Juno Recommends Deep House: Best of 2022

Review: Given that copies of the original 7" release flew off the shelves in record time, it's heartening to see that Classic has decided to give Sophie Lloyd's brilliant "Calling Out" a proper 12" release. Her fantastic original version - a jaunty, floor-friendly gospel treat that sits somewhere between house and disco - is this time accompanied by two fresh rubs from Robert and Lyric Hood's Floorplan project. Naturally, both mixes move further towards sing-along gospel house territory with the fantastic Revival Mix - all crunchy Chicago drums, wild organs, jaunty pianos and relentless chorus - hitting home particularly hard. It's very rare that we describe an EP as being "flawless", but this is as close to perfection as you'll find.

Review: Sneaky remix action alert! We're not sure who DSO is (or are) - internet searches come up blank - but the two tracks on this 12" genuinely hit the spot. A-side 'Love You More' puts a new spin on the Sade classic of the same name, adding the '80s soul star's vocals to a hypnotic deep house groove, dreamy chords and occasional flecks of wine bar saxophone. Over on the flip the shadowy remixer(s) offer-up a radically different new take on Erykah Badu's 1997 hip-hop soul gem 'Apple Tree', reimagining it as a rolling chunk of deep house warmth. It's basically soul-fired, 21st century hip-house with enough depth and atmosphere to please deep house heads.

Review: Detroit mainstay Andres returns to MotorCity Wine Recordings with an anthemic 4 tracker entitled Sunday Kinda Love. For those that know, MotorCity Wine is the spot for Sunday parties, so we only thought it appropriate to have one of Detroit's most seminal producers highlight the vibe with this EP. On the A side is Andres's dusty house sound that we've all come to love, complete with bouncing basslines, slick vocal chops, and drums to turn out any dance floor. On the flip side Andres slows the tempo just a touch to highlight his chunky midtempo beatdown sounds, with "Rubin Samba" bringing a Latin flair and "Sunday Kinda Love" driving it all home. Essential Detroit music manufactured in Detroit and housed in a gorgeous vinyl package, TIP!

Review: For many of us, 'Promised Land' is a life-defining anthem. A house track that will never be bettered and one of the genre's most important cuts. It set a standard for proper lyrics and song structure that has never been better in the 40 odd years since, so Gloria Scott is brave to take it on. But she does a fine job. The whole thing becomes a little more jazzy and instrumental, with flashy strings and natty chords, but all powered by the great vocals. An instrumental is also included making this well worth picking up.

Review: It's a case of old school meets new school on this fresh new slice of house from Defected. Representing the vets is the one and only Louie Vega, while in the contemporary corner are New York's finest, the Martinez Brothers. Marc E Bassy also pops up on vocals for this feel good deep house gem. His part sung, part rapped delivery comes over soul drenched beats and nice singing leads, which have long been a hallmark of the great Masters at Work man, Vega. A TMBLV mix is more pumping, Honey Dijon cuts loose on elastic bass and rugged rhythms and Dom Dolla offers a more energetic and main room version.

Review: As the title suggests, this four-tracker from the mighty Kerri Chandler is made of material recorded in - but for whatever reason never released - in the late 1990s and early 2000s. He first unfurls 'What Shall We Do', a sturdy but snappy New Jersey deep house number rich in attractive organ stabs, warming bass and bluesy lead vocals from 'Grampa', before unveiling the squelchy acid bass, dreamy pads, colourful melodic flourishes and loved-up harmony vocals of 'Tonight'. 'Into The Night' is a beefier, bolder and weightier slab of intergalactic peak-time deep house, while 'This & That' manages to be both funky, jazzy, loose-limbed and stuttering - a remarkable achievement in anyone's book.

Review: Some two decades after it first slipped out of Underground Resistance's Motor City studio and into record stores worldwide, one of UR's most magnificent moments has been given a deserved reissue. Largely produced by 044 (real name Gerald Mitchell) and featuring vocals from one of his relatives (one Ron Mitchell), 'Hardlife' is not so much a sci-fi techno anthem as a mid-90s US garage/soulful house workout with sparkling, undeniably intergalactic, Motor City synths. As it did back in 2001, it comes backed with a fine remix from the late Aaron Carl that successfully re-frames the track as sparse, bouncy chunk of soul-fired peak-time techno.

Review: Cardiff's Che Ahmed produces under many aliases such as Chesus, Earl Jeffers and Metabeats, but had only one release as Earls BOOOM!!!l It was widely sought after, leading to another much needed repress here - now the third since its original release back in 2016. 'Thank You' is a thumpin' disco house monster that's looped to perfection, and its vocal is just epic throughout. The dusty, late night heads-down stomp of 'Badadu' follows, while over on the flip he remixes some golden oldies you'll for sure know from the first beat, in the form of 'D-D-D' and 'The Paper'.

Review: Man-of-the-moment Felipe Gordon was little more than a Columbian producer with promise when he first appeared on Razor N Tape Reserve back in 2019. It's therefore nice to see him back on the Brooklyn-based imprint two years on. Those who've followed Gordon's career of late will know what to expect - namely heady, musically rich dancefloor workouts that join the dots between deep house, nu-disco and jazz-funk. Opener 'Strings of the Afterline' is pleasingly hazy and dreamy whilst boasting Gordon's usual synth-heavy squelch, while 'The Fall of a Withered Empire' is a rare vocal number with a deep jazz-house feel. Elsewhere, 'Classico' is a bouncy, classic-sounding deep house bounce-along rich in sparkling synth riffs, while 'Julia Y Lewis' is a more languid and laidback chunk of jazz-sampling, funk-fuelled deep house haziness.

Review: This is one of those records that you just know is going to be good when you see the personnel involved. Ron Trent is, of course, one of the most talented and decorated deep house producers of all time, while beat poet Ursula Rucker has contributed inspiring spoken word vocals to countless house and broken beat cuts over the years. She's naturally in prime form on the original version of 'Black Queen', delivering an enticing, thought-provoking and increasingly energetic lead vocal over a backing track that sits somewhere between Trent's classic, Prescription-era deep house works and the breezier, more Latin-tinged sound he's been exploring over the last few years. The accompanying instrumental take is almost as good: a 12-minute, late-night deep house classic in the making.

Review: A timely reissue of an eternal Detroit house classic, and one remastered by Yossi Amoyal and recut at MMM Berlin at that. Carl Craig and the late Mike Huckaby (RIP) remix of Delano Smith, with Craig taking on 'Midnight Hours' with dreamy synths and light, bouncy grooves blazing and some subtly dubby effects up his sleeve, and Huckaby's version of 'What I Do' typified by a cute keyboard motif and some crunchy, crunchy snares. Another tour de force from Sushitech.

Review: You always knew that when Norm Talley started his Upstairs Asylum label is was going to be pure quality. The Detroit man is one of the many contemporary flag bearers for the much loved original 313 house sound and as his DJ sets attest, heinous how to pick out the best work from others on a similar tip. He does that here with a various artists four tracker that kicks off with a brace of soul fuelled and jazz laced deep house cuts from Felipe Gordon. Stefan Ringer then brings that lo-fi house goodness and exquisite synth craft with 'You Know' while Deepset's 'U Got Dat' is a late night number with a low slung sense of sleaze.

Review: On this second, more expansive sampler for his forthcoming album Spaces & Places, Kerri Chandler treats us to tracks inspired by - and by the wonders of mobile recording technology, produced inside - clubs including Dublin's District 8, Glasgow institution Sub Club, Lux of Lisbon and NYC's Output. Of course, the standard is uniformly high throughout - it's classic Chandler from start to finish - but our picks of a very fine bunch include the soulful piano house shimmer of 'Change Your Mind', the thrusting, bass-heavy pump of 'Subbie (Rattle The Subbie Mix)', the effortlessly slick and soulful 'Tenacity (Full Vocal Mix)' and the ludicrously sub-heavy snap of 'See The Light (Dub)'. To borrow an old cliche, this is very much, 'all killer, no filler'.

Review: For the third volume in the label's Remixes series, Heavenly Recordings has decided to look back on its lengthy relationship with the late, great Andrew Weatherall. The man occasionally known as Lord Sabre provided plenty of reworks for the London-based imprint over a 30-year period, and you'll find some of the greatest here (and on the accompanying second volume, sold separately). Highlights include Weatherall's legendary two-part dub of St Etienne's 'Only Love Can Break Your Heart', his peerless, 15-minute peak-time 1992 take on Flowered Up's 'Weekender', a delightfully dubbed-out, Asphodells-style rework of Gwenno from 2015 and a stunningly spaced-out dancefloor dub of Ian Lanaghan.

Review: For an artist whose practise is so entrenched in the history of black music (one of his most famous antics saw him deck out an Detroit home with purple drapes and decor, as a tribute to Prince) Moodymann is an unmatched force. This latest clear vinyl reissue of his 2003 classic 'Silence In The Secret Garden' hears the grilled house trickster's best album in its best light, showing off all its string-laden, sax-improvving and roller disco-house angles. Originally released to much critical acclaim for its intelligence and no-fuss vignette style, choice bits like 'Backagainforthefirsttime?' and 'Shine' nail Moodymann's advanced production style, sexy in its reluctance to reveal itself straight away.

Review: Over the years, Ron Trent has released some fine albums, all of which have subtly expanded on his trademark soul-flecked, percussion-rich deep house sound. On What Do The Stars Say To You, his first new full-length excursion in 11 years, the Chicago native has taken a different approach, utilising his occasional WARM alias on a stunning set that abandons dancefloor-pleasing in favour of immersive, evocative and ultra-deep blends of ambient, downtempo, jazz-funk and electronica. It's a genuinely brilliant album all told, with a string of impressive guest musicians - including Ivan Conti and Alex Malheiros of Azymuth, electric jazz pioneer Jean-Luc Ponty, psychedelic Balearic specialists Khrungbin and Italian ambient maestro Gigi Masin - all making brilliant contributions. In a word: exceptional!

Review: It is no secret that we here at Juno HQ are huge fans of the one and only Alex 'Omar S' Smith. He is a machine when it comes to making music and barely a year goes by without another expansive new album form the Detroit badman. Here comes this year's and it has all the things you would hope for and expect: raw, unfussy but infectious house with dusty drums and 80s synths. Supercoolwicked is a frequently appearing guest who lends these tunes alluring vocal touches while the grooves themselves are subtly, effective tweaks on Smith's tried and tested template. We are here for it.

Review: Theo Parrish is a world-renowned name in the global Detroit house and techno game, and he's thrown a fascinating curveball as the latest entrant for the acclaimed DJ-Kicks series. Mr. Parrish has gone above and beyond the duties of most invitees - rather than just licensing tracks from his favourite artists and big-name-friends, he's asked his own community from Detroit to each produce their own mixable tracks, exclusively for the comp. What's more, these are hardly established names - they're organic connections to Parrish, not occupying the top layer of attention and recognition. Bits from H-Fusion, Jon Dixon, Donald Lee Roland II, Ian Fink and Raybone Jones all dominate this anarchic new deconstruction of the otherwise exclusivist mix series.

Review: You can always count on Z Records to bring a deep-digging, dedicated approach to anything they put out, and that goes double for their flawless Under The Influence series. The 10th volume in the series sees them inviting the incredible Chicago-born DJ Rahaan to select some seriously headsy cuts from his collection, carefully cleaned up, de-clicked and remastered for the best listening experience. Given the nature of the series, don't expect the usual suspects, and instead savour the discovery of some of Rahaan's most treasured cuts, presented here on a double LP comp brimming with discoid magic.

Review: Charles Webster's 2020 album Decision Time, his first for decades, was widely praised for the depth, soulfulness and densely atmospheric of its hazy and tactile sound. Those with long memories pointed out that Webster has form in this regard, with the legendary British deep house producer taking a similar approach with his 2001 solo debut album, Born on the 24th July. That album was overlooked at the time, so it's fabulous to see it finally get reissued on vinyl. Shot through with woozy, soft-focus, ultra-deep soul, trip-hop and gorgeous downtempo beats, the set is not only immaculately produced and full of inventive instrumentation, but also boasts some seriously inspired guest vocals. It's genuinely an overlooked classic that deserves any belated attention it finally receives.

Review: Jeigo's debut album Curulean is an album of escapists sounds that was written during periods of isolation, like so much music over the last few years. There is a quiet artistry and real tenderness to these cuts whether fully ambient like the opener or gently rhythmic like 'Overwhemler.' 'Lost River' is a shimmering fusion of delicate drum breaks and off grid hits with icy voices and percussion and '18 03 95 Brock & Groove' cuts loose on rubbery, rugged rhythms with blasts of bass and whirring machines. It's a cutting edge exploration of house electronics that deserves your attention.