Musica: Mr. V and band perform "Welcome Home" at Cielo Tonight

Last night I was lucky enough to meet Mr. V, the beautiful Miss Patty, Alix Alvarez and Little Louie Vega at a Virgin Records in-store CD launch appearance promoting Mr. V's great "Welcome Home" CD (out now on Louie's own Vega Records in the US and on Defected in the UK).

Tonight at Cielo, Mr. V says that he'll bring a full 10-piece band to present the album properly. Should be a fun party.

A teaser from last night at Virgin: "Jus Dance"

That Chicago house sound: Peven Everett's new album

Ok, I am officially, unadulteratedly, devotedly "a fan."

Earlier this year I thought that Peven Everett had literally come out of nowhere to take over the house music scene with his playful, joyful, syncopated and funky track "Stuck." I spent weeks trying to get the "you... got... me... in... your... pow-wah, I can't decide... which... way, I'm STUCK" chorus and the additional layered scattery vocal hooks, whoa's, huh's, a-ha's, and com'on y'all's that made it such a distinctive track. No wonder the UK's powerhouse Defected picked it up for their Soul Heaven imprint and released it back in April!

Turns out though that Peven actually had a multi-album history (well, ok, a two-album history, including Studio Confessions and Latest Craze, Part. 1) and has a background that includes jazz and classical music schooling which explains his intricate melodic wit.

Well, ad one more record to the turntable: A couple of weeks ago I went over to pick up Ms. Jody Watley's new (and, sad to say, disappointing) CD and lo and behold my heart skipped a beat when I saw a brand new Peven Everett CD on display called Easy Livin' (on the independent Unified Records). The ten tracks here are more subdued and not as immediately catchy as "Love This Way," "Latest Craze" or "See Saw" (all from Latest Craze). It is also darker with formerly subdued themes of longing and desire threatening to take over the beats. The gorgeous "Don't You" is a sultry love letter to a woman on the verge of rejecting a man, "Steady Now" is an insistent plea for stability in a relationship and the title track asks a girl to let things flow after an initial meeting.

Over at Everett's myspace page, there's mention of an non-authorized "representative" making the rounds and in March he told the Chicago Sun-Times "There is such a lack of respect from companies to musicians. They don't understand that they need to work with the musicians, not that the musicians are working for them. It's with, not for" so perhaps some of these professional tensions color the mood of the new album.

Then again, maybe not. Everett tells the Sun Times that this is a "therapeutic" CD targeted specifically at 'power women:' "It's about their style of winding down... It is for women, but when women hear it, I want them to understand men." Hm, ok? It's still a stunner.

Stunning too that the biggest hit of his career, "Stuck," is also not on the CD (though I'm not sure it fits within the conceptual angle of this album). I initially had wondered if the track might have been kept from this set due to whatever contract Everett signed with Defected (yes, I think about these things way too much), but the Sun Times indicates something more intriguing might be at play: Apparently this the first of two Everett releases this year!

The next one will be called "Power Soul" and be, not surprisingly, on Defected (Everett says that it combines "elements of speed rock with soul music" and is "geared for people who like faster stuff, but who still want to be soulful").

That the Sun Times column on which the interview ran is one generally devoted to hip-hop, shows how difficult it is to categorize, much less find outlets for this type of music in the United States. Even in dance music circles, DJ Tiesto-type trance techno crap is what gets trumpeted and promoted big time. Let's hope there is some room for the Peven Everetts of this world to conquer at the very least some parts of the universe.

Groove is in the heart: Peven Everett's "Stuck"

Defected's "Soul Heaven" imprint has picked up the hottest house track out there right now and has released it as a 6-track maxi-single. The track in question? "Stuck" by Peven Everett.

Download mix samples here or buy it at the Soul Heaven link above (while it reaches these shores). It's also on the recently released "Defected in the House: Miami 2006" mixed triple-decker.

This is the kind of track that makes you stop and say "whoah!" and try to figure out where it came from. Funny thing is that Peven has been at it for years! Check out his last two CD's (as well as hear samples from tracks) at Amazon.com.

So check it out and sing it!

...you ...got ...me (well)...in your ...pow...ah
I ...can't de-cide which ...way ...I'm (what?)
...STUCK! (stuck?) wooh! (aha aha!)...

Just a classic, classic track.

In the meantime, you can also check out Peven's website which has info about his previous releases and doesn't seem to have been updated in a while. Though you can still check out some of his amzazing previous tracks.

• UPDATE: That Chicago house sound: Peven Everett's new album (Aug. 25, 2006)

Full Intention vs. Satoshi Tomiie

This week I got my hands on two of the most-awaited CD-releases so far this year (at least by yours truly). They're both super-sized (at 3 cd's per package) and they both come from the UK (big surprise). They are also efforts by two different record labels to honor the legacy of unsung dance DJ's and producers.

Under their In The House imprint, Defected has released the 2nd in their "DJ Producer Series" and this time around they have chosen to honor Full Intention - Perhaps the greatest DJ team in the world (aside from Masters at Work / Nuyorican Soul).

"Connected: 10 Years of Full Intention" is chuck-full of mostly unheard classics (at least in this side of the pond) and is as great a showcase for their amazing work. For a producing team, it must have been hard to seamlessly remix some of their best work over a period of 10 years without making the tracks sound repetitive but they have managed to integrate their sound and update some of their classics as well. Full Intention's mix of Brandy's "Full Moon?" It's there! Their take on Master at Work's "To Be in Love" featuring India? Check! But there's also Da Mob feat. Jocelyn Brown's "It's All Good," Una Mass' "I Will Follow," and their own "Can't Get Away." A 3rd 'unmixed' CD has some gold nuggets including the club mix of the Salsoul Orchestra's "Ooh, I Love It (Love Break)," Essence's "How Long" and the amazing dub mix of Satoshi Tommiie's "Tears" (featuring the amazing vocals of Robert Owens). I would have appreciated an unmixed 3-cd retrospective instead of 2 mix cd's and an umixed one and that they had left the awful Bob Sinclair "Love Generation" song outta the mix, but it's nevertheless a stellar set.

Reinaissance Records take another approach at honoring a progressive house legend on their first release under the 3D imprint devoted to Satoshi Tomiie. Instead of a 3-cd retrospective, the 1st mixed CD takes a look at Satoshi's current sound as he highlights a DJ set of current and future club hits. It's pretty retro tech-y (which means the sound of today) and that's not necessarily good. Standouts are Viper Vapour's "Only Freak," Electrochemie's "Big One," and the future classic "I Love Your Shoes" by Cass & Mangan with a great and dirty teuchtronic beat, squiggly noodles, a great fun vocal, and a warm awash of synths bubbling up behind it all. Disc two is the standout and not only because it has a brad new Satoshi mix of "Tears," but also new amazing edits and remixes of past classics from Kosheen ("Are You Hungry"), Hybrid ("Higher than a Skyscraper") and Photek ("Mine to Give" which also features Robert Owen on vocals) and Satoshi himself ("Love in Traffic" featuring the Sneaker Pimp's Kelli Ali from Satoshi's much underrated solo debut "Full Lick"). CD 3 is unmixed and features an eclectic selection of some of Satoshi's favorite songs including the Sneaker Pimp's "6 Feet Underground" and Roy Ayers "Running Away" which he names as influences.

You can check other Satoshi Tomiie productions and releases at his record production imprint SAW.RECORDINGS. Some amazing stuff there as well.

All in all both are nearly perfect packages which truly honor these legends.

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!