Harold Heath
Harold is a music journalist, DJ, producer, music-tech tutor and all round smartass.
Harold Heath on Matt Anniss' newly revised & expanded "Join The Future: Bleep Techno & The Birth of British Bass Music."
Three excellent versions of the same acid track remixed by LDLDN, Slow Assembly and Void Complet, and all of them work in their own way.
Session Victim's "Screen Off" is one of those tunes with a one-bar loop at its heart so strong that it just effortlessly carries the whole thing.
Harold Heath on Jeff Mills' excellent four-track Millsart X-Ray Zulu EP, released in 2024 on Axis Records.
X-Press 2 are having a stellar year for remixes, which have without exception been top-notch no-prisoners serious dance floor gear. Their new remixes of Joseph Malik and Digital Liquid's "Only Fans" on F*CLR is just the same.
Oliver Dollar's "Strings 4 Life" gets a really good remix here from Michigander label boss Brian Kage, who gives the beats some extra slap, chops the main string riff around a little and gives the whole production a little French-touch pump.
With vocals that work beautifully with the chords, a stripped-back post-UKG rhythm track and a tight, dance floor-focused arrangement, "Rave Breaks" from Genius Of Time has anthem potential on the right dance floors.
Two nicely put-together deep house tracks here, taken from Felipe Gordon's four-track My Legs Are Numb EP on Bristol's Shall Not Fade label.
"Like a 1989 UK illegal rave in book form": Harold Heath looks back on Jane Bussman's Once In A Lifetime, one of dance music's finest books.
More good stuff from the newly returned Nu Groove, this time from Italian long-time house player Tuccillo and his four-track Frames EP.
Jazz-ish house done right: Session Victim remix Sweatson Plank's "The Road to Love" for Friends of Friends.
Harold Heath on Jazz Nagas, eight tracks of high-end underground Detroit deep house from Niko Marks.
Four tracks of tracky, loopy, quietly potent deep house tracks from Chicago-raised Daniel Chavez on Deep Club.
The shop's label Flexi Cuts has put together a five-track compilation from Flexi-affiliated producers and artists including Lex and Locke, DJ Rocca, Club Soda, Hiroyuki Kato and The Mechanical Man.
Harold Heath has questions, perhaps Jamie xx and Honey Dijon have the answers.
Three tracks of smoky, intoxicating, moody but uplifting deep house, deftly programmed, professionally arranged, pristinely mixed, mastered and then pressed onto wax from Alton Miller on Mister Bear.
Potent and classy deep dance floor tracks from Felipe Gordon on Phonogramme.
A refined collection from Fred Everything, Love, Care, Kindness & Hope sounds like the best of Lazy Days Recordings distilled down to a single album.
Four tracks of peak time underground deepness here courtesy of Scottish producer Wallace, ranging from deep house to garage and deep tech.
Last summer's debut album from JIM, aka Jim Baron of Crazy P aka Ron Basejam was album of the year for many, a superb, accomplished mix of Balearic singer-song writing, acoustic ballads, soft-yacht and sub-disco.
MUST READ!
ELASTE: This Was The Sound Of The Future
In words, pictures and sound, ELASTE 1980-1986 captures the glamour and grime of the New Wave and Post-Punk moment.
