Lower East At Juno Download

Review: For their second single, up and coming producers Puente & Rosch dust down their synths and lay down a heavy slab of disco-house. It's a curious concoction in many ways, sitting somewhere between stab-laden French touch, smooth deep house, sun-flecked Balearic disco and straight-up electro-funk. Throw in a ludicrously big bassline that wouldn't be out of place on a vintage bleep record, and you have a winner. Bonus cut "Gangsta Club" follows a similar synth-heavy path, offering an electro-funk/house blend that's suitably reverential to its 1980s inspirations. Death On The Balcony have a stab at becoming Maceo Plex on their rework, whilst Cozzy D & Lee Brinx mash-up Visionquest-ish deepness and classic US garage.

Review: As a response to the deluge of high-quality demos it receives, Lower East has put together Inner Circles. Lee Brinx's "She's Pretty" is a sexually-charged, somewhat sleazy jacking affair - its narrative describes in depth why a particular woman is so attractive - while Gav Memnos and Dexter Kane's "Dirty Cash" is a more stripped back jacker, and Cozzy D and Dodha's "White Lightning" is based on lithe percussion and heavy drums. Best of all though is Alexis Raphael's "Skalamoosh". Featuring the pitter-patter shuffle of garage drums, a jittery vocal sample and a slinky, 90s prog house bassline, it shows that modern deep house can be evocative and soulful in equal measures.