Stefan Kaye – Time Goes By EP

And from a label who don't get enough love on here (22 Digit), we move on to a label that get so much love on here, you probably think I've got an Endemic Digital duvet cover with matching pillowcases.

I haven't. But they do keep coming out with the goods! This time around it's label regular Stefan Kaye doing the honours with a four-track EP. In The Moment is yer basic deep/tech chugger with proggy overtones, With You is a mellower deep groove with a few UKG/UK funky-ish vocal wails applied sparingly on top, while Late Night Player is a little more glitchy. But the killer here is Time Goes By, a proper luxuriant and sumptuous deep houser with soulful male vocal snips and, most imporatntly, organ sounds to die for.

Actually I recently burnt a hole in my favourite duvet cover so Wez, if you were thinking of doing any home furnishing-themed merchandising…

Out: This week

About: Oh come on, you know this link by now!

Kings Of Tomorrow – Let Me Tell You Something

Some very solid, club-friendly house grooves here from Mr Sandy Rivera, AKA Kings Of Tomorrow.

There are two mixes of Let Me Tell You… to choose from. The original mix by Sandy on his own is big n' bouncy in a back-to-95 kinda stylee, while over on the B, Sandy teams up with C Castel for a deeper, more melodic pass.

It's the almost bassline house-ish original that's working best for me but both will have their fans for sure.

Out: This week

About: Nice to see Defected actually promo-ing their singles again…you can find the UK house stalwarts at their own website, on Facebook, on Soundcloud and (get them!) on YouTube.

Cherie Lee – Love Me Or Leave Me (The Remixes)

TIWWD is now back from holiday… and feeling slightly worn-out from travelling. Will be back up to speed tomorrow but for now just wanted to tell you about this, which I have to say TOTALLY dominated the holiday iPod!

Love Me Or Leave Me first came out back in 1995. The original Club Dub is presented here as a memory-jerker – and a more sumptuous organ-led slab of deep n' groovy proper garage you'll struggle to find this week, or indeed this year. More importantly for our purposes, though, you also get three brand new refixes to play with. Oliver $ drops the organs and tuffens up the drums a notch, Brodanse's rub is stripped back and a tad pacier, while Matthew K takes us into more contemporary deep house pastures.

Ageing garage snob that I am, I'll be honest and say it's still the '95 version that I'm loving the most, but all three of the re-rubs do a fine job of bringing the track up-to-date for younger floors – respectfully, and without detracting from the essence of the original. Go seek.

Out: This week

About: This comes on brand new UK imprint Danse Club, run by Scott and Austen Smart AKA Brodanse Brothers, and is the first in a series of 'Gold Series' releases from the label that, in their words, "will feature classic records from the 90s re-mastered and remixed by leading producers". You can find 'em on Facebook and Soundcloud.

Feft – Won't Believe EP

An outstanding EP from Unrivaled Music here with three tracks, two of which operate in out-and-out garage territory.

That's garage in the proper/old-fashioned sense you understand. Won't Believe itself works some great NJ organ stabs, skippy beats and the tiniest snips of heavily treated male vocal, while Lost is another killer bump n' grind cut in the classic vein, somewhat reminiscent of early outings by labels like Confetti or Ice Cream. Rounding out the EP is Tickle, which is more yer typical Unrivaled-style dancefloor deep house, with tons of rump-shakin' bottom end and a rather rude vocal.

As I said, an outstanding EP, and one that'll go down particularly well with dancers of 'a certain age'…

Out: This week

About: Find Unrivaled Music via the Endemic Digital page on Facebook.

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…

Ivan Picazo – Freedom

Hands up everyone who's a fan of a big, throbbing organ groove?

Thought there'd be a few… in which case this latest from the Hype Muzik camp, which comes courtesy of Spanish producer Ivan Picazo, will suit you to a T (or should that be 'to an M1'?). Just the two mixes on offer: choose from the understated tech of the original, with its heavily-treated male vox, or the Maxim Lany Remix, which really ain't NOTHING but a big, throbbing organ groove!

Personally it's the latter that's appealing the most, but either way this is a solid bet.

Out: This week

About: Hype Muzik, as you should know by now, is part of Norman H's Stripped Muzik Club family, along with Stripped Recordings and Stripped Digital.

Carolyn Harding – Pick It Up [Remixes]

Many, many years ago – 1996 to be precise – yours truly was editing a long-forgotten Manchester-based music, listings and lifestyle magazine called Metropolis. A good friend of mine had just moved to Sheffield, and told me about a new US house night that was launching at The Arches (I think it was). So we went along to review it… only something went a bit wrong, and in a venue that can comfortably hold 300 or so bodies, there were about 15. Seriously.

The promoter, very embarrassed, told the big-name US DJ who was due to play not to bother, just take the cash and go back to the hotel – which he did. But when told Carolyn Harding the same thing re: her PA, she just told him nah, she'd come all this way, she might as well sing… which she did. To 15 people, getting down off the stage and wandering the dancefloor with mic in hand, serenading each and every one of the audience personally.

So, massive respect to one of the most un-diva-like divas in the game, is what I'm saying.

Anyway as for this record… what we have here are four new rubs of Ms Harding's 1995 classic from the UK's own Sean McCabe. Given that the track's been mixed over the years by Kerri Chandler, Roger Sanchez and Jon Cutler, Sean's got some pretty big shoes to fill, but he does so admirably. His Club Vocal does the trad vocal soulful thing, comes with an accompanying instrumental, and is just fine… but it's the Club Dub that stands out for me here, dripping as it is in lush New Jersey-style organs. There's a fully instrumental version of this one as well but it's gotta be the one with the scat vox for me. Somewhat unsurprisingly!

If you're in need of some traditional US garage-style grooves, then you're not going to find much this week that's as good as this.

Out: This week

About: This is on King Street so you know where to go, don't you?

Source Of Soul – This Way

The name kind of gives you a hint here… but then it kinda doesn't as well, cos this isn't soulful house as such, as you might expect. It's just deep house music that's absolutely throbbing with soul.

'Throbbing' is the operative word, as the original of This Way is based primarily around a MASSIVE organ bassline straight outta 1995. It's topped off with echo-ing male vocal stabs, understated piano chords and the most sparse, stripped and echoey beats you can imagine… a dubbed-out treat for those 'proper head' types and no mistake guv'nor! Over on the B, you'll find a remix from Smak AKA Steve McCready, who takes us into synthier territory… this might be the one the Berlin and East London hipsters go for, I think, but it's those retro organs all the way for me.

Always is, to be fair.

Out: This week

About: This comes on a label who are certainly no strangers to this blog, Savoir Faire Musique, and you can HEAR IT on their Soundcloud page.

Angus Jefford – Bumpin'

Okay, so I try and be as professional about things on this blog as I can be, generally. But for once I'm going to make an exception and, very unprofessionally, just say FUCK ME THIS IS GOOD. And that's swearing.

But really, this is outstanding stuff, revisiting the 90s organ-driven house template to devastating effect both on Bumpin' itself – which comes in Original and slightly dubbier Somethin' After mixes, the latter dropping the Detroitian string stabs but keeping the soulfully-styled vocal stabs – and on The Culture. It's enough to make an over-the-hill raver very, very happy indeed.

The fourth track Fever Fever, BTW, doesn't have the organs. It's still a very serviceable slice of uplifting, retro-leaning but forward-looking house music… but it's Bumpin' itself that means you need to STOP what you're doing and buy this immediately.

Oh yeah, and here it is, as well. Awesome, isn't it?

Out: This week

About: This is the second offering from Say Ahh! which, if you didn't know, is the new house label set up by the legendary MK and his brother Scotti Deep… which no doubt helps explain why this is just SO freakin' good. Find Say Ahh! online here or visit their blog

PS: I was hoping, tonight, to bring you a So Many Tunes… round-up of the ones that got away last week. But circumstances have prevented… hopefully later in the week.

Stanny Abram - It's Magic

Well, wonders will never cease, as they say! I think this is the first record I've been sent with a Deso remix, where said remix actually ISN'T my pick of the crop.

Don't get it twisted, the Deso Dope Remix of It's Magic IS very good, a slo-mo gem of a deep, druggy groove tailormade for warm-up or afterhours play. The Patrick Podage & Nikola Kotevski Remix is also very good, a midtempo deep houser in the traditional sumptuous, mellow and melodic vein.

But at the end of the day, dear readers, TIWWD is a bit of a tart, an Unashamed Disco Dolly™, and as such, neither of the aforesaid can compete, in terms of sheer joyous 'whack it up loud and dance around the room'-ness, with the Original, which is a BIG-with-a-capital-BIG organ tune that'd give Show Me Love or Morel's Grooves #4 a run for their money any day… or indeed any of the early bassline house organ tracks out of Birmingham on labels like Jump and Ecko, that got yours truly so excited circa 2004/5.

So yeah, the original wins out for me but with two other top-quality remixes on board, all three of which will suit different floors/moods/times, you NEED this.

Out: This week

About: This is another winner from Savoir Faire Musique, one of those labels who I've raved about so much on here it's getting a bit embarrassing now…

ALBUM Various - Inner Circles Vol 1

This actually came out last week, but it somehow went in this week's folder. Never mind, there's no way this one was getting overlooked.

Inner Circles is a sampler showcasing Lower East, a UK label I clearly haven't been paying enough attention to cos there are some proper house gems here. Alexis Raphael's Skalamoosh fuses a gloriously old school organ sound and bang up-to-the-minute midpaced house beats to devastating effect, Max Chapman's Afterparty takes us back to Chicago, Cozzy D & Dodha's White Lightening (sic) is a groovy afterhours shuffler, Lee Brinx's She's Pretty revisits vintage acid vibes in a Snuff Crew kinda way and, best of all, there's Dirty Cash by Dexter Kane & Gav Memnos, which revives the vocal from Stevie V's rave classic in the form of a superlative slab of sleazoid tech-house funk.

Lower East peeps, I will be paying more attention from now on for sure!

Out: This week

About: If you happen to be playing catch-up like me, there's a little write-up about Lower East on Resident Advisor or you can find 'em on Soundcloud, Facebook and MySpace. Or indeed at http://lower-east.com/

Ellesse - Thought About It

Manchester's rising deep house star Ellesse is getting a lot of attention right now, and rightly so. Here's our boy's latest, and there's no sign of the quality standards slipping just yet!

Thought About It in its Original form is a big organ number that's sure to cause maximum grinnage on the dancefloor. There are also some Detroitian synth strings and Balearic pia-pia-pianos thrown in for good measure, but the more contemporary-sounding topline and vocal snips save it from being a mere 'back to the old school' offering. Quality stuff that proves there's life in those classic house sounds yet! On the B, Jordan Peak's Rogue Rework takes us a notch or seven deeper, with a shuffling, heads-down groove topped off with breathy, ethereal vocal stabs and some almost psychedelic synth-squiggles.

So: just the two tracks, yet whether you're rocking a 2am main floor or a druggy basement at 7am, Ellesse has it covered. Like I said, he's getting mucho props for a reason.

Out: This week

About: This is of course on Ellesse's own label Kaluki Musik, a spin-off from his Kaluki night at Sankeys. You can find Kaluki on MySpace or check out the podcasts here.

Shonky – Les Shonkettes

I wonder if 'shonkettes' is what Shonky likes to call the hordes of adoring female fans that no doubt mob him everywhere he goes? I like to think so, cos the idea holds out the promise that – one day, maybe, just maybe – I'll be followed everywhere by adoring Dansettes.

For anyone under the age of 40, that's a joke about record players that you wouldn't understand. Don't worry about it.

Anyway, enough of my crap quasi-humour and on to this record, which is more of the very now-sounding and very polished house/techno that the Shonky one is so good at. There are four original tracks (ie no remixes): Les Shonkettes is deep but upbeat and a little bit discofied, Obelix is a little more soulfully inclined but still with balls, Crapulerie is pure Chi-town bass squelch… and then the almighty beast of a tune that is Conquistador comes along with its big throbbing organ and techy tinges, and it's game over.

All told, an excellent EP that's further proof, as if any were required, that proper jackin' house music is alive and well as yet another decade gets into gear. Go seek.

Out: This week

About: This is on Contexterrior, which is one of Jay Haze's labels, and a regular home for the Shonkmeister. Find 'em online here.