Various – Collected Works

Speaking of labels you've got to hand it to… what I love about OFF Recordings is you never know quite what you're gonna get. One OFF release can be soulful/garage-y, the next tuff and techy… as long as it's good music they don't care too much for pigeonholes, which is how it should be.

It's no surprise, then, that this four-track sampler EP takes in a range of styles. The EP opens with HNQO feat Bip's As I See, a deep/tech chugger with a fat, chunky b-line and a breathy spoken female vocal. Oddly reminiscent of Superstars Of Rock's classic Orange Sunshine in places, you'll recognise it from the "D to the O to the O to the D… E.P.M.U.S.I.C… go!" refrain – though as to what 'Dood EP Music' means, your guess is as good as mine.

Javi Bora, Le Vinyl and Melohman are up next with Destruction, a low-temperature techy groove with an "annihilation… destruction" vocal hook, female wails and a tuff, no-nonsense bottom end, which is followed by Mantra from Hector Couto and S.K.A.M, a more peaktime kinda cut that sits on the deep house/nu disco borders and works a voal sample lifted from Mainline (the Jason Load version, not the Black Ivory one – as also sampled by Love Revolution's Give It To Me Baby back in the day).

Finally, Detroit Swindle's The Standard Of Dialogue is another cut that owes a great deal to classic early 90s NYC – the "hehs" in particular recalling House Of Gypsies' Samba, so much so that it MIGHT actually be a sample, though I'm not 100% sure – and that's topped with a black power/conscious rap-type (second) vocal exhorting "motherfuckers" to "realise" and "reject mediocrity" and so on.

Ageing disco dolly that I am it's Mantra that wins out for me, with Detroit Swindle coming a close second. But it's all good, as they say.

Out: This week

About: You can find OFF Recordings in all the usual places, such as… leading social network Facebook! Cloud-based audio sharing service Soundcloud! And at their very own homepage on the World Wide Web! Isn't the 21st century marvellous, eh?

Dale Howard – Some Other Guy EP

And speaking of Dale Howard, here he comes again, this time with a four-track EP for Berlin's ever-excellent OFF Recordings.

The clue's in the title with the main track, as Mr Howard lifts a chunk of Heard It Through The Grapevine* and places it, heavily treated, atop a midtempo, bassy deep house groove. "Simple but devastatingly effective" would be the cliché juste, methinks! Elsewhere on the EP, No Need is another simple, loping and bassy groover but with both male and female vocal snips this time, Trickster is a sumptuous, (UK) garage-y thang and the throbbing 4am dub-house-disco of District brings the EP to a close.

Deep house music that sounds contemporary yet at the same time pays homage to classic sounds… what's not to like?

Out: This week

About: Find OFF Recordings at their website, on Facebook and on Soundcloud.

*Possibly someone other than Marvin's version, I'm not 100 per cent sure

Leftwing & Kody – Bump & Flex EP

Another sterling offering here from Andre Crom's Berlin-based OFF Recordings, who've quietly become of my favourite labels of the moment.

OFF's normal speciality is contemporary-sounding, forward-leaning tracks that bridge the gap between techno and deep house. This, though, sees the label – or more specifically, London-based duo Leftwing & Kody – going down an uncharacteristically straight-up house route. I'm not sure if Bump & Flex is named in tribute to the UK garage veterans of the same name, but it's got that sexy garage swing about it for sure… not to mention a throbbing, pulsing, almost rave-y bassline and disembodied spoken female vox. Very, very cool indeed. Crom's remix toughens up the beats a notch – without ruining it, but it's still the original for me I think.

Elsewhere on the EP, You Don't Know with its R&B-ish vocal snips leans even further towards UKG, Feel Free works another rave-y b-line with "come on" and "yeah"-type vocals, while Going Down… er, well, that's in a similar vein basically only with added piano. But it's a very pleasing vein to be in, it has to be said.

Again, then: this is big room fare the way it should be done, but mostly isn't. Don't sleep.

Out: This week

About: Find OFF Recordings at their website, on Facebook and on Soundcloud. Don't miss their ever-excellent podcast series, either.

Chris James – On & On

More quality from Germany's excellent Off Recordings. Not to be confused with 90s handbaggers Chris & James (of Calm Down fame), or current deep, dubby techno master Dave James, Chris James is one-half of Coat Of Arms, who've had stuff out on Pets Recordings and Future Boogie Recordings, but here under his own name he serves up two tracks in a total of four mixes.

On & On itself features vintage Chi-town percussion paired with a fat b-line and yearning, echo-ing female that are vocal redolent of the deeper end of early UKG. A remix from MANIK then takes the track into techier territories. Nothing Else Matters, meanwhile, is a very contemporary-sounding tech-houser that makes the most original (and freaky) use of a Janet Jackson phrase/sample – not 100% sure whether it's resung or not – you'll hear all year, and comes complete with a dubbier, bassier Hot Since 82 Remix.

All told: four slammin' cuts tailormade for underground dancefloors. By way of example, here's that latter remix for ya…

Out: This week

About: You can find Off Recordings at their website, on Facebook and on Soundcloud. It's worth keeping an ear on their regular podcasts, too.