DJs and press alike were unanimous in hailing the low-slung synth grooves and old school house references of 'Jump' as one of the highlights of the year so far, but Vaz gives nothing away of Trackleton's identity or future plans. "He comes from the Cologne area and is not as new as it seems. We go way back." is all that he will allow. He is much more forthcoming on his recent collaboration with Detroit house legend Alton Miller for the limited edition 12" 'Different Hours Revisited'.

Using two tracks from Vaz's instrumental 2008 release 'Different Times', the addition of Miller's silken soulful vocals transform the original tracks, giving them a song-based structure within which to explore the boundaries of dancefloor soul. 'Different Hours Revisited' was Vaz's first collaboration with Miller, a respected producer in his own right, and Vaz's first foray into working with a vocalist. "The challenging thing is to keep the balance between a track with a tracky feel and a song," he admits, "as I still want the vocal projects to be clearly dance floor deep house, and not listening or pop music." However he ultimately found embracing vocal elements to be not just an easy transition, but also an enjoyable one. "I have never worked with an vocalist before and it really inspires me. Alton was definitely the right choice. He did the vocals on the spot, on the first take and nicely matched what I wanted to say with the record without having to point him at it. So much fun (was had) in the studio and with the result in hand, it just feels good."

Vaz, a teenage hip hop fan, had his first profound experience hearing electronic music at the age of 16, and by the time Persistencebit Records label boss Alessandro Vaccaro contacted him in 2006 to do a remix, he had already been running his own minimal electronica label Background Records for 8 years. The genesis of Yore stemmed from an invitation from Vaccarro to Vaz, to play at his Festival Flow.er in his hometown Catania, Sicily. "The rest is history," Vaz explains, "we really hit it off and decided to start a subdivision of Persistencebit Records called Vazbit just for my own exclusive output. I was not only making the music, but also co-running the labels from that point on. So to then take it further and start a brand new label just seemed like a logical consequence."

For labels like Yore, with a longstanding commitment to deep & soulful house and techno, the swing back into popular fashion of deep house's laid back grooves can be seen as both a blessing and a curse. Vaz views it as a positive - for now. "Soul can never be wrong. Its the hardest thing to accomplish with music. It's good that the deep and serious, more adult sound is being recognized. I think it's a chance (for) the whole electronic dance music genre to slowly shift to deeper grounds and come out of it's niche," but, he continues, "the negative, which i see coming, is that people turn house into yet another empty hearted affair."

There will be no such empty ventures in the future for Vaz, who has a new album next week on Persistencebit Records, or for Yore, who are set with a who's-who of house music's past and present lined up to deliver the musical goods for the rest of the year. "We have remixes of the 'Different Times EP' by Rick Wade, Lerosa, .xtrak and Trus'me coming up shortly. Then the next EP will be by The Memory Foundation, which is also super exciting as the haven't been releasing music in many many years. But I have always been a fan of their work. Releases on M-Plant (Robert Hood's label) and Central have been very influential and I am glad I could convince them to make some music for Yore." New talent is as integral to the story and future of Yore as are the originators, as Vaz explains. "If we manage to get people active again, and get them to continue to give a glimpse of their soul to people that they wouldn't had done without us being a helping hand, I wouldn't know why I should be running a label these days. I hope that people will feel that we do. Speaking of it, we also have a Chez Damier 12" on the way. Amazing really."