New releases last two weeks: Funky/Club House

Review: The Alien Edits label and in-house and eponymous production outfit serves up a pair of banging, Summer festival primed house edits. The first is a shuffle, high inapt take on a Wailer's classic with the original vocals left in for maximum bait for dancers. On the flip, it's another stone-cold gem that gets the treatment with 'Abacadabra' reworked into a big, bubbly house sound complete with vocoded Steve Miller vocals coming back from the future to infuse it with irresistibly hooky energy.

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: Founded in 2023, Category 1 Music (C1M) builds on deep roots in house music, focusing on soulful house vocal productions on a fine international scale. Beyond digital releases, they're now diving into vinyl with a series of exclusive drops; the first is a Category 1 Music Sampler, a 12" of four standouts by Terry Dexter, Michael Gray, Dr Packer, Richard Earnshaw, and DJ Spinna. Organic but still well cooked Ibiza house predominates the set menu, whether by way of the ultrasoul wateriness of Terry Dexter's 'You Saved Me' or the tighter but still dreamy entreaties of Shawn Christopher's 'He's Got It', both translated in exquisite mashup form by the likes of Gray and Packer.

Review: Encee serves up a superb debut here on the nascent but already impressive Only Cuts Records. It's lush, funky vibes all the way here with 'Carlito' tapping into a classic soulful sound and drenched in loved-up vocals. 'Zhanet' has fizzy, sugary synths darting through the mix as warm drums bounce in neat patterns and 'Hov' then brings some blissful summer synth work and cut up stabs that energise the party without ever starting from deep and rich musicality. 'Meshell' is a perfect vocal cut for summer deployment with wispy chords, r&b vocal chops and colourful bass.

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: Vick Lavander is a name that has always been a byword for deep house quality. His sound is couched in a classic template but comes with subtle tweaks and plenty of its own musical character. BEYOND is a bumper collection of beats which proves just that. There are silky and cosmically minded sounds like 'Time & Time Again' next to subtly jazzy dancers like 'Sunset BLVD' and dubby, elegant grooves like the life-affirming 'Grace'. The pace picks up with joints like 'Knights' but never at the expense of atmosphere and slows right down with swab-tinged downbeat delights like 'Good Timing'. A magnificently rich work.

Review: Fedde le Grand's 'Put Your Hands Up 4 Detroit' shocked the world on first release, notably sampling Matthew Dear and Disco D's 1999 classic track 'Hands Up For Detroit'. The Netherlands electro-house cut is a worthy enticement for any floor-hardened modern listener; Flamingo Recordings oversaw its peak at number 4 before gaining traction across Europe. The official lyrics, as confirmed by le Grand, are "put your hands up for Detroit, our lovely city"; and a futuristic music video, directed by Marcus Adams, was filmed in a former Safeway HQ in Hillingdon, London, depicting a dystopian lab where androids are tested for human responses, ending in a system-wide shutdown after one discovers his own artificial identity. There's plenty of visual cultural material to psychoanalyse here, but we've no time; all we can say for now is that this one's a speedy sonic electroshock and a maximal noughts dance record, doing similar vibe mileage as Freestylers, Foreign Beggars or Benny Benassi.

Review: Happiest of birthdays to Super Spicy who celebrate half a decade in the game with an EP of irresistible tunes. Phunque kicks the party off with an old school vibe that pairs a superb male vocal with crisp, effective drums. Bob Musella brings sample magic on 'Baby Hot Stuff' and Ysheso, Ralo keep the disco-tinged house feels flowing with a percussive monster. After the smoother sounds of Ghosts Of Venice, the flip side brings a trio of funked-up and guitar-laced house grooves that take it back to the glory days of New York.

Review: Reznik & Mikesh's latest offering on Keinemusik detail the best of their recent collaborative travails, now appearing in the form of a sensitively composed melodic minimal upsurge, 'One & Only'. The original version could be their most sincere work to date, with a classical song structure enhanced by string and piano slurs, with Mikesh's front-and-centre, nearly nu-metallic vocals. Whereas the patently success-bringing "anthemic" format is shot for on the A, the B's 'Club Mix' darkens the hue slightly, favouring a mystical progressive experiment with fewer words. Both versions have been thoroughly tested on the road by the Keinemusik crew, verifiably sparking numerous ID requests already (we wonder if the IOM crew are still about and on this one).

Review: A bumper package of six - count 'em - reworkings of disco grooves by Russia's Scruscru, offering a myriad of new takes on classic sounds. Beno, Bernardo Campos's 'Space Gruv' opens proceedings with a luxurious, soulful edge, while Tree Threes' 'Sunshine Miss' coasts along gracefully with more of a beefed up jazz house vibe. Manuel Kane's 'Disco Visions' throws more beautifully jazzy chord shapes and adds a devastating diva vocal for a proper peak time feel, Immersif's 'La Tournee Des Phares' employs more of a broken beat shuffle and 'Rebecca's Mystery Mood' by Punky Wash revolves around Latin beats and lilting guitar lines. Finally comes arguably the EP's jazziest moment of all, Justnique's 'Elevator Music', with some mighty impressive tinkling of the ivories. Authentic, gorgeous sounds overlaid on some sturdy 4/4 templates - pure DJ heaven.

Review: Tribute To House Masters launches its homage to talented producers from the foundational days of house and disco with a first volume featuring some real heavyweights. Each of the originals has been remixed by St David who begins with swinging and delightful deep house depths on 'The Underground.' His Gentle Re-Touch of Patrice Rushen leads to some chunky and full flavour disco house fun, the Club Re-Diss of Armando is jacked up and peak time house with a retro flair and lastly Groovylizer Magic dub brings some silky and soulful flourishes to a Salsoul Orchestra classic.

Review: A decade has now passed since long-serving British DJ Pete Tong joined forces with arranger/conductor Jules Buckley to create covers of classic dance anthems with the help of the latter's expansive Heritage Orchestra collective. Since then, there have been countless concerts and albums - the latter frequently featuring vocal performances from high-profile artists. This tenth anniversary 'best of' collection is therefore welcome. There are some new standalone 'edits' of tracks previously featured on medleys - see 'Finally' (featuring Jessie Ware), 'Man With The Red Face', 'Yeke Yeke' and the sweeping, soaring 'Cafe Del Mar' - but otherwise you're getting fan favourites and familiar anthems, including tasty versions of Orbital's 'Belfast', Adamski's 'Killer' (featuring original singer and now superstar Seal), Joe Smooth's 'Promised Land' and Robert Miles' 'Children'.

Review: It's all gone... 2025 marks the decade since Pete Tong, folk-vernacular-approved DJ and radio tastemaker, joined forces with conductor Jules Buckley and The Heritage and The Essential Orchestra to reimagine electronic dance anthems through the grandeur of orchestration. Over the years, their redos have made club classics symphonic, purpled in a way few other reimaginers could beat. To celebrate, Pete has now curated a special anniversary compilation, with orchestral renditions of iconic tracks such as 'Pjanoo', 'Lola's Theme', 'Killer,' 'Insomnia', '9PM (Till I Come)', and 'Your Love'.

Review: With its distinctive cherries logo and long association with the White Isle - that's Ibiza, rather than the one off the coast of Portsmouth - Pacha remains one of Ibiza's most celebrated clubs - decades after it opened its doors. While the musical menu on offer has of course subtly changed over the years, it has always championed house music - as this celebratory collection of club classics that have rocked the dancefloor proves. As you'd expect, it is heavy on 90s and early 2000s anthems, from Pete Heller's late-90s disco-lopper 'Big Love' and Soul Central's piano solo-heavy re-make of Derrick May gem 'Strings of Life', to Dennis Ferrer's pleasingly low-slung and funky rework of Fish Go Deep's 'The Cure and the Cause', and Kings of Tomorrow's end-of-night singalong 'Finally'. There are a few more recent cuts on show too, including Camelphat & Elderbrook's 'Cola' and Solomun's celebrated vocal remix of Noir & Haze's 'Around'.

Review: Of all the terms here, the one used at the time was most frequently new rave and it would be an unthinkable scene without the Klaxons, so it's great to see them make the tracklist, alongside top tier like-minded acts. Bloc Party are one of the best indie bands to remix ever and the version of their best song 'Banquet' is a banger. Elsewhere, LCD Soundsystem's most catchy number 'Tribulations' is a dead cert in terms of getting people off their seats. One of the hyped bands of the era who deserve recognition are We Have Band and it's a shrewd move to include them. Electroclash heroes Fischerspooner had signed to Minsitry of Sound for L2 million around the time 'Emerge' came out and were easily one of the hottest dance acts around, and make for another cracking addition to this seriously high quality retrospective.

Review: Given that much time has passed since the original nu-rave and, ahem, 'indie sleaze' days of the noughties, it was perhaps inevitable that we'd get a celebratory compilation sooner, rather than later. Two Piers has done a pretty good job of marking those movements - or the 'nu-rave' end of it at least - on Strobes In Space. There are plenty of bona-fide crossover anthems of the period present - Justice v Simian's 'We Are Your Friends', New Yong Pony Club's punk-funk inspired 'Ice Cream', the Jacques Lu Cont revision of The Killers 'Mr Brightside' and LCD Soundsystem's 'Tribulations' included - alongside genuine underground club classics and tracks that undoubtedly deserve another airing (see Simian Mobile Disco's 'Hustler', Tiga's 'You're Gonna Want It', Playgroup's genuinely brilliant 'Make It Happen' and Soulwax's 'NY Excuse').