Alex Jones At Juno Download

Review: With releases already racked up on Kindisch, Murmur and Hypercolour, it's obvious that Alex Jones isn't another generic tech-house artist. Jones's ability to squeeze new ideas out of existing forms becomes all the more apparent on "Have It Your Way", where doubled up, dubby claps and a pulsing bass frame Shoeda's off-centre vocals. Similarly on "30 Lengths", Jones does the unexpected and underpins a jacking, Chicago-style track with splurging bass tones. "5 Minute Warning" is also from left of centre, its delicate glassy bells combined with a mid-tempo groove and out there vocals for another offbeat gem.

Review: One of the most talked about labels in house music comes good with another anthem. The only trouble with "Higher Level" is the timing; had Hypercolor released this two months earlier, it would have become one of the summer's biggest hits. The premise, like with many great releases, is fiendishly simple; create a tracky arrangement, find a soulful vocalist and get them to sing about their woman's beauty. Then add some disco strings and some funk-drenched guitars and let it play out. Even the presence of a remix by Mr Fingers, which introduces a brooding bassline and eerie synths, or the shimmering deep house of the GA's Love is the Dub remix can detract from the original's brilliance.

Review: This tumbling chunk of dewy-eyed deepness sees Hypercolour head honcho Alex Jones join forces with rising talents Bareskin and J Wiltshire. The latter's atmospheric, semi-fragile vocals provide a focial point atop a shuffling, surprisingly pleasing melodic groove. There's none of the standard Hypercolour garage bass, or those big, rave-influenced riffs. Instead, the trio has delivered something that should appeal to all those who like their deep house with more than a splash of melancholia. If it's a sign of things to come, expect Hypercolour to investigate deeper waters over the next few months.

Review: Hypercolour look to further cement their reputation as hardest working label on the UK circuit with this Fat Controller EP which sees Cocoon regular Glimpse team up with both martin Dawson and Hypercolour's own Alex Jones - and there's a Roman Flugel mix too! It's Glimpse and the one armadillo Dawson who take the controls for the title track which a tilting tech houser that sits somewhere between the vocal led stylings of Detroit Grand Pubahs, Art Department and Sex Judas, whilst the Flugel remix naturally shifts the track towards a more organic sounding place and is finger snapping good! On the figurative flip Jones and Glimpse take it down the afterparty rabbit hole with the intense and abstract "Faulty Female."

Review: The ever reliable Germany imprint Connaisseur returns with this rock-solid four tracker. First up is Michael Sowbug's "Proof", in which a political speech is twisted in a drunken manner similar to Dinky's remix of The Royal We's "Party Guilt" and placed atop a sumptuous bed of cosy pads, before UK deep house ledge Jimpster turns in a typically stylish instrumental refix of Kollektiv Tumrstrasse's "Was Bleibt". Up next is Distortion's stargazing, arpeggio-driven "Ballte Your Music" and, finally, "Have It Your Way", a sultry collaboration between Alex Jones and Shenoda.