Picks of the Week
Jihad Muhammad featuring Lorraine Reid "Open your eyes" (Camio Records CD Promo)
With "Open your eyes", Camio present a smooth production by Jihad Muhammad featuring a wonderful vocal performance by Lorraine Reid (who also wrote the lyrics) alongside a lovely guitar by Kelton Cooper and jazzy piano by Vincent Jeffries that is spreading a laidback feeling. Eddy G takes it to deeper grounds while keeping it soulful, with melodic chords leading the way for the vocals and jazzy piano. M-Sol power things up on their take, using a stormin' groove alongside spheric synths and wicked keys to give it an irresistible vibe. Lastly UPZ deliver a deep and groovy interpretation that keeps it laidback with warm keys and a lovely guitar.
More Reviews
Exclusive Preview: Motoo Project "Give me now" (Original Mix)(CD-R)
France based Motoo Project present their new track "Give me now", the follow up to the yet to be released "You know what". "Give me now" is an old-school disco-funk flavored production featuring a sweet female vocal over a kickin' beat that will get you grooving from the beginning to the end, with lovely strings and great keys alongside the vocals creating an uplifting feeling.
Exclusive Preview: Emanuelle "L'ete de l'amour" (Micky More Re-Edit)(CD-R)
"L'ete de l'amour" is produced by the legendary Double Dee team and got just recently released on their new Double Dee Music label. Unfortunately, the release only features rather short mixes, with most of them being orientated toward the more commercial dance floors. Thankfully Micky More took care of this problem and serves a lovely re-edit of this retro flavored disco-house track that features a sexy vocal by Emanuelle.
Exclusive Preview: Maze featuring Frankie Beverly "Joy and pain" (Phil Remy Re-Edit)(CD-R)
Maze and Frankie Beverly's "Joy and pain" is one of those timeless midtempo classics you can listen to all day and night long. Since its release in 1980, there have been numerous cover versions, but none could stand up to the original which now has been re-edited by Phil Remy whose interpretation stays true to the original, keeping the unmistakable vibes alive while adding a mellow house beat underneath that smoothly transforms the song into a dance floor shaker.
Exclusive Preview: Kenny Thomas "Sunshine girl" (Phil Hooton Remix)(Unsigned CD-R)
The original version of "Sunshine girl" by Kenny Thomas is finest soul featuring an incomparable vocal performance, to be found on last years "Crazy world" longplayer. It has been given a marvelous makeover by Phil Hooton who keeps things on a groovy funk infused side, with the beautiful orchestration consisting of a lovely flute, sweet guitar, classic strings and jazzy piano creating an uplifting yet laidback feeling.
Exclusive Preview: Brian McKnight "Shoulda been lovin' you" (Eric Levan Remix)(CD-R)
Eric Levan takes on Brian McKnight's beautiful slow jam "Shoulda been lovin' you" (to be found on the "Ten" album) and reworks it in a truly soulful way, adding a deeply rumblin' house groove underneath the sensitive vocals and classy instrumentation, with the result being a wonderful fusion of r&b and house that will have you groovin' from the beginning to the end.
Tortured Soul "Why" (Delicious Vinyl Records Digital Download)
Tortured Soul return with this great package on Delicious Vinyl that features remixes of their beautiful "Why" courtesy of DJ Spinna who gives it a soulful treatment featuring his signature solid beats alongside lush synths and Christian Urich's soulful vocals. The infectious "Fall in love" gets reworked by Tortured Soul themselves in a groovy way, featuring funky bass and wonderful keys alongside live drums that give the track a laidback feeling. Also included in the package is the album version of "Why".
DJ Le Roi feat Roland Clark "I get deep" (Remixes)(DeepTown Music Records CD Promo)
DeepTown Music scored big with their debut release by DJ Le Roi who took the legendary Roland Clark acapella "I get deep" to create an infectious track that still rocks the dance floors. Now they present a slammin' remix package that features a hot reworking by Andy Daniel that takes the track to electronic grounds. MoD's (aka Juan Sunshine) interpretation features beautiful keys that give the the track a classic feeling, while DK Brown delivers a phat edit that features a wicked sax that takes the track to the next level.
Hanna Hais "Jungo" (Remixes)(ATAL Records CD Promo)
ATAL unleash a massive remix package of Hanna Hais' "Jungo" that sees DJ Meme delivering a relentless reworking built around a stormin' tribal beat that is enriched with sweet percussion, wicked keys and classy jazzy piano that accompany the sexy vocals by Hanna Hais. His dub lets the keys and piano do the talking. David Gomez provides a tougher tribal interpretation spiced with electro flavors, while Miango (aka Pascal Guinard and Fred Brigaud) take it to deeper grounds with wicked keys and classy strings nicely layered over the thumpin' tribal beat.
Crystal Re-Clear "Im dancing (Tony Records CD Promo)
Here we have the full package of this magic release by Crystal Re-Clear that has been highly anticipated by many. Timmy Vegas vocal version is a soulful, old-school flavored reworking that features an outstanding live horn section alongside absolutely incredible dramatic breakdowns and great latinesque jazzy piano, while his dub is on a tougher, progressive edge. The 'CRC Remix' is a pumpin' affair featuring a lovely guitar riff alongside wicked synths. Lastly there is the 'Yannick B Full Crobar Mix' which cleverly combines an aggressively kickin', old-school flavored beat with catchy synths.
Exclusive Preview: Depeche Mode "The sinner in me" (JoJo Flores Therapy Edit)(CD-R)
Exclusive Preview: Herbert "The audience" (JoJo Flores Re-Edit)(CD-R)
In recent months, more and more edits of tracks from producers and DJs saw the light of the day, offering new interpretations of forgotten gems or current crowd favorites - often those edits open the tracks to a wider audience. JoJo Flores has been a pioneer of this movement, blessing us with many great edits like the ones we present here. First up is "The sinner in me" by Depeche Mode, where JoJo Flores takes Ricardo Villalobos' 13 minute extravaganza and reworks into a club friendlier affair. Next is Herbert's "The audience" which starts just with the smooth yet deep groove and sexy female vocals, with the jazzy keys coming in around the middle to take it to the next level.
Sol Selegna "Oh yeah" / "Dark disco" (Franchise Player Records CD Promo)
Los Angeles based producer Sol Soegna presenting two tracks that take you on a ride into the deep, with basslines as heavy as you can imagine... "Oh yeah" is a deep and dubby affair featuring female adlibs alongside wicked chords, while "Dark disco" combines discofied elements with an even deeper and dubbier groove that gives the track a more minimalistic, slightly dark feeling.