A long time coming, Norm de Plume’s follow up to the first release on his Plumage vinyl-only imprint arrives three years later. But it’s worth the wait.

Two disco edits work that typical Norm de Plume intro, easing you in with a repetitious slow build up. A sparse drum beat teases the sample in, before unveiling the familiar source material. It’s deep house that’s unapologetically slow, sweet and perhaps a touch sickly.

The flip is the real winner. Even more sparse than the A-side, ‘Stretchin Gretchin’ plays with a curtly chopped chant and a stomping bass beat, before working in cowbells and sharp claps. Simple but effective summer tool.

Plumage | May | vinyl

Clued-up Swedish imprint Aniara continues its strong run of late (standout releases coming by way of Genius of Time and Henrik Bergqvist last year). And Dorsiburg aka Alexander Berg – one half of Nordic production duo Genius of Times – steps up to the plate with some highly efficient house music.

The ethereal mood of the title track provides a soothing intro, giving way to the more functional ‘Devotion’ – deep tribal beats dunked in subaquatic low-end. ‘Mystical Influence’ runs with the exotic theme, upping the ante as formerly lumbering tribalist rhythms are injected with some fervour, but retaining the EP’s low-slung, after-hours feel.

Lovely house release for discerning dancefloors open to a touch of exoticism.

Aniara | June | vinyl

Lord Of The Isles continues to churn out quality music at a prolific rate. Here the Scotsman lays down two lengthy tracks on Phonica, each a cosmic disco epic in its own right. ‘Greane’ starts with  a medley of hollowed kicks before launching into a buoyant surge of pitch-bent synths and malleable basslines. The track pulses forward determinedly, flexing its retro-futuristic muscles, stopping only once or twice during its 10 minute runtime for stand-still breakdown, before bursting back into life. ‘Gigha’ treads similarly colourful territory with its cheerful synths, but behind lies a hum of rising, emotive strings.

Two typically intriguing tracks from Lord Of The Isles.

Phonica | July | vinyl, digital

The heavily-hyped Raw Cuts Remixes arrive with a slight but somewhat inevitable feeling of deflation on first listen. Yes Marcellus Pittman, Mike Huckaby and Recloose (an achingly tasteful lineup) are all remixing Motor City Drum Ensemble – promising everything you ever dreamed of, surely?

Certainly, Pittman’s cut is wonderfully organic: flurries of his staple metallic Detroit percussion rattles throughout, like navigating a lush jungle of brittle high hats and chiming cowbells; neatly slotted in-between is the trademark MCDE organ bass and sporadic guitar twangs.

The Huckaby and Recloose cuts are a tad more nondescript. The former weaves a choppy rhythm over a bed of soaring strings and hollowed-out drums, an ambitious approach that taps into the jazz indebted soul of Danilo Plessow’s sound. But there’s a little too much going on to really leave a lasting impression.  Recloose’s version has been doing the rounds on the internet for a few months now, a straight-up percussive groover – simple but effective drum workout.

MCDE | May | vinyl, mp3

The latest EP from Black Light Smoke – Firefly – lands on Brooklyn-based label Scissor & Thread. The NYC-based artist is best known for a gritty sort of analogue house – namely the rumble and tumble of 2010 stomper Switch Back.

Here he serves up a four-tracker: chunky, retro synth house.  ‘Firefly’ and ‘Morning Comes’ are a floaty fusions of rubbery bass and brittle percussion; a smoky collision of 80s synth pop and low-slung 4X4.

‘Black Bricks’ is a darker beast, centred around an ominous, foggy rumble of analogue bass amidst crunchy snares. ‘Screws In My Head’ wears its punk influencse on its sleeves, with its wailing vocals and wavering 80s electro keys.

Scissor & Thread | June | vinyl, mp3

Mark E’s Merc imprint has been home to a slew of secret weapons over the years from the Birmingham-based producer himself as well as the likes of Chicago Damn and the little-known Edward. E-Versions is an offshoot of the label, dedicated to edits and offering a much-needed outlet for Mark E’s vaults of unreleased material.

The A-side is a welcome return to the sound that launched Mark E’s reputation for steamy disco edits. He reworks Chaka Khan’s anthemic 1978 number ‘I’m Every Woman’ into a chugging house burner, complete with conga percussion and guitar licks, squared at peak-time floors.

The flip, ‘Mingo’, is more akin to Mark E’s recent affection for minimalist drum loops and darkened house textures. Rugged, ethnic percussion is pushed forward with a techno resoluteness. Three minutes later rickety lashings of hollowed-out drums dance across the surface. An ominous beast that unfolds into a bassier thud by the end of its 11 minute runtime.

Merc | March | vinyl, digital

Laced with jazz samples and dusty surfaces, Simba’s brand of house music is clearly indebted to Moodymann’s smokey Detroit style. His sample-heavy ‘Three Kays’, released on Stripped & Chewed last year, crackled with delicious, downbeat soul and quickly caught the attention of clued-up house heads.

His latest 12” returns to similar territory, laying down a raw, bumpy house beat across a rambling eight minutes; familiar soul and spoken-word samples are cut in and out amidst a swirl of effects.

Underground favourite The Black Madonna offers up a remix that focuses entirely on a tough, unwavering bass beat, fixed with wet claps and a churn of synths left in the background to  build gently. Sturdy, effective stuff.

Looking forward to hearing more from Simba.

Home Taping | March | vinyl only

Given the inaccessibility of much of his music, Gerry Read is refreshingly unpretentious. He is particularly open about his threadbare production technique, and confesses it only take him an hour or two to produce a track. This admission isn’t entirely surprising given the mechanical repetitiousness of each of his tracks: battered, muddied 8-bar loops with little deviation.

And yet his retro take on house and techno is refreshingly resolute in its adherence to this hulking industrial sound. The breeze-block beats are always presented as roughshod and crumbling around the edges, a strangely mesmerising state of dilapidation.

His first outing on Aus does not stray especially far from this unyielding formula. But title track ‘Shrubby’ does provide a more bite than usual thanks to some sharper snares – a nice counterpoint to the bluntness of his trademark thuds – and a clipped diva vocal that might win over those who find Read’s techno surfaces a little too opaque.

‘Zig Zag’ returns to his muddier soundscapes: rigid monolithic beats pummel against a swirl of foggy synths. Berlin techno producer Redshape steps up for a madcap remix of ‘Shrubby’, dousing it in shrill synths and frenzied buzzing. His ‘disco’ remix is thankfully more straight-laced, looping a pitter-patter of percussion as a squiggle of acid slowly emerges during the eight minute progression.

Aus | March | vinyl, digital

Everything about 6^th Borough Project’s long-awaited follow-up to their debut LP is refreshingly low-key. Coming from two accomplished producers in their own right – The Revenge and Craig Smith – it is a masterfully restrained sophomore album, every bit as genteel and tasteful as you’d expect.

The serene spoken-word intro sets the scene, instructing us to ‘sit back, relax and enjoy the show’. And it is true, much of the album could fall into the ‘easy listening’ bracket. But these are gentle grooves groomed for the dancefloor (or at least born of the dancefloor), no matter how low-slung or off-kilter they might appear.

Take ‘U Know U’, an achingly simple slow-burner that revolves around a sluggish but stomping house beat and some delicious mid-range gurgles of bass. It’s repetitious, propulsive nature is perfect for any attentive warm-up DJ gradually upping the ante during early doors. ‘Think It Over’ is equally as steady, pushing a resolute groove and clipped vocal.

The obvious highlight is the album’s first single, ‘In Your Arms’, which boasts the biggest hook: sun-drenched, dramatic piano keys and a catchy female vocal loop that rises and drops with flutters of disco percussion. It’s the sort of warm and tender track that’s impossible to dislike.

Elsewhere the album benefits from smatters of organic instrumentation decorating the chugging tempos. ‘Back 2 Black’ for instance has a discreetly African flavour thanks to the bustle of chiming cowbells, whilst ‘Walk Away’ works a languorous sax line. Crucially, the disco samples are never overdone; they serve to add a little colour, along with the swathes of warm bass, but never upstage the focal-point: a locked funk groove.

The album is remarkably similar to their first. This is not a criticism; Borough 2 Borough proves that when it comes to the now popular house-disco fusion, no one does it better than Graeme Clark and Craig Smith.

Delusions Of Grandeur | March | vinyl, digital

Alex Burkat first appeared on our radar last year with a release on Mister Saturday Night, and here he teams up with Chrissy Murderbot, under new alias Chris E Pants, for the first single on their collaborative label The Nite Owl Diner.

‘Hello?’ is a piece of tough acid house accompanied by faint spoken word samples. It builds and swells with strings and synth flickers but never stretches out to a point it risks losing its energy. A subtle take on an increasingly pervasive sound.

With his ‘recipe remix’, gone is the acid element replaced by a darker, spacious aesthetic centre around a delayed guitar lick and sharp sweeping strings.

By Jonathan Hill

The Nite Owl Diner | January | vinyl