Awon & Bedmo Disco – B-Funk EP

Okay, I have to admit a family connection here, cos Bedmo Disco are two former colleagues of mine from the iDJ days. But mates or not, I wouldn't review this if it wasn't actually a good record. I'd just mutter some excuse about being busy, or the dog eating my review copy, or something.

But it is good, so I don't have to. Just as well, cos they know damn well I don't have a dog.

Anyway, so what you get are two tracks apiece from the Bedmo boys and Awon, all four of which are lo-slung funkers influenced heavily by early 80s electro, electrofunk and proto-garage. And when I say 'heavily' I mean heavily! Awon's Good Lovin' comes on like a lost Levan dub of a Patrice Rushen nugget and is one highlight, but mention must also be made of Bedmo Disco's Illusion, which will be any sample-spotter's delight – listen carefully (or not so carefully in some cases) for cheeky bites from Ma Foom Bey, Weekend, Walking On Sunshine and other 80s classics*.

If there's a criticism here, it's that this doesn't really go much beyond pastiche. But that's me over-compensating by being harshly objective – you could, after all, say the same thing about a million retro Chi-town housers I've reviewed glowingly on here. That minor cavil notwithstanding, this is pretty much can't-fail stuff for your nu-disco floors.

Out: This week

About: This is number six from the Bedmo Disco stable, which is the boys' own label, obviously, and based right here in sunny Bristol. It's also the first that's actually all original productions, the rest having been boots and re-edits, so it's good to see 'em stepping things up a notch.

Oh yeah, and it's on strictly limited blue vinyl as well! Which is always nice.

PS: Incidentally, one of the very first records I ever owned was on blue vinyl… an HMV seven-inch from the 1950s for kids, with the multiplication tables 1-7 set to music. I've still got it, if you don't believe me. I also had a red vinyl 7-inch about the littlest fire engine, but sadly I trod on that one and broke it, aged about six. I should have listened to my Mum and tidied my room, shouldn't I?

* Including one stupidly well-known electro anthem whose name, frustratingly, has been avoiding me all day. Though on the plus side this did mean I at least got to spend a pleasant hour or two rinsing the likes on Whodini and Strafe on YouTube while at the day job this morning.

Chronophone – Voce De Sa Trincha EP

Veteran US house label King Street is definitely on something of a roll right now. I had a big batch of promos through from them the other day and almost every release coming up over the next couple of months is a killer, trust. Don't know what they're doing but let's hope they keep doing it…

In the meantime, there's this, a five-track EP from French producer Chronopone, AKA Stephan Joulin, that serves up various different flavours of deep house. Por La Vida is a languid, laidback affair, all lingering pads and muted trumpets,  while Mellow Cotton is a sparse, techy number with proggy overtones. Both are good at what they do, but the standout by far here is the title track.

NowI don't know what the original of Voce De Sa Trincha sounds like – nor the fifth track Gold, for that matter, cos they've not included those on the promo mailout. But for once I'm not screwing, cos what they did send is the DZeta & Basile Remix. And THAT is as officially crucial a slab of heavily dub-inflected deepness as June is likely to deliver.

After that, Gold could be a Eurotrance cover of the Spandau Ballet song with a rap by Dappy, for all I care – you'd still need this anyway.

Out: This week

About: Here's that familiar King Street link again! So, just for variety's sake, here's the Dzeta & Basile Facebook page as well. Haven't heard from these boys in a while – they used to feature on TIWWD quite a lot when it started and I put them in iDJ's rising stars of deep house thing last year, then it's been a bit quiet since – but great to have them back.

PS That's it for tonight… been a long day and I'm tired. Plus after getting lost in the sparse, bass-y beauty of the DZeta & Basile offering, nothing else would sound as good right now anyway...

Audio Units – Sample The Example

The digital DJ debate continues, as on this latest from Al Bradley's long-running 3am, an unnamed speaker vents his spleen at all the haters who diss fellow DJs for using Traktor, Serato etc… but gives those DJs who ARE using Traktor, Serato but AREN'T doing it properly something of a wake-up call as well. "As long as you can rock a party, that's what it's about," is pretty much the case put forward.

Now, I'm not getting bogged down in that whole argument here, for many reasons… perhaps we'll discuss it another time but right now all you need to know is, this track rocks.

For me, it's the Full Vox Mix that works best, for sheer tongue-in-cheek value if nowt else ("If you're a new DJ, learn your fucking history. That's why the older DJs are gettin' mad at y'all… y'all don't know shit!"). But there's no shortage of less vocal-centric remixes. James Silk's rub is his trademark high-quality, old skool-leaning deepness and the Ruben F Ghetto Mix takes us into techier territory with firing 909s to jack-jack-jack your body, while label boss Al Bradley's 3am Deep Dub is a spaced-out, head-mangled affair that shouldn't really take much explaining.

Like I said, all you need to know is this rocks – in whichever mix you go for. And if a track rocks a party, that's what it's about!

Out: This week

About: This week, you can mostly find 3am Recordings on Facebook and Soundcloud.

Pretty Criminals – Broken Heart Pt 1

With their recent releases having gone down more of a techno route, it's good to see those Essex boys Pretty Criminals back in the deep house saddle with this latest offering.

Broken Heart comes in three mixes (for now… I'm guessing there IS gonna be a Pt 2!). The Original and Miami Ice mixes don't vary huge amounts, though: both are fairly straight-up deep housers in the contemporary style, with looped-up lines of soulful vocal and an insistent organ riff throughout. Okay so, yeah, The Original makes more of the beats, the Miami Ice rub more of the organ, and I'm just SLIGHTLY preferring the latter, if pushed… but to any but the most nerdy deep house spotter they'd be two peas in a pod. Both also have more than a little of that Berlin flavour about 'em, which makes them the obvious choices for dancefloor play in non-specialist clubs.

For TIWWD's purposes, though, it's the Patrick Podage & Nikola Kotevski Remix that's the real find here – a sparse n' dubby heads' delight. Like the song says: shake 'em down…

Out: This week

About: This is another gem brought to you by that bastion of all things deep, Scott Harrington's always-checkable Savoir Faire Musique. Click through for a fresh DJ mix from Mr Harrington himself as well.

Stefano Noferini – Refusal EP

A nice quick one to start with tonight, cos there's only the two tracks, in one mix apiece. Which makes a blogger's life easier!

Refusal itself is a perfectly acceptable but to frank also fairly unremarkable tech-house chugger… it'll keep 'em moving but that's about as much as I've got to say about it, really. Numa on the flip, though… that's a different matter.

It's not clever, but it certainly is big. BIG, in fact. If bouncy, house-y club techno with an oink-oink bassline and a nu-NRG/hardbag-style* three-note synth riff sounds like your idea of a good time on the dancefloor, then you're going to love this.

Sometimes you don't need to be clever, do you? Sometimes you just need to make people jump up and down. And with energy in spades, this'll do that for sure.

Out: This week

About: This comes on Umek's 1605 Music Therapy. Who've gotten quite good at this tech-house lark over the past couple of years, just in case you hadn't noticed… here's their website proper as well.

* Dare I say almost trance-y? Well yeah, I dare… I'd just rather not.

Desos – Ghetto Love

As you may or may not be aware, 11 blokes from England will be playing a game of football against 11 blokes from Ukraine tonight, with a view to seeing which of them gets to play a game against 11 blokes from Spain next week and which of them gets to go home and be hated by their entire nation.

Now, I'm not the world's biggest football fan by any means but it seems rude not to go to a pub and shout at a large screen to mark the event, particularly when the sun's shining. So this will probably be your only blog review tonight… the record in question is a bit of a cracker though, it has to be said.

Regular readers will know that Desos (AKA Brian Løgstrup) has been one of TIWWD's favourite producers of the past year or two, and he doesn't disappoint here. It's the original version of Ghetto Love that's doing it best for me, a proper slab of uncompromising deepness with drifting, mournful sax sat atop sparse, crisp beats, lingering piano chords and an unassuming throbbing b-line. But the acid-tinged and slightly more driving Detroit Swindle KFC Rework ain't too shoddy either.

As I said, more quality stuff from a producer you really need to be keeping an eye on.

Out: This week

About: This comes on Desos's own Deso Records. Click the link for their website or find 'em on Facebook and Soundcloud.

DK Watts – Respect The Underground

About, ooh, five years ago or something, it was a track called Blow & Hos that first hammered it home to me just how special a house outfit Short Bus Kids really were. So after the cocaine-referencing track from Mr Pedros below, now seems like a good time to tell you about this new five-track EP from one-half of said Short Bus Kids, Mr DK Watts.

Respect The Underground itself is a stomping, techy affair with a walking b-line, big synths, tuff beats and the obligatory shouts out to NYC, Detroit and Chicago, The Mayor is more tuff n' techy stompiness, this time with Dirty Harry samples, while Dance Yeah! is a floaty, proggy kinda houser surely built with a certain Mediterranean island in mind. But the highlights here for me are Been A Lot Of Places and Gothic Girl.

I'm digging the former driving, big room cut – it's got almost an Lawler-esque kinda feel to it – mostly for its spoken vocal samples, which need to be listened to closely, I'll say no more than that. And I'm digging the latter simply for daring to sample The Greatest Band In History and getting away with it, based as it is around a bassline lifted lock, stock and two smoking sandalwood joss-sticks from The Sisters Of Mercy's Lucretia My Reflection.

All right so yes, I'm a sad old (ex-)goth. But it made me smile… and IMNERHO it's also one of the most effective bits of RAWK! purloinage since Tinman bit Cobain and co back in the day. So there.

Out: This week

About: This comes of course on Bounce House. Their website doesn't seem to work anymore but here's their Soundcloud and Facebook pages.

Mr Pedros – It Came From Us

In which the Sankeys resident serves up a tuff-ish, driving house cut that you won't forget once you hear it: it's the one with the extensive samples from Blow. As in the Johnny Depp/Ray Liotta film about cocaine smuggling. Normally I might cavil at the sample choice… not for moral reasons particularly, just cos drug talk isn't really the most original material to choose, is it? But in this case, it just works, as do the shoulder-shaking, lolloping beats and insistent bass stabs.

On the flip, Who Dis is another driving houser, again with the almost-tribal beats and dark room feel… in fact we're almost in mid-90s Vasquez/Tenaglia territory. Again, it works, but it can't quite compete with the A-side for me.

You're still gonna need this for the A anyway, though!

Out: This week

About: What with Mr Pedros having a job playing records at the Beehive Mill, it's no surprise that this comes on Manchester Underground Music really, is it?

Ksoze – Wobble Jazz

Sorry there were no blog reviews yesterday… spent most of the day climbing a download mountain and by the time I finished that, I'd kinda lost the will to do much else. But anyway here we are back once again…

And we'll start with a nice easy one. Easy cos there's only the two mixes; easy because it's pretty 'easy' in the sense of being laidback, mellow, easy on the ear etc; and easy because, well, if you know the kind of dusty, downtempo vibes that Cold Busted trade in, then there's not a lot that I can tell you about Wobble Jazz that the title doesn't! Except that the remix comes from Vitamin D, but to be honest even that doesn't do huge amounts different.

But don't let either the lack of mix variety or my shoddy, half-arsed review put you off… if it's lazy, Sunday afternoon grooves you're after, this is gonna delight.

Out: Wednesday (June 20)

About: This comes, as I just suggested, on Denver's Cold Busted. Find 'em at their blog, on Facebook or on Soundcloud.

Klartraum – Playfulness EP

I've gotta say the Klartraum/Lucidflow school of deep, dubby, thinking man's techno has really been hitting the spot for me lately… so here's some more of it.

Three mixes, and while the above description works as an umbrella for all of 'em, they do vary. The Kris Wadsworth Space Face Remix is the deepest and dubbiest of all, leaving Nadja and Helmut sounding like they were locked in a huge underground water tank for a few days with nothing but a big bag of weed and a drum machine for company, while the Tim Underbelly Soft Porn Remix flirts with the very deepest of prog textures, layering sound upon sound to create an atmospheric and ever-evolving mix.

But while both of those are very cool, the pick for me here is still the Original, a glitchy, twitchy affair that's as close as deep techno ever gets to two-step garage. FFWD veterans, minimal/micro-house devotees and red-eyed dawn tokers generally should enjoy this one a lot.

Out: This week, digitally (it's been kicking around on vinyl for a couple of weeks but it only landed with me last week)

About: This comes not on Klartraum's Lucidflow, but on Tim's own UK-based Underbelly Records. Here's the obligatory website, Facebook and Soundcloud links, then…