Delusions Of Grandeur At Juno Download

Review: Thanks to three previous 12" and digital samplers, most of you will have a fair idea what to expect from this debut full-length from Scottish house-disco fusionists Graeme Clark and Craig Smith. It's still very much worth listening to the album in its entirety, though. Clearly designed as a proper album to be listened to in sequence, it's beautifully programmed and packs a whole skipload of great ideas (not to mention brilliant samples) into a thoroughly entertaining 90-miniute journey. While it only occasionally strays from house - check the downtempo delight "Settle" - there's plenty of variety within that, touching on classic NYC deepness, loopy disco/house heaviness, sensual slo-mo grooves and string-laden tech-house builders.

Review: One Night In The Borough, the debut full-length from Scottish disco/house fusionists Craig Smith and Graeme "The Revenge" Clark, is arguably the best thing either producer has done yet (and certainly collectively). This first sampler 12" showcases four of the album's many highlights, offering plenty of loopy, floor-friendly grooves for those who like their house with more than a dash of original disco flava. Choose between the slo-mo MDMA soul of "If The Feeling's Wrong" (our pick), the urgent stomp of "Find A Way", the smart retro house vibes of "Changin" and "Iznae", a delightfully stripped-back chunk of late night deep house bliss.

Review: This second sampler for Craig Smith and Graeme Clark's excellent debut album once again sees them in fine form. While three of the four tracks stick to their tried-and-tested formula - rock-solid deep house built on heavy, head-nodding loops, long, lazy builds and cute, killer hooks - there's plenty to get excited about. The distinctly old skool "Back To Me" (check that analogue bassline) and hynotic head-nodder "Deep C" stand out, with "BURT (The Journey)" not far behind. The most revelatory moment, though, is "Settle", a dreamy downtempo concoction crafted from syrupy soul samples, echo-laden beats and sinewy strings that sounds like an updated version of Minnie Ripperton's more sensuous moments.

Review: Scottish duo Graeme Smith and Craig Smith aka 6th Borough Project present the third and final sampler ahead of the release of their debut album, kicking off with two surprisingly house dominated cuts, "B.U.R.T" and "The Fool", whose intro does indeed fool via a standard tech house first half. Abruptly, the music cuts and from nowhere an immense disco accapella cuts in - the beat returns as a disco fuelled funk attack, 6th Borough Project as we know (and love) them!

Review: Having put their Instruments of Rapture label to sleep, Craig Smith and Graeme Clark return to Delusions of Grandeur. With its shuffling, late night groove, delay-laden atmospherics and sub-bothering, bleep-era bassline, "The Vibes" is arguably their darkest and toughest release to date. It's predictably good, though, sitting somewhere between Morales' darker Red Zone moments and early '90s UK techno. Chicago Damn joins in the fun with a thumping, edit-heavy remix, all fuzzy chords, vintage percussion and old skool vocal stabs. Bluesy bonus track "New Day" - a kind of 6th Borough take on "Deep Burnt" with balls - is pretty tasty, too.

Review: For those who like to dig a little deeper, Ben Sun has long been a name to keep a hawkish eye on in deep house circles. Although "Salty Tears" is considered by most to be the London based producer's breakthrough track, his potential was first seen on the ephemeral delights of 2009's "When You Looked". Both of those tracks were released on the Voyeurhythm imprint he runs with Tyson Ballard and Megadon Betamax, and his arrival on Delusions Of Grandeur feels like a significant step towards wider appreciation. The Love Momentum EP sees "You Should Know Better" sprawled across the A Side, and it's hard not to think of KDJ when soaking in the jazzy key samples that form the backbone of the track alongside a deliciously clipped vocal sample, strings, horns and the dustiest of beats. "Yesterlife" on the flip is all about the 909 hats and hanging chords, while "Love Hotel", featuring Wolf + Lamb affiliated producer Slow Hands, features the kind of low slung bassline that has been the hallmark of many a Ben Sun jam.

Review: Having already impressed with outings on Foto, ARP and their own Use Of Weapons, Deep Space Orchestra add Delusions Of Grandeur to their CV and deliver perhaps their most refined work to date. "Lo Pan" weaves between flourishes of Rhodes and analogue arps with a confidence that fully demonstrates their progression as a production unit. Underpinning all this is the constant groove of 808 kicks and Detroit that provides the all important rawness and momentum. The accompanying remix from Berlin duo Trickski drags "Lo Pan" into the lower reaches of muscular house movements, stripping proceedings back to a dramatic synth lead and neck crunching beat before unfolding into a groove that really gets under your skin - thanks in no small part to the added vocals. Deep Space Orchestra end proceedings on the hazed out "Disarm" which accrues a delightfully ethereal quality as it floats towards its conclusion. Fine work all round!

Review: In the canon of EPs that require little in the way of additional prompting from the Juno review staff, the latest release from Delusions of Grandeur must surely rank high. Pairing We Play House duo FCL with VFB, the latest alias from Dani 'MCDE' Plessow proves to be a smart choice, securing Delusions perhaps their finest release to date! Love Prescription is nominally formed around three variations on the title track from Plessow's new VFB moniker (yet another smart ode to his hometown) introducing the yearning soulful tone of Stef Gustaph amidst a nicely stripped down take on house music which is perhaps best utilised on the bubbling Dirt Dub version. FCL appear with the masterful "Matrix Plus" full of bouncing rhythms and high rise chords dipped with Mr Fingers style emotion.

Review: Warm and chugging disco-tinged house is on offer once again from the imperious Delusions of Grandeur, with the Foolin EP arriving with Germany's Manuel Tur at the wheel. Sticking with his usual synth heavy and sultry style, Tur strikes an immediately gritty tone of funk with tightly plucked guitar riffs, swooning brass and soulful vocals on the title track. Up next, an instrumental version of "Foolin" is accompanied by "The Traveller", which treads percussive realms with a heartbeat drum platform that pushes this otherwise orchestral and ambient track ever forward. Piano keys dance gently as string beds ascend against scatterings of brass and tinny crashes; our pick of the bunch.

Review: Pattern Select is Milton Jackson's new endeavour with Show B and the results of their first collaborative work together finds a suitable home at Delusions Of Grandeur. Tale Of The Tape is both an auspicious glance at what the duo have up their sleeve and perhaps the finest EP on the DoG imprint to date. Ploughing a decidedly subterranean path through the rawer excesses of house music, what is really a selection of simple elements - vocal hooks, crafty drums, ever rising pads and satisfying crashes - are combined excellently and infiltrated by the wormiest of arpeggiated synth lines. The accompanying dub version does what all good dub versions are supposed to do and there is the bonus of a flipside revision from man like Cottam that completely rewires the track along some next century utopian galactic house tip - you'll love the smudged rhythms that come floating in. Just to switch up the vibe, Pattern Select end on the dusty fingered brilliance of "Matrix" - full on beat down head nod vibes soaked in Detroit atmospherics.

Review: Recloose on Delusions of Grandeur? Yes please! "Don't Get Me Wrong" is classic Matt Cicioine, packed full of his usual musicality and dense, melodic production. It sounds like an unlikely fusion of distant, long-forgotten disco and spine-tingling deep house, with more atmospheric vocal samples and live instruments than you can shake a smelly stick at. It's heady and intoxicating, coming on like a classic house production made somewhere between Detroit and New York. The driving "Shimmy" continues the murky, retro-futurist trend and is just as engaging. As if that wasn't enough, there's also a lovingly fluid, decidedly Balearic rework of the title track from Melbournite Tornado Wallace that's quite possibly the best thing he's done to date. Splendid!

Review: New on the Delusions of Grandeur label (a sub label of Jimpster's excellent Freerange imprint), Berlin based duo Session Victim have made a gem of an EP that would find a good home in the racks of any nu-disco fans. "The Keyboarder" sounds like something Treasure Fingers would drop, as it's both full of groove and heavy on the silky string stabs. The clean, live sounding drums on "Tomorrow Night" alone are worth getting excited about, underpinning a corking deep rhythm that becomes infectious. Well worth checking out.

Review: Having already treated us to a trio of samplers, the German deep house duo Session Victim finally deliver their debut full-length for Delusions of Grandeur. Given their impressive credentials, it's no surprise to find that The Haunted House Of House is a bit good. Almost overflowing with ideas, it serves up 11 slabs of deep house that do their best to sidestep the genre's many pitfalls. Sure, there's plenty of comfy, melodic goodness (see "Push Comes To Shove" and "Zoinks"), but also forays into disco-flecked jazz-funk-house ("Alpine Glow"), slick disco-house ("The Haunted House"), groovy slo-mo electronica ("Bilson"), dewy-eyed Balearica ("The Light Scent of Decay") and even Clyde-ish broken hip-hop ("Fine"). Impeccable, and this ultra special Juno edition includes an exclusive bonus track in the shape of "Spellbound"!

Review: Comprising the second half of their hotly anticipated album, this latest slab of wax from the widely celebrated house duo Session Victim showcases just why their groove is so well liked. Far from trying to be cool in their music, instead the kind of funk the German duo conjure up in their sample-heavy sound is pure and addictive, not least on "Push Come To Shove". It's not all party rockers mind you, as well demonstrated in the low slung hip-hop leaning of "Fine". With the summer looming this is a strongly advised addition to your sun-compatible arsenal.

Review: If you missed out on Session Victim's excellent 2011 debut album The Haunted House of House, this third sampler EP gives a tantalising glimpse of what you've been missing. As with the album itself, there are various flavours on show, from the shuffling, string-laden, eyes-wide-shut loveliness of "Zoinks", to the Hammond-laden jazz shuffle of the irrepressibly groovy "Good Intentions" (check out that brilliant walking bassline). Best of all, though, is "Light Scent of Decay", a majestic builder that morphs from a lazy Balearic shuffler into a touchy-feely deep house gem over 10 majestic minutes. Thrilling stuff.

Review: Comprising the second half of their hotly anticipated album, this latest release from the widely celebrated house duo Session Victim showcases just why their groove is so well liked. Far from trying to be cool in their music, instead the kind of funk the German duo conjure up in their sample-heavy sound is pure and addictive, not least on "Push Come To Shove". It's not all party rockers mind you, as well demonstrated in the low slung hip-hop leaning of "Fine". With the summer looming this is a strongly advised addition to your sun-compatible arsenal.

Review: Since dropping his debut release on Hi-Phen in 2005, Toby Tobias has built up an impressive body of work, with EPs on Rekids, Hector Works, Let's Play House and his own Late Night Audio imprint. This EP for Delusions of Grandeur is another slow-burn winner. Lead cut "Pathfinder" gets just the right balance between heavy drum machine programming - think old skool electro or '80s boogie - and contemporary deep house smoothness. Fabrizio Mammarella's hypnotic remix is pretty tasty, too. "Backbeat" provides a hazy tip into Balearic boogie territory, while "Abergon" - with its lazy jazz guitars and Harvey-ish bump - is impeccable wide-eyed White Isle fodder.

Review: More discerning discotheque cuts for the cowbell connoisseur from the Delusion of Grandeur imprint, this time calling on Australian playboy Tornado Wallace. The Melbourne resident has impressed with previous pitched down mutant discoid cuts for the Sleazy Beats and Murmur imprints, but the Paddlin' EP sees Tornado Wallace go deep. The title track has a main groove that throbs away underneath fizzling Detroit pads whilst funk grunts fight for your attention with soaring synth washes. "Swimmin" reworks proceedings, switching down the tempo slightly but bringing the groove topside for a splendid sun kissed chugger. Firecracker/Prime Numbers don Linkwood jumps on board to deliver a soaring seven minute remix that brings to mind the Pepe Bradock classic "Deep Burnt".

Review: Underground Sugar Caves marks a triumphant third waddle through the deepest recesses of rhythmic programming on Delusions of Grandeur for Tornado Wallace. The Australian is a man whose grasp of The Simpson's trivia is more than matched by his rise in the public's estimations since he debuted with Paddlin'. Lead track "Underground Sugar Caves" sees the erstwhile Wallace leave the sanctity of chugging disco for something altogether more thrilling - warehouse ready raw house music. The ease with which Wallace flips the script from the kick drum heavy compressed sound of the opening moments to the stabs and energising strings that dominate the track in full flow will transcend excellently in a small basement space. "Insect Overlords" is a more familiar mid tempo saunter, though there are enough production nuances to separate it from the chaff, whilst the venerable Idjut Boys turn in an excellently dubby transition of "Underground Sugar Caves" which is indelibly stamped with moodiness. Highly recommended.

Review: New school deep house specialists Delusions Of Grandeur return with another solid three-tracker, this time from Seattle-based studio knob-twiddlers Zepp001. It's the duo's second EP for the label, following 2009's warmly received "Don't Sleep". "The Warm" itself has a touch of Deep Space Orchestra about it - all off-key chords, otherworldly noises and alien melodies. "Dearly Beloved" has a slightly warmer feel thanks to a bubbling low-end groove, sneaky carnival percussion flourishes and some excellent, far-out nu-disco synths. Best of all, though, is DJ Nature's remix of the same track, which re-casts the original as a jazz-flecked spacey deep houser.