02 July 2002

New Progressive House is up and online at Primalrecords.com, this time with quite a few bits for the proper house heads in tow. Leftfield and breakbeat fans will want to start with Night Works, the latest album from Layo & Bushwacka!. Tribal house enthusiasts will need the latest 12-inch from esteemed UK production duo Peace Division. And new releases from Echomen, Chris Lum, Luke Fair, and Chris Fortier lead off this week's picks:

V/A (CHRIS FORTIER) Bedrock Compiled & Unmixed Vol. 3 2x12" Pt.1 (feat. Chris Fortier, Jay Tripwire, Haris, Kolo, Meat Katie, and Amani vs. Teapot) / 2x12" Pt. 2 (feat. Graham & Porter, Thomas Penton & Luis Duran, Drum Club, Women Of Color, Choc Electrique, Ben Camp) Bedrock He owns Fade Records and is co-owner of Balance Promote--the DJ record pool and booking agency practically responsible for progressive house in the US. Now, Chris Fortier has been given the enviable position of being the third DJ asked to mix a Bedrock compilation, following Jimmy Van M and John Digweed himself. Here, Bedrock releases not one, but two unmixed vinyl sets from the mix. Part 1 reflects Fortier's tech-house warm-up disc and features hard-to-find material from Vancouver's Jay Tripwire, UK tech-house man of the moment Haris, nu-school breakbeat wizard Meat Katie, and Fortier himself, amongst others. The vibe is deep, minimal, and groovy on this one. The second set of material brings up the tempo and the ambience with a round of classy deep progressive material including a classic mix from Guerilla favorites Drum Club, an astounding Illinton remix of Choc Electrique's "Edge Of Time," and--worth the cover price alone--a climactic standout and premier collaboration between Steve Porter and John "Quivver" Graham.

http://www.bedrock.org.uk

LUKE FAIR "Kritical / Let U Know" Bedrock Black Luke Fair first made a name for himself last year with a massive bootleg white label mix of U2's "Silver & Gold" that resulted in a deluge of remix offers--including a remix of Max Graham's latest for Hope, also out this week. Here, Bedrock's Black label scores with an original two-tracker from this Canadian hopeful. Dub and reggae-influenced house fans will no doubt hop on "Kritical"--an echoplexed and bass-heavy dub-houser that will most likely crossover with Garth, Rob Paine, and the like. "Let U Know" kicks things back into progressive gear with a stark, but ravaging sequence that is dark and dirty without being dirgy and stale. A soulful vocal sample adds the human element, reminiscient
of Tenaglia's "Hard & Soul"-era of production.

http://www.bedrock.org.uk

ECHOMEN "Truth" Pt. 1 (Original & Weekend World Mxs) / Pt. 2 (Chris Lum & Northern Lite Mxs) Hooj Choons Hot on the heels of releases for Airtight and End Recordings, Chris Scott of Lexicon Avenue cranks out a new track under his Echomen guise with Anton Fielding, this time for the lads at Hooj. The result is "Truth," which truth be told, sounds a hell of a lot like New Order. And that's a good thing! Danny Howells and 16B are giving the early support here. Meanwhile, on the flip, Weekend World gets a lot funkier than we've come to expect and hands in a deep and ambient mix that captures more of the eerier elements of the original while retaining its inbred hypnotic side. For Part 2, Hooj enlists San Francisco house maven Chris Lum to stamp his trademark Moulton Studios sound into the mix and he does not disappoint. German electro-synth producers Northern Lite round off the package with an '80s-styled re-lick that recalls some of the era's best--bringing out that inner Pet Shop Boy.

http://www.hoojchoons.co.uk

Also in this week are new remixes and production work from Little Green Men (Chris Scott and his Lexicon Avenue partner Scott Bradford), Nils Hess, Jade, Max Graham, Jondi & Spesh with Brian Stillwater, Praha, Bill Hamel with Swain & Snell, Silicone Soul, Blackwatch, and up-and-coming UK DJ Paolo Mojo. New label releases from Tune-Inn, Mechanism, Automatic, Sunkissed, Method, Hope Recordings, Prolekult, and Platipus are also in.

New House music forthcoming including new releases from Lawnchair Generals,
Tony Senghore's "Hey Chica" remixed by Derrick Carter, and exclusive white label action from Grayhound--this time featuring DJ Garth and Markie Mark's latest. Watch this space.

(Norman Arenas)

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