In the early 1980s, John Morales - along with his production partner Sergio Munzibai - was responsible for remixing many classic tracks championed by the likes of Larry Levan. Morales developed a successful mainstream career on the back of his underground success, going on to remix the likes of Aretha Franklin, Rolling Stones and Rod Stewart. Several of the pair’s remixes – under the M&M banner - featured in Dimitri from Paris' exploration of early ‘80s dubs, ‘Nightdubbin’’ on BBE earlier this year.

BBE invited Morales to select some of his favourite remixes and unreleased versions for an excellent compilation due out at the end of the month. There's a good combination of familiar tracks like Class Action's ‘Weekend’, Universal Robot Band's ‘Barely Breaking Even’ (which inspired the label's name), Inner Life's ‘Let's Go Another Round’ and Logg's ‘You Got That Something’ along with forgotten classics like Julia & Company's ‘Breakin' Down Sugar Samba’ and Bumblebee Unlimited's ‘Lady Bug’ with unreleased versions of tunes such as Inner Life's ‘Ain't No Mountain High Enough’.

Forrce's ‘Keep On Dancing’ sees a re-release on West End Records Digital. The original mix features a rap typical of the era which may not be to everyone's tastes. Better is the “no commercial interruptions” dub mix which ventures close to Arthur Russell territory.

Taking a break from their adventures in Italo, Faze Action have a great version of Russell's classic ‘In The Light Of The Miracle’ with Yam Who? for Electric Minds' ‘Tribute To Arthur Russell’, which also includes Pocketknife's ‘Get Around To It’ and My Tiger My Timing's take on ‘Arm Around You’.

Plenty of artists are still delivering that 1980s flavour, 2009-style. First up is evergreen soul boy Dave Lee aka Joey Negro, whose 'Put A Lyric In It' gets the treatment from The Revenge for the Sunburst Band remixes EP on Z Records. Also on the release is Cool Million's Soul Weekender-style Retro-matic mix of 'Everyday'.

I didn't get round to mentioning Linkwood in my last dispatch, but their 'Fudge Boogie' is a monster album cut combining Lolleatta's much sampled vocals from 'Crash Goes Love' with an irresistible authentic electro boogie backing. The album, 'System' - out now on Prime Numbers - also contains a brilliant hommage to mid '80s Chicago house in the form of 'Electricity' but, strangely, is otherwise disappointing. The rest of the album is not quite bad, but nothing else hits those heights.

Next is Swede Opolopo, last mentioned in Deep Files 7. There's 'Tonight', his collaboration with Demetrius on Om with a great Detroit mix in the style of Inner City-era Reese and a 'Do Not Disturb The Groove'-style remix from Jenka. Opolopo adopts a similar approach for his twist on Vancouver artist Blacktop's 'Reversed' for Detroit's Exchange Bureau imprint. John Arnold just tweaks the p-funk flavoured original for his take while Moot Zoo take it downbeat and reflective. Also on Exchange Bureau is Ibex's excellent 'Eden' EP. All four cuts are great but tech-flavoured 'Panacea' is the highlight

Scot James Johnston has a brilliant three track EP forthcoming on another Detroit label, Undertones. The main track 'She's Gone', which created quite a buzz on Soundcloud prior to its signing, makes great use of a Bill Withers vocal sample. There's also 'I Can Show U', with its reference to mid-'90s Todd Edwards and the great synth soloing deep house cut 'You're Still The Same'.

There are a few more deep house releases worth checking - including Teddy Douglas' 'Lights Out' from his 'No Entourage' EP on Save Your Soul. This also includes 'Natives Are Restless' which makes good use of tribal chants and berimbau along with three more ordinary tracks. Cristian Stolfi has an interesting EP on Gardenia Italy. 'Fabulous DJs' contains 10 deep tracks of varying quality. The best of them are those with a slightly broken beat such as 'Fever', 'Crazy Light' and 'Big Apple' which bring to mind the type of numbers on Dixon's first two 'Off Limits' mix cds from the late 1990s.

In a similar vein are SoulParlor's 'Is That It' from their EP2 on BPSS and Atjazz's 'Fantasy' featuring Sarah Jane Morris on vocals. There's also a deep broken mix from Domu and a skippy 4/4 mix with deep twisty bass and catchy synth riff from Zed Bias in his Maddlsinky guise.

Zed Bias's UK garage anthem 'Neighbourhood' gets retooled for 09. Out next month on his Biasphere imprint it comes with a plethora of new mixes. His own club mix carries on in the style of his remix of MJ Cole's AO - MJ returns the favour with his Noisy Neighbour Dub. Also of interest is Roska applying his signature brand of Deep-House UK-Funky crossover.

Crack house is the term coined by DJ Zinc to describe the style of 127-135bpm house and funky which has taken the place of his traditional drum and bass stylings. It gives its name to his latest EP showcasing this style with 10 monster tracks including 'Killa Sound' (covered in Deep Files 6), the aptly-named 'Nu Sound' alongside his earlier '128 Trek' and collaboration with Benga and Sweetie Irie, the ragga-chated 'Number 1 Girls'.

In a similar style is fellow former d'n'b artist Aquasky's 'You Know We Do Big' on Passenger. Also of note on the funky/bashment angle is Bounty Killer on the VIP mix of 321 Vs Tim Healey & Deekline's 'Bring It Back'. And there's also Seiji's amazing VIP remix of Lady Chann's 'Sticky Situation' (as featured on Greenmoney's Bodytonic podcast) which hopefully will see a release in January alongside his official mix with Toddla T.

Just time to recommend some midtempo groovers: Hint's remix of Flevan's 'Hold On' featuring Sarah Scott, out on Tru Thoughts next month, is a piano-driven number along the lines of Phil Asher's 'Having Your Fun' or 'Runnin''. Venezuelan band Los Amigos Invisibles are known for their cover of Touchdown's Britfunk anthem 'Ease Your Mind'. Their similarly-styled 'Plastic Woman' gets retouched by Recloose and Frank Booker, emphasising the bass - it's out on Spain's Love Monk. Finally Frankie Flowerz' 'Groove On 98' three-tracker on Om US - the title track and 'It's Over Baby' recall the early '90s while 'Wish U Luv' brings us back to the boogie.

Top 10:

1. Lady Chann 'Sticky Situation' (Seiji Back To 1992 VIP Mix)
   
2. James Johnston 'She's Gone'
   
3. Zinc 'Horrible'
   
4. Soulparlor 'Is It You'
   
5. Ibex 'Panacea'
   
6. Faze Action ft Yam Who? 'In The Light Of The Miracle'
   
7. Kokolo 'Afrika Man' (Diesler Mix)
   
8. Flevans 'Hold On ft. Sarah Scott' (Hint Remix)
   
9. Aswad 'Do That Thing' (Greenmoney Dub)
   
10. Mark Force 'In The Ghetto'