DAM SWINDLE Vinyl & CDs

Review: Amsterdam-based duo Maarten Smeets and Lars Dales - Dam Swindle - offer us their album, Open, prying ajar our otic tract with 14 quixotic tracks. After years of introspection, Open marks a rupture, as the pair break from their preeminent deep house for an even-deeper-down embrace of the lower tempi, with them now incorporating synthwave, hip-house, and ambient elements. A first taster comes with the smoothly lavished 'Girl' with Faye Meana, while 'Bloom' with Joep Beving develops the theme of self-analysis through well-shovelled deep house chords. Still reining in some four-to-the-floor precepts, Dam Swindle have nonetheless presented their most heartfelt and least harried detour to date.

Review: Dutch duo Dam Swindle are masters of updating traditional house sounds with a subtle contemporary twist. That is exactly what they have long been doing on their own superb Heist Recordings label and now they make the step over to Jimpster's equally vital Freerange with a fresh new EP. 'Unfinished Business' kicks off with sustained chords that bring a classic touch next to some steamy vocals and warm chords. 'Under The Spell' is more loose limbed and soul drenched, then a Crue remix brings some real heft to 'Unfinished Business.' Last but not least is 'Woman', a laid back vibe with swirling chords for loved up floors.

Review: Dutch duo Dam Swindle have spent much of the last 12 months masterminding the 10th anniversary celebrations - and numerous releases - of their popular Heist Recordings imprint. This excellent and wonderfully nostalgic four-tracker is a great way for them to return following a near 12-month gap between EPs. On opener 'Touch Me Again', they add eyes-closed, early Orbital style female vocal samples, breakbeat blasts and bubbly acid lines to a joyous, piano-powered house groove, before going deeper into chunky and dreamy house retro-futurism on the heady and life-affirming 'Hang On'. Their love of strong melodies, memorable chords and rubbery basslines comes to the fore on the joyous 'The Joy of Melancholy', while 'Forever and Ever' is an organ-rich, gospel-tinged fusion of vintage US garage sounds and colourful synth sounds.

Review: The Dutch pair once known as Detroit Swindle and now going by the Dam Swindle alias (they hail from Amsterdam) return on their own Heist label with a trio of well-designed sounds. 'That's Right' is a 'copy, dusty, disco-tinged house cut for sunny climates and feel-good parties. 'Minor Fools' then taps into a 90s New York house vibe with bouncy drums and bass. Last of all is 'Soul's Lament' with its laidback grooves and swirling soulful pads. A trio of excellent genre studies from this pair.

Review: Kaoz Theory's Organized Kaos series exists for one reason: to collect together on vinyl previously digital-only gems buried in the label's ever-growing catalogue. Volume two naturally sticks rigidly to this script, first offering up a 2015 cut from Dam Swindle (from the time when they were known as Detroit Swindle) - the chunky, rhythmically elastic and insanely bass-heavy brilliance of soul-flecked gem 'Ballin'. Over on the reverse there's more previously digital-only gold in the shape of Ben Rau's 'Be Who You Want To Be', a driving, thickset and suitably heavy chunk of peak-time deep house heaviness smothered in spacey chords, cut-up vocal snippets and booming TB-303 bass. Two tried and tested cuts land on wax for the first time, what's not to like?