Leonid is a Dj and Producer based in Madrid, he has released 5 solo records so far on labels such as Sistrum, Dolly and Photic Fields. His productions are brilliantly deep and timeless.

Fallout is one of three tracks from his Radar EP which was released on the Dolly Label in 2013. It starts with some swirling synths, interspersed with some tinkling high hats and plonking individual notes every so often before a kick comes in. Eventually the plonking notes are joined by a chord stab, eventually a bouncing electro bassline comes in. Giving a very dreamy and but energetic feel to the track, eventually the electro bassline becomes a sort of acid bass with some very elongated notes rather than the raucous sort of a bass that is usually associated with it. This keeps the song feeling very dreamy but, yet changes the dynamic of it.

Fallout and the Radar EP are both available from beatport

https://www.beatport.com/release/radar-ep/1151016

I picked this up in the Bikini Wax record shop in Berlin, as part of the Looping Forwardeo EP. Highly recommend visiting Bikini Wax if you’re looking for vinyl in Berlin, the level of detail in each genre is absolutely ridiculous – think psychedelic mind bending breaks as a genre.

FDEZ aka Alvaro Fernandez, is a DJ and Producer from Spain. I’ve been trying to find some more information about him but, there’s next to nothing I can find on the internet. Only a soundcloud for him which is available here.

Titotra is an an electro acid track. It starts with some layered bleeps individually at first before layering to form the basis of the tune eventually with an aggressive kick and snare joining in before the hight hats are released into the track, the layered melody builds for 2-3 minutes before a twisting and turning acid baseline is released which surely when pumping out of a big sound system will twist some brains.

Sadly there’s no youtube video of this to show you but you can listen to it and buy the EP from Juno or listen to it on Soundcloud. The rest of the EP is a mixture of fluttering breakbeat and fat electro.

https://www.juno.co.uk/products/edi-jpg-jorge-gamara-fdez-looping-forwardeo/722650-01/

This is one of those songs which has ended up on my hard drive and I’m not sure where I’ve got it from but, I’m glad it has.

This is a collaboration between FCL (best known for their track “It’s You” which was being played out everywhere in 2013) and VFB aka Motor City Drum Ensemble. It came out on a Vinyl collaboration between the two of them in 2011. Amazingly the prices for this EP are actually ok on discogs.

FCL is the collaboration of San Soda and Red D. They released their first EP on Red D’s label We Play House Recordings in 2010, and followed it up with the huge “It’s You” on Defected in 2012. If you like deep house then you should definitely check out their releases and sets as both FCL and San Soda and Red D.

VFB aka Motor City Drum Ensemble needs no introduction, one of the finest selectors around – he frequently headlines festivals and sets around the world. His productions aren’t too shabby either, check out his Raw Cuts series.

This track starts out with some a repetitive synth note echoing between powerful drum kicks and a voice saying “Bounce” with some claps joining before the tension is released by a sustained synth note. Everything dies away for a second before coming back in with some renewed vigour and the sustained note moving up and down whilst a a melody is simply played out over the top of it. The track continues in this way but with the melody becoming more and more pronounced with the notes being played in conjunction with the kick and bass notes to add a real oomph behind each one. This is Deep House at it’s finest, I’ll probably say this a lot – but it really is a great example of how good the genre can be.

https://www.discogs.com/FCL-vs-VFB-Love-Prescription-EP/release/3221976

This is one which has only just come out from Paul Woolford aka Special Request, on his new album VORTEX. The album itself is an absolute monster, but this one stands out really specially for me.

Paul Woolford hails from Leeds and is well known under both of his guises, for his Dj sets and for his incredible productions. He’s even just done a Resident Advisor piece on how he produces and the process that he undertakes, which for one of his other Special Request albums reportedly involved him using samples of icebergs breaking.

Ardkore Dolphin is, as with all Special Request tracks, a raucous breakbeat number. It starts off with some furious drums and before dropping off in to some synths which wouldn’t sound out of place in a 90’s trance song before being stabbed by pulsating acidic lines, you could imagine this being one of those real hands up in the air moments when it’s being played out. This eventually gives way to the drums with only the acid pulses remaining over the top, with some chromatic synth scales coming in over the top to remind you of its euphoric opening. It spins itself back giving way to another euphoric breakdown, all be it a more textured version of the opening one before bringing everything back together.

I’m really excited about this one and can’t wait to test it out on a big sound system to see how it sounds. Available now from Beatport & Bandcamp

https://special-request.bandcamp.com/track/ardkore-dolphin

This track is what I imagine Oompa Loompa’s rave to, it’s that odd and wonky that it could only have come straight out of the Willy Wonker’s Chocolate Factory.

Housemeister is a German Dj and Producer, whose an absolute legend of the Techno scene. Having a slew of releases on Bpitchcontrol, Boysnoize, Monkey Town and his own AYCB label. He’s been producing tracks since the early 2000’s and hasn’t given up since then – he even produced an album using a Gameboy game and played live sets using a Playstation Portable. Mental.

Matthew Herbet is an equal legend in his own right, having founded the Accidental Records label in 2000. A British DJ and Producer, known for pushing boundaries and conventions within electronic music he’s established a name for himself as making truly unique tracks of which this is one.

Where do I start with this? The intro gives you an idea of the pumping techno madness that is about to follow. A thumping kick drum, vocal samples going “o” “e” at different pitches and a rattling wooden sample are the basis for this track, before a glitchy bassline and seriously dubbed down high hats kick in. A synth line that sounds reminiscent of some distorted whale song starts, before a more chopped vocals start to give the impression of some kind of odd marching song, all the while the sounds of heavily distorted bass and synths surround you and push you on. More vocal samples with heavy echo are use during the interludes within the song before a pulsating samples joins which sounds like sonar.

Honestly I’m at a loss as to describe to you this song – all I know is that coming out of a big sound system it absolutely bangs. If you need to mix a set up, dropping this would be a sure far way to do that.

Absolutely wicked trippy track – I found this a couple of years ago in my first foray into Traxsource. Rate Traxsource highly – it’s really good for digging and the genres are much more spot on than Beatport. They tend to do more discounts than Beatport as well, so well worth having a look at.

Young DJ is a South African DJ and Producer, from Johannesburg. He’s been featured regularly in the Top 100’s on Traxsource, usually under the “Afro-House” section. Hopefully there’s many big things to come from this guy, especially if he keeps producing tracks like this.

The track starts off with a really powerful kick and playful hats, with a stuttering high bass line that spits and spurts between kicks before, some deep and brooding synths come in. Interestingly instead of claps, Young DJ’s used a vocal sample of someone going “AH” and it works really well to create such a brooding atmosphere. A huge bouncing bassline comes in, with some pulsing synths to provide a nice counterpoint to the throbbing leading bassline. Soon the bassline is mirrored by a distorted synths that gives an extra electro sound to this typically deep track. Eventually the everything drops off other than this bouncing electro sound before everything kicks back in. A very cool and different track – if you like deep trippy stuff then this a must.

https://www.traxsource.com/track/3683663/say-no-to-drugs-original-mix

Fuji is another producer who it’s been really hard to find information on. I know that he’s Greek and is a prolific producer of deep, trippy, melodic house with a majority of them coming on the High Strings label. High Strings is an absolutely wicked label, specialising in everything House and Deep House – a lot of the releases are very much in the vein of Kerri Chandler or Blaze.

Concrete is a deep trippy affair and is absolutely great as a mix or set opener. It starts with some deep throbbing synths coming over the top of some sharp choppy drums, providing a really nice juxtaposition. Muted claps join the mix before a real deep pumping bass comes into, give a really very trippy vibe. It’s the sort of song that you could imagine someone like Kerri Chandler having pumped out back in the 90’s, although it’s maybe a touch too techy to have been one of his creations. The track is really cleverly put together, although not changing too much – the drums and bass give the impression that the track is shifting and moving around. A real deep tripped out special.

https://www.beatport.com/track/concrete-original-mix/7599811

Vin Sol is an American DJ and producer, who hails from San Fransisco. Chances are you’ll have heard one of his tracks without even realising it given the sheer quantity and quality of tracks that he has written. Super talented producer and his DJ sets aren’t too shabby either.

It’s House is real deep driving deep house track. It starts with crisp drums and sharp hats which punctuate through some warm floating pads that envelope the listeners ears, whilst every so often being informed that “Iz House” by a male voice who goes on to describe what a house track brings. The notes of the warm pads merge together to provide that driving feel, before releasing the pressure by having some sustained notes that provide a good ebb and flow to the track. This is a really good example of what Deep House was, is and should be.

https://www.beatport.com/track/its-house-vins-zanzibar-mix/4819471

This is quite a cool left field track, that I discovered on Bandcamp a couple of years ago through a recommendation from a record label that I was looking at. It’s always worth having a look through the recommendations that websites like band camp or Beatport give you, 90% might be rubbish but it’s worth it for the random gems you can find.

It’s been quite hard to find information on Bufobufo but, what I have been able to find is that they co-run the Ritual Poison label with Corporeal Face – which dishes out everything breakbeat. Every release on there is great – if you like that kinda stuff, which i happen to love.

Discocookie is my personal favourite track from the Toadstone EP. It starts off with a 909 style drum intro before having some vocal samples drift over the top before some ravey chords stab in and then a rasping bass joins the party. Some etherial sounding synths provide the back drop before the chord stabs return and then the bass rasps off in its own direction taking over control from the synths in leading the track. The vocals then come drifting back in and with them the etherial synths. A really good track and definitely worth a listen, available now on Bandcamp.

https://bufobufo1.bandcamp.com/album/toadstone-ep

Ichisan, also known as Igor Skafar, is a Solvenian Dj and Producer and received acclaim for his tracks from the likes of Pete Herbert and Prins Thomas. When you see something like you just know that he’s gonna have some electro disco silliness up his sleeve and that’s exactly what he has here.

Bar Trenutek is an acid electro disco monstrosity that is sure to set any dance floor on fire – think Todd Terje’s Strandbar on Acid. It starts with a fairly standard 4/4 kick with the occasional wooden block hit punctuating the drums, before a walking bassline joins the party and before it turns into a full on acid strolling all over the drums. The occasional slaps of a bass guitar can be heard through the acid line but, never really come into their own before being unleashed into a filtered swirl that ends in a funky little electric guitar riff that then leads over the walking bassline that kicked everything off. Background whirls add to the silliness of the tune before some staccato chords come over the top and the acid bass kicks back in. The track is 8.38 long and only 120 bpm but, never seems to get too repetitive (surprisingly) and feels much quicker than 120. It’s a real mover and certainly worth checking out – I got a copy on Beatport not sure if you can find one cheaper somewhere else!

https://www.beatport.com/track/bar-trenutek-original-mix/8371225