Midicult – Who Am I?

"Ten minutes of hypnotic tech house" is how the hype sheet describes this one. And yeah, that's about the size of it.

If I just left it at that though you'd probably be a mite disgruntled. So in more detail… nah, "ten minutes of hypnotic tech-house" pretty much nails it for the original! I might add though that we're talking tech-house in the 'deep and groovy', as opposed to the 'fierce and jacking' or 'minimal and a bit scary' sense. Remix-wise Tom Ellis's rub is a little more house-ified and rolling, Jerico ups the BPM slightly and throws in some vintage house/rave synth sounds, while Steve Leggett flips the script entirely and takes us into more leftfield, downtempo territory.

The latter's actually the rub I'd be least likely to play but Mr Leggett should at least be applauded for his more imaginative/inventive approach. As for the other three… crucial stuff all round but if pushed I think Tom Ellis takes the gold for me, with the Original mere microns behind.

Out: This week

About: This comes to you courtesy of 22 Digit Records, who live in Newcastle and also on Facebook and Soundcloud.

Various - Neovinyl Allstars Vol 1

Must admit, new label Neovinyl hadn't made a huge impression on me to date - that's not a diss, I'm just not sure if I even heard any of their previous releases. Which makes it all the more of a good idea that release number 10 is the label's first sampler EP/mini-album.

And what a sampler it is! If you like your house music deep, down and techy, with a soulful twist here, a disco flourish there and even a little garage-y skip in its step from time to time, then Neovinyl Allstars Vol 1, won't disappoint. From the jerky future-step of Elef's Bud's Dancer, to the low-slung East Midland-ish bump n' funk of Tom Ellis's Want You, to the straight-up deepness of Baldo's Looking Back For The Roots, this is a sure-fire winner.

Out: Now (for all of four or five days)

About: Neovinyl Recordings are based in Malaga, Spain. Here for your clicking pleasure are their website, a Soundcloud page where you can HEAR this and other releases and, finally, here's a YouTube stream of this whole EP.

And FINALLY finally, for those who are too lazy even to click the links, here's the Soundcloud player right here!

Various Artists - Neovinyl Allstars Vol. 1 by Neovinyl Recordings