Here we go with Part two of our big Miami 2007 update...
Miami Reviews Part 2
Cassio Ware & DJ Crime "I remember" (CD-R)
Cassio Ware and his partner DJ Crime reminisce what they've been doing in their younger days, all narrated over a deeply groovin' old-school flavored beat that is enriched with great keys. Let's hope this groovy track will get a release soon.
Mr. V featuring Miss Patty "Da bump" (Remixes)(Defected Records CD Promo)
Last years monster smash hit "Da bump" by Mr. V and his lady Miss Patty gets a massive remix package, offering something for everyone with new mixes by Fedde Le Grand, Warren Clarke, Masters at Work and Ame. Fedde Le Grand offers a reworking that should take Ibiza by storm with its mediterranean vibe, while Warren Clarke comes up with a heavily stompin' pumped-up affair, while Masters at Work rework the beats and drums.. Ame add their unique touch, giving it a deep, slightly techy sounding.
George Davis "The George Davis EP" (UK Basic Records CD Promo)
The latest addition to the UK Basic rooster is german singer, musician and producer George Davis who presents a great three track deep house EP. "The feather" is a deeply bouncin' track with great synth riffs, lovely strings and male spoken words, while "Bumpa" is a jazz infused house track featuring a catchy piano and lovely flute over a deeply thumpin' beat, with the added strings giving it a deep feeling. Lastly "Atmosphere" is a broken beat number with marvellous strings and rhodes chords giving it a laidback feeling.
SoulSeekers "WMC 2007 Sampler" (CD-R)
After their successful release on ReelGroove Records, the SoulSeekers present a slammin' three track EP at this years WMC. "New York minute" is a fierce production featuring soulful male vocals over a deeply stormin' groove that is enriched with catchy strings, spreading an uplifting feeling. "Mi poema" is a smoothly thumpin' track with sexy female vocals and a great jazzy saxophoone that is on a laidback side, while "Nuevo soul" by SolTrenz is remixed by the SoulSeekers into a feel good latinesque house track.
Estranjeros "Salambo" (Ruff Mix)(CD-R)
Estranjeros are David Montoya and Juan Flores who present the percussion driven, deeply stormin' "Salambo" which features a great organ ride alongside wicked chords and synths that give it an irresistible vibe. Currently only a rough demo mix, this beauty deserves a full release.
Various "Stingily Music/HomeSoul WMC Sampler 2007" (CD Promo)
Stingily Music and HomeSoul teamed up for a lovely party in Miami this year, with some great live PAs. During the event, they gave away a sampler which features a selection of mixes of their previous releases as well as the 'Graphie Mix' of the yet unreleased "Circle dancing" by Byron Stingily, a slightly tech infused deeply thumpin' track with Byron Stingily's unmistakable voice creating an irresistible vibe.
Deep Josh "WMC 2007 Sampler" (Applefunk Records CD Promo)
Josue Garcia aka Deep Josh presents a lovely sampler at this years WMC, showcasing two tracks. First up is "Never stop the music" featuring a soulful vocal performance by Kaysee over a deeply stompin' beat that is enriched with sweet percussion and catchy keys that give it a relentless feeling. DJ Meme smnoothes it down on his take, giving it a classic house feeling with lovely keys and strings. Next is "Sweetest feeling" by the team of Andy Ward & Deep Josh, also featuring the voice of Kaysee. This is a more laidback and soulful affair featuirng lovely keys over a funktified groove.
Various "2007 Miami Sampler" (Celebrity Records CD Promo)
Celebrity present two of their upcoming releases on their Miami Sampler. First are two tracks from the "The Come On EP" by Australia's Random Soul. Both "Come on" and "We gotta move" are fueled with funky flavors and keep groovin' from the beginning to the end, with the latter being on a more laidback jazz-funk vibe. The Cookie Monsterz present the uplifting "Luv remedy" which features a catchy piano line alongside a passionate male vocal over a stormin' groove.
Slick Dada & Abel Vargas "WMC 2007 Sampler" (ChaCha Records CD Promo)
Richard 'Slick Dada' Lopez and Abel Vargas present three lovely tracks taking you on a journey into deep house grooves. "Tribute" is a deeply thumpin' track featuring great spheric keys alongside male spoken words, while "On a different tip" is a deeply rumblin' affair with the keys giving it moody edge. The stompin' "The piano man" features sweet percussion together with lovely keys and a great piano that gives it a jazzy edge.
Legends Go Digital "The Shine Compilation" (CD Promo)
One of the many parties this year at the WMC was "Digital meets the Legends" which took place at club Shine (which is located inside the Shelbourne hotel), featuring legendary DJs Todd Terry, Terry Hunter, Kenny Dope (Masters At Work) and DJ Jazzy Jeff. Accompanying this party is a compilation CD titled "The Shine Compilation". It features selected works from Terry Hunter, Kenny Dope and Todd Terry. Some of the tracks have been previously released (for instance the Kenny Dope remix of Brand New Heavis "I don't know" or the Terry Hunter/Kenny Dope remix of Kim English "Nightlife"), some are unrelased. A nice collectors item.
Various "Therapy Edits & Dubs" (CD-R)
JoJo Flores gave away a great collection of edits and dubs his has done in recent months, including Dennis Ferrer "Run free", Henrik Schwarz "Jon", Mari Boine "Vuoi vuoi", Yotam Avni "J Dilla's love" to name just a few. All of the edits a very club friendly and a great addition to any DJs box.
Various "Catalog Keepers" (Generate Music CD-R)
Generate Music gave away a lovely 2xCD collection titled "Catalog Keepers" featuring their last couple of releases, including the current promo "Shout'n'deliver" by Deepswing featuring Xavior who provides an uplifting vocal performance. The 'Deepswing Jazzy Mix' is on a smooth tip, having a classic gospel vibe to it with the jazzy instrumentation creating a laidback feeling. The Layabouts provide the remix, firing up things by giving it a more punchy sound that keeps coming your way on a classy old-school tip.
Various "Miami 2007 Sampler" (D'Lectable Records CD Promo)
The Chicago label by Lady D presenting their upcoming releases on this Miami sampler that is kicked off by Kurt Morrison who takes the refrain of the classic "In love" and underlays is with a solid house beat and adds some effects and male vocoded vocals. The 'Prairie Cartel Re-Do' is a speeded-up, electro-pop reworking. "So fine" by U-Ness comes in a smooth thumpin' electro-rub by Deemah and a deeper take by Rich Sutcliffe. Bloom deliver two tracks: "Your love" is a deeply rumblin' affair with vocals reminiscent of Björk, while "Bootiful" is a grooy house track sampling Snoop Dogg featuring Pharrell "Beautiful". "Sweet rain" by Sista Stroke is a lovely deep house production featuring Karina Nistal on a laidback tip, with the 'Giom Remix' turning into a bumpin' feel-good affair. Next up we have The Hoodfellas presenting the disco-funk fused "Star struck" and "Raw dog", a deeply rumblin' raw'n'naugthy track with male vocals. Lastly Sambox provide "Living house", a funkily groovin' track with an old-school touch, while "Respect" is on a deeply stormin' tip featuring great spheric keys.
Nightaffair Productions "WMC 07 Sampler" (CD Promo)
Behind the productions on this CD is Itialian DJ and producer Fabio Genito who presents the deeply groovin' "Undefined feeling", "Message for the brothers" which features a male spoken word over a funktified smoothly thumpin' groove that is enriched with jazzy keys, while "The forest poetry" is an ultra-deep deep house track on a laidback tip with lovely spaced-out keys. "Please come back to my home" features a sexy female vocal courtesy of Spiritual Compromise and melodic keysover a deeply stormin'. "Good life" is built around a sweet tribal groove and features a wonderful jazzy piano and lovely chords, while "Funkaffair" uses a deep afro tribal beat and sweet percussion as base for a funky guitar and african chants. Lastly "Forbidden lies" is disco-house track full of jazz-funk flavors featuring an uplifting vocal.
Various "WMC 2007 Sampler" (MiCasa Records CD Promo)
MiCasa Records really surprise us with "Bad attitude" by The Wisemen featuring Johan Greaves as it is 'house meets rock' here on the original version with a heavy guitar leading the way. The 'Bad Ass Disco Mix' transforms the track into a lovely disco-house track, while Cyrus Sanchez gives it a deeper edge with a slight progressive touch that stays soulful. "State of the nation" by The Wisemen vs Jason Hodges is a groovy house track with electrofied keys, while "A dollar" by The Wisemen vs M1 is a deeply bouncin' track with cool vocals and lovely keys in the 'A Dollar and Change Mix', while the 'A Dollar Cha-Ching Mix' is a progressive remix on a dark edge.
David Harness "WMC 07 Sampler" (CD-R)
Unfortunately, six out of the nine tracks on this CD are snippets only - so normally we wouldn't do a review of it. However there are three full tracks, so we make an exception. "Can't help it" by Michael Jackson is featured in a beautiful laidback house reworking by H&H, while "Fly like a bird" by Mariah Carey is featured in a sweet an mellow reworking by David Harness (that has already been put out on two different bootleg 12"). Finally there is an alternate version of David Harness & Charles Spencer "Tribal shit".
Various "WMC 2007 Sampler" (Ospina Digital Records Promo CD)
Ospina Digital Records present their four upcoming releases with one version each on this sampler CD. Kicking off is the deeply thumpin' "Ladadi (dada)" by Davidson Ospina that is enriched with warm melodic keys and a passionate vocal performance by D'Layna. Following is "Ghetto" by Jordan Rivera featuring Sheetha Campbell, a fiercely stormin' track with latinesque flavors and catchy keys. "House muzik" by Clemens Rumpf featuring Will Taylor is on a more laidback tip, featuring male spoken words over a deep funktified groove that is enriched with melodic keys. Lastly there is "Cierto es" by DJ Hoffmann featuring Chica Loca, a tribalesque latin house track with sexy female vocals and a catchy piano.
DJ Luis / Friskybeat "WMC Sampler" (CD Promo)
Luis Machuca is a producer from Canada who presents a lovely selection of his productions. "Love sick" features a sensual female vocal over a beautifully instrumentated mellow house groove. "Come to me" is a groovy jazz-funk fused house track with sweet female vocals, while "All or nothing" is a wonderful soul production on a laidback midtempo vibe featuring a passionate female vocal. Lastly there is the jazz-funky "Soul inspiration" which is built around a laidback afro-beat.
Exclusive Review: Joe Rizla "Unrelased Projects" (CD Promo)
We had some of Joe Rizla's productions featured in the past, now at the WMC we got a CD with more unreleased stuff. If you listened to his previous stuff, you know what to expect: a deep house extravaganza taking you on a journey into laidback an mellow grooves full of melodic chords, lovely keys and sweet percussion all greatly arranged and programmed. One of the standout cuts from the CD is "Voices in my head" which Joe Rizla produceed together with Trinidadian Deep - a track reminiscent of older Ron Trent/Anthony Nicholson/USG productions with its spheric keys and deeply stormin' groove.
Spiritual Blessings featuring Janora "Reachin' paradise" (Gotta Keep Faith Records CD Promo)
Right in time for the WMC, Gotta Keep Faith Records unleash a beautiful vocal procution by Spiritual Blessings featuring Janora aka Chiara Stablie on vocals. The original 'From the Soul Vocal' is a laidback production featuring a deep funktified groove as playground for a great organ and melodic keys. The 'Spring Soul Vocal Mix' smoothes it down just a bit to give it a more mellow feeling, while the 'Deep Dub Mix' takes it to a deeper level, letting the spaced-out keys get you in a frenzy at the end of the mix. Franco Martinelli comes up with a beautiful deep house interpretation featuring a lovely jazzy piano, while Grantino (aka Mr. Fuzz aka Fred Faupin) and DJ Rico give it a disco-funk makeover. Melchyor A uses a smooth afro beat in his rework to give it a laidback vibe, while Black Jazz Consortium come up with a dubby chill-out interpretation.
Jason AJ Summers "Drop The Inner Chi" (CD-R)
From the Souljerz camp comes this stormin' track produced by Jason AJ Summers who uses a heavily thumpin' beat, enriches them with sweet percussion, wicked electrofied keys and lovely chords to create an irresistible track for the dancefloor.
Filta Freqz "WMC 2007 Sampler" (CD-R)
Filta Freqz are Simon Cortez and Marco Manrique, two DJs and producers who together produce funky house music. They call themselves Filta Freqz because they like to apply filtering effects to their work. Unlike many other producers, these two manage to apply the filtering effects in the rights spot at the right time, without going over the top. This demo CD features six of their funky productions, some of them enriched with jazzy elements or sampled disco classics, resulting in jazz-funk and disco-funk fused house tracks.
Various "WMC 2007 Sampler" (Centric Records CD Promo)
Centric Records is the brand new label by Cory Soulfusion and Fadal Lawrence that will kick off strong with three hot releases in the pipeline. The first release will be "Feels good" by Jason Simao, an uplifting track featuring catchy keys alongside great vocals over a funktified bouncy groove. Davidson Ospina provides the remix, spicing it up to let it create a more intense vibe on the dancefloor. "Enjoy" by Formation Soul features a lovely jazz-funk instrumentation and soulful female vocals that together create an uplifting feeling. Also from Formation Soul comes "Bossa sun groove", a beautiful brazilian house production featuring a great instrumentation which give it a unique live feeling. Bruno Banner keeps it on a latinesque side on his rendition, while taking it to deeper grounds.
Various "DSR Miami '07 Sampler" (DoubleShock Records CD Promo
DoubleShock Records delivering vocal pressure on their three track Miami sampler, with "Pressure" by Park Street featuring Diana Waite already being featured in its full form on the "Spirit of House Miami (P)review" a couple of weeks ago. "Orbit" bei Leisure Groove features the sweet voice of Kymberly Stoker over a smooth funktified backing groove, with classy jazzy keys accompanying the vocals. "Keep risin'" by Groove Invaderz comes in the Kid Massive remix, a fiercely thumpin interpretation with catchy keys and uplifting vocals giving it a feel-good vibe.
Exclusive Review: Veronique "Use me" (Aaron Carl Sunday Morning Dub)(Wallshaker Music Records CD-R)
To be released later this year, "Use me" by Veronique found its way to our desk in the 'Sunday Morning Dub' by Aaron Carl, an uplifting gospel house stomper of the finest grade, featuring an inspirational vocal by Veronique alongside a wicked organ that together create an irresistible vibe.