Collection: House

Passport is the inter-Atlantic duo of George Btp Dan Piu and Roger K. Versey and their all-new album is a truly global voyage of musical adventure. Wonderful Elixir is all about seeking the deeper grooves in dance music from a range of different genres. It's a seamless fusion of jazz and acid, deep house and street beat with special appearances from DJ Nata, Jesus Gonsev, and Grant. The likes of 'Prelude Turismo 97' is a Balearic beauty, 'Oceans of Emotional Wealth' is a shimmying groove with sensuous vocals and lush keys and 'Dream Delivery' is more prickly for those late-night dances.

Off The Grid unveils the second chapter of its label, this time with two tracks (A1 and B1) from Mataemon, an alter ego of Tolga Fidan, who puts his years of experience into forging two powerful cuts that balance the strengths of the past with the visions of the future, laying driving, deep and playful elements over steady grooves, raving straight from the heart.

For this release we decided to go back to the golden era of house, where we found an old misterious producer called Zeno Pisu. You might know him from his obscure EP called “Electric Voyage” made in 1995, but we decided to dig a bit deeper then that. The track A1 “Waiting For A Train (Crystal Edge) is a reissue from the Train Driver record made by Zeno in 1996, a super weapon that we have been playing for some time now, and we couldn’t be more thrilled to see this remastered specially for our label. We also went through old cassete tapes and some lost files to find the tracks A2, B1 and B2, which are some of Zeno’s unreleased productions made in the 90s, that are now finally seeing the light.

Japan will always be a source of great wonderment to us over the rest, as well as being a hugely inspirational land when it comes to all manner of cultures. Take electronic music, and specifically house and techno, which have always had their own distinctive take on the genre and that is now tapped into as Alex From Tokyo Presents Japan Vibrations Vol. 1, a tasteful compilation that transports you to the Far East and some of its finest moments from the 80s and 90s. Each tune comes from a trailblazer of the time and elements of ambient, downtempo, dub, world beats, deep house, new jazz and techno are all fused together into a faultless and tasteful collection.

There's no shortage of gems in Larry Heard's authoritative deep house legacy worthy of a fresh airing, and his Alleviated label embarks on a reissue campaign to bring some perennial classics back in arms reach. Heading to the turn of the millennium, this particular 12" pulls together a couple of tunes from different releases. 'Another Night' originally landed on the 2001 album Love's Arrival, and it sounds utterly timeless as it tenderly bumps out in a configuration of hazy chords and infectious groove, capped off by Shelby Johnson's smouldering vocal. 'Time Machine' came out the same year as a B side to the single release of 'Direct Drive', and it shows Heard's mellow tones set to a tougher beat when you want to bring a little bite to deeper-than-deep scenarios.

** Repress of the reIssue ** Ooh if there's ever a deep house history lesson wrapped up in a 12" then it's this reissued Stomp The Beat EP from Gherkin Jerks aka the master Larry Heard. The Gherkin Jerks project originally surfaced back in 1988 with this 12" on the Chicago based Gherkin Records label, released anonymously at the request of Heard himself who viewed the Gherkin Jerks material as a creative experiment. Later revealed as the work of Larry Heard, original copies of Stomp The Beat rack up a pretty penny on Discogs so it's good work all round that the producer's Alleviated Records label has teamed up with Clone to release a digitally enhanced version. From the mind bending stereo panning of opening track "Don't Dis The Beat" it's easy to see why the Gherkin Jerks material has been so widely praised - Jamal Moss is a big fan - whilst the general off-key melodics and tough 909 arrangements of what follows still sound futuristic some 15 years on.

Those Sound Metaphors guys are always digging out archival material from hidden corners of dance music history, and they've done it once again with this incredible holy grail for any devotees of the Balearic sound. Leo Mas attained legendary status DJing at Amnesia in Ibiza in the 80s alongside Alfredo, and in the early 90s he was exploring production with a variety of collaborators. Having entered the studio with Italian musician Sergio Portaluri in 1993, Mas sat on the resulting DATs for 30 years until they finally got unearthed as the heads-down, rolling breakbeat house stunners they are. Just to give things a modern twist for those who require it, there's also a remix on this 12' from Apiento.

Helmed by Kid Batchelor and Keith Franklin, Bang The Party were one of the first UK groups to capture the acid house explosion as it found a foothold in the legendary RIP parties and other seminal early spots. Their sound bridges the gap from the prior rare groove warehouse scene and gives it a sweaty Chicago injection, and it's captured brilliantly on this, their breakthrough debut record from 1987. There's a strong soulful edge to 'I Feel Good All Over', while 'Jacques Theme' has a dreamy, surreal tint, and 'Release Your Body' channels a little Motor City flair in its twitchy synth lines and drum programming, but crucially this was one of the first indications of house and techno finding a distinct character across the pond ahead of the wider house culture that would blow up in the years that followed. Truly pioneering music.

Klasse Wrecks has started a new catalogue naming convention for this Boy EP from Mogwaa which suggests it might be the start of a new series. Either way it's defined by an epic, side-long title cut that is a real house and techno fusion. It has the soulful pads of house but the drive of techno drums, with pitched-up hardcore vocals over the top and a bright, screwy acid line tearing up the middle. It's a beautiful collision of party-ready sounds. After that 14-plus minute epic is a half length VIP mix that distils everything into a more potent and direct track.