Family Affair is a new series of projects put out by Lost My Dog Records, one of the UK's top Deep House labels. In execution, it's simple: take an artist with a rather prolific catalog of original releases and remixes on the label, group them together in mixed and unmixed packages and give the public a richer experience than "fourteen tracks by unrelated cats we were sorta feelin' right about now..."

The subject of the first Family Affair edition is Harold Heath. Who is Harold Heath? It's a fair question, because you may not know his name even if you know his sound, particularly if you're stateside. Harold Heath: Family Affair has been a brilliant discovery for me, placing the work of a guy I knew little about under a microscope. On first listen (and without reading the liner notes), I was amazed by the diversity of sounds - there's so much genre-jumping that I thought this must be a compilation by fourteen different artists. Hearing him referred to as an "unsung hero of UK House Music" at least rubbed a little salve on my ego - hey, if I've slept on this, many more people may have too.

Harold Heath - Family Affair (Lost My Dog, LMDLP003) by Lost My Dog

It seems a lot of people know your sound but not necessarily the name. Give me the quintessential story, Harold Heath on Harold Heath.

I come from a DJing background. I got into making tracks after DJing funk/rare groove for many years - I went to a rave under duress one night, loved it, became truly hooked on House Music and never looked back. After DJing house for a few years, I wasn't hearing enough tracks that sounded how I wanted them to sound so I started to make my own.

My first release was on the legendary (now defunct) Canadian label Stickman Records. I did two tracks with them under the name "Malachi" (don't ask) then umm, "re-branded" myself as Harold Heath.

For the first few years of my recording career I never used a computer at all - I was addicted to hardware, used a hardware sequencer and had a big old mixer and loads of outboard synths, drum boxes and fx etc. I used to collect old guitar pedals and strange old fx units, anything that would spice up my sound. I only made the switch to using a computer a couple of years ago when I finally sold most of my analog gear, a decision that still weighs heavy on my mind... I now work almost exclusively in the digital domain but have kept a few of my most prized analog boxes, just to keep something of that sound. Digital and Analog - they both have advantages and disadvantages and I think using both you can get the best of both worlds.

You've worked almost exclusively with underground labels. Was it a surprise when Fedde le Grand picked up "Streets Keep Rocking" for his Ministry of Sound Sessions comp?

It was a surprise, but a nice surprise. He's certainly not the first commercial artist/DJ to play my tunes and hopefully not the last. I'm no musical snob, the more my tunes can get out to a wider audience the better and it's also good to hear my music mixed with stuff that's a bit more commercial - for me that's almost the definition of true house music success: to release uncompromisingly underground music that can succeed in a commercial setting. Put your hands up for Fedde.

This is the first of the LMD "Family Affair" series of releases. How did they approach you to release the album?

They came begging, cap in hand. When that didn't work, they threatened to release the terrible truth about me, so I capitulated.

From what I've read, you actually started working with them when you knocked on their door to ask if you could remix the Adam B "Smoketoke" track on the album?

Exactly true. I liked the track, thought the label handled themselves well and decided they'd be good people to work with. I've been proved right as LMD are without a doubt one of the finest outfits I've had the pleasure to work with. They release great music, they have integrity, they're straight-talking and they pay you when they say they're going to - what more could a producer ask of a label?

This actually holds together as just a DJ mix as well as a kind of "greatest hits" record, largely because your sound varies so much from track to track. Like "Run Tings" and "Antirobotics" are wildly different sounds. Do you find it's hard for people to keep up with an electronic producer who shows so many different sides?

Not sure really, some producers you always know what you're going to get because all their records sound the same. With me, I like to think that even my releases that are quite different still have something "Harold Heathesque" about them. A sense of depth, of detail, a certain musicality, a certain feel maybe. It's hard to put your finger on it really, I was chatting to another producer the other day about this and he reckoned that my particular sound was born out of coming from a vinyl background and me trying to emulate that warm sound in the digital domain. Maybe that's true. Or maybe my stuff sounds like me because I always use the same four synth presets...

Harold Heath - Antirobotics (Lost My Dog) by Lost My Dog

Can you actually tell me more about "Run Tings"? For whatever reason, it was the first song to load when I dropped the record in iTunes, and I liked it so much I kept it looped for a solid hour before checking out anything else.

Wow, really? That's great. I'll produce you an exclusive hour long super-dub mix if you like... "Run Tings" started, as most great tracks do, with me being inspired by someone else's track - I can't tell you which track it was as I heard it in a club where I was DJing and never got the name of it, but I remember that it had a breakdown where the whole track almost "fell apart" before it all came back together again as the drums kicked back in. I loved the idea and so consequently stole it. Whilst I wouldn't be so presumptuous to refer to myself as a great artist, I always say: Good artists borrow, great artists steal.

Harold Heath - Run Tings (Lost My Dog) by Lost My Dog

So if someone wants to check you out, they could start with this record to get an overall feel - what else would you recommend the uninitiated check out?

Well yes, you're right. This album would give you a very good insight into the Harold Heath sound. After that, they should download every track, remix and album I've ever made, (paying for it, of course) and then listen very carefully. Alternatively, they could check out one of my DJ sets as I tend to road-test new tracks and remixes when I play out. Also have a listen to my debut album Hole Funk which came out on Urbantorque Recordings a few years back, which again features a wide range of sounds from deep vocal house to tech house to breaks, funk and hip hop influenced music. I'd also recommend maybe having a listen to some of my remixes too - I've recently done tracks for Bollo on Soluble Recordings & Will Sumsuch on Ektoka Records that turned out really well.

I've also done a lot of tracks and remixes for Dutchie, one of Miami's finest labels and I'm very happy with the work I've done for them, likewise Elevation out of Ireland have put out some of my favourite tracks by me and are, by the way, a superb label well worth spending some money on too. Support the underground, buy some music!

Harold Heath: Family Affair is out now worldwide from Lost My Dog Records. You can hit up Harold Heath on Facebook.