Some months ago, a web publication that shall remain nameless (eh, nevermind) did one of those kooky "Where Are They Now?" features, focusing exclusively on Chicago House Music producers from the first and second wave. While pondering the fate of Robert Armani (he's doing fine, by the way, as anyone relying on more than 5 seconds of Googling could tell you), they also threw in a jab at Ralphi Rosario. They knew where he was, of course - Ralphi has been a fixture in this seedy lil town for more than 20 years - bu threw a hip-check at his current predilection for the more progressive aspects of House and asked instead "where it had all gone wrong".
Again, spend a few months with your ear to the ground and you'll know that Ralphi hasn't gone anywhere. And it's proven with his newest release, "Everybody Shake It" on Blueplate Global. On the vocals is legendary diva Shawn Christopher (is the singer from the vocal mixes of "French Kiss" real enough for you?), and lest you wonder about the sound, the two or three progressive-ish tracks are offset nicely by mixes from Légo of Poontin Muzik and Jay-J of Shifted Music.
First of all, a link back. Back in March, I wrote in "Death of the Mixtape" that:
As a music fan, I can tell you that I've spent exactly 1 second worrying about how the DJ playing that slammin' track got ahold of it. I expect labels and producers worry about that all the time, but the only thing the dancefloor worries about is whether or not the tune is good - not if someone downloaded it off RapidShare or got it from his buddy.
I'm quoting that here because I have hell all idea where the hell DJ Sneak's The Lost DAT Tapes Vol 1 came from. It's purportedly the first and only release on "Lost Dats US", which could be a clever name Sneak came up with to, well, sneak this one up on you. It could also be the alias of someone releasing these without his consent, knowledge or permission.
It might be a bootleg. It might be something shoved under the door. I know it can be seen as not polite to ask some established recording artists about edits so I won't... But in the hoopla that's sure to surround Sneak's brand new artist album The House of House, we can't lose track of this awesome little EP of beat tracks and simple sample jackin' House that's snaking through the underground.
As you'd guess from the title, the tracks of The Lost DAT Tapes Vol 1 are probably at least a decade old and maybe they sound like it, and maybe that isn't necessarily a bad thing. Whether you have any nostalgia for those times or not, you'd have to be six feet under not to feel the shake from this amazing package of tracks. The only one here that (I think) has been previously released is "Feelin' Freaky" which appeared on 1996's Rice and Beans, Please! double 12" release on Cajual. The rest appear to be truly undiscovered gems from one of the most highly underrated beatmakers of Chicago House Music's second wave.
I'm going to work against type here and throw aside the curmudgeonly bit and say that I'm enjoying the renaissance of Michael Jackson tunes that popped up in House Music of late. There were a lot of remixes hiding in the back of people's crates that I may have heard once or twice and never again (a legacy of that lovely habit of the dance music industry in the 1990s of remixing popular songs and making sure no more than four DJs ever played it).
But if I were to act all curmudgeonly, I'd say that I'm a little disappointed that we're just hearing older edits, and that nobody's really doing anything new with the material MJ, Quincy Jones and the rest of his production teams over the years left behind.
But, then, there's Mark de Clive-Lowe, who is hotter than molten lava right now, has posted up this cover of "I Can't Help It" with himself at the console and Lady Alma on vocals. It was recorded "awhile back" but was released this week and sent to us by MdCL with an invitation to share it. Enjoy!
Okay, it's another article, but it's been stressed repeatedly here that the lack of quality control inherent in a download-driven music industry is pushing the value of new music down to zero. But there is a bright side to the ease with which one can drop a track on a download site and have it distributed instantly around the world, and that's the opportunity to hear new sounds, by people you've never heard before, from half-way across the world, and have your world grow just a little larger.
That's the case with what the liner notes bill as the "Australian superstar DJ and producer" DJ Jorj - a cat that I've never heard of - on the French label Stalwart's newest single "Back 2 Me". He's teamed here with two of the best vocalists in the business in Byron Stingily and Michelle Weeks, and this track delivers:
This is out now on Stalwart (previewable on their site) and available now on traxsource.
Here's your Track of Today - one of the two b-sides on the new Fred Everything and Olivier Desmet EP Retro Visions Vol 1. True to the collection's title, there's a bit of a retro flair to this one, though by "retro" I'm thinking more "Sound Factory Bar" than "Sauers".
It's been awhile since we picked a track of today. At the risk of sounding like the music snob that I'm really not, good new releases have been few and far between of late. A number of music superstars have apparently abandoned even the pretense of writing new tunes, seemingly happy to mix and remix and squeeze a few more quid out of the same classics. We know them, we love them, and we're going to take a hostage if we have to hear it yet again.
And then it comes. You hear something new and wonder if you've heard it before. No, not quite: it's just a song that seems to hit you at just the right time, a blast of fresh air that seems to cleanse your surroundings as well as yourself.
That's how I feel about Andy Compton's new song, "In Love Again", featuring vocals by Diviniti. Here's a few notes from the Original Mix:
Okay, for all of the bitching about House Music moguls running their digital empires from free myspace pages and who saturate the market with utterly disposable releases, it's time to give props to someone doing it right.
The Track of Today for May 6 is Yameen ft. Lady Alma's "Light of Love". This is a good ole' fashioned single - no fluff, no filler, just two killer remixes by UK groove guru Mark De Clive-Lowe, one vocal and one instrumental. This is in preparation for the full-length album from Yameen called Never Knows More.
And from what I can tell, these folks have it together - full, professional promotion of a product that's worth your hard-earned dollars. And yameenmusic.com has tons of goodies for anyone still on the fence about cashing in their pennies for this release, including this video of MDC-L remixing the track in the studio:
How simple is that, man? It cost them absolutely nothing, requiring nothing but a webcam and an index finger pressing the "record" button. And here I am promoting it.
We'll be featuring one of what we think is the best new track we've come across each day. It doesn't mean it was released that day or even that week, but with the unprecedented barrage of 4/4 beats being blown out on the public, we'll do our best to keep it somewhat up-to-date.
For today, it's Jay West's "Loves Me Not," a b-sider from The Joy EP released a couple of weeks back. EPs and other multi-track releases are multiplying like a fungus these days but I suspect that many people don't dig very deep beyond the main cut for fear of the filler lurking on the b-side (and labels: it'd be nice if you had a variable price point for pieces that are obviously filler. You might even find yourself making some extra coin!) I actually like this better than the title track - it's less cut-up and overloaded with FX than some of Jay West's release (particularly the Candy Dealers releases - though I'm a fan of that style as well). It's a chill and deep track without being lounge. Here's a taste:
The Joy is out on Conya Records now; sniff out all 3 tracks on traxsource, juno download, or your favorite download shop.
Some months ago, a web publication that shall remain nameless (eh, nevermind) did one of those kooky "Where Are They Now?" features, focusing exclusively on Chicago House Music producers from the first and second wave. While pondering the fate of Robert Armani (he's doing fine, by the way, as anyone relying on more than 5 seconds of Googling could tell you), they also threw in a jab at Ralphi Rosario. They knew where he was, of course - Ralphi has been a fixture in this seedy lil town for more than 20 years - bu threw a hip-check at his current predilection for the more progressive aspects of House and asked instead "where it had all gone wrong".
First of all, a link back. 
Here's your Track of Today - one of the two b-sides on the new Fred Everything and Olivier Desmet EP Retro Visions Vol 1. True to the collection's title, there's a bit of a retro flair to this one, though by "retro" I'm thinking more "Sound Factory Bar" than "Sauers".
It's been awhile since we picked a track of today. At the risk of sounding like the music snob that I'm really not, good new releases have been few and far between of late. A number of music superstars have apparently abandoned even the pretense of writing new tunes, seemingly happy to mix and remix and squeeze a few more quid out of the same classics. We know them, we love them, and we're going to take a hostage if we have to hear it yet again.
Okay, for all of the bitching about House Music moguls running their digital empires from free myspace pages and who saturate the market with utterly disposable releases, it's time to give props to someone doing it right.
We'll be featuring one of what we think is the best new track we've come across each day. It doesn't mean it was released that day or even that week, but with the unprecedented barrage of 4/4 beats being blown out on the public, we'll do our best to keep it somewhat up-to-date.
