Picks of the Week
WMC Aftermath: CeCe Peniston "I'm feelin' U" (SoulFuric Records CD Promo)
Ron Carroll and CeCe Peniston, two of house music's true legends, team up for a production that has been getting lots of attention in Miami. Ron Carroll's original version is a bouncy uplifting affair on a classic soulful tip featuring an inspirational vocal performance by CeCe Peniston - this has anthem written all over it. DJ Fudge from France provides a deeper, somewhat raw reworking that keeps it soulful and funky, with his dub taking it even deeper with great melodic keys and sounds. Lastly Brian Tappert provides a darker 'B Room Dub' perfect for the bigger rooms.
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Dr Space and Mr Hunt "Play that... EP" (Interstellar Records CD Promo)
For their second release, Interstellar Records have chosen Gene Hunt, one of the pioneers of house music. He presents the stellar "Play that... EP" where he teams up with piano maestro Dr. Space. The main track "Play that song" is a mellow percussion driven production feauturing a wonderful piano line and passionate male vocal on top, letting the track spread a laidback live feeling. The second track "Just 4" is a deep and moody Chicago house track featuring soulful vocals over a deeply stompin' beat that is enriched with melodic chords.
Van Hunt "Being A Girl" (Original Drum Remix)(CD-R)
Taken from Van Hunt's longplayer "On the jungle floor", "Being a girl" in its original form is a beautiful laidback soulful r&b track. Neter Supreme reworks the song into a deeply thumpin' house track featuring sweet percussion and wicked keys that give it a laidback feeling, while keeping the magic of the keys and vocals from the original alive.
UPZ "Mundo infantil" (Farplane Records CD Promo)
United People of Zion (aka UPZ) present a summery latinesque groover with "Mundo infantil", featuring a sweet vocal performance by Silvinha. The smoothly thumpin' 'Original' is spreading an uplifting feeling, while the 'Latin Excursion Mix' is a more laidback affair that puts the latinesque instrumentation centerstage. Rasmus Faber adds great percussion elements and a catchy piano on his reworking, whils Ron Gelfer turns it into a deeper affair with wicked keys perfect for peaktime play.
11 AM featruing Brooja "Llevame" (SunSoaked Records CD Promo)
11 AM (aka Andy Tracey and Mark Atherton) present the latinesque "Llevame" featuring a passionate vocal by Brooja and sax surpemo Ian Dixon. Their original version is on a groovy tip with a lovely funky touch, with the dub giving the acoustic guitar place to grow. Soularis smooth it down on their take, giving it more of a laidback feeling, with the dub featuring extra keys. Completing the package are Seminal Groove who come up with a deeply rumblin', filthy dub perfect for peaktime play.
Exclusive Review: Dario D'Attis featuring Michelle Shellers "Feel like dancin'" (CD-R)
Swiss DJ and producer Dario D'Attis presents the uplifting "Feel like dancin'", a laidback production built around a funktified backing groove that is enriched with a lovely guitar, classic strings and wonderful keys alongside a soulful vocal performance by Michelle Shellers. Lets hope this beauty gets picked up and will get a full release.
Various "SoulTonic Summer Sampler" (SoulTonic Records CD Promo)
This is one of two hot samplers from the SoulTonic camp available to us. First up are the Seminal Grooves remixes of Art & Pleasure's "You" which features a sexy vocal by Jesse How. These new mixes give the track a darker and more peaktime edge with harder techy synths used, with the dub featuring additional spheric keys. Next is the soulful "Believe" by Roberto DeCarlo meets Steven Stone featuring a sweet vocal by Seyla (exclusively brought to you a year ago here on Spirit of House) alongside warm keys, melodic chords and a lovely guitar. Danny Clark reworks it into a beautiful funked-up affair that keeps the soulful feeling alive.
Sara Devine "Life ain't what it seems" (Original/Quentin Harris Re-Touch)(Vega Records Digital Download)
Out for a couple of weeks already, but to good not to be mentioned here... This new package of mixes includes the original version, a midtempo groover on a laidback tip with awarm melodic instrumentation, as well as Quentin Harris 'Re-Touch', a fiercely stormin' interpretation that keeps it soulful, with great keys and chords accompanying the sweet vocals. Digital download available at Dancetracks Digital.
Keith Thompson "Borders don't matter" (KDT Mix)(Waking Monster CD Promo)
In our "Miami 2007 Preview Mixes", we featured Phil Hooton's wonderful remix, now we've got another mix of this great tune coming soon on Waking Monster. Keith Thompson's 'KDT Mix' is built a round a deeply thumpin' beat that is enriched with melodic chords and a jazzy piano that harmonise perfectly with the inspirational vocals, giving it a laidback uplifting feeling. More mixes in the works, so watch out for a slammin' release.
Cookie Monsterz "Your Love" (Tempogroove Records CD Promo)
The Cookie Monsterz return to Tempogroove with the slammin' track "Your love" that will take dancefloors by storm with its irresistible keys and wonderful flute that are beautfiully arranged over a relentless backing groove. The '4 AM Mix' uses a slightly tougher beat together with a rhythmic guitar to give it a funkier feel, while the 'Reprise' is all about the keys and flute before the beat kicks in.
DJ Meme "V.A.I" (SoulFuric Trax Records CD Promo)
With "V.A.I", DJ Meme presents a summery and uplifting track built around a stormin' percussion enriched groove that is enriched with incredibly hot keys that add a relentless vibe to the track. Deep Josh reworks the track into a deeper affair using heavily thumpin' beats and great chords, while the Stereo Mutants intensify the beats and some cool sound effects on their take. A beats version of the original concludes the package.
Sumo featuring Ayesha "Gravity" / "That's erotic" (Remixes)(HEYA HiFi CD Promo)
Hot on the heels of the original release comes a phat remix package taking the tracks to the next level. Bangana rework "Gravity" to deliver a deep and moody dub with sheric keys over a solid 4/4 house beat, whilst Simbad comes up with a bumpy interpretation with spaced-out keys and spacey effects over a UK-garage styled beat. Lastly DJ Assault (aka Craig Diamonds) takes on "That's erotic", delivering a tech-funky and dirty bouncey interpretation.