Back catalogue: House

Review: Mark Grusane presence on Disctechno brings with it a compilation of five unique house tracks from Chicago and Detroit-based producers, as you will probably have guessed from the title. The A-side features DJ Slush's synth-driven 'Memory Blank' and Deon Jamar's bass-heavy 'AYYYO' which offer different but both killer sounds. The B-side opens with Jordan Zawideh's reverb-drenched 'Axolotls' followed by Grusane's intense, atonal 'The Recoil' and concludes with Thomas Xu's groovy 'School Street.' All of these are the sort of off-kilter sounds you would expect of these revered and enduring electric hotbeds. Raw, stripped-down and authentic, this is the contemporary Midwest underground.

Review: Josh Milan and Louie Vega are real heavyweights and as Soul Fusion they step up here to remix the legendary 'Little Orphan Boy' which is the second single taken from album 'This Is Brian Jackson', the veteran artist's first true solo LP in over 20 years. They do so across four different versions and give it a vintage treatment. The extended 'Two Soul Fusion' mix brings back golden era of Masters at Work with a Latin-infused percussion groove while the 'Downtempo' remix lets Brian Jackson's vocals ride over a stripped back but just as soulful arrangement.

Review: Igor Jadranin returns with another interstellar EP that redefines genre boundaries. Blending boogie basslines, futuristic synths, vintage drum machines and lush flute, piano and vibraphone melodies, the producer delivers cosmic electro-boogie with a playful edge. Tracks like 'Gangster Electro' bring hard-hitting beats, while remixes from Byron The Aquarius and A Vision of Panorama expand the palette. Byron's haunting 'Midnight' mixes crunch with eerie vibes while Panorama's Nu-Balearic twist adds sunrise warmth to the original. It all adds up to a bold 12" from the much-loved Chicago label.

Review: Jose James is one of the most velvet voices in contemporary jazz singing. He also has history of working with one of deep house's finest having done an album with the great Moodymann. Louie Vega, meanwhile, is one of the most decorated house artists of all time, so seems like a perfect man to remix James. He offers up four versions of the American's 'Saturday Night' with the first being a percussive, loose-limbed and soulful sound. An OG Mix and instrumental also make the cut as does a Louie Vega remix Guitar dub to bring some extra depth to the EP.

Review: As we roll further into the New Year we're still enjoying the arrival of plenty of new labels. Now Is Not The Time is one of them from the US that takes a bow here with its first EP, Lost In The Message. It's a three-way collab between the legendary Rahaan plus DJ Reg and Jerome O. What they do is chip up classic samples and killer grooves form the worlds of funk, soul, house and disco with 'Lost In The Message' kicking off in freewheeling fashion. 'Get Up Out Tha Water' has oems nice big horn energy and plenty of whistles and 'The M8 Track' is a deeper house sound with a belting diva vocal.

Review: A powerful visual statement is presented on the front cover of the latest I:Cube and Jim Ka Ray release, on which McDonalds' french fries are likened to mollifying injections. Though the political conclusions we might glean from this are obvious and many, there is also an irony to the conceit; 'Jim Ka Ray' presents music that is almost equally as mollifying. Perhaps, however, the new alias of Jay Ka (aka. Kogui, who has formerly released with of Saft, As It Is and Phonogramme) would like to suggest that there are different forms of mollification; some that simply placate the soul so as to distract it from the world's injustices, and others that are more genuine, in that they serve to relax us by helping us articulate solutions. Music, luckily, is always part of the solution, as it resists the course of the world by form alone: 'Forever Sunshine', 'Fibber' and 'Moon's Man' ostensibly sound as mollifyingly Balearic as can be, but further listens reveal an attention to detail, a polish, that is not only rare in contemporary downtempo but evokes a subtler sense of emancipation, in that only the freer spirits among us could possibly have the talent or wherewithal to polish such gems. Enough blather; the remixes by the likes of Soup Less and Aardvarck (a name we haven't heard from in a while) are equally as subtle and tasty; dare we say far more nourishing than a L1.99 fry-fest.

Review: Eight further sonic spirits are conjured on the seventh edition in Damian Lazarus' annual compilation series. Emphasising deep house and techno grooves with a hypnotic flavour, the procurement here is exemplarily brooding; Dino Lenny's 'I Have Sampled Father' marks a sure turn away from the openers' cleaner-cut mesmerisms with a smoky, funk-inflected haze, bringing rhythm guitar and paternal murmurations to a surreal montage. The monologuing mood continues on the equal highlight that is Upercent's 'Where Are You', whilst Enamour's 'Jackpot' rounds out the show with the record's only brightly-lit minimal triller. The record is marked by sensuous, distant, familiar voices throughout.

Review: Sanderson Dear's Stasis Recordings released the original Time Capsule compilation in 2020 - a 20-track exploration of ten different ambient techno artists exploring two ideas each in compact form for a box set of 7"s. Now the label has revisited some of the project's standout moments and offered a chance to enjoy extended versions gathered on a single 12". From Maps Of Hyperspace shaping out atmospheric halls of synth work on 'Beta' to Glo Phase offering some gorgeous, sparkling grooves on 'Fire Flies', there's plenty of ground covered on this release. Of course the mighty John Beltran is a big drawer too, and his typically stellar 'The Descendent' doesn't disappoint in its full extended version.

Review: It's not often that jazz guitarists and bandleaders double up as DJs and producers, but neither is Nicola Conte the kind of person one often encounters. Here the Italian multi-talent proffers a new version of his latest spiritual jazz-house opus, Umoja. This record first came to be as a full-length 4x4 dance LP of serene, danceable tropicalias and sports-whistly whorls. They now come reincarnated, karmically re-endowed with the thermal force of an eagle, by way of an album's worth of reworks by the veteran producer's vim of fellow spiritual house height-scaler and abseiler, Joaquin Claussell. Whether invoking the exquisite voices of Stefania Dipierro or channelling the patent inspirations of Lonnie Liston Smith of Gary Bartz, Conte Conte-nues to propose endless Conte-nuations of his sound; all it takes is a little help from one's friends to evoke a sacred dance, a sonic world-spirit.

Review: Sydney-to-Vancouver dance debonair Jack J presents Blue Desert, his second album for Mood Hut. Friends of the label will know J's sound - warming house musical pumps come deep future Balearics - and yet on Blue Desert, we hear the sound tempered by a newfound indie vocal performance by J himself, and that's not to mention its expansive tracklist-trajectory, which, when followed in full, details a head-hung but still hopeful tale of rue and recompense. Of the highlights, opener 'Wrong Again' opts for the true-blue choice of a DX7 organ blearily blent with an open chorded jangle guitar and a sequencer-gated trance line, as J muses on taking a past life too seriously; 'Down The Line' brings impressive Oort clouds of reverse reverb and desert new wave; and 'My Other Mind' even echoes Squeeze, as J continues to lyricise over misunderstandings and perspectival shifts on life. Sight of the dance is not lost, however; 'Pink Shoes (part III)' ends things on a gushing iso-stab, rendering the beach disco in clear-as-day clarity, just over the dunes, at the foreshore's end.

Review: British artist Jack Latham aka Jam City is back with a new album a full decade after his debut 'Classical Curves' made for a head turning debut. EFM (the artists debut on Diplo's Mad Decent) is a record that looks at the experiences we had and during our early and formative clubbing years with plenty of engaging and pop-tinged sounds that draw on reggaeton, house, and club. Elements of guitar driven soul and plenty of melancholic tenderness all define this most heartfelt and loved up record as it gets from tender moments to more euphoric outpourings with swelling pads, breakdowns and drops that are all easy to predict but hard to not feel deep inside.

Review: A full nine years on from the generation-defining smash success that was In Colour, comes In Waves, the upcoming second studio album by former indie band heartthrob come electronic-music matinee idol, Jamie xx. We don't imagine that the success of In Colour is easy to top, so we don't blame Jamie for waiting almost a full decade to follow it up. That said, the lead singles on this one do a pretty good job of marking the album's shift away from the summer-jammy and/or sentimental electronica ballad focus of In Colour; 'Baddie On The Floor' and 'Life' verge on French house and future house in turn, and suggest something of a shift in interest for xx towards the faster ends of things. Jamie xx's intended aim, in releasing label Young's words, was to recreate the thrilling volatility of an 'almost mystical' night out, "one where you return home in the cigarette ash dawn, the specifics of the last eight hours already blurring, but aware that these feelings will remain a crystalline memory." We eagerly await the ensuing, full-length story of heartbreak and introspection promised by the remaining tracks.

Review: Jamie xx's long-awaited new album, In Waves, marks the next chapter in the career of one of the most sought-after producers of his generation. With In Waves, Jamie captures the emotional crescendos and thrilling volatility of a mystical night out. As you return home in the cigarette ash dawn, the specifics of the last eight hours blur, but the feelings remain a crystalline memory. In Waves is a melancholy paradise of bliss, heartbreak, and introspection. It tells the story of a journey where you merge into the divine pulse of shadows, light, and dance floor rhythms. It's a strobe light epiphany about the limitless possibilities and spiritual capacities of humanity. Nine years after his debut solo masterpiece, In Colour, the London producer has not only surpassed the heights of its predecessor but has also rendered all supernatural adjectives and analogies understated. Jamie xx's reputation for creating deeply evocative and transformative music is all found here, setting a new standard for electronic production.

Review: Jay Tripwire's My Life With The Machines compilation series is doing a terrific job of showcasing some of the umpteen early noughties gems buried in his catalogue and archive of unreleased jams. This is volume four (the first three instalments dropped in 2022) and features seven more slabs of intergalactic, wide-eyed, dub-fired tech-house treats. He begins with a sumptuously spacey and loved-up rework of Mothersole & Haris's 'Dumbek', before adding echoing sax sounds and dubbed-out organ lines to a heady early morning groove on 'What Kind of Voodoo Do You Do?', an alternate take on one of his most admired tribal-tinged tracks from 2002. Other highlights include the ultra-deep after-party excellence of 'Smoothin' It Out', the heads-down excellence of 'Smooth Swimmers (Swag Unreleased)' and the warming shuffle of 'Geometry'.

Review: Who better to tell the story of house music than one of its main early protagonists? Marshall Jefferson penned plenty of Chicago's greatest early records and as a DJ helped lay the foundations for the sound too. As such he is a perfect choice for Defected's House Masters series and does a fine job of laying out some of its finest moments on this brilliant new mix. No matter how many times you hear these OG gems they still resonate, from the passionate vocals of Ten City to the iconic chords of 'Someday' via the darker jack of Jefferson under his Hercules alias this is an essential listen.

Review: These days, we're all familiar with Jan Jelinek's trademark brand of dusty, dubbed-out, jazz-sampling downtempo explorations. That wasn't the case when Loop Finding Jazz Records, his acclaimed debut album, first appeared back in 2001. It has since become an in-demand item, making this reissue more than handy. It remains a fine album; a blazed shuffle through a sonic world where dub techno, ambient, minimal house, jazz and downtempo grooves and seductive vinyl crackle merge into one intoxicating hybrid sound. It's not showy and over-the-top, but rather becalmed and subtly seductive. In other words, it's still a brilliant album and if you don't own already own a copy, you should add this to your cart sharpish.

Review: Jim (James Baron) is a UK producer making his brand of Balearic, folk and rock music. Generally, pushing the boundaries of Balearic, this double pack compilation houses remixes of tracks from his most debut album 'Love Makes Magic'. The lineup of producers lending their talents to this double pack is quite impressive. Uk house music legends X-press and Chris Coco just to mention two. This release encompasses a wide array of styles including downtempo, dub as well as house music all keeping the folk and Balearic soul of the originals. A true remix packet that brings these originals to different heights.

Review: Jitwam is an already accomplished, beatmaker who brings even more goodness on this new album. It is a work that fuses totters samples and edits with plenty of live instrumentals and brings to mind plenty of peaceful moments during the busyness of everyday life. The album was years in the making we are told and was inspired by time he spent in London but also his adventures in New York City. There are some guest features from Melanie Charles and Akhtari and a mixture of processed vocals, heady soul sounds and lush jazz moves.

Review: Sean Johnston's A Love From Outer Space is a masterclass in mood and restraint. Over two LPs, it captures the ethos of Johnston's club night, favouring steady, low-slung rhythms and cosmic textures over high-energy peaks. The tracks are sequenced with care, creating a meditative flow that rewards deep listening. This is dance music for introspection, where each layer reveals itself slowly, embodying a philosophy that values depth and subtlety.

Review: Sean Johnston curates a compilation that feels as much like a love letter to a bygone era of cosmic and chugging dance music as it does a blueprint for the future. Across this translucent red vinyl double LP, he assembles a narrative that stretches from the dub-tinged grooves of Weatherall-inspired rhythms to rich, enveloping basslines rooted in the darker corners of the dancefloor. These selections capture the ethos of A Love From Outer Spaceinot a style, but a sensibility, where tempo slows and subtlety reigns. Rather than overwhelm, the tracks reveal their power gradually, layering textures and grooves with a painterly touch.