All four tracks are very playable, but the jazzy overtones of C'mon and the Tuff Jam-ish bump of C'mon stand out for me. Niceness!

Out: This week

About: Here's another Lost My Dog link, for their Soundcloud page.

Our third and final deep house hero for this little mini-roundup is Matthieu Duchesne, who this week is doing the honours for Savoir Faire. Actually I say 'final' but there's a couple of other very familiar names involved as well. The original of Kind Of Funk is a heads-down, rolling deep house groover, but you also get remixes from Martijn and Dave James, the former taking us just a wee bit deeper, the latter doing his usual uber-deep and dubbed out thang… and as usual stealing the show for me! But again, a strong offering all round.

Out: This week

About: Here's where to find Savoir Faire Musique online, as if you didn't know already.

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).

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!

Nick Devon - So Addicted EP

This record just made me turn out all the lights, pump up the volume and have a disco in the living room to it all by my own self. Which is about as good as it gets at the age of 42, really.

Two tracks, four mixes in total, and every one a winner. "Deep and dark bass-led house," is what the hype sheet calls So Addicted itself, and I won't argue. I will just point out though that a) label boss Al Bradley's 3am Deep Remix is the dog's nuts and b) no, it's not the Mainline sample you might be expecting – it's actually got a spoken male vocal, with vocodered 'answer' vox to die for.

But speaking of samples, over on the B Nothing does very strange things with the vocal from People Hold On… or is it just the lyric, cos I'm not sure if it's a resung male version of the same, or just a very pitched-down sample? Either way, this second big, echo-y monster can also be found lurking in a canine scrotal sack near you… and it comes with a deeper refix from Pete Dafeet too so we really are getting a bit spoilt here.

Out: This week

About: This comes of course on 3am Recordings, who can be found on Facebook and Soundcloud. Nick Devon is from Greece, and I'd also just like to point out that I don't think I've ever typed the words "canine scrotal sack" before.

I'm gonna try not to make a habit of it. You never know where these things will end.

Pete Dafeet – In Flux

This is the 40th release from Lost My Dog, which has quietly established as one of the UK's foremost deep house labels. So for the anniversary release, label co-owner Pete Dafeet steps up with yet another of his trademark deep house bullets.

You're surely familiar with LMD's bumping, East Midlands-influenced take on deep house by now, and all I'd add specifically about this track is that, thanks to the inclusion of some female vocal snippets, it's perhaps just a little more soul-infused than some of the previous LMD output. So I'm not sure how much else there is to say about it, except that the EP's got five tracks in total: the original of In Flux itself, two rerubs from Atjazz, and bonus cuts Think It Through and Future You. The latter goes down a slightly techier/proggier route, while Think It Through is in a similar vein, but again with cut-up vox that push it in the vague direction of tech soul or even future garage territory. A bit, but it's still in yer typical LMD deep house vein, essentially – which is no bad thing at all, cos that's what we love 'em for.

Out: This week

About: As I said, you should know all about LMD by now, but if you've just come in, here's their website…