Picks of the Week  

This timeless gospel house production by Phil Hooton and Rob 'Da Noize' Temple is considered by the Spirit of House office as one of the tunes of 2007 so far (it was a former "Pick of the Week" on May 27), and with a brand new vocal version featuring masterly performed vocals by Felicia, Rob 'Da Noize' and Diamond Temple that will drop around September/October on vinyl, this wonderfully orchestrated song gets even more inspiring, taking you on an uplifting and spiritual journey into house music.
 

Here we have an exclusive preview of the upcoming release by Raashan Houston on George Jackson's Ruff'N'Tuff label titled "I Need To Get Away", available to us in the 'Monte Carlo Mehtod Remix'. It is a beautifully instrumentated song with a passionate and inspiring vocal performance by Raashan Houston alongside wicked keys, with a smooth yet fierce groove assisting in creating a timeless soulful vibe.

 

 

"Party In My Body" is a tastemaker of the forthcoming Mr. Feelings LP (to be released in September), and as the previous releases by the multi talented Robert Strauss, "Party In My Body" is pure magic. Oozing with disco-funk vibes all over, this is a wonderful piece of modern boogie house with an authentic retro touch that is spreading an uplifting soulful feeling from beginning to the end. Keep on dancin' to the funky house grooves all night...

 

JOE RIZLA - "Da Traveller" (Black Keys Music/CD Promo)

There ain't no stoppin' for Joe Rizla as he unleashes another bomb with "Da Traveller", a track somewhat reminiscent of older Ron Trent/Anthony Nicholson/USG productions with its deeply stormin', absolute relentless groove enriched with sweet percussion, wicked keys and wonderful steel drums that add a lovely tropical flavor to the track - perfect summery vibes for some late night, early morning play.

 

Andy Lee aka Central Avenue on remix duty here, delivering a slammin' interpretation that is spreading an uplifting feeling through the catchy keys and classic strings that nicely accompany the sweet vocals by Re'nee Wynter, all beautifully arranged over a smoothly thumpin' groove. The 'Monkey Dust Remix' is more groovy, spiced with funky flavors and featuring irresistible keys that altogether create a relentless vibe.

 

Lots of forces combined on this release here, with the Jumo Bros teaming up with The Shadow Kings and the legendary Arnold Jarvis who provides an unmistakable vocal performance. The 'Jumo Bros Original Mix' is a deeply groovin' affair featuring classic strings, jazzy piano, lovely guitar and great keys to create a feel good vibe. The 'Shadow Kings Utopia' mixes are a bit more laidback, with a deeply stormin' groove leading the way for the wicked keys. The 'Shadow Kings Future Dub' twists things into a more electronic direction.

 

Finally coming out after being promoted in the Enrico Mantini remix at this year’s Winter Music Conference in Miami, "Everything Is" is a powerful production featuring a sexy female vocal by Marcia Redfern alongside great keys and lovely guitar. Enrico Mantini takes it to new grounds by powering things up even more, keeping it funkin' from the beginning to the end, with stompin' beats leading the way for the sexy vocals and melodic keys.

 

With "Danger In The City", UPZ drop a wonderful production featuring a soul drenched vocal by Roy Young. The 'UPZ Deep Mix' is a laidback midtempo groover featuring a wonderful saxophone alongside melodic keys, while the 'Sax In The City 2006 Mix' is firing things up for a feel-good house anthem with catchy piano, classic strings and jazzy saxophone. The 'UPZ Electro' mixes take the track to deeper grounds, with added electro flavors, always keeping it on a soulful side. Camio Records will release a massive remix package soon (expect mixes by the likes of Jihad Muhammad, Dom Navarro, NJ Project and more).

 

"Let The Music" by Twisted Rhythm features sparse vocals by Mark Lemon over a funktified, deeply thumpin' backing groove that is enriched with wicked keys – it’s the plainness here that creates an irresistible vibe on the dance floor. Central Avenue's remix uses a more energetic groove and adds backing vocals courtesy of Caterina Rea alongside great chords to to intensify the vibe of the track.

 

Franco Martinelli presents the second EP in the "Underground Track" series, offering three tracks. First up is "Breath" featuring sexy female vocal chants over a deeply stormin' groove enriched with wicked keys. Next up is the resistless "Circular loop", a minimalistic deeply thumpin' track featuring slightly techified keys. Lastly there is the laidback "Pacific Cruise" which features great harmonic keys over a deep yet smooth funktified groove.

 

AX Music celebrate Summer with the first EP in the "Beach Music" series courtesy of Soulfood who present Waterfall. Three deep house tracks to choose from, with "Sailing" being a funktified affair featuring melodic keys and jazzy piano alongside female vocal chants, while "Clear Water" uses a jazzy piano over a deeply yet smoothly thumpin' groove. Lastly "Tropical Sunrise" is on a more laidback tip, featuring sweet percussion and lovely keys over a mellow backing groove.
 

For their latest release, Gotta Keep Faith took one of their old projects and let it completely be reworked. First up is Andy Roberts who presents the 'Safari Dub', a deeply rumblin' affair featuring wicked keys and great organ. The Insatiables deliver a groovy affair featuring jazzy keys over a smoothly stompin' beat, while Samir Maslo comes up with a powerful reworking perfect for the bigger floors. Lastly Ciappy DJ aka Giampiero Marasciulo reworks the track into a diversified affair kicking off percussively before the deep house beat and phat keys take over, getting back to the percussive elements to close down the track.

 

The Filta Freqz guys (aka Simon Cortez and Marco Manrique) present another piece of funky dance floor madness with "Feel This Way" which cleverly samples Earth People's "Dance" to create a funky house jam that is spreading a feel-good vibe from beginning to the end.