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Tons of new house music this month, from the deeper grooves to the full on vocals, so let's dive right in: Walt J—“Reflection” 2 X EP (US Dow test)--Detroit's Walter Jones with his fourth record on Dave Whiteside's Dow Recordings, known for early Terrence Parker and Claude Young releases. Jones crafts six tracks of quality dance music that defies a house, techno, or even tech-house sticker. Instrumentals, Jones with spoken word passages, and a sweet vocal cut in "Dance All Night" Hesohi—“The Chocolat Afro” EP (US Imperial Dub test)--Akron, Ohio's Doug Martin as Hesohi on San Francisco's Imperial Dub. Warm, wiggly basslines and creative percussion work combine for a stunningly deep experience. 6 thematic tracks that beg to meet your needles. Brothers Of The Underground—“Collective Grooves” 2 X EP (US SOM)--Tony Rodriguez, DJ Camacho, Cassioware, Naeem Johnson, Ricky Nelson, Retroactive, and Victor Simonelli are the players here on this splendid tribal 8tracker. Solid, with a punchy vibe on the more percussion oriented cuts and some deeper material in there as well. Ron Trent & Anthony Nicholson—“Afro Nova” 12” (US Prescription)--Trent & Nicholson say it all in the song titles: "AquaRhythmatica" and "Soul Samba Express"; smooth and sensual, just the way we like 'em. Larry Heard—“Dance 2000 Part 2” 2 X EP (UK Distance)--Larry Heard follows up the first "Dance 2000" with 8 more tracks. Is this material new? Doesn't really matter; with all the talk of the first bunch being the last Heard material to be released now that he has retired from music, we're happy to have more Heard; hmmm... Will there be a Part 3, I wonder? Azymuth—“Supafat Re-rubs” 12” (UK Far Out)--Global Communications' Space Jazz mix reworks "Jazz Carnival" from Azymuth's "Carnival" LP; Phil Asher, Luke 'Duke', and Roc Hunter take on "The Quest?", a cut from the forthcoming "Woodland Warrior" album; British house that holds to the standard we've come to expect lately Space 2-000—“Friday Night In N.Y.” 12” (UK Kingpin)--Jim "Happy Human" Sullivan puts the boots to the main mix, flipped by a busy Nu Yorica mix and tough Bonus Beats; chunky, funky, and a treat to work in the mix. K-Scope--"K-Scope 3” EP (US Twisted America)--four tracks from the forthcoming "Instant Music" full length from keyboard wizard Eric Kupper; for those that don't know, this is the man that brought "The Whistle Song" to life; nothing can beat sparkling keys over a hot percussive base The Timewriter—“Jigsaw Pieces” 2 X LP (DM Plastic City/US Twisted America)--an album that had it's world premiere on Cognition Audioworks' In The Mix show just before it was originally released on Germany's Plastic City; long rumored and now true, Jean F. Cochois' brand of gilded techy grooves are available in North America at last on Twisted America; something here for everyone, from instrumental pieces to Roger S-style spoken word, to a few cuts with sliced and diced vocal bits Various—“NASA Gigolos” EP (CAN Penetrate test)--the fifth release on Calgary, Alberta's Penetrate imprint features fine filter cuts from Jason Armstrong and Peter Hecher and a moving string-soaked piece from the UK's Aubrey; they're not belting out the product, but building an impressive back catalog slowly and surely Various—“Moving House 3” 2 X LP (BEL SSR/CAN Fusion III)--Geoffroy returns with the third in his groundbreaking series; 10 tracks on an unmixed CD and selected material on a limited vinyl edition, including plenty of unreleased material and remixes; Phil Asher, Bugz In Da Attic; Idjuts remixing Atmosfear; Eddie "Flashin" Fowlkes; Reel Houze, and that's just the half of it; super duper deep groovin' experiences Various—“Copa Mundial Muzique” (US Guidance/CAN Fusion III)--Guidance compiles a CD of 10 tracks with a house foundation melded with musical sauces from around the globe; from Joe Clausell and Kerri Chandler taking on Milton Nascimento's "Escravos De Jo" to Montreal's Provonost, Levitt, and Vinet and their aptly titled "Latin Soul", this is solid from beginning to end Dubtribe Sound System—“El Regalo De Amor” 12” (US Guidance/CAN Fusion III)--title track comes in instrumental and vocal versions, paired with "What You Feel In Your Heart"; all exquisite and maintaining that Dubtribe sound we love Herbert and Dani Siciliano—“So Now” EP (UK Phonography)--the UK's Herbert and California's Dani Siciliano do house like you haven't heard before; Herbert's quirkiness embraces Siciliano's vocals with ease and provide a teaser for the coming full length Grooverider—“Rainbows Of Color (Masters At Work remixes)” 12” (UK Higher Ground/US Sony)--lead track from Grooverider's new LP is given the MAW treatment in vocal and dub versions; haven't heard the original, but this is something worth picking up 4 Hero—“Stars Chasers (Masters At Work remixes)” 2 X 12” (UK Talkin Loud/US Mercury)--a promo doublepack with 4 takes on the 4 Hero original, only one of which has made it onto the commercial version Groove Collective—“Dance Of The Drunken Master” EP (US Shanachie)--selections from the funk-fueled sametitled album from the Groove Collective; use the downtempo numbers as warmups or cool downs and revel in the jazzy house workout N’dshea—“City Got Soul” 12” (US Hipbone test)--Hipbone hits again, this time with new artist N'dshea. Vocalist Elsa Cornish has a smoky voice that works wonders in the versions from Cookin' With Gas, Julius Papp and Dave Warrin, and Richard Les Crees Martha Cinader—“Living It (remixes)” (US Liquid Sound Lounge)--Victor Simonelli and Birth Of Cool (Hamburg's Lars "lb" Behrenroth & Michael Carstensen) provide new interpretations of the wordology of Martha Cinader E-Smoove featuring Latanza Waters—“Déjà vu” 12” (US Nervous)--best of the recent Nervous bunch is the pairing of Eric "E-Smoove" Miller with vocalist Latanza Waters. Waters is bound for Barbara Tucker fame with pipes like these. Tasty bass and keywork, and both the vocal and dub versions are supremely playable Lenny Fontana presents Andricka Hall—“I’ll Give You Love” 12” (US SoulShine test)--wowing them since Winter Music Conference, Lenny Fontana provides a terrific musical bed for Andricka Hall's vocals; Jazz-N-Groove get in on the remix action Various—“Speed Volume One” CD (UK Public Demand/US Mutant Sound)--tracks from the likes of Donna Deep and the Rhythm Masters from 1995 through to 1997 (including one from 1998) get compiled on this unmixed CD comp out now through New York's Mutant Sound System; yes, there are a few annoying timestretches and the like which date some of these tunes, but the overall quality level of bumping house here remains high. Top 20
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