James Johnston At Juno Download

Review: This four-tracker from up-and-coming producers Alex Agore and James Johnston signals a promising start for new deep house imprint No Matter What. Agore's "Improper Change" is an intoxicating take on Detroit deep house - all drawn-out one-key chords, bumping low-end bounce and slick vocal snippets. The included Lady Blacktronica remix takes things up a notch thanks to some subtle acid tweakery, Beatdown chords and decidedly snappier beats. James Johnston's "I Know It's Not Time", meanwhile, is arguably his best production yet - a flowing jazz-house builder with a sweet, bluesy edge. The package is completed by a chunkier Rick Wade remix, which cleverly injects some thick, bassline-driven bounce.

Review: Following quietly impressive excursions on 4Lux, Boogie Originals and No Matter What, James Johnston makes the transfer to Fine Art with arguably his strongest EP to date. From the gorgeous, string-drenched title track onwards, A New Day Begins amply demonstrates Johnston's growing skill as a producer of atmospheric deep house. "Why Do They Wanna" offers a woozy, super-deep take on dub house, "The Smartest Man" bounces impressively and "Drive Around The City" injects some choice hip-hop samples amongst the cosy Rhodes and skittish, semi-broken beats. There's also some murky deepness in the shape of "Haze". Impressive stuff, all told.

Review: British deep house producer James Johnston has enjoyed a productive career of late, dropping tracks and remixes on Fine Art, Under The Shade, Boogie Originals and Gerd's 4Lux imprint. Here he returns to No Matter What with arguably his strongest set to date, a four-track onslaught of hip-wigglin' deep house with a distinct old skool US garage twist. While "XTC" and "Get The Feeling Back" are standard Johnson fare - warm, organ-rich deep house with a tidy '90s flex - there's something decidedly rude and sweaty about "Lost The House Keys". Its bone-rattling sub-bass, skippy beats and starlight organs scream "garage", even if the stabs and smooth production try and say otherwise. Nicely done.

Review: After impressing Jimpster and Moodymanc with Honesty, his debut EP on the Undertones imprint last year, James Johnston returns with more deep house cuts on "Missed The Party" for the 4 Lux Black label. The Glaswegian has only just returned to the house music he grew up on after several years of delving into experimental music as part of a guitar noise duo and playing squat parties throughout Europe (Thurston Moore was a fan) but Johnston clearly has a talent for crafting impressive deep house. The title track takes the plaudits here - a bumping percussive rhythm wrapped in neat vocal edits and extra warm bass line where the hypnotic groove early on is transformed into Romanthony sampling deep house bliss. Johnston opts for a jazzier feel on "In The Dream Count To Three", drenching the lolloping beats in an exquisite synth melody and submerged atmospherics. "The Day We Expanded" brings you out of the mist with a slow building mix of uptight hi hats, Detroit-esque synth work and squiggly acid bass stabs.

Review: Killer four track EP of sumptuous deepness here from the Much Love imprint, with James Johnston, Alkalino, Alphabet City, Bartellow and Roman Rauch all stepping up to the plate with uptempo house jams. Johnston's title track takes on an almost proggy hue with a killer titular vocal hook, while Alkalino & Alphabet City's insouciant key-driven "Dolve A La Discoteca" has 'Ibizan terrace party' stamped indelibly across its forehead. Bartellow's loopy, jazz-fuelled slice of house exotica ("Perhaps Strang") leads into the deepest of the lot - just check those chords on Rauch's "Space Places"!

Review: Leicester hasn't got much going for it musically. Praise be, then, for City Fly, the acclaimed local deep house night that's now morphed into a record label. This first release - a four-track label sampler - delivers some high quality deep house fare, suggesting that City Fly could well be a label to watch in coming years. There's a variety of top notch dancefloor flavours on show, from the midtempo shuffle of James Johnston and soulful boompty-lite cut-ups of YSE to the luscious late night deepness of Tone Control (an excellent remix of their own 2008 Kerri/Theo fave "Illusion") and lo-slung techiness of Basic Soul Unit.