Joyce Muniz

Played by: Irregular Disco Workers, CheapEdits, Local Suicide

Played by: Juno Recommends Minimal Tech

Played by: Juno Recommends Minimal Tech

Played by: Juno Recommends Disco

Played by: Local Suicide

Played by: Juno Recommends Disco, Local Suicide

Played by: Juno Recommends Minimal Tech

Review: "What's Your Name" first saw the light of day back in 2020. Now Poker Flat drops remixes of this simmering deep house track. The SWAH interpretation resounds to dystopian synths and insistent bleeps, with the track's breathy vocals wrapped into these moody elements. The Blu 9 version meanwhile is tougher and clubbier. Based on a spiky, metallic rhythm, tough drums and steely claps, it delivers a leaner, more direct vision of Muniz' composition. Esther Benoit's take is also streamlined for club use. It too features the original version's vocal - the only difference is that this time, it is wrapped around a driving groove and system-levelling tonal bleeps.

Played by: Local Suicide

Played by: Renato Cohen, DJ Mau Mau

Played by: Juno Recommends Deep House

Played by: Juno Recommends Rock/Indie

Played by: Juno Recommends Deep House

Played by: Juno Recommends Disco

Played by: Joyce Muniz, Juno Recommends Disco, Juno Recommends Deep House, Aleito

Played by: Juno Recommends Minimal Tech

Played by: Juno Recommends Progressive House

Played by: Juno Recommends Minimal Tech

Played by: Juno Recommends Disco

Played by: Juno Recommends Deep House, Catz 'n Dogz

Review: Fresh from the release of a sought-after salvo on Poker Flat, Joyce Muniz pitches up on Pets Recordings for the very first time. The Vienna-based DJ/producer is in throbbing space disco mode on ear-catching opener "Glass Mistress", clothing a surging, Italo-disco style arpeggio bassline in snappy drum machine beats, trippy backwards vocal snippets, glacial chords and intergalactic electronic melodies. "Trapped" is a more low-slung, bass-heavy chunk of analogue house/electro-disco fusion blessed with some suitably sharp and foreboding rave stabs, while "Naughty Party" offers a jauntier and cheekier take on synthesizer-driven nu-disco rich in quirky drum machine percussion and robotic vocal snippets.

Played by: Claptone

Played by: Franky Rizardo

Review: Some 12 months after we offered lavish praise for its predecessor, volume five in Shir Khan's "Exploited Ghetto Trax" compilation series arrives. As usual, he's selected some absolute bombs from the Exploited catalogue, enthusiastically sprinting between the drowsy deep house warmth of Kotelekk and Zadak's "The Big Feeling", the jazzy peak-time breakbeats of Enduro Disco, the heart-warming disco-house rush of Art LeRock's "When", the late night deep-tech hypnotism of Marcus Meinhardt's Innervisions-esque "House of Beats (Dub)" and the snappy early morning heaviness of Anti-Anti's warehouse-ready "Heat". There are naturally plenty more highlights elsewhere across the set, but for space reasons we can't champion them all. In a word: essential.

Played by: Citizens Of Vice

Played by: Claptone, Rave Energy

Review: Ten years of tech house powerhouse Exploited's exploits - pardon the pun! A born and bred Berliner, Shir Khan started the label in his home city in 2007. The imprint now plays host to a who's who in the current tech-house climate - including Adana Twins, Doctor Dru, Claptone, Joyce Muniz, Urulu and Cocolores to name a few. Its artists have been receiving full support from tastemakers such as Pete Tong, Soul Clap, Wolf & Lamb and Kraak & Smaak. All the usual suspects appear here: many golden oldies and even some newbie surprises too - perfect for the Christmas season and to forecast trends moving forward into 2018. To prove their relevance, they've served up a whopper of a compilation: over five dozen tracks showcasing their illustrious discography. We are certain that these are timeless grooves and will prove to be just as relevant another decade.

Some of these go as far back as 2009! Take for instance Malente & Dex feat. Analogik's "Gipsy Kings" which homed in that whole loopy latin house trend - popularised by similar tunes like "We No Speak Americano". Swedish electro house dons Zoo Brazil appear as well, with their 2012 dancefloor hit "Rock The House", then get deep and slinky with Moodymanc's 2013 sleeper hit "Joy" (Ralph Lawson Dub). They were even doing jazzy/dusty deep house as far back as 2011, like on Homework's "Whipped Cream". Remember Serge Santiago's remix of Murphy Jax's "Let's Get To It" featuring the inimitable Mike Dunn? It's here!

But when best describing the label's success thus far, we'd have to give honorable mentions to the true staples of the label. The legendary Chicagoan James Curd (formerly one half of the Greenskeepers) has kept on going from his new home of Adelaide, Australia and served up some of his best work in years. The emotive and bittersweet "Forever My Friend" is just one example. Likewise, Belgium's Compuphonic appears several times also - his recent hit from earlier this year "Metropolis" appears in all its soulful and evocative glory. Here's to another 10 guys, cheers!