Back catalogue: Deep House

Review: When Boston pair John Barera and Will Martin first appeared on Steffi's Dolly Tracks label last year, their brand of impeccably produced classicist house music felt right at home. Since that contribution to a split 12", Barera and Martin have become increasingly part of the Dolly family with a full 12" release earlier this year now complemented by Graceless, both the duo's and the label's debut LP. Some eight tracks deep, Graceless comes across as a masterclass in modern, punchy house music filled with soul with plenty of variety in tone and feel shown throughout. A very strong offering from Barera and Martin that is likely to be a record the busier house selectors pull for again and again.

Review: If 2014 was a breakthrough year for Mo Kolours and Reginald Omas Manmode IV, then 2015 has served a similar purpose for the third Deemamode brother, Jeen Bassa. Here, he follows up the well-received All My People 12" with Time Waves, a mini-album that showcases his take on the family's now familiar globally focused, "deep house-meets-MPC-beats" sound. Predictably, it's something of a humid and smoky treat, delivering tracks bristling with soulful intent, rich musicality, dusty beats and wayward samples (sources include Mauritian drum records, scratchy reggae, and blazed East Coast hip-hop). While there are some superb individual tracks, it should be considered as a single artistic expression; judged in these terms, it's very special indeed.

Review: Since 2013, the Beat Detectives have been putting out under-the-radar cassettes and LP's via labels such as 100% Silk and Where To Now?, among others. For their latest splash of electronics and acid-laced beat science, they appear on the excellent Not Not Fun outlet for a mish-mash of loose hardware loops and drugged-out jams. The opener "Roaring Lion" is just about as lo-fi one can get, and other tunes such as "Dead Girl At A Party" or "Battery Life" follow in the same spirit. There's also plenty of pseudo-technoism going on elsewhere, most notably on "Something Temporary" and "Reward Card", two cuts which sound like Jamal Moss on a heavy dose of tranquillisers...Yes, that is a handful!

Review: One of the deepest reaching projects from the multifaceted Vibraphone stable resurfaces for an extended trip through ambient sonics that marks possibly the most daring departure on the esteemed Italian label to date. The harmonious tones undulating throughout Sketches From Space are instant soothers, taking the odd cue from techno but defiantly beatless and meditative. It's a surprising addition to the long and winding Vibraphone story, but also feels like one of the strongest steps forward the resurgent label has taken since returning to the fray. Just try sinking into "Lagrangian Point L4" and you'll see exactly what we mean.

Review: ***B-STOCK: Creasing on outer sleeve with minor split on inner sleeves, also the record has very light surface marks, but otherwise in excellent working conditionr***


Brian Cullen's Bjak project provides the learned house producer with a chance to reach dizzying, transcendental heights through a hazy, soul and jazz indebted approach as spiritual as it is groove-oriented. Having previously charmed the likes of Deep Explorer and Eargasmic, the debut Bjak album now lands on sympathetic Swiss outpost deepArtSounds, where Cullen will be keeping fine company with the likes of Ron Trent, Above Smoke, Trinidadian Deep and many more. It's a sumptuous listen overflowing with buttery keys, smoky trumpets and expressive, organic rhythms to get all true-school deep house heads nodding with approval. Just check the beatbox flow of "Groove Train" with its canny fusion of ear-catching sampling and accomplished musicianship.

Review: Allegedly run "by a number of Brians," the Peak Oil Records label emerged in style last year, issuing long players from Strategy and the Personable alias of M. Geddes Gengras. The Los Angeles-based label's dedication to underground strains of US experimental electronics is further demonstrated here with a wonderfully presented collection of Black Deer material from WT Records boss William Burnett. First adopting the name on a release for Rush Hour's No 'Label' series, Burnett's inspiration for Black Deer is the apparent lack of patriotism in contemporary America and it's been some of his most compelling work of recent times. This six track collection is presented as Burnett's debut album as Black Deer and draws you deep into a world of hypnotic, kraut indebted synth explorations and psychedelic box jams and is dominated by the opening sixteen minute track "It's Like the Way It Used to Be".

Review: Daniel "Blackbelt" Andersen's self-titled follow-up to his 2009 debut album is an effortlessly atmospheric delight. It's noticeably deeper than its predecessor, with less emphasis on bold riffs and space disco builds, instead focusing on sparkling, stargazing tracks. To these ears it sounds like Andersen was influenced less by his Scandolearic peers, and more by vintage Detroit techno tracks, intergalactic ambient albums and moody deep house 12s. Of course, there's still some Norse disco influences present - see "Lagnalappe Del 1" and "2", as well as the comforting grooves of "Stressa Ut" - but they're largely buried under a blanket of twinkling stars.

Review: OBG is a third thrilling album of inventive dub rhythms from the one they call Branko. He is the Buraka Som Sistema co-founder and Enchufada label-head and here he gets more personal and intimate than ever before. He has said the album is a "letter of love and thanks to the community around him" and it takes its cues from his homeland of Portugal's beautiful landscapes with bass heavy, lumpy rhythms at the core. Elements of kuduro, kizomba, zouk, baile funk and more all future with organic texture, lush vocals and warm paints over always low slung grooves. Another classic from the main man.

Review: With his preferred tools of a 707 and a Nord Modular, Benjamin Brunn is unquestionably devoted to the out-of-the-box approach, but fortunately for him it has been many a year his fluid and exploratory sound has emanated from Hamburg, the place he calls home. As such, an album such as A Sun Life gives new light to the possible places you can go with such tried and tested sounds as these. Expect brave forays into the unknown as the album progresses past lively and colourful techno into such beatless dubby space as exhibited by "Pankhom Memories" with its pneumatic bass hits and gently building percussive harmonies, moving through distinguished key changes and dynamics that require the most wisened of touches. "ISS" is similarly bold in an entirely different way, oozing refinement as a single synth fills the dynamic range with an engrossing melodic progression. If there was any proof needed that Brunn's employment of old-skool hardware is rooted in something deeper than hype, it would be in the quality of production on the whole album. There's never a moment of distortion or fashionable scuffing, instead aiming for quite a pristine end result (albeit more attractive than a similar end pursued without the benefit of analogue gear). It's quite refreshing to hear a distinct lack of tape hiss behind the gorgeous swathes of synthesiser and machine beats, whether they intone a dancefloor message or extol an experimental virtue.

Review: There is a wealth of talent on show on the third EP from the Fusion Sequence label which has put together this six-track deep house sizzler. The Variable Club' 'Biorhythms' is perfectly warm and dynamic for cosy backroom moments and Alpine DJ then brings an old school piano feel to 'Pepe Nony' before A Vision Of Panorama zones you out on lush chords and reverential keys on 'Kissing The Sun.' The flipside offers the more dark and heads-down 'Many Stories' while the blissed-out and feel-good grooves return with Common Mode's 'Bassface.' Body Corp shuts down with the slower, seductive sounds of 'Take It Or Leave It' which rounds out a top-class EP.