[Uzuri]

There was a time you had to keep your ear close to the ground to get an accurate read on the whereabouts of true deep house. That is no longer the case as more labels have recently emerged to help push the sound to the foreground. And with that are pushing artists who are dedicated to keeping the deep house revival moving in the right direction. Anton Zap is one such artist. The Moscow-based producer earned instant street cred with just a handful of releases on Underground Quality and Quintessentials over the past two years. With his latest release, the “Outside EP” for Uzuri, Zap reveals a growing confidence and development of his own sound.

Zap starts “Spain” sparsely with an echoing chord sequence and a smattering of percussion effects before raising the kick and toms and introducing a tight bass line lick — all the hallmarks of solid deep house minimalism done at a slow burn. But it’s the last 30 seconds that send a different message: as the track fades a vocal and rhythm sample emerges, as if a whole other track is buried in there trying to rise to the surface. On “Alice Miracle” he ups the tempo, infusing jazz idioms that include a stand-up bass and piano while tense strings create a rich, dramatic atmosphere in what I imagine is a nod to Alice Coltrane. Elsewhere, Zap displays his versatility in the form of moody house on “Mon 16_46” and the electro-tinged breakbeats and funk bass line of “Can’t Wait For Snow,” the latter of which (with a bit more cowbell) wouldn’t sound out of place on Environ. If anything Zap proves he has much to add to the growing deep house well and then some.