Following the excellent All Systems Down from last year and Street Lights this year, Opolopo's latest album, 'Beyond Jipango' is out on Swedish Brandy. Named after the Yoruba word for 'plenty', Peter Major's project incorporates many influences, principally soul, funk, jazz, boogie and electro from the 1970s and 1980s. There are six tracks, including the Chaka Khan-soundalike Amalia, the two previous singles along with the slow jam of 'I Do', 'Life Is A Dance' (which references Pleasure's classic Glide) and 'Sweatin' Bullets' which updates the mid-80s sounds of Mantronix/Jellybean/Arthur Baker for 09.

Also on Swedish Brandy is the aptly titled 'This Is House EP' from Domu with three 4/4 grooves. 'Dusk', 'Understand Why' and the monster track 'Raw Baby' - complete with a nasty offkey bass line and subbass excursions. In a similar vein is the next installment in the Raw Cuts series from Motor City Drum Ensemble, Raw Cuts 5/6 on MCDE.

SK Radicals were responsible for the West London classic 'Reachin 4 Da Farside' back in 1999 and have only appeared sporadically in the intervening decade. They are now back with a bang in the form of the 'Urban Eclectiks' album on Freestyle Records. Displaying a much more explicit jazz influence this nonetheless covers quite a few bases from the deep broken soul of 'Move On' to the slow groove lament of 'Troubled Times' right up to the spoken word house of 'Indifference Is The Enemy Of Love', space funk of 'Fragile Cosmic Girl' and the free jazz styling of 'Mad Magdelena'.

Trying out a few different direction within house is Restless Soul's Phil Asher on the first of a series of consecutively named EPs. 'ONE' features the stomping 'The Weight'; 'Blueberry Planets' is on a deeper spacey tip while 'They Heard The Mighty Zaf' recalls early '90s Kenny Dope but the pick of the package is the bonkers collaboration with Mark De Clive Lowe, '9 minutes of Fun'.

Also from the Restless Soul camp, Jose Carretas is back with another quality house cut. 'Delicious' is a driving uptempo groover with Bugz In The Attic's Kaidi Tatham's unique stylings on keys and Marcus Beggs, sounding somewhat like Peven Everett on vocals.

Roy Davis Jr's tribute to the victims of Hurricane Katrina 'Good Life' is out on Mixed Signals. His original mix brings to mind his classic 'Gabriel' from 1996 but is probably bettered by the remixes. Vince Vega's Dub is decent enough but it's the Spiritual Blessings mix and Alton Miller's deeper and contemplative Inner Dub which stand out.

Alton Miller also pops up on Seasons Limited with the excellent 'Whenever Wherever' EP. 'Face To Face' is driven by winding synth lines and a skippy 4/4 beat. 'Positive Force' goes much deeper with a big distorted bass sound in the style of Ron Trent or Anthony Nicholson. 'Juninchi' falls somewhere between the two and is none the worse for it.

Sticking with the deep house theme, Charles Webster's latest on Om, 'Together As One', is built on a bass sound straight from 1989 over which sit Samantha J's ethereal vocals. The Garcynoise remix opts for an acid riff and some predictable sounding breakdowns while Aquabassino adds a repeated hook almost identical to that from Blackcoffee's excellent 'Turn Me On' from earlier this year but it's hard to improve on the original mix.

Jerk House Connection's 'Each And Every Day' is out on Antho with six (count 'em!) mixes by Raw Artistic Soul. They all feature a nagging but effective distorted cowbell motif and vary from the full vocal with live guitar, keys and popping bass to slightly deeper versions but are all quite similar, the best is probably the Noise Beats mix which is stripped back but with additional dramatic percussion.

Another vocal house tune worth checking is Knee Deep's 'All About Love' on their eponymous label. Sung by Cathy Bettistess, it comes with slightly more commercial Ralf Gum remixes but the best versions are the original mix with subtle production and two step intro and the Lovebirds suite which manages to combine disco percussion with a spacier sound and wandering synth bass.

Known for his big bass sound is Tru Thoughts artist Hint whose remix of Dekata Project's 'At Least We Can Dance' is finally out on Doshiwa records. It adds marimbas, signature bass and replaces the original's 4/4 house beat with an uptempo broken drum pattern. The release also includes a drum and bass twist by Nu:Tone and Ike Synton's Electro Boogie flavoured remix with a twisting bass in the manner of Cultural Vibe's classic 'Ma Foom Bey' while Roska delivers an excellent UK funky take driven by a broken beat and massive sub-bass.

Roska expands the funky sound on the 'TWC' EP out on his own Roska Kicks and Snares imprint. 'Without It' fits closest to the template of the genre with but 'Concrete Jungle', 'Proverbs' and particularly 'Sheppard' with its synth washes, venture into deep house territory.

Chaz Jankel, the man responsible for classics such as 'Glad To Know You' and 'Ai No Corrida' and keyboard player for Ian Dury & The Blockheads has a debut release on his own label CJ. 'I Come Alive' has a sultry vocal performance from Natalia Scott over a uptempo latin tinged backing. On the flip is 'Give It Up', a two step funk number which is given a boogie rerub by Yam Who?

Also on the disco boogie tip is Nik Weston's eponymous vinyl only offering on Mukatsuku with Real Clothes from Japanese act Jazztronik, a lushly-arranged, string-laden instrumental that wouldn't have sounded out of place on Salsoul records. It's backed with Guynamukat's 'We Love Ryoto' edit which dials down the lushness and excises the hi-hats to give it a more subtle twist.

Septemer Top 10 (in no particular order)

1. Seiji 'I Can't Let It Go'
   
2. Roska 'Sheppard'
   
3. Domu 'Raw Baby'
   
4. Belleruche 'Anything You Want (Not That)' (Hint Remix)
   
5. Daniel Paul/Andre Zimma 'Hope Is On The Way (Sygaire Remix)'
6. Chaz Jankel 'I Come Alive'
   
7. Patchworks 'Talk Is Cheap'
   
8. Jose Carretas ft Marcus Beggs 'Delicious'
   
9. Phil Asher '9 Minutes Of Fun'
   
10. Opolopo 'Life Is A Dance'