Antonio Ocasio has already released some 12"es on the Tribal Winds imprint. This time his Organic Energy sees the light of the day on MAW's Kenlou label. The Main Mix is a great journey into sound with over 10 minutes of guitars, percussion, organ, congas and chants by Jainardo Batista. There's also a Tribal Winds Inner Dance Beats mix and a Rhumba At Central Park's Fountain Mix, that's just a percussive tour-de-force. Certainly something for the more adventurous and eclectic listeners.

Another week, another Blaze remix of what was already a good song in its original version. This time DJ Jorj with Gary Pinto on vocal duties gets his Only You reworked as Shrine Vocal Mix and Shrine Dub Mix. And just like one would've expect it, the result is another deep-house-fan's dream coming true with nice acoustic guitar licks, percussion and loads of vocals.

Arnold Jarvis has given us many brilliant deep house records in his singing career like Inspiration, The Joy You Bring, Color Of My Skin, It Must Have Been Love or Where Has Love Gone. Maybe that's the reason why I think that You've Let Love Slip Away is missing that special something. The Classic Club Mix is a solid deep house groove with Arnold singing well as ever (and Shawnee Taylor on background vocals), but I miss a more memorable hook to turn this into a really good song, although there's a fine vibe solo in the middle of the song which saves it for me. There's also a Classic Intrumental, a Classic Dub Mix and Benji's Inspiration to chose from.
Certainly a must have for Arnold Jarvis fans like me but like I said it pales a little compared to Arnold's back catalogue, but maybe King Street invests a little more money and will release some remixes soon.

Ok, one could ask if we really need a housed-up version of what was in its original version a brilliant song that appeared on Ann Nesby's Put It On Paper album? And clearly some of the magic of the original is lost in the four to the floor beats of this Spen & Karizma remix. But then if you're out for a good night why not dance to a tune with some real good singers like Ann Nesby and Al Green? And for this purpose this 12" is very suitable.

Gary Des-Etages is no stranger to those in the know of good soul music. And finally a whole album will be released on FER (First Experience Records) at least if you can trust the remark on this 12" 'from the forthcoming album No Compromise'. Judging from the two songs on this 12", the album will be a real corker. Anything is a modern soul song with all the right ingredients to make it an instant winner while Don't I Know You has a nice funky retro feeling to it. Hopefully the album will be with us soon!

FER (First Experience Records) is a label that has released some very good 12"es in recent times. This time they come up with the Urban Flow Mix and the Freak Mix of Shabazz' Have A Good Time. Remixed by Barry Bee both mixes are pleasant mid-tempo grooves with Shabazz' soulful vocals on top.

D. Vine and J. Maharaj are behind Panyard and so far Baby 3 Times is the third release I've got from them (In The Sand and Father Of The Universe being the other two). And like before they release a very good deep house tune with a lot of soul and with vocals by James B. Coleman, especially in the Original Mix this tune has all the right stuff to become a modern uptempo soul classic. There are also two mixes by Sweet Abraham, the New York vs London Mix offers a good mixture between deep jazzy house and broken beats while Sweet Abraham's Deep Tisue Rub is more on the (dub)house side and in my opinion lacks some of the soul the other two mixes have.

Now that's what I call an obscure record. Musically this is a neat modern deep house beat but what turns this into a record just made for folks in the 'Old Europe' are the samples used here. Take pieces of different speeches by George Bush, combine them into something that sounds more plausibly if you were/are anti-war/anti-Bush. And so you hear Dubya saying, that America has already used weapons of mass destruction, that every measure has been taken to destroy the peace and that America is no peaceful nation...all in all this sounds very menacing but with threats against Iran coming out of Washington recently, I wonder if this re-arranging of Bush speeches isn't closer to the truth than the reality itself.
And I do like this record since it makes you think even on the dancefloor!

Of course we all remember the monster-hit Earth Is The Place from Nathan Haines debut album on Chilli Funk. From his sophomore set Squire For Hire comes the title song as first 12" release. This time Nathan teams up with the wonderful Marlena Shaw as vocalist to give us a modern jazz tune with Marlena narrating instead of singing. The original 12" Mix and the Drums & Bass Mix may take a few listens before you get into them but with its march-influenced drums this is certainly something different. But there's also Phil Asher's Capricorn Mix, that's a little bit listener friendly with a tight house/broken beat rhythm and certainly it's the mix that you'll hear this sommer on more innovative dancefloors over and over again...at least I hope so :-)

From Goapele's album Even Closer comes this fine soul song in its original version and with some additional mixes. The Higher Remix is a housed-up version while the Childhood Drama Remix puts some hip hop beats into the mix. And as a bonus there's also the great ballad Things Don't Exist. All in all a nice taster of Goapele's album.

A record by Roy Davis Jr. seldom disappoints if you're into deep house and Love's Light on the Jamayka label is just what you would expect from Roy. This works best in the Original Version although the Smitty & Davenport Remix doesn't sound too far away from the spirit of the original. There's also the funky Roy Davis & Doc Link's Dub that comes with a nice saxophone by Steve Graebber.

With a title like this and a Party Vocal Mix you know this is more a hands-in-the-air-feel-good kinda tune with session singer Carole Sylvan on vocals. Not very spectacular but a nice four to the floor disco-house song from Lenny Fontana that certainly will work fine on the dancefloor when played at the right time. Comes with a Party Dub Mix and some beats to play around on the flipside.

The third release from Canadian house label Got Soul is real value for money with three songs from three different artists from Baltimore/USA. Side A starts with DJ Pope's My Way, a great deep house track with percussion by Davon and vocals by b-sOuL. Then there's Dj Oji ft. Carolyn Victorian with Dance The Night Away from DJ Oji's Underground X-perience album (that also features I'm Feelin' U, that has already been released as 12" single). This song features a great flute played by Nicolas Laget and is a much better song than the aforementioned I'm Feelin' U for my ears.
Finally, there are Don-Ray's Docile and Broken Mix of Fertile Ground's Come 2 Me (from their great album Seasons Change) that turns this ballad into a pleasant and releaxed house song respectively soulful lounge/broken beat track. And if you missed Fertile Ground's album you also get the original album version here. A highly recommendable double pack.

From Steve Silk Hurley's mix CD compilation Voices Of Life comes this good uptempo house song sung by Greg Gibbs with nice incorporated disco influences. With five mixes spread across two 12"es there's enough to choose from whether it'll be Silk's Classic Original Mix, Stacy Kidd's Soul Element Mix, Stacy Kidd's Jet Dub, the Soul Element Instrumental or Silk's Classic Instrumental Mix. Ok, for vocal lovers a single 12" with the two vocal mixes would've been sufficient but then, maybe you are a DJ and like to please the crowd with you mixing skills and the additional dubs and instrumentals.

That's a nice house song that comes along as pleasant as a warm summer rain on a hot day. With a fat bassline, fine vocals by Latrice Barnett, a percussion break and some Spanish spoken words by an uncreadited male Summertime has all the right ingredients to become Loveslap's summer anthem for 2003. There's also a dub version on the flipside but as almost always, just go straight to the vocal version since it's the best mix to play. Scheduled for a relese on June, 10.

Avid readers of this website will of course know about Asaph Womack's soul album My Love My Life and his previous single for Easy Street Shelter Me. In My House is another great, soulful house offering that finds Asaph singing his heart out and showing us that he can please the house and soul market as well. The best mix for me is the Dom & Alex's Classic Garage Mix with it's epic 10 minutes and 20 seconds. There's also a Vocapella version and BST's In The House Vocal and Dub Mix, but these two mixes lack that special something for my ears.

Kathy Brown and Jocelyn Brown singing about the Goodlife in a Spen & Karizma Mix sounds like a sure winner on paper for all vocal house fans out there. And it really is! Great vocals over a good uptempo house beat with a nice saxophone makes this a must have...since it's a promo only you may have some trouble getting it, but it'll be worth the hunting.

Who would've thought that there will ever be a house mix of a song by P-Funk genius Bootsy Collins, that really sounds great? Thanks to the magic hands of Matthias "Matty" Heilbronn this miracle happens on his All Star Mix. With additional drums, keys by James Preston and percussion by Juan "Papo" Pepin, Matty turns Dance To The Music into a monster for the dancefloor with 9 minutes and 53 seconds of pure listening joy. Something of the re-birth of P-Funk in a house context. There's also a solid Kneedeep Remix, an instrumental, the album version and the Galleon Remix of Play With Bootsy (ft. Kelli Ali).

Now that's how I like my house music be done. Although the label is named New Generation Records Wide Open is a very classy deep vocal house song with a good singer in the shape of Latitia B. and it could've been years ago, which doesn't mean it sounds dated but it has that timeless quality of typical New Jersey/Deep house. With a great Original Vocal Mix and a Moses Vocal Mix by Big Moses (aka Moise Laporte) this is just a dream (and must have) for deep house lovers.

The original mixes of It Comes Back Around were released some time ago on Nervous. This time Billie gets revamped by the Pound Boys who turns It Comes Back Around into a pleasant uptempo house song, but then, what else would've you expected? On this UK release on SuSu there's also the original Kyle Smith Vocal version available just in case you've missed it the first time around.

From Blaze's Spiritual Speaking album comes this fine midtempo song that features Amira on vocals. Remixed by Phil Asher for Restless Soul his Inspiration Information Remix adds more depth to the song with extra percussion, bass, keys and Nathan Haines on flute. Redtop also does a remix of I Think Of You but fails to top the Phil Asher rework. And if you missed the album, there's alsop the original version on the flipside.

Estereo is always a label to rely on if you're looking for good house records with an edge and their new release is just another proof for this. The Soul Creature's Run Out Of Time is a fine latin inspired late night house/lounge song with Clare Szembek on vocals in its Original Live version and like the title suggests this version really has a nice live feeling with some good instrumentation. There's also The Funky Lowlives Dub with its fierce bass that already appeared on Estereo's Something Estereo compilation.
(for more information visit estereo-recordings.com)