Back catalogue: Funky/Club House

Review: Inhale Exhale bring six full new circular round-trip breaths to the fold, focusing on heartwarming and soulful summer deep house tunes. Intended mostly for outdoor disco BBQs, 'INEX 017' packs a fruitful punch. Opening proceedings on the A come 'Make It Right', 'Understand U' and 'Tears Of The M1', a power-of-three intro tracking a vibeful descension from crystalline waters, synth organs and high string samples down to the chillest of vinyl-crackly, primal mini tech moods. Then there's the unmissable mirror image on the B, podding 'Everytime', 'Clyde' and 'Keep The Stabs', the last of which is an especially delicious, refractive groove.

Review: Golden-era hip-hop legend DJ Marley Marl continues his adventures in house music, and this time he's got soulful house royalty - specifically Kenny Bobien and Lady Alma- in tow. 'Joy (Hallelujah)' is as righteous, uplifting and life-affirming as you'd expect: a horn, organ and piano-heavy slab of hands-in-the-air brilliance topped off with some sublime gospel lyrics and vocals from Bobien and Alma. We'd argue the track is best in its full vocal 'Extended Mix' form, though the accompanying instrumental is still superb - and arguably more suitable for those who are uncomfortable with the (admittedly joyous) religious messaging within the lyrics. Testify!

Review: Initially established by disco polymath Patrick Adams as a "low budget" studio band, Musique briefly burned brightly, releasing two albums and a handful of genuine dancefloor anthems. Their story started in 1978 with this double-header - produced by Adams and mixed by a youthful Francois Kevorkian - on Salsoul Records. This reissue has naturally been fully remastered for club play and is presented on rather fetching translucent fluorescent green vinyl. A-side 'In The Bush', an infectious and high-octane slab of restless disco-funk full of clipped guitar licks, propulsive bass, punchy horns and hybrid whispered/sung lead vocals, is the more celebrated and much-played of the two tracks, though the heavily orchestrated and Salsoul Orchestra style 'Keep On Jumpin' is also excellent.

Review: Inhale Exhale Records return with their seance virus artists EP and it is one that will appeal to anyone who has any love whatsoever for house music. Raoul's 'Vae Victis' is first up to get a remix and that is from Luvless who brings modern power with old school dreaminess. Tilman is next up with an Atmospheric Mix of Marc Brauner's 'The Feeling' which has potent 90s vibes and Soela teams up with her partner in crime Module One for a super chunky groove to close the a-side in style. Eddie C is the standout on the flip side with a suer funky rework of 'Heads Up High' while Denyl Brook brings some peak time power to his interpretation of Shaka's 'Overminded.'

Review: Time-honoured, blue-crossed phono-phrenic audio pharmacists Positiva celebrate their 30th anniversary with the launch of a brand new sampler series. Simply titled 'Positiva', the new outing spans every sonic end-logic from slick UK garage to mesmeric trance, the throughline being the modern uplifter sound into which the label has settled; a far cry from their jet-propulsive Ibiza-rave garage house days of yore. Most of the tracks on this first edition of the series are already floating about out there, though they've never been compiled onto a single record before: Sammy Virji and Gorgon City complement each other well on the A-side's 'Voodoo' and 'If You Need It'; then Azari & III, Max Dean, Alan Fitzpatrick and Ronnie Spiteri spin things out ever further, into two warming, well-layered party-pushers driven by ecstatic vocals.

Review:  Zy The Way hail from Taiwan and are recognised as pioneers of the jazz scene in Asia. Their signature style is to infuse their work with ancient Chinese poetry and their first outing 'A Different Destiny,' reimagined 3,000-year-old poems curated by Confucius and earned them plenty of plaudits. Now, they unveil two EPs as a prelude to their upcoming album. Collaborating with renowned remixers who operate at the jazz-electronic crossroads, they present 'Ten Acres' with a remarkable remix by Mark de Clive Lowe. Maintaining jazz's essence while igniting the dancefloor, this EP bridges East and West, past and present and shows Zy The Way as a transformative musical force who are pushing boundaries.

Review: Sabadell is a town in Spain that is renowned for its distinctive 1980s up-tempo, harmoniously synthesised take on disco. Known as the Sabadell Sound, it evolved from the pioneering and earliest Italo disco scene and featured key artists like David Lyme, Squash Gang, and Jules Tropicana. This two-sided vinyl megamix comes presented in vibrant orange vinyl and showcases the talents of DJ Funny and The Mixing Boys. In the iconic Spanish Max-Mix style, these mixes are true works of art and each side offers over 18 minutes per of hi-nrg and Eurodisco perfection that will bring great colour and charm to any party. his release is a must-have for fans both new and old of the Sabadell Sound.

Review: Madge may be well past her musical best these days - though her army of dedicated fans would naturally disagree - but it shouldn't be forgotten that she's produced some of the standout pop moments of the last three decades. This 11-disc retrospective revisits that long and fruitful career, charting her rise from rebellious New York club babe to elder stateswoman of pop via fashion icon, film star and gas-pumping sex pest. Each of her 11 albums between '83 and '08 is here in remastered form, alongside a smattering of bonus cuts, extended mixes and forgotten B-sides. Her 1983 debut, partly produced by Nile Rodgers, Bernie Edwards and Jellybean Benetiz, still sounds great

Review: To mark the 20th Anniversary of the American Life Mix Show Mix, this new album brings together eight songs that also honour the life and work of Peter Rauhofer, a notorious remixer who did many such great works for Madonna for over two decades. Six of these tunes are brand new edits of Madonna's top commercial and promotional remixes from the 'American Life' era that have never been released before. The two others are a superb Ralphi Rosario House Vocal Mix of 'Love Profusion' and Deepsky's Home Sweet Home Vocal Edit of 'Hollywood.'

Review: Magic Number is Ross Hillard, a downtempo and orchestral composer whose engineering and bass playing can be heard on an array of releases, most notably for the likes of his own house favourites including Louie Vega, DJ Spen, Kerri Chandler, Lay-Far and Atjazz. Now debuting his first record on the latter artist's eponymous label, Badly Written Songs sounds like a slice of humble pie, but it's actually well-thought out title: in Hillard's own words, "(it's) a tongue-in-cheek reference to how transient electronic music can be." Thus, writing songs in this genre might not have been the most sensible and sustainable idea - but we all love house music, so we put everything into it, hoping that people don't discard it too soon. True to an engineer's tastes, the album is ultra-dynamic and bright throughout, serving up a consistent guest-vocal steeze reminiscent of Charles Webster or Herbert's gravitas.

Review: Fifteen years after its original release, Guns Don't Kill People: Lazers Do by Major Lazer remains a genre-defying triumph. The duo, made up of Diplo and Switch, threw dancehall, reggae and electro-disco into a blender and created something entirely unique. Tracks like 'Hold the Line' (featuring Mr. Lexx and Santogold) and 'Cash Flow' stand out, blending Jamaican influences with forward-thinking production. Now reissued on clear vinyl with stickers, this gatefold 2xLP edition brings back the raw, energetic essence of one of the most eclectic dancehall albums ever made.

Review: Following on from two previous EPs here in 2019 and 2022, Peter Matson now serves up a wonderful full-length on the storied Bastard Jazz. Hotel PM is a psychedelic exploration of disco and modern electronica from the Brooklyn-based musician and co-leader of Underground System. His signature attention to detail, songwriting and world-class musicianship all shine through next to collaborations with the likes of Pahua, Kendra Morris, Toribio, Phenomenal Handclap Band, Sly5thAve and members of The Rapture, Ibibio Sound Machine and Poolside. Between them, they delve into themes of time, memory and disenchantment with modern technology with a mix of lush strings, tight brass and analogue synth basslines. It's a journey of dance floor delight and more introspective moments with plenty of catchy hooks and retro-future charms.

Review: Under his Mild Minds alias, Benjamin David has won plenty of plaudits for his slim body of work to date - not least from the GRAMMY committee, who has previously nominated him for various awards. Gemini is his second album and sees him return to Foreign Family Collective - the imprint which released his earliest work - following a spell at Ninja Tune offshoot Counter Records. Blending elements of two-step, UK bass, deep house, eyes-closed 21st century electronic pop, synth-wave and cut-up vocal sample trickery, the album is accessible, energetic and impressively well produced, with a handful of carefully selected guest and collaborators pitching in to mix things up now and then.

Review: 18 came at a time in Moby's career when the bulk of his hits had been and gone. Play, Moby, Ambient and Everything Is Wrong had all made a splash, and by 2002 the artist, real name Richard Melville Hall, was seeking to broaden his horizons. The breakbeat stylings of Go, for example, still shine through on 18, but additional ambient and trip-hop tinges also impress on tracks like Jam For The Ladies and Harbour, featuring Sinead O'Connor and MC Lyte respectively.