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by DJ MG & DJ Theory
Dear Reader,
being a true house lover can leave you with mixed impressions.
On the one hand, it can be really difficult to find venues or
radio shows which provide the goods. We know, there are a lot
of radio shows on the internet, but let's be honest, it is still
nothing compared to getting the sounds via the airwaves. So you
can't really enjoy the music using your headphones or your sound
system at home, and when it comes to true house, sound quality
is one important issue. Therefore, as true house lovas at least
we sometimes feel kind of lost in space.
On the other hand, there is no doubt in our minds that our mother
house is getting better and better almost every day! Recent examples
have to be killer tracks from the likes of Shauna Solomon, Next
Evidence, Lovetronic or Deep Bros., to name but a few. So what
to do? Well, we tell you what we do. We don't give a damn about
the bad sound quality when it comes to listening to house music
via the internet, because we use it to inform ourselves about
the music that is out there, and then we buy it! It's that easy
and satisfying that we actually don't care about the lack of house
shows on radio or TV. And maybe one day we will see true house
music rising from the ashes. But until then, make sure to support
whatever people do to keep real house alive, if it is listening
to house shows on the internet, reading mags like the 'Underground
Files' or buying house records or CDs. And make sure to continue
being an individual with an individual music taste. You will profit
from this in the future, because you will still enjoy your timeless
record or CD collection, while other people lost a lot of money
in 'flash-in-the-pan' music purchases.
No doubt, there are tons of good tracks out there at the moment,
and we will try to mention a small sample of them. Our song of
the month October was not an easy choice, but at the end we chose
a song that kicked us right into our stomach, although we only
got a really bad sounding copy on tape. Ever heard of Harlequin
Records out of Miami? We neither, but when finally released Shauna
Solomon's "Whatcha Gonna' Do" (Harlequin) will change this,
that's for sure. All we want you to do is looking for some sound
samples of this song somewhere, that's all you'll need. Once you
heard the first bars you will realize that you have an instant
garage classic in front of you, something which is extremely rare
and precious - especially nowadays! We also won't go too deep
into the issue of the persons who did the remix, but what C&M
out of Switzerland did to this song is breathtaking. Shauna's
voice by herself is already one of the strongest voices we've
heard, but in combination with the classic deep garage keys from
C&M this one will cause riots on the dancefloor. Hopefully people
will finally realize the potential of C&M because it's about time!
Just listen to this song, and you will become a follower as well.
And always remember, you read it here first...
Talking about instant classics! Let's write about another example
of such a rare event. Deep Bros. "Soul Talkin'"
(Wave) deserves this honor as well, because this song is just
absolutely unique, soulful and jazzy - all in one piece. Damn,
how can you ever come up with a song like this? We have no idea,
so we believe even more that house music comes from above. Everything
starts with a drum loop and this soul brother singing "Good To
Ya," ha, and then a scream starts what will become a journey
into boiling soulful jazz house, with a fast jazzy bass and short
guitar attacks, while the unknown soul brother tells us that soul
music is good to you and good for you - no doubt, we always knew
this! Lord have mercy, why has this song the year 1998 on it?
Maybe because the 'Original Mix' is from this year, and the Matty
Heilbronn mixes were added only now. But it's the 'Original Mix'
which is all that! Maybe the devil tried to take some house pleasure
away from us. Good to know that he didn't succeed. Absolutely
essential!
Right after this comes the newest monster track from the Naked
Music camp out of San Francisco called Lovetronic
and "You Are Love" (Naked Music). People, if you dig deep soulful
house, you can't live without this track! Jay
Denes teamed up with Dave Warrin on this
soul shocker, and we all know what the addition of Dave to any
musical project means. Right, keyboard vibes as long as the horizon
stretches, deep, dark keyboard sounds as beautiful as it can get!
Oh my, this record has almost too much soul on it. And as always
from Naked Music, all the mixes on this jewel are incredible and
feature regular celebrities like Migs or Si Brad from Toko out
of England in the mix. If you ask us for the best mix though,
we have to stay with Jay Denes' 'Jay's Afrotonic Vocal' mix! Damn,
this one is already on our Top 10 list for this year, thanks to
some state-of-the-art soulful ingredients, like this gorgeous
bass, those keyboard vibes, Lisa Shaw's slightly
distorted voice (we love you, Lisa!!!) and the percussions played
by Carlos Gomez. Thank you Jay and Dave for
this record. It came at a time when we all needed it...
After so much love let's get ready for the same amount of funk,
shall we? No problem, if you put the "Motor Funk EP" from P.
Davis & J. Drake (Creative Music) on your turntable. Three
songs are on this funk monster, two on the B-side which we won't
mention, and one on the A-side entitled "Deluxe Funk," which
is the track to choose. A monster, as we said, like nothing we've
heard in the past when it comes to funk house. Forget about the
boring wildpitching'n'sampling which is still going on. To all
funk house producers, here's a song which shows how to make it
right! Davis and Drake took e.g. all kinds of samples, like the
keyboard pings from a very well known Hall & Oates song,
and melted it to a unique and dopest journey into deepest funk
house. While doing this, they also tweaked the sound a little
bit, but only a little bit, and added some incredible vocal samples
to the mixture, and everything results in a dancefloor killer
with two of the hottest breakdowns we have ever experienced. When
those bass drums come back in again, you will jump up with joy...
and funk! One of those tracks...
Of course, when we talk about funky house tracks we also should
mention Bob Sinclair's "The Ghetto" (Yellow),
and we're talking about the Uptown remixes, which obviously got
re-released lately. Oh yes, this Atjazz remake
is the joint, and one of Martin Iverson's best remixes ever. As
a matter of fact, this remix is not even close to what Mr. Iverson
normally does, and maybe that's the reason why this remix is so
pumping. As the former mentioned Davis & Drake track, this one
gets all the power from this driving drums, accompanied by a wild
keyboard sample, and everything is looped endlessly. Believe us,
this one will have the crowd jumping as well. At least we do it
right now, while writing those words.
We mentioned it last month, Basic out of France will hit us hard
for the rest of this year. Latest example is Next
Evidence's newest beauty called "One Hundred Ways EP" (Basic).
Truly beautiful what this French duo delivered again. Like all
the stuff from Straight Up, we're constantly wondering when they
actually come out with a bad record? Probably never, because the
songs on this EP are again as sweet and luscious as it can be
- no wonder because Karl The Voice is back
on vocals, at least on "Over The Waves." And he scats the
living spirit out of his body, while live instruments incl. greatest
bass lines, percussions and saxophones take you up in the sky!
There are no words who will ever be able to describe music like
this, so let's stop writing more about it. The EP also includes
another great track called "Memory," which features some
inspiring poetry performed by newcomer Juliette
K. and an awesome flute played by Tony Pagano
over some deepest spiritual and jazzy beats. Awesome stuff if
you ask us...
Maybe you already saw it in various charts here at UF, the latest
record from Alison David & The Black Science Orchestra
entitled "Sunshine" (Afro Art), and it is really a gorgeous piece
of vinyl. We have no idea who Alison David is, but her voice is
absolutely powerful and made for inspiring house like this. Two
versions are on this twelve inch, and both of them make at least
our day. It's more or less typical Black Science Orchestra stuff
(whateva that's supposed to mean!), only this time without any
strange or weird effects but with tons of soulful funk'n'disco
instead. Just imagine their seminal "Bless The Darkness" (JBO)
in combination with a nice funky guitar and some beautiful singing,
and you're halfway through to the truth. Although, "Bless The
Darkness" still flies above almost everything we've heard from
BSO! This flute is just too much, and it still is. You see, we've
said it in the beginning, we're dealing with timeless music here!
We had to wait quite some time for something new from the mysterious
vibes man out of Tampa, Florida, but we finally got his latest
work with his remixes to Kimani Wilson's "Kozmik
Listening" (K2). Yep, we're talking about Jask!
But hold on, what happened to the man who screamed "Is anybody
feeling the motherfuckin' groove in the house" at us one year
ago? We guess he finally found love, or maybe he's listening to
too much Sade lately, but those remixes are pure soulful house
bliss, with a big touch of jazz coming in form of an incredible
acoustic guitar. One word: amazing, and we don't say this because
we know him! We write it because it's the truth. And on top of
it, the mixes are almost perfect house adaptations of the vibes
and free gentle spirits from Kimani's original downtempo versions.
Watch out for this one, out soon on K2!
And just a few quick recommendations at the end. Everything
But The Girl's "5 Fathoms" (White Label) is beautiful, and
Tracy sings again like an angel. Also worthy are the MAW remixes
of All Blue's "Prisoner" (Wea UK), including
a great guitar and very moody sounds for the after hour house
fans. And let's also not forget about the deepest Salt
City Orchestra remix of Spook's "Feel
Up" (Disorient), which is absolutely magnificent melodic deep
house, very much like their remix of Presence's
"Better Days" (Pagan). By the way, this song was written by Grace
Jones and features her on vocals. Strange, isn't it?
And at the end, a few words about an upcoming compilation which
we hope won't go unnoticed. It is called "Harry The Bastard presents
Club 'H'" (Statra), and includes 12 of the best deep house tracks
from the last couple of months, including songs from Pépé
Bradock, Global Communications, Atjazz,
Mateo&Matos and others. If you are interested
now, simply go to Statra's Web
site and listen to some RealAudio samples of the tracks
which are featured on this incredible CD, and let the music speak
for itself.
That's it, we're out of here. Keep house music alive, MG & Theory
Heavy Rotation - October
- Shauna Solomon "Whatcha Gonna' Do" [C&M's Classic Remix] (Harlequin)
- Deep Bros. "Soul Talkin'" [Original Mix] (Wave)
- Lovetronic "You Are Love" [Original Vocal] (Naked Music)
- Next Evidence "Over The Waves" [Main Journey Mix] (Basic)
- Kimani Wilson "Kozmik Listening 101" [Jask's Spiritual Sunrise
Mix] (K2)
- Harry The Bastard presents "Club H" (Statra)
- Spook "Feel Up" [Salt City Orchestra Wednesday Mix] (Disorient)
- Julien Jabre "Time EP" (Basic)
- Everything But The Girl "5 Fathoms" (White Label)
- P. Davis & J. Drake "Deluxe Funk" (Creative Music)
- Alison David & The Black Science Orchestra "Sunshine" [Sunset
Vocal] (Afro Art)
- Soulstice "Tenderly" [Kevin Yost Mix] (OM)
- All Blue "Prisoner" [MAW Main Mix] (Wea)
- Bob Sinclair "The Ghetto" [Atjazz Remix] (Yellow)
- Various Artists "Body & Soul Vol. 2" (Wave)
DJ MG & DJ Theory
October 1999
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