Review: Nail is one of UK house music's most vital contributors. His raw sound pioneered a new style of tech house in the 90s and here he reappears under a different alias, AM Vibe. 'Vibe With Me' kicks off with nice loose drums and perc and jazzy keys adding the warmth and soul. 'I'm So High' brings some loopy and filtered fun and phased vocals for a sleazy feel, then 'Dried Fruit' gets more upbeat with lush synth swirls and effortlessly cool drums and rich r&b vocal samples. 'Powder' closes out with some thumping kicks and more tender vocal stabs. As always, this is brilliantly heartfelt and effective tackle from Nail.
Review: Scruniversal's sub label Tunes Delivery invites Moscow scene veteran Leonid Lipelis to don his Beard In Dust moniker for their third instalment, one which dips into various different eras of dance history for inspiration. There's a distinctly late 80s feel to opening tune 'Music of the U', complete with sampled bell stabs and the kind of beats that wouldn't be out of place on an S'Express or early Coldcut house affair. 'The Armenian Break' and 'City of Love' look back even further, back to the female-fronted disco efforts of the 70s, the latter adding a touch of Balearic flourishes. 'Abstractish P' circles around some serene arpeggios, with rave whistles and, as it progresses, twisting guitar notes, lending it an individual air, while closer 'RoRyaRe' nods to ExCel-era 808 State with some nice bleepery before settling into more progressive headnodding territory and some distinctive synth play.
Review: Nervous will forever be etched in the heart of house music lovers. And even after all these years the legendary New York labels continues to serve up the gems. This time out they call upon the one and only Kenny Dope, one half of Masters At Work and a legendary DJ and producer. He adds his famously characteristic warmth and soul to Kenny Bobien and Wheeler Del Torro's 'The Sun Will Shine Again.' It is a gloriously sunny tune with lively, skipping and South Hemisphere tinged beats, a great vocal and plenty of percussive action. The instrumental strips it back to more direct beat work. Both sides bang.
Review: It's a sizzling seven up for Moiss Music here as they draw together four different artists to offer up one cut each for this new various artists collection. Boogietraxx goes heavy on the filter vibes on 'S N T' which is French touch disco-house of the highest order. Kellit's 'Pryscoks Sockin Socks' is all about sultry sax lines and loose-limbed disco house beats while C Da Afro gets heads up with the streaming sunshine synths of 'Don't Be Quiet.' Groovemasta shut down with the funky Afro-disco stylings of 'Gonna Make U Rock.'
Review: There's a fair chance you'll already have heard "Cola", experienced production duo Camelphat's collaboration with vocalist Elderbrook. The original version, with its rumbling bass, atmospheric builds, subtle bassline house influence and "she sips the Coca-Cola" refrain, has become something of an anthem since first appearing on digital download earlier in the year. For this first vinyl release, Defected has packaged the now-familiar original mix with a trio of reworks. The most impressive of these comes from German veteran Mousse T. He brilliantly re-casts the track as a bumpin' chunk of celebratory disco-house complete with thrilling piano riffs and an elastic bassline.
Review: The Plastik People label has been going along nicely for its first few releases, with label head Marc Cotterell stepping up and coming correct last time out. Now he calls upon various artists with Dave Charlesworth taking care of the a-side of Nice Ripe Cuts. He offers two super slick garage cuts that cannot fail to make their mark on the club and it's no different on the flipside except D Lux & Y No combine first for '25 Miles' and then S R offers the irresistible 'Pressure.' An essential 12" for anyone looking to bring some fresh garage flavours.
Review: Unwaveringly reliable house stable Top Tonics keep the good stuff coming this October as COEO steps up with an extra vibes four tracker. This is pure and unreserved house joy, music to party to without a care in the world. It's the bouncing drums and happy trumpets that make it so, with energetic piano stabs and driving bass all working to make you forget your woes. The music is nothing particularly new, but it is pulled off with such a sense of style and class that it's impossible to ignore. Whether all out and sweat inducing or ever so slightly deeper, we cannot get enough of these cuts.
Chez Damier - "Speechless" (Chez Damier Panorama Bar remix) (5:04)
Makez - "Rocket Music" (5:15)
Alkalino - "Rio" (Alkalino rework) (5:30)
Gledd - "Sere Yo" (5:31)
Review: Adeen Records returns with a superb EP that blends a classic with three new and fresh unreleased tracks. Deep house don Chez Damier's Panorama Bar Remix kicks off and is a a 2021 standout with a killer baseline and Spanish guitar that brings some sunny soul and makes for some top level house grooves. Makez then shines with 'Rocket Music' which has a chunky low end and glistening, golden piano chords making it a late night favourite. On the B-side, Adeen regular Alkalino delivers a tropical-infused edit for the peak time and Gledd closes with a classy cut 'Sere Yo' that is all about the drums. Lovely stuff.
Dimsum & Retromigration - "Everyday In Your Mind" (5:57)
Review: Since launching late last year, Italian imprint My Cup of Tea has treated us to a killer collaborative EP by Vithz and Emanuele Barilli, and a solid solo outing from Piero. On release number three, they've turned to Love Ensemble member Dimitri Ambrosetti AKA Dimsum, who recently delivered a great 12" on House Puff alongside ICTV. There's a great collaborative cut on this EP, too, with rising star Retromigration lending a hand on epic B-side 'Everyday in Your Mind', where spacey P-funk solos, rubbery bass guitar and bouncy synth stabs wrap around a chunky, loose-limbed house beat. Side A is all about Ambrosetti's solo workouts, with the attractive, musically detailed, bass-heavy and r&b-sampling 'Cutie' being followed by the jazzy, sunny and chunky deep house brilliance of 'Stars In Your Eyes'.
Review: Legofunk serves up a 10th does of its futurist and floor funk here with Dirty Elements and Drunk Drivers at the helm. It's a De Gama Re-Groove to kick things off with super smooth house grooves and florid Latin influences over heft kick drums. It's a carnival waiting to happen, frankly. The original is a more stringy and percussive, but the weighty drums still establish a killer groove. Last of all is 'Cuica Groove' which is sunny and has a weird and wonderful vocal floating up top.
Review: Moiss Music released a hot pair of EPs in February and repeat the same trick in May with another quality double drop. It is a various artists offering as always with DJ Delivery's 'Never Gonna Give You Up' a sure-fire floor-filling anthem to start things off. It's got loopy drums and string samples as well as sumptuous vocal harmony then Borka & The Gang keep the feel-good vibes alive with 'Kidding Feelings and Even Funkier's' Dance With Your Feet' is another smile-inducing bit of disco warmth with withering sic-fi synths and hip swinging claps. Jordan Reece's 'Prayer' has hints of gospel in the vocal while noodling keys and tight kicks all get looped to perfection.
Review: DJ Mes brings the funk on this new outing on Guesthouse. It draws on samples from some of soulful house's most notable big tunes starting with 'Out of Order' which rolls on deep drums with nice smooth pads and summery vocals adding the charm. 'LGMH' rides on deeper, bigger bass and is a nice loopy and hypnotic jam with classic house vibes and a superb falsetto hooking you in. 'No Memory' is another fat-bottomed and feel-good house groove that rolls deep 'Werkin' Gurl' flips the script with more attitude in the vocals and header drums for some peak time fun but with no less emotion.
Cranes In The Sky (DJ Pope Funkhut reprise) (8:26)
Cranes In The Sky (Joe Goddard remix) (9:40)
Cranes In The Sky (Star One KDA Meltdown dub) (4:45)
Review: Baltimore-based DJ Oji has been in the house music game for a long time now, starting out with his own Poji label alongside DJ Pope around 1994 and steady trucking since then with his warm, approachable brand of deep house. Known for his collaborations with strong female vocalists, on this latest release for Foundation Music he teams up with Tracy Hamlin for 'Cranes In The Sky', a sentimental piece steeped in soulful composition. Pope steps up for a remix which strips the tune back without losing the message, while on the flip Joe Goddard brings his brand of bumpin', off-kilter floor-filling magic to bear, and then Star One drops the 'KDA Meltdown Dub' in a tougher, techier style which has plenty of fun dicing up Hamlin's vocal for a fresh and fruity version.
Review: He's the original (and maybe only self-proclaimed?) house gangster and he is back in 2025 and sounding as good as ever. Puerto Rico by way of Chicago's DJ Sneak makes beats as raw as the meat he likes to chuck on his BBQ grill and UK house legend Nail must be a fan cause it's his label he lands on now. This is a solid four-tracker that ticks all the boxes with its killer grooves and smart loops. 'All I Need In Life' is a playful opener, 'Das Gud!' gets more intense and trippy with its bleepy melodic refrains and 'Help Me Somebody' then sinks back into loose and dusty, disco-tinged drums with classic cowbell hits. 'What You Expecting From Me' is a sweaty and gritty warehouse banger to close with aplomb.
Review: We continue to have no real clue about who or what is behind the DSO label. They seem to like to serve up cheeky and divisive house edits that could erupt a dane floor or turn off the more serious chin strokers out there. But we have a confession to make: we Leo a bit of cheeky playfulness and this is another one that offers just that. It is R&B badgirl Kelis who gets cut up and stitched into a house beat on 'Caught' and for its nostalgic old school feels alone it is worth a play. The sample source for flip side tune 'Don't Ever' is a little more heady - it's a vocal from super smooth neo-soul don Maxwell. His buttery vocals sound great when paired with a similarly tender groove.
Review: Love Chug by East Coast Love Affair and BDK delivers two distinct approaches to peak-time dancefloor energy, perfect for any house club setting. Side-1 features 'Love Chug' by East Coast Love Affair, a track that expertly builds with a driving disco vibe. A powerful guitar riff takes the lead, while a filtered hook pushes the sound deep into house territory, creating an immersive experience that evolves throughout. On Side-2, BDK's 'Pure Sass' offers a strong, uplifting house track that borders on gospel house. Its vibrant energy and soulful vibe are reminiscent of classic Jasper Street tracks, making it an irresistible choice for the dancefloor. Together, these tracks provide a dynamic balanceione that builds and one that never lets upiensuring that the energy stays high all night.
Dennis Ferrer - "Hey Hey" (Riva Starr Paradise Garage club mix) (7:27)
Ferreck Dawn - "By My Side" (feat Anthony Valadez - extended mix) (5:48)
John Summit - "Deep End" (extended mix) (6:25)
OFFAIAH - "Play It By Ear" (club mix) (6:02)
Review: Given that Defected's multi-arist EP series was designed as a way for vinyl DJs to get hold of some of the imrpint's biggest digital download hits, you'll be unsurprised to learn that volume nine contains some seriously sizable material. Riva Starr kicks things off with a remix of Dennis Ferrer classic "Hey! Hey!" that turns the track into a Moroder style electro-disco throb-job, before Ferreck Dawn delivers some big room vocal house pleasure. Over on the flip, John Summit's "Deep End" is another beefy big room workout built around sweet female vocals and a thickset bassline, while Offiah's "Play It By Ear" is a 21st century update of the muscular, mid-90s MK sound.
Review: Hands up - this is one of our favourite ever jams and frankly we can't really understand anyone who doesn't rate it pretty highly. It is a classic of the early dance scene that got hammered everywhere from Warehouse to Paradise Garage and remains in a class of one decades on. Next to the brilliant original, which is from a time when proper songwriting and musicianship defined house and disco, you get a Ron Hardy edit that is more uptempo, with hissing hi hats cutting through the funky rhythms and loopy drums. Sublime.
Review: The American female vocal trio First Choice released their rendition of 'Love and Happiness' in 1973. The track is a cover of Al Green's original released just a year earlier in 1972, but First Choice's version was perhaps helped along the way by a peak case of nominative determinism: for us, theirs is the first choice. Featured on their debut album, Armed and Extremely Dangerous, it stood out on the Philly soul girl gang's record as one of the records most propitious to sampling by house and techno musicians, such as Todd Terry and Jungle Brothers. But this time, the legacy of this preceptive soulful-house interplay is honoured by a newly reissued remix by the mysterious but titanic Chicago producer Ron Hardy, whose inclusion on the record is the real star here. Hardy's signature reel-to-reel fuzzes and presence-bled hues effect recollections of a pre-DAW production setup, and the resonances of dub (woodblocks, four-tone hooks, burly basslines) nest the original Al Green vocal nicely.
Review: Drop Music marks a quarter of a century of reliable and ever-on-point sounds with a special series of EPs that embodies what it's always been about, offering up both classics and never-before-released tunes. This one kicks off with 'Make A Move' which is chunky low-slung tech. It unfolds at a relatively slow tempo but that gives the fat acid gurgles time to really hit. Inland Knights then serves up the next three cuts, starting with the bass bin bothering sounds of 'Push It', the more silky tech loops of 'Long Time' and the vocal-laced acid-tech swagger of 'Same Talk.' Here's to the next 25 years.
Review: Swirl People revisit their roots with a nostalgic four track EP from their early days as Fortune Cookie. This collection - which is their third release on L.I.T.S. - features carefully selected tracks from their original 1996 releases on Marguerite, a small label run by a friend. Nearly three decades later, these still much sought-after tracks are finally being reissued. The EP opens with 'Glitter Girls,' which is characterised by a catchy bassline, followed by the deep groove of 'Um Bongo.' On the B-side, 'Galactic Snackbar' offers a retro-futuristic feel, while 'Frisko Heaven' wraps up the EP with classic disco-filtered house energy. Timeless tackle, for sure.
Review: DJ International presents the re-release of this rare classic, "Only The Strong Survive". Frankie Knuckles' timeless production combined with the powerful vocals by Ricky Dillard makes this a dancefloor hit.
Review: The Two Houses is a musical project memorialising prominent members of New York's House of LaBeija and House of Xtravaganza, many of whom have passed away since their founding in 1977 and 1982 respectively. Initially the song was a personal tribute to Simone LaBeija, who tragically died in 2023 but it subsequently evolved into a broader ballroom memorial project when Grammy nominee Rush Davis from Xtravaganza became involved as vocalist and co-writer.
The track is a roll call, an homage and a dedication to the original founders of New York's ballroom community. Those lesser-known heroes who paved the way for the now fully exploited global phenomena we know today.
As Queer, and more specifically Trans human rights come under increasing attack, The Two Houses remembers, underscores and reveres those pioneering artists responsible for the birth of ballroom culture and more broadly, their place in the history of House Music itself.
Review: Peggy Gou has long since broken out of niche dance music circles out on to the wider world thanks to her pro and well crafted DJ sets and earned ties with plenty of high-end fashion brands. Including this, she does have some fine music making credentials as her hit single '(It Goes Like) Nanana' shows - its an inescapably catchy house cut with an iconic hook that is easy to sing along to. It now arrives, having first come via her own label, on XL which will only make it reach even higher levels of ubiquity. All hail the Gou!
Review: The iconic soul anthem receives a fresh spin in the Lockdown remix, offering a vibrant, dancefloor-ready twist on the beloved classic. The remix maintains the smooth, emotive essence of Al Green's original while injecting a pulsating, upbeat rhythm that elevates the track to modern club standards. The seamless blend of lush instrumentation and contemporary beats enhances the groove, making it irresistible for both longtime fans and new listeners. This 12" version brings a fresh energy, keeping the soulful heart intact while adding a dynamic, infectious edge that's perfect for today's dancefloors.
Review: The simply and aptly named 'Cuts' label launched in 2021, and immediately set about re-editing "precious (disco) gems mined from a wall of vinyl, cut, polished and mounted for maximum love." The image is endearing; that of a masked vigilante picking from an array of his/her/their best disco weaponry. For their fifth love-bombing crime fighting spree, the artist known as Guest (literally) cuts up classic cuts including 'A Place For Us' and 'Disco Is The Thing Today'. Moody, choppy and supremely dark.
Help Me Find My Way (feat Seta - Pontchartrain remix) (5:47)
Elevate (The Carry Nation remix) (5:06)
Review: Heidy P is a long time associate of the Rocksteady Disco crew and now she treats them to her first ever solo release in the form of Elevate. It is, as you'd expect of her, a house record through and through, but one packed with plenty of her own charm and personality. Opener 'Elevate' is a classy and jazz-tinged, Latin-styled groove that will electrify any floor. Next is the hugely emotive, soulful and gospel drenched 'Help Me Find My Way' with uplifting vocals from Seta. Pontchartrain then steps up to remix 'Help Me Find My Way' into something deeper and Carry Nation close out with a more freaked out sound.
Fighting For Your Life (Blood On The dance Floor remix) (5:58)
Fighting For Your Life (After Dark mix) (5:36)
Review: Lockdown Records has put together this useful new 12" which offers up the notorious duo of Matt Early & Lee Jeffries. 'Fighting for Your Life' is a classic pop single that comes with the electrifying Blood on the Dancefloor Mix and the sultry After Dark Mix, both of which are inspired by the iconic sounds of Michael Jackson. They make for effective dancefloor weapons that come with a hint of nostalgia and plenty of weighty grooves.
Review: Jaisiel distills the magic of his previous releases on this colour and kaleidoscopic new outing It's A Pleasure which really has something for everyone. 'Nada Que Ver' is refracted new school electro-disco-tech with warm synth smears and vocoder vocals bring future vibes. The Lipelis ADHdance mix then reworks it into a pumping house cut with sensuous vocals and 'El Amanecer' (Tenerife '89 mix) is a blissed out and sun down Balearic sound. Last of all is 'Sobre Cien,' an old school broken beat jam that will get you partying like it was 1989.
Review: J & M Music Co US welcomes LeBaron James for another standout four-tracker that brings raw house and smooth disco together on one EP. Up first is 'Always Be True' is a deceptively simple sound that brings straight-up dancefloor beats with hooky pads. 'House Party' then has more heavy kicks and wild percussive patterns to liven up any party and 'One' then brings a more cool and laid-back disco groove that has a slick modern twist. Last but not least is 'Sugar And Spice' which brings a touch of sophisticated and chic instrumental vibes. It's a fourth different sound on a versatile EP.
Review: French producer Jehan is next up on Blur Records with a new EP, TV Screen, that shows that he has a sophisticated approach when it comes to bending free jazz with electronic music and a love of hip-hop. The latter of those is evident in the title of the opener, '92 Till Infinity', which pairs lazy keys with lazier beats and soul drenched vocals. 'Montre Suisse' (feat Donnie Moustaki) has dusty beats that sound like they might fall over themselves topped with warm organ chords and 'You Win' (feat Scruscru & Meowsn) then brings a sweet and swaggering deep house vibe. The flip keeps the slow burning and late night feelings alive with a trio of loved up, well sampled, blissed out beats.
Review: B2 Recordings is back with a second release that is every bit as good as the first. This one comes from Reece Johnson and is a joyous mix of uplifting disco sounds with a timeless edge. 'Comin' In Hot' is a lose-limbed opener with percussive edgy and low-slung drums topped off with dazzling chords. 'Glass Heart' then brings the funk with more expert looseness and this time some hooky and soulful vocals. 'Sup America' keeps the party rolling with instrumental disco brilliance and a Spanish vocal to add real heat while 'Feelin' The Beat' and 'Got To Be Free' close out with higher tempos but no less class.
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