The Music

1. “Lust 4 U” – Jose Nuñez feat. Bruce Baps (from the 8th “Subliminal Sessions” mix series) Oh. My. God. The pulsing dirty drive, the reverb, the assured vocal and that breakdown! Pure nirvana! This needs to be a single somewhere, somehow!

2. “4 Ur Ears” – Timo Maas feat. Kelis (from the new Timo Maas CD “Pictures”) A follow up of sorts to their collaboration on “Help Me” on Timo’s last CD, this one continues Kelis’ (“Milkshake”) stratospheric rise to goddess.

3. “U Don’t Know Me (JaxxHouz KlubMix)” – Basement Jaxx (original is from their ‘best of’ CD but this is from the CD maxi single) Rowdy banger with Lisa Kekaula and Sean Escofery on vocals and old-skool Art of Noise samples.

4. “Most Precious Love (Copyright Spiritual Club Mix)” – Blaze presents Uda feat. Barbara Tucker House legend Barbara Tucker (“Beautiful People”) teams up with house legend Blaze (“How Deep is Your Love”) and Uda (?). Good thing for Blaze to give props to those who actually do the work but what does “presents” mean? (ah, yes, and it’s a good ol’ church-pew house stormer).

5. “Not Too Shabby (Jamie Lewis Goes Disco Mix)" – Cerrone (from the latest Defected mix “Bob Sinclair in the House”) “Looking good? Not too shabby, a-ha, a-ha” – Underappreciated Cerrone does the body good!

Some noteworthy new releases look back at acid house

Mr. Larry Heard, aka Mr. Fingers, aka Loose Fingers, has released a heartbrakingly beautiful CD that seems to look back at his musical career from the vantagepoint of a true legend in house music looking back at his glory days and some missed opportunities. Larry Heard / Loose Fingers' "Soundtrack From the Duality Double-Play" is split in half, "The Duality" which contains a mellow, jazzy, mostly instrumental 8-song suite; while "The Double-Play" 2nd half kick-starts with the wiggly acid groove of "What is House" (think Blaze's "Do You Remember House?" over an acid beat) and mostly sustains the groove through the end. Faves: "Transmission X," "Lamentation" (download free MP3 here legally) and "Ask Me About My Life" (sample here).

Coincidentally BBE records also released their latest "The Kings of House" 2-CD mix sessions, with one disc going to Kenny Dope and the other to Louie Vega (aka Masters at Work, aka Nuyorican Soul). Just as nostalgic for the Detroit / New York / Chicago house music scene of the 1990's, it's no surprise that Mr. Fingers' hugely influential "Can You Feel It" is here (mashed up with Sterling Void's "It's Alright" which the Pet Shop Boys would later cover). This is the sound of the West Side Piers back when the young ones were voguing their way through life (before Madonna picked it up) and, at least the Kenny Dope mix, also builds to an acid house freak out. Louie Vega goes a bit more for tribal house beats though he also goes back to basics, ending with - what do you know - Mr. Fingers' amazing "Never No More Lonely" (with vocals from the incomparable Robert Owens). Stand outs: Hercules "7 Ways to Jack", Tyree's "Acid Crash", the original version of "Strings of Life" by Rhythm is Rhythm (recently resurrected by Soul Central feat. Kathy Brown), Romanthony's "Let Me Show You Love", Blunted Dummies' "House for All" and Kerri Chandler's "Rain."