We’d a rather large amount of fun a few weeks back when Jitterbug came over to play at our lil Gary’s Gang shindig here in Dublin; some would say too much fun. But it’s fine, our head’s have stopped hurting now. We recorded the night and Jitterbug has given it the ok to post it up and he’s provided (most of) the tracklist to go along with the full 2 and half hour set. His online mixes are nearly non-existent so get stuck into it. Hope y’all enjoy it as much as we did on the night…

We all know by now about the (re)emergence of Sweden’s Frak in 2012, a trio of strange fish who had managed to fly under the radar of most of the world up until a string of releases last year, most notably on Digitalis and Kontra. So after such a high profile year it was odd to find their new mini album, “Erase” in the back of a shelf in a record store here in Dublin a few weeks, one I had no idea existed and at the time it didn’t seem to be knocking about online too much either – this has thus changed – even though Discogs stated that it had a February release. I’m figuring this is down to it coming out on Psychic Malmo, a small Swedish label with less clout than the other labels.

There is nothing complex about what Frak do and this simplicity can sometimes lead to moments of tedium but when they get those direct, monotonous hooks right it can all be rather wonderful and the “Erase” release is just that. The stark drums and uncomfortable vocal drones of the opening title track slowly but surely drag you into their murky mind-set, either wearing you down with the groove or maybe putting you right off (it was the former for me). They ease off with the near whimsical electro bumpin’ on “Talk On Answer”. While not as grinding as the opener they are still all about pulling you slowly along, layering jolting notes and acid over each other, though in a much lighter fashion. It can feel like it goes on forever, though maybe not this time in the best manner possible, but hey, plenty reading this are Djs so get to work on it. The A-side closes off with the “Bonga-Dance”, an industrial-tinged slow mo banger. One gets the feeling that Frak sometimes get a perverse kick out of making you feel like you’ve taken some horrible mongy drug. I’d like them to take this as a compliment btw.

The B-side starts off with “Classic Bass (do the Frak)”, it’s title creating an image of the trio teaching their fans some sort of weirdo dance to go along with their weirdo techno. It’s bouncing bass, flowing hi-hats and murky vocals calling us to do the frak is in contrast to the throbbing a-side cuts and then they amusingly cut it off early while before it was all about seeing things to the bitter end. After bringing us into the light with the Lps shortest cut, it’s time for the centerpiece of “RZA”, all quirky jumping assonance and skipping 808s, with what sounds like a playful melodica riff (though i’m half-guessing it isn’t that either, but another equally cheap bit of gear) plus another semi-atonal keyboard line. It’s pretty much everything Frak does in one track, raw kicks, those loose hi-hats and relentless riffs that beat you over the head. It’s fantastic. They close off proceedings with the house-centric “Controlled tie”, once again utilising their knack for an off-kilter, unsettling riff with an acid line coming at you from a distance, this time backed with some classic 707 rhythms. The synths sound like they are coming from afar too, on one hand creating a spacious sound yet it feels like the cavern they’ve invited you into has no way out. Frak don’t often deal in pleasantries and things are so simple with them at times it’s interesting how they’ve managed to carve out a sound so individual, but after 20 odd years at it maybe shouldn’t be all that surprising either. Sometimes playful, sometimes ardent and most of the time  downright odd, when they are on form like with “Erase” it’s all worth it.

Even by my standard that headline is a pretty awful attempt at rounding up a few of the releases highlghted in this post. But it’s late at night so whatever. Let’s start with the the bitter so. Mr Scott Grooves has a tendency to appear on the fringes every couple of years before slipping away again. Sometimes going practically unnoticed as with these two releases from a couple of years ago. So once again with no fanfare he returns on his own Modified Suede imprint with Bitter Sweet/C Track. “Bitter Sweet” is a moody and subtle house cut that slowly unfolds under a proper beatdown kick, with jolting strings appearing without ever fully falling into that cliche of the big strings 313 stylee; one can always count on Grooves to do things a little differently.  “C Track” is a classic bit of Grooves deep house. Wonderful lilting organs bounce over his laidback yet insistent groove – buoyed by some great percussion – that keeps the track driving all the way through. One of those killer cuts that works as a dj tool for the long blend or can be left to stand alone and ride along on it’s own. Who knows if this time around Grooves will hang around a bit longer or go off the radar again for another few years.  We’d rather he didn’t.

William Burnett has been causing a bit of a stir recently even though he’s been knocking about for maybe longer than many think (for starters here’s our own interview with him from over 4 years ago). Outside of his work as label boss of WT Records, his production work mainly as Willie Burns has garnered him more attention than previous incarnations as Grackle or Galaxy Toobin. For all the hype NYC is getting at the moment Burnett tends to have himself  slightly removed from it all (no sign of him in the recent RA “HEY MAN DON’T YOU KNOW NEW YORK IS THE TOUGHEST MOTHERFUCKING CITY ON THE PLANET” video) and his music reflects this, it’s just that little bit different. His Heatsick remix from earlier in the year is still possibly my favourite track of the year – definitely remix-wise – and the grimey synth driven house of Daywalker + CF is one of the stronger releases from L.I.E.S. in 2013, even if it got passed over compared with weaker releases, something that does tend to happen with that label.  But now he is back in the shape of Black Deer, a bizarre 12inch of native american influences, discordant guitar riffing, drones and eerie samples all wrapped up to deliver an intoxicting blend of weirdo techno (sorry, “outsider” yeah?). “Almost Had a Moment Alone” is a brooding opener, a repetitive beatless wonder driven by it’s tense bassline and reverbed guitar, like an alternate  soundtrack to vampire cowboy flick Near Dark.  I Mention Near Dark as the original soundtrack was composed by Tangerine Dream and the B2 “Native” melds their sort of organic synthesiser contradiction with Indian chants and drums. It closes on the more straight forward downtempo of “Trail of Tears”,but before those 2 comes the highlight of the release, the amazing “Cheif Big Thumb”. Jitterbug played it here last Friday and his suggestion that it would sound “fucking massive on a rig” was 100% correct, as it needs a proper system for the kick drum to be fully realised. Mixed with it’s palm-mute bass, chanting and odd, staccato melodies we get one of the freshest sounding peices of techno in some time.

I first came across Container via Donato Dozzy when he played here last year, and it was a quite fitting introduction, with this guy’s interesting fusion of miniml techno with more abstract noise aflections quite suited to the odd paths Dozzy brings his listeners down. Container sounds like it should be really lo-fi yet there is a pristine element to his productions in so much that no matter how distorted his tracks get there is still a bizarre clarity in amongst it all. His latest 12 is for Morphine and while it doesn’t break from the mold of his previos Lps it’s still worth your noitce even if just for the epic title tracks. It’s 9 minutes are pretty much built over one ever evolving riff, evolving in the sense that it gets more and more fucked up as the track goes along before descending into controlled chaos by around the 6 minute mark.  And that’s whats interesting to me about Container. You can quickly dismiss him as noisy shite but you are missing out on his fundamental understanding of the minimal aesthetic that holds together his music, no matter who much noise he piles in on top, and it’s how he has produced this noise in the manner I mentioned before that marks his work out from so many others at the moment.

Central Processing Unit is a new Uk based electro label that has recently delivered it’s 3rd vinyl release by relative newcomer CN.  Voyages is a nicely varied mix of Detroit inspired electro and techno with the  playful and dreamlike “Stellar Awakening” kicking things off very strongly, removing the sausage from it’s rigid electro beat through aching, funky melodies.  “New Ways To Walk” takes a more direct techno route while “Intravenous” takes nods from Mr ‘De and his Electro-Funk imprint before the closing “Zener Diode Blues” decides that fusing Drexciya’s “Digital Tsunami” with  poppy, trance, plinky plonk pianos would be a good idea (It is!). What I like about  this release is the fun he has with his canorous interjections over the obvious 313 inspired rhythms. It doesn’t take itself too seriously yet this in no one generates a frivilous tone to proceedings. I’d already picked up the Cygnus 12″ on this label (which is pretty cool too) and I’ll be watching both label and it’s respective artists from here on in.

Finally I’m gonna quickly put the ISM stamp of approval on a couple of  recent big releases. Pepe Bradock continues his adventures in every increasing oddness with the awesome Acid Test 07. It may be more streamlined than some of his other recent output but as straight up club acid tracks they are still as bent out of shape was one could imagine, both sides are wonked out brilliance.  Rhye are a new pop duo who have been causing some commotion with their svelte Sade inspired album “Woman”. While we are also recommending the LP overall, if you ain’t taken a gander at Maurice Fulton’s remix of “The Fall” you gotta check it out below right now. While every idiot on the planet shits on about Daft Punk’s  Raddison Inn Foyer Musak version of Chic on Get Lucky this is 2013′s  real pop/dance hit! And finally an album that I really should do a much more detailed write up on is Fulton’s return as Syclops, “A Blink Of An Eye”. It is a helluva lotta fun.

Tomorrow night sees the Dublin debut of one of ISM’s more stealth operators, Jitterbug. Never one for fanfare, Jitter has quietly been sneaking out some killer music over the last few years, mostly via Uzuri, with his Arcane Theory ep from this time last year being a standout release. He also featured recently on  this excellent Metrolux V/A 12″, so we are pretty chuffed to be having us play for our monthly soiree, Gary’s Gang. As with all our parties, it’s free in, and runs late down in the Basement of Sweeney Mongrel on Dame Street. Warm up comes from the gang’s Phil Long of Slowburn. Here be the Facebook page

For the more foolhardy crew out there the Gary’s Gang crew will be taking over the Breakfast Club on Saturday morning from 7am until 1pm in The Dark Horse, again with Jitterbug hitting the decks alongside Shane O’Meara and Paudi Ahern.

Next up, just a lil heads up to say that I’ve repressed the first Apartment 12 from 2011, Panther Veil by NCW. The 12 picked up a bit of steam at the end of last year and with quite a few requests and faintly silly asking prices appearing on Discogs it is now currently back in stock at Juno, Decks, Diamonds and Pearls and a few other places. If your regular shop don’t have it, just ask

Also, NCW has got a brand new 12″ out on Ali Renault’s new Vivod label. It’s a fancy pants screen printed limited thingy featuring the cold wave pop of Golden backed with the Michael Bundt-esque Lands. He’s helped along by the charmingly titled Piss on the killer A-side. There’s only 150 of these so don’t sleep!

Not long after making my post yesterday some more upcoming heat from Ireland reared it’s head. Cork based producer Colm K has  a new ep The Love dropping later this month and here is a taster from it, an awesome low-slung boogie/funk jam called Spaced. Perfectly timed for the arrival of summer (we hope)

Moving away from Ireland for a moment, the Chicago based Argot has just dropped it’s latest release from Detroit newcomer Elizebeth Merrick-Jefferson, Urban Off Road, which is a high tempo house 12, which reminds me of how John Heckle takes Chicago influences and gives them a modern update with some especially sweet melodic work on the B2 cut, Astronomical Twilight, the video of which you can see below. This is my favourite release from the Argot imprint thus far and it gives us another hot new artist to be keeping an eye on over the coming years.

Finally, former ISM guest dj Platinum Ray has dropped another superb mix, this time for the Inside The Box site, which you can grab over here. Contains a few favourites of my own, including the killer Chaz Jankel cut that I’ve linked below. Alongside our own Gmos, I reckon Platters is Dublin’s best kept secret. This is perfect for the sun that has finally decided to make an appearance this week. Get on it.

Things are tipping over nicely for Irish related action at the moment, be it artists or labels. So here’s a quick rundown of whats a gowan.

First up is a new kid on the block from Derry, The Cyclist. With a tape album out in 2011 on Crash Symbols, “Bones In Motion” sees his first vinyl release on Leaving Records/Stones Throw. He takes some house/techno/dub/ambient tropes and mixes them up with a weird production technique where he soaks tracks in waves of distortion, or as he likes to call it Tape Throb, which is quite fitting. At times it can be a bit much but when it works properly it adds a bittersweet fragility to proceedings instead of a more predictable harshness. He doesn’t let the production get in the way of some glowing melodies, especially on the likes of “Mangel”, the title track, “Sheen” and “Sleeping”. At times it can become a bit much with the likes of “Black Train” and “Dusty” suffering from an over indulgence in grit but overall it highlights a precocious talent with a very bright future.

Moving on to one of the country’s most established producers is the upcoming release on Further Records by John Daly under the pseudonym of The Smoke Clears. Daly’s last outing for Further was the amazing “Sea Level” 12″ which holds a special place for me when played at the wrong speed, turning it’s tranced out techno into a wonderful piece of  heavy, cosmic ambience. Daly started out in the realms of the very deepest house before turning things up a notch to more dancefloor focused material so his moniker for this is highly fitting, moving away from that output and in a way – accidentally – extending on the wrong speed joys of “Sea Level”. With “Listen” it feels like he’s combined electro, house, electronica and even some acid and then reworked it at half the speed, delivering some beautiful downtempo nuggets for a hazy summers eve. Of course now I’m eagerly awaiting my wax to arrive so I can hear what it sounds like at 45 instead of 33. But after those years of straight up house cuts I’m happy to see him focus on the deeper side of things again.

One of the highlights of Lunar Disko’s output over the years was the “2012″ ep by dutch electro maestro Dj Overdose. He returns to the fold with “The Future of the Planet” and I reckon it’s a career highlight for the label. Kicking off with the smooth robofunk of “Housing Your House” it kicks up a gear with the Carpenter meets West Coast (of Holland) Electro monster “Sandokan”, it’s spooky yet europhoric synths carried along by a stomping electro beat. It takes a grittier turn on the b-side with the jagged edges of “141 Gates” and the sleazier reduced tempo of “Slave” before “Nibiru” closes proceedings off on a somewhat lighter note bringing things round full circle to the opener. A fantastic collage of irresistible hooks and thumping drums.

Staying on the electro tip is the new Defekt 12″ on Dublin’s Signal Code imprint. Previously focusing on throbbing techno, this latest wax is my favourite output from both producer and label. Defekt continues to work within his tried and tested formula of modern electro but melodically he explores some deeper avenues this time around, hinting at the output of Gerard Hanson’s E.R.P. work while retaining his own character.

All City return to the fold with the nutty “Fragments A” 12″ by newcomer Anno Stamm. “I still have the Photographs” takes some Theo Parrish-esque beats and wraps a tense, stabbing melodic refrain around the stuttering beats before a more calming synth closes it out. What sounds like treated live drums kick off the b-side in high tempo fashion on “Purple Clouds” before whirling, near-trance hooks clamber over the incessant beats. The highlight is the gritty closer, “A Triangle Patch of Lip” a woozy techno workout with whiplash percussion and unsettling assonance creeping it’s way to the very end. I love how you never can tell what All City are gonna throw at you, it’s the way it should be.

One Electronica is a new vinyl only Belfast label which hits it’s 3rd release with newcomer The Superior Inferior, “Echelon XIII” , delivering two original tracks and two remixes of the title cut by John Heckle. Heckle’s remixes are, unsurprisingly great, both meaty workouts invoking his usual psychedelic-tinged inflections coupled with those encroaching, pounding drums we’ve come to expect. While the A2 Interstellar Acid Pzychosis is a too cluttered for my liking the real gem on this release is the opening title cut. Melding house with a dab of New Beat, electro and other 80′s influences it slowly unfolds into a rather huge acid cut, leaving it till the final 3rd of the jam to unleash a lowend acid line you don’t see much of these days. He manages to steer well clear of it sounding pointlessly retro either with a well rounded and mature production aesthetic.

Not happy with delivering the goods as part of the Bande Apartment troupe, New Jackson has just released his most high profile release to date on John Talabot’s Hivern Discs, “Sat Around Here Waiting”, another woozy melodic house cut that utilises a unique vocoder sound to add a touching wistfulness to proceedings. Downer House anyone?

Lumigraph is another new young Irish producer making his physical debut this year, this time on tape label Opal Tapes with the “Nautically Inclined” album.  His is a pretty great, somewhat noisy assault on house music idioms run through a blender, the odd time invoking the works of Heckle and Malik Pittman’s odder FXHE output (if more agressive than the latter)  on “Patty Hearst” and “Tampa Awaits”. But it also moves towards a more current abstract beat style on the likes of “Wavewatcher” and “Sugar-Dunk”, while drenching much of it in a clamorous haze. So much new Irish talent to look out for at the moment and long may it continue.

Fatty Fatty Phonographics continue their edit series with ISM favourite and edit maestro Rahann taking the controls for their 3rd outing. The A-side “Dirtyboyz” is a massive house-disco killer, with what sounds like snare snippets of Jack Your Big Booty with cool 80s disco sounds and vocals and an irresistible groove. The B-sides are more traditional funk/disco cuts that serve their purpose but are overshadowed by the slamming A cut.

Finally, Cork producer Shane Linehan continues to build his Basic Grooves label, now venturing away from just his own solo productions, instead bringing in new Waterford producer Shane Bambrick on Vol.5 with “The Process”, with a sound that nods to the likes of Leonid and Keith Worthy, while on the flip Linehan delivers a remix in his typical 90s influenced style.

After many delays (what’s new eh), the latest Apartment 12″ is finally out in the world. Bande Apartment is what we like to call the label’s In-house Disco Mechanics, comprising of Tr One and New Jackson, two (three?) of Ireland’s premier producers of the moment. For this release the label has ventured away from original productions, with the guys going to work on some old disco numbers – one side is a work-out of a super rare offering from the Educating Rita soundtrack by David Hentschel (discogs owners = 4) while the b-side takes apart Kikrokos’ sorta awful “Dirty Kate and Jungle Dj”. It’s been causing some mayhem on Irish dancefloors for a lil while now so really chuffed to finally have it out there.

Here be the samples

It’s now available at Juno, Decks, Deejay, Rubadub, Phonica, Kristina Records, Redeye, Diamonds and Pearls, Grampahone in Chicago and for Japanese readers in Jetset, Lighthouse and Technique amongst other fine vinyl emporiums around the world. If yer local store ain’t got it yet, all you gotta do is ask

Alright folks. I’ve delivered the latest mix for the Loud Mouth collective based out of Dublin. Electro, haus, techno, disco and all that jazz (no actual jazz) all done the usual way, bunch of vinyl, one take. off with ye.

Tracklist

Peverlist & Kowton – Raw Code
Scape One – A Different Room Q
Pharaohs – Ahumbo
Markson – Skyrocket
Whim-ee – Where Is Your Pants? (Martin De Brig Remix)
Durant – Vigo’s Jones
Vercetti Technicolor – Beachside Rogues
Juanpablo – Anaconda (feat.Isabella Venis & Intergalactic Gary – Mick Wills Remix)
Directional Force – One Thousand
Legowelt – Rave Till Dawn
John Heckle – 9 Gulps
Philippe Petit – Condemned
Paranoid London – Paris Dub 1
Jon Convex feat. dBridge – Lied to be Loved
Syclops – 5 In
Ibex – Innerlight
Dj Overdose – Nibiru
Stefani Bennett – Swing My Way (club mix)
Pigbag – Papa’s Got A Brand New Pigbag (Paul Hardcastle’s Electrofunk Version)
Bande Apartment – Kate’s Girth

Also, I conducted a small interview with William Burnett of WT Records for the Bodytonic crew a lil while ago, which you can read here. Some of that new WT DJ Muscle bizness is hot as too. Check em.

As our newest writer Joseph Hallam discussed in his first post here on infinitestatemachine, the big trend in house music right now is knocking off old 90s New York and New Jersey house music. Last year, instead of the Juno “New Releases” page sounding like Kerri Chandler ripoffs, it was all Larry Heard wannabes. It is kind of crazy to me that finally the old stuff is getting the love it deserves, but instead of inspiring new music it causes people to mimic it. Detroit was always harder to pin down. While there are definitely some pieces of equipment that popped up regularly, it was not so easy to identify like it is with the 707/303/etc of Chicago house or the swung 909s and chords of New York. While all those places continue to put out new and interesting music (most of which remains underground, as it should be, I supposed) the volume of music from Detroit, the quality, and the diversity is still very impressive.

Big Strick’s 7 Days Entertainment has been putting out all kinds of deep bangers by the man himself for a couple years now. Now he is developing new artists, and resurrecting old ones! Generation Next is Big Strick’s 17 year old son, and his new record Lamborghini Dreams contains his best material thus far. Simple synth melodies create an atmosphere that recalls John Carpenter soundtracks and classic Detroit techno, but with the hypnotic repetition that he inherited from Big Strick and Omar-S.

Following his new track “Night Moves” which appeared on 7 Days last year, Reckless Ron Cook returns but this time with his “Lost Tapes”. I would guess that these tracks date back to the mid 90s, but the music is straight up timeless electrofunk. Recalling great UR, Direct Beat, and Metroplex releases from that era, this is banging uptempo shit that is not for the weak. Music like this is criminally underrated at this moment in time, this release should get more people to check it out! Oddly, the sound samples online don’t do justice to the low end of these tracks, they sound thick and nasty on wax.

Moodymann’s Mahogani Nusic has been home to many house classics, and its newest release seems to be another one. R&b influenced house music by Paul Hill and Nikki O, this 12″ relies on strong songwriting and masterful production to worm its way into your soul. It is good to see Nikki O get a full release after her original EP on Mahogani ended up being one of those ultra-limited and generally unobtainable records in the catalog. Also on Mahogani recently is a hiphop LP by Nick Speed under the name Nicholas. Jazz and soul influenced gritty street jams are what this is all about! A great listening album, which thumps on my hi-fi. Really feeling this!

Theo Parrish’s Dance of the Medusa EP seems to take things back to the Sketches/STFU era of his productions, with very loose rhythms and a live, spaced out jazz feel. Rhythmically, no one is really doing things like Theo does on “Ambalamps”. Some people might think that is a good thing, but I appreciate the diversity greatly.

I attended the recent 3 Chairs party in Detroit a few weekends ago at TV Bar, and it was an outstanding night. A packed house, sick old Cerwin Vega soundsystem, and four of the best deejays in the world banging it out all night long. In addition to all the acid, disco, funk, deep house, and 80s jams you would expect, they also played three cuts off of their upcoming 12″ which I was lucky enough to score a white label copy of. I don’t know the names of the tracks, but both the A1 and B1 are vaguely acidic jams that generate a lot of funkiness in their drums. The B1 especially caused damage when it was played at TV Bar. The A2 is a really odd track with heavy atmospheres that sounds nothing at all like anything else they have done. B2 was a late night choice at the party, and it manages to combine recent Theo, early 2000s Moodymann, Rick Wilhite’s percussion, and Malik Pittman’s abstractions into one very cool cut.

Most of these are very new so there is no YouTube clips of them yet, but definitely track them down and check them out however you can!

Last year saw a huge influx of producer’s both new and old jumping on the house band wagon. They would label their work deep and it would follow a path, well, more of a rocky road, that we have been down many times before. This road took us back to the 90′s but it left out so much along the way. Every other week an unknown name with a badly produced imitation of the classic 90′s house sound would come out of the woodwork to try get a piece of the action once they heard house was the flavour of the day. Now I can’t say for sure if they know their history or if they are just another fly-by-night wannabe producer with a crack copy of Ableton and a few Kerri Chandler CD’s… but I would bet that I am not far off, I mean these guys bit a sound so hard that they left permanent teeth marks.

As 2012 moved on, we saw more and more badly produced copies of this classic sound and it started to grate on me. These tracks lacked the soul and the groove that house is known for and they left me feeling cold, I could tell that they had been made without any real care or love and that the producers had set out to deliberately re-create a sound that had been tried and tested in the 1990′s but had been slowly making a resurgence in the last couple of years, with 2012 being it’s biggest year. Before long it was on the front page of Juno (other music outlets are available), it was sat there all shiny with its imitation cover art and a million (mostly bad-dull-beige) DJ’s names underneath it all supporting it.

I couldn’t for the life of me understand why they would happily spend £8.99 and more on a copy of house that sounds nowhere near in the same league as the real house from the late 80′s to the late 90′s. I mean, why not take a few hours out of your day and check out the back catalogue for Strictly Rhythm or the other dozen or so well established house labels from this era? You will find stacks of amazing house and for a few pounds and it is all head and shoulders above what those other clowns are making. With that said I am going to link some alternatives which are much better than the soul less manufactured house that the masses have latched on to and are currently calling “deep”. Remember what Jack said, he said “House is a feeling that no one can understand really unless you’re deep into the vibe of House.” He didn’t say take my house and bring in a firm of cowboy builders and build a badly built conservatory that is going to leak when it rains.  

Another thing that has irked me is that these clowns are making some serious moves and have full Global DJ schedule’s whilst the real passionate producers and DJ’s who know their house are sidelined. So whilst the real house heads are taking a back seat by no choice of their own these other copy cat producers are out there making the money and representing this fake deep house to a Global audience, this audience then hears it and go’s out and buy’s it, which is the exact reason why you see it at the top of the Juno charts. It’s a vicious circle. I could go on for pages about how wrong it is, but I think I should get on with some of those alternatives that you can pick up which are the difference between night and day and most of the time a lot cheaper. They haven’t been made solely on a DJ programme that every other DJ uses and they haven’t been sidechained to an inch of their lives. They have been made with real instruments and amazing hardware, they have real singing vocals and so much more warmth and feeling.

Smack Records – This New Jersey house label is the home to many a deep garage house record – you can’t fail with the Mentalinstrum stuff.

Aztonk Records – A little know garage house label that ran between 1992 – 1995. If you like your house with some bounce but still on a garage tip this is a label you should check out. Most of the releases are available for less than a pound and a lot have been produced by Scott Kinchen who is Mark Kinchen’s brother so you know you’re in good stock.

Serious Grooves –  Essential Detroit house label. Go through the whole back catalogue, you won’t be disappointed. Some of these are a bit more dearer than the two labels I mentioned earlier but they are worth it.

Movin’ Records – You can get everything from pumping house to garage, to vocal house all on this New Jersey house label. Cheap as chips.

Strictly Rhythm – Strictly is so vast and full of so much amazing house music it can be a bit daunting on where to start. If I was a newcomer to Strictly I would take a few hours out of my weekend and go through the entire back catalogue. I say entire as there are many remixes and dubs which are hidden away on the b-sides. It will be totally worth your while and you can pick up huge chunks of the label for next to nothing these days.

E Legal – NY house label that ran from 92-94. Check out the Todd Terry stuff.

Hi-Bias Records – Canadian house label which has some really great house music ready available and cheap.

Music Station – Another New Jersey house label that you need to check out.

So there we have eight record labels that are packed full of garage house which is a million times better than what those faux house kids are knocking up and selling for £9.00 a pop. So if you know anyone who has been bitten by this deadly bug you need to show them these labels and I guarantee that they will be thanking you for it. Boycott that fake shit and lets get back to playing proper house music.

Scatty mix, rough around the edges, coulda cleaned a few of them, but just hit play and went for it. enjoy.

Grab it here

Tangerine Dream – Exit

Urban Tribe – Insolitology

Frak – 666

Peaking Lights – Birds of Paradise (Xander Harris rmx)

Kraftwerk – Neon Lights

Tears For Fears – Head Over Heels

Mr Pauli – Metalbass

The Trash Company – Having Fun

Brassica – Lydden Circuit

Trackman Lefonte & Bonquiqui – Pacific House

Model 500 – The Sound of Stereo

Eddie Fowlkes – Tribal Joy

Prince – Thieves in the Temple (Temple House Dub)

Jerry McAllister – Never Let You Down (Original Underground mix)

Front 242 – Master Hit (Master Blaster)

The Flirts – New Toy

The World Class Wreckin Cru – Housecalls (inst.)

Alden Tyrell – There May Be Dark Days Ahead

Starship Commander Woo Woo – Master Ship (excerpt)