Bestsellers This Week

Review: The fantastically named A/Jus/Ted - veteran producers Justin Strauss and Eddie Mars on a collaborative tip - make their debut on Under The Shade. "A Brighter Light", featuring the treacle-thick soul vocals of Jeremy Glenn, sits somewhere between electro-soul, early Chicago house and Balearic nu-disco. As you'd probably expect from the soul-minded Strauss, the resultant track is effortlessly soulful, quietly uplifting and brilliantly produced. The same could be said of the more instrumental Re A/Jus/Ted remix, which blends skittering proto-house rhythms and electrofunk dub elements with woozy modern deep house. Like the original, it's excellent.

Review: Further proof of the blurred boundaries between nu-disco, deep house and '90s house revivalism is provided by this jaunty four-tracker from Auckland-based studio buff Shallow Taxi Club. There's much to admire about the crisp, vintage house pianos, twittering melodies and bumpin' beats of opener "Flashback", but it's the deep, Crazy P-ish nu-disco groovery of "Mark My Words" that most impresses. Choose between the baggy 'Disco Edit' and a delightfully touchy-feely rework from Greg Wilson faves Monkey Boots. The latter also turn "Melody of Creed" into a gorgeous slice of shuffling deep house bliss.

Review: The Legendary Sound Orchestra continues his attempt to provide disco edit lovers with something extraordinary, with a third collection of hand picked reworks. Predictably, there's plenty to enjoy, from his own sparse, piano-heavy version of Silvetti's Salsoul classic "Spring Rain", to the rolling, bongo-laden goodness of 78 Edits' sprightly but loopy "Don't You Know". Highlights-wise, it's a toss-up between Alkalino's baggy disco-soul shuffler, "Have A Ball", and Jimmy The Twin's superb, TR-707-enhanced "Party Down". The latter, a horn-heavy chunk of upbeat disco-funk, is arguably the Bristol-based scalpel fiend's best work to date.

Review: Dani Plessow dons the Motor City Drum Ensemble name with Say A Prayer signaling a return to the production game following his much publicized creative burnout. It's clear that Plessow's period of convalescence has worked wonders, with the four tracks here every bit as deep and dusty as the much vaunted Raw Cuts series upon which the MCDE project was launched skywards. Proceedings open with the two part suite of the title track, laying down fuzzy chords and intermittent vocal swoons over a gritty 909 backbone on the opening track; part 2 meanwhile will have you digging out those Raw Cuts 12"s in order to do a MCDE master mix, such is its immediate warmth and neck snapping drums. Meanwhile, Plessow uses "The Stranger" as a chance to traverse bleepier, rattling techno terrain with superb results, whilst "SP11" is rasping high octane house at its finest.

Review: Given Unknown To The Unknown's wide ranging remit, including bassline garage, Detroit electro and Chicago house, it was perhaps inevitable that a genuine 90s house record would find its way onto the label at some point. Originally released in 1992, OHM's "Tribal Tone" was supposedly the first tune to use the Korg M1 sound that was later immortalised by Robin S' "Show Me Love", and had considerable impact at the time, being championed The Shamen frontman Mr C, being licensed to R&S sub-label Global Cuts and US label Vibe, and finding itself remixed by the Sabres of Paradise trio. Here it finds itself with three similarly great remixes, a stripped-back, raw groover from Marquis Hawkes, a horn-heavy piece of 90s action from Capracara and a thundering mid-tempo effort from Northern Souls. Essential!

Review: Jay 'Chubba' Richards has been popping up all over the place of late, with recent releases on Sirch and Odea Records. Here, he brings his particular brand of contemporary house and UK funky fusion to Republic. "Moody" - so-called because it features a prominent sample from Kenny Dixon Jnr talking about his MPC - sets the tone, layering tough electronic percussion over a monstrous bassline. "Diamonds" sounds like a fusion of classic UKG and '90s house, while "Broken" feels like the sort of thing that Hypercolour should be signing (think nice chords, tasty vocal stabs and bassline-driven deep house flavour). There's also a tougher, UK funky-flavoured tweak from Vedicis and Vanshift that's well worth a listen.

Review: Despite getting everyone all hot and bothered with the promise of their collaboration, Gorgon City - aka Foamo and Rack N Ruin - have been sparing with releases to say the least. Still, it's all about quality not quantity, eh? Both tracks on this EP scream class and are immaculately produced: "Intentions" is a slick deep roller, complete with bouncy bass, shuffly garage beats and a soulful 90s-style urban vocal. The percussion is pushed to the fore on the corresponding club mix, but it's the dark and positively subterranean bass vibes of the moody "Cycles" that really does it for us!

Review: Dusky have come far in quite a short space with their modern house music interpretations and make quite a decisive move with a high profile transfer from Simple Records to Aus Music. This is still prime, slickly executed house music but with a healthy amount of bass woven into the mix, not least on the fearsome "Alone". A meaty sub line pulses out under the crisp 4/4 while interludes of found-sound percussion come darting in amongst snippets of vocal for a surefire banger. "Dummy" likewise flexes its brawn with pride, from the snappy beat to the punchy bassline, even as the synth elements are intent on sending the track into more spaced-out places.