GLENN UNDERGROUND Schallplatten & CDs

Review: Groovin' Records has returned to the seemingly bottomless well that is Glenn Underground's back catalogue and picked out two more gems to get the reissue treatment. Naturally, they're both must-have cuts. On the A-side there's a chance to get reacquainted with 'Afro Gente', an in-demand 2009 jam that sees the Chicago legend pepper an infectious, richly percussive, Afro-Latin house groove with jammed-out electric piano riffs, spacey synth doodles and some killer organ solos. It's near eleven-minutes of heavyweight, life-affirming dancefloor heat from the Ron Trent school of deep house excellence. Over on the flip you'll find 2012 rarity '7th Trumpet', a shuffling, sunset-ready slab of languid deep house brilliance smothered in evocative, Latin-tinged synthesised trumpet solos.

Review: Chicago house owes a real debt to Glenn Underground who has constantly invigorated it with his mad musical stylings as well as superbly deep grooves. He keeps on doing that too and is now back on his own label Strictly Jazz Unit Muzic with this new and epic single 'Pleading Prayer'. It's a spiritual and soulful sound with the fantastic vocals of Swaylo adding real spine tingling goodness. If you prefer token it to the beats and melodies then the flip side has an instrumental version. Yet another gem from Glenn, then.

Review: Chicago house mainstay Glenn Underground is as good at crafting neat edits of the classics as he is serving up his own superb original house compositions. It is the former which he does here on his own label and first up on the A-side he adds his signature smooth grooves to a track but the late, great funk master Amp Fiddler. The B-side begins with his Retro mix of beatmaker extraordinaire Mos Def which has loose-limbed drums and soulful pads that reach to the heavens, then he looks to acid jazz innovators Incognito and their 'I Can See The Future' and flips it into a nice funky and drawn out house groove for vibrant dance floor fun.

Review: For their latest deep dive into the world of hard-to-find house classics, Italy's Groove Records take us back to 1996. "House Music Will Never Die" marked Glenn Underground's first collaboration with vocalist Cei-Bei (AKA Curtis Harman) and has long been considered one of the Chicagoan producer's finest releases. Wisely, Groove has decided against tinkering with a classic, instead serving up all four mixes from the original Cajual Records 12". Choose between the classic deep house soul of the GU Cei-Bei Foot Mix, the wonderfully summery, jazz guitar-laden CVO Bismark Hotel Mix, Mark Grant's brilliantly evocative, stretched-out interpretation, and a killer Afro Dub that makes great use of a heavy analogue bassline. All four versions are top notch.