Various - New Breed Of Deep House 2012 samplers

The mighty King Street serve up not one but two samplers for their forthcoming full-length compilation New Breed Of Deep House 2012. But to be fair, you probably figured that out from the post heading!

As is King Street's wont, there are two completely separate sampler bundles available: one for Traxsource, one for Beatport. I'm not going into all 18 tracks individually but of the two, the seven-track 'Traxsource Edition' is probably better suited for fans of traditional-style deep house, with lots of funky basslines, sampled disco vox and warm Rhodes hooks, while the 'Beatport Edition' errs towards the skinny-jeans--wedge-haircut-and-cardigan hipster tech-house side of things, with glacial synths and strobelight throbbers more in evidence.

But that's a very sweeping statement, a picture painted in the broadest of strokes, and there are plenty of top-drawer nuggets to be found on both releases. Domscott's Ain't Playing Games No More (Traxsource Edition) is a fine, funk-fuelled gem that's got more than a touch of the Matty Heilbronns about it, while if it's more experimental/cutting-edge sounds you're after then Whim-ee's You Can Amor (Beatport Edition), which sounds like the future garage sound of Berlin, will see you right for sure.

So best be on the safe side and get both, eh?

Out: This week

About: You know where to find King Street so I guess there's room to tell you that the full list of artists featured on the two EPs includes (deep breath): Soundealers, Washerman, Domscott, Chocolate Avenue, Alfonso Ares feat Celia, Hamza, Tout Le Monde (all Traxsource Edition), Rey & Kjavik feat Kevin Iszard, SO DEAFI, Balcazar & Sordo, Shades Of Gray, Whim-ee, Nicko Vee, Kyoko Kamichika & Masahiro Suzuki, Nico Purman, 9west and Oscar Higinion (all Beatport Edition).

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!

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…

Lexy vs Shades Of Gray – Dondi Bisco

Fresh from providing one of the remixes on SoG's Soul Machine album, here German producer Lexy, AKA Alexander Gerlach, teams up with the Aussie/Czech duo once more for a two-tracker on his own Moensterbox label.

The A-side, Dondi Bisco itself, is a perfectly serviceable slab of deep house, dancefloor-friendly with a little added disco polish, but it's actually B-side Cariah Marey I'm feeling more. Here, a spoken sampled vocal (presumably culled from an interview with the almost-eponymous diva herself?) bemoaning the stupidity and ignorance of racism sit atop a slightly more thumpin', pumpin' backdrop, with a neat line in rumbling low-end and a blink-and-you''ll-miss-it snip of the mighty Janet's Nasty thrown in for good measure.

I was clearly MEANT to review this record, cos by sheer coincidence and/or the will of the flying spaghetti monster, it landed the very day after I'd had Control on for the first time in years. But yeah, if you dig the cheeky cut-ups so beloved of the likes of Bounce House or Borrowed, you'll love this.

Out: This week

About: Find Moensterbox online here and here (Soundcloud, Facebook)

Shades Of Gray - All About The Drums EP

A strong four-tracker here from Shades Of Gray and the ever on-point Lost My Dog.

The 'title' track, The Drums Go Like This, features an anonymous producer discussing how he writes songs, while old skool Chicago-esque house sounds potter away beneath a layer of crowd/party noise. Do This, featuring Rodney O, brings the tech-y, proggy chug and tops it off with another spoken vocal, with Rodders (I presume it is) urging his partner to "do this" and let him take her "on a ride to his twilight zone". Barry White would be proud! Father's Guitar, featuring Pavel ORM, is then another upbeat affair with, unsurprisingly, a little added Spanish six-string action.

But while all three of those are pretty cool – The Drums Go Like This especially – the standout by far for me is Sometimes (credited to Shades Of Gray & Antsmif). Here, Messrs Ruzicka and West take the brave step of reusing the Bessie Jones blues/gospel sample made famous by Moby on Honey, placing it over a pulsing, chunky deep houser with some nicely understated wukka-wukking guitars and some SERIOUSLY groovy organs.

"Deep and funky heads-down house music" is how the hype sheet describes the EP and yeah, that pretty much covers it.

Out: This week

About: For all things Lost My Dog-related hit up their website, Facebook or Soundcloud page.

Meantime, here nicked from the latter is a Shades Of Gray podcast for you as well…

FREE TRACK Shades Of Gray – Illusions

Before we get on with the evening's reviews… here's a little treat for you. Shades Of Gray, AKA Mikel Schwa and Nick West, have an album forthcoming on Beef Records in January called Soul Machine, which is really rather good. But more about that nearer the time… for now, you'll have to content yourself with this taster track, Illusions, which is being released into the cyberwild ahead of times.

by Shades of Gray