Ironbound, the new five-track EP from Chris Malinchak on French Express, is a pleasure-inducing tour of hi-hats, vocal chops, and 90′s dance sounds. This is slow house, but will leave sweat dripping down the walls of most clubs. That’s important, because he plays U Street Music Hall on May 26th.

The release opens with “There I Was (Again),” a reversion of his popular track released in January. The reversion is a welcome update, not least of all because it’s missing the sample/interpolation of Diplo’s “Look At Me Now” beat. Aren’t you glad these reviews come with such opinionated nerdery?

Instead, “There I Was (Again)” is full of phased and flanged and filtered vocals that would make Alan Braxe blush. And the breakdown we get? So satisfying. Starts with some really simple electric piano pads, but quickly gets interrupted by aggressive vocal chops that build into a nice sustained groove to finish out the track.

A quick tour through the other tracks:

“Brooklyn Bounce” does just that – the thin synthesized drum kit bounces and stutters across the track while the vocal samples yell out “Two-step!” Malinchak adds in some nice sub-bass and airy synths to round things out.

One of the standout tracks on Ironbound is “Fuego.” As a sucker for global group vocals, this track feels un-hateable, but if that doesn’t do it for you then the throw-back 90′s horn/organ stabs should.

“Razor 2.0” uses white noise to great effect in its synth lines, making the whole track feel much larger and more… epic. Combined with the vocals that sound like they were sampled through a walkie-talkie, the track risks taking things a turn for the lo-fi but Malinchak balances it out with exquisite engineering on the other synths and drum line. The production feels clean, strong.

The closer on the EP is “Kuzari.” The sonar whine and organ (which serves double duty as synth and bass) move the track through with purpose. The vocals are quite literally crying out with aspiration “I wanna be.” The only downside is the synth line at the end of the track gets so little play. Someone should really make use of it in a remix.

In the DC area? Check out Chris on May 26th with Oliver.

DJ Fashen is signed to the SKAM Artist management company, so this EP came as a bit of a surprise. Not that disco is outside of their comfort zone, most of those guys are pros at bringing tracks from the 70′s and 80′s into their bottle service sets. But that’s just it, they’re usually focused on bottle service clubs, which is why it was such a pleasant surprise to find this record has zero dutch house synths.

Enough nerdery, though, onto the EP. Put out on the Young Robots label courtesy of DJ Ayres, Skinny Friedman, Apt One, and Relative Q. If those names don’t mean anything, go do some googling. Young Robots has been putting out a smattering of disco in recent months including Solidisco (whose “Hooked” graces the sound-system of U Street Music Hall nearly every weekend these days), so it’s nice to see them continuing the trend.

So Complete is only 3 tracks, but it’s a really strong EP.

“Ecstasy,” the first track, will find a nice spot in the sets of pretty much anyone playing disco these days. It’s smooth and slickly produced, which makes it a sure shot even for DJs stuck playing Rihanna for the majority of the night.

But “Say That You Heart Me” is where Fashen really shines. The sample is beautiful, the synth solo in the middle of the track is simply to die for, and given the melody it is fully reasonable to expect DJs to play this back to back with Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams.” You laugh, but just you wait.

Fact: It’s been too long since Classixx has put out remixes on a regular basis. These two dudes from LA have done some awesome stuff, including the so-deep-it’s-almost-underwater remix of Major Lazer’s “Cash Flow” (christened the “Glass Bottom Dub” mix) and authoring what became Mayer Hawthorne’s “No Strings.” It’s good to have these boys back.

Before getting too deep into this song, make sure you’ve heard the original. Because the remix may as well be an original — it samples some choice vocals, and probably some more work on the back-end, but this feels totally fresh. As far as we’re concerned, the original was released on vinyl in 1982 and Classixx chopped up a record they happened to find at a yard sale. Which is funny, because “You Can’t Run” is actually a cover of a 1982 single by Stephanie Mills.

Classixx has a feel for, well, classics in a way most guys can’t touch. So it’s not really a surprise that the beginning of this remix feels like it would be at home on a Peter Gabriel or Phil Collins cassette. In fact, the whole thing would be sublimely at home on a yacht. Soft chords, some pitched down vocals, and a really smooth drum line with more woodblock than anyone should naturally feel comfortable with.

This is some smooth sailing music with a twinge of soul. All aboard!

“Whatcha Wanna,” a new freebie from Only Children, kicks off with some Houston-esque Ooh’s – though maybe it’s Ciara, actually. Hm.

The swirling arpeggios/heavy drum loop kicks in soon after, leaving a really solid slow disco heater. As the guitar chops come in with a mooged-out bass-line, the chopped up vox all keep the track moving.

“Whatcha Wanna” is definitely one of those tracks that sits between an empty dance floor and the midnight headliner – right after an Inner Life track and right before Alan Braxe’s “Intro.”

Heart meets soul with a fantastic new release from PillowTalk. If you feel like stepping back into a Motown mood, start off with “The Real Thing” including samples from DC’s prince of soul Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell’s 1968 hit “Ain’t Nothing Like The Real Thing.”

Spiritual and suave, PillowTalk, a three piece boogie-inspired group from San Francisco, is sure to please. Let the boys be your weatherman with “Sunny” which will pick you up from a dreary day and gently land you on a patch of sunshine. Their efforts stay groovy, pluck soul strings and herald applause for keeping a sound original and of themselves.