My house record of the year! Jovonn and DJ Deep really did it with "Back In The Dark" and their tribute to house music. I can already see it: the crowd and me in trance, the hands in the air, all eyes closed and the living spirit above everything. This song comes from heaven, where God and his (or her) angels released this groove to give us earthbound people an early Christmas present. Jovonn is the messenger, DJ Deep the keymaster, and we are the lucky recipients of this instant house classic! Don't be afraid by the title, because this twelve inch will guide you out of the dark into the light to give you wings and free your mind. Like on so many of our beloved anthems, spoken words heavenly performed by Jovonn will capture and remind you of an era when nobody thought this music would still exist in ten years. But to all you pessimists: house is still alive and with songs like this phatter and better than ever! And who said that dark is bad? Let me tell you, once you have experienced these bad-ass organ attacks over classical NJ beats, there's no cure for you; the house spirit will take over your body, it will infect your brain and it will convince you that house like this is more than music. Listening to this song is therapy, education and food, and it reveals like nothing else in the recent past that house music provides us with one major message: DANCE, and your soul will follow. Attention people, universal dance music is back!!!
MG

"Eventually, Claude Debussy was recognized as one of the greatest composer of his time. Today, he is more than that. He is considered not only the greatest French composer who ever lived; he is considered the revolutionary who set twentieth century music on its way..."

Thus speaks actor John Hurt, the narrator of this eminently postmodern work of art, in the opening of what can only be considered a masterpiece.

This album has to - and can only be - approached as a lesson in Art History, both from a strictly musical and from a creative standpoint. Art of Noise have been silent for the better part of the 90's after being arguably one of the most creative "electronic" bands of the 80's. With "The Seduction of Claude Debussy," the reason for this becomes clearer. They were observing what they had created and set in motion, as watchful parents keeping an eye on their children while they're frolicking in the park. When one digs into one's record collection, as I did when I received this album as a gift, one notices that the seeds for the musical genres we today hold dear had been planted by Trevor Horn and Anne Dudley well over 10 years ago. It might seem heretical to affirm such a thing at a time when people still argue about who invented House and Techno even when they all agree that it was someone or other in Chicago, Detroit or New York. Art of Noise is irrevocably tied to the birth of this genre, and overlooking that fact would be almost criminal and certainly irresponsible.

But above and beyond this pointless feud, these incredibly talented people always had - and still do have - a mission. I might be wrong, but then again their very name suggests it. They want to bring art back into modern music.

What better way, then, than creating an opus magnum for the one true musical artist who really did set 20th music on its way: Claude Debussy. Loosely inspired by his life and the artistic climate of early century Paris, and largely inspired by his music, this album which ranges in styles from Downtempo (Rapt: In the Evening Air) to House (Dreaming in Colour) to Drum ‘n' Bass (Il Pleure [At the Turn of the Century] and several others) to "noisy" Techno (Metaphor on the Floor) to Hip Hop (Metaforce, with guest Rakim, probably my favorite track on this album), to plain Classical is, on first audition, immensely impressive by its breadth, scope and focus. Anyone else but the Art of Noise could not have succeeded in this, losing themselves in trying to successfully produce so many eclectic tracks and assemble them into a coherent whole. AON achieve this and what's more, they do it while masterfully combining music inspired or composed by Claude Debussy (several extracts of his work, most recognizably his "Prélude à l'Après-Midi d'un Faune" can be heard throughout the album), with operatic vocals, rap and a narrator, the latter giving "The Seduction of Claude Debussy" its definite feeling of being a lesson. And what a lesson!

All I can add about this album is, sit down, listen, and learn. Thank you, Trevor, thank you Anne.

You can visit AON's Web site at http://www.theartofnoise.com
DJSC

Bittersweet new deep and soulful jazz house song from Blaze, who took a little 'bit of "Lovelee Day" plus a little 'bit of "My Beat" and ended up with this beautiful song. Build around an endlessly looped short synth'n'guitar riff, it's all about acoustic guitars on this record, no singing but pure acoustic jazz house pleasure. It's been a long time that I've heard such a deep house song from Blaze! Unfortunately, I only have the one-sided test pressing so I can't tell you who is going nuts on guitar, but whoever it is deserves my highest respect and love. The way the guitar is melted around this looped background music is absolutely gorgeous, sometimes a plain melody and sometimes using chords, which has the dangerous potential to put you in trance. Lovelee...
MG

Do I really have to tell you that this compilation is tha bomb? Hopefully not, because the entire "Jazz In The House" series is absolutely essential. The latest imprint is subtitled "The Sound Of Summer" and brings you eight jewels from the ever expanding jazz house music catalog. Compiled by Phil Asher and Seamus Haji, you can not only expect nothing but pure jazz quality above the 120 BPM range, you really get it! So what's on there this time? Well, first and foremost Victor Davies' "Brother" (Flipside), one of the best house songs of this year! I had this song for almost 5 months in my crates, as a white label with no sticker on it, and I had no clue who the artist is, but now I know and I still love this song. Let's say this song sounds a little 'bit like Terry Callier meets Jon Lucien during a 4 Hero music session, and you're halfway through to the truth. If you haven't heard it yet, drop everything and try to at least catch a sound sample of it somewhere; the flute, the deep Latin jazz vibes and Victor's voice will do the rest. Another amazing song comes with Teddy Douglas & Luis Radio and their "The Violin" (Basement Boys). Holy mother, if you liked Kerri Chandler's "Andromeda," listen to this violin-infected jazz house track! Francesco Carmignani rides his violin down a soulful and deep river into the jazz house heaven, while you shake you head in bewilderment. Violins and house music??? You better believe it! Of course, Frankie Feliciano is also on this great sampler and so is Ron Trent. And before I forget, there's also Bougie Soliterre and their seminal "Got The Bug" (Sfere), one of my favorite jazz house tunes of this year. Nuff said, hands up for the only ongoing compilation series which never ever disappointed me. I'm already waiting with all bells on for 'Jazz In The House 8'!
MG

If you dig hard rock beats, noise and dance paired with electronic music, this one is for you! And on top of it, the weird uncle put lots of samples from their personal porn collections into the tracks to show you how serious (or misplaced) porn dialogs can be. I guess in their original format, in the movies, those samples sounded stupid, but together with electronic music they definitely unfold their potential. No really, although I am not a complete fan of hard electronic music, I really enjoyed listening to this release with its unpredictable sounds. Sometimes it reminded me of The Chemical Brothers, sometimes of Germany's Ramstein, and sometimes of The Crystal Method. With one exception: "The Intruder," which features Batmagoo on a dope-ass midtempo breakbeat including "I Knew He Was A Pervert..."-samples and wild techno-ish keyboard effects. This CD is not only for porn fans...
MG

Mark Farina has done it again, this time not with first class downtempo jams but with 5 star house gems as expected from the inventor of the 'Mushroom Jazz' series. I had the pleasure of seeing him this year, and this compilation continues exactly where he left me in Chicago: with dopest jazzy and funky house jewels from the best underground labels on this planet. To be precise, 13 house songs are gathered on three LPs with material from labels like Sfere, Irma, Zebra, Serial and Moody - labels which are still mostly unknown in the scene. But that's exactly my point. When I buy records I always look for new and unknown labels because they release the best music at the moment! And that's the reason why I cherish compilations like this, because a real master put it together and included records I never even knew they exist, like Jerome von Rossum's "Nublado" on Irma Records out of Italy with a jazzy vibraphone house jewel par excellence. Well, we have to realize that we will never be able to scan through the thousands of new releases which hit our record stores every week, so why not leaving it up to professional DJs like Mark Farina? And the main reason why I love this compilation is its variety. Mark included serious jazz house tracks like Ricky Bradshaw's "Black Keys" (Moody) right next to some baddest funk house monsters like Bustafunk's "Seriousfunkilla" (Funky-Tone), a track which alone had me jumping up high in the air! This one is without a doubt the best underground house compilation out right now, besides my own mixed CDs ;-) Grab it while it's still there!
MG

I am a huge fan of TO-KA Project's music since their releases on Guidance and Earth, and their new one on Drop Music out of England didn't disappoint me either. TO-KA's releases all share a certain kind of heavy phattness, which comes from the deepness of their music and the use of dope vocal samples. So happened again on "Let It Go." But with "Tune On Tune In..." they left their typical sound at home and expanded it into the jazz house outfield, with a deliriously looped deep theme wrapped around a jazzy e-piano. Although, it is still TO-KA's music. Music to get completely lost in...
MG