03 July 2002

As promised, new House music is up and online now at Primalrecords.com, with this week's charge being led by a grip of strong new releases from Dizzy, Cajmere, Jay-J & Chris Lum, and Guillaume La Tortue's Absolute Family project. This week's hitlist, however, gets started with another Primal Records exclusive white label pre-release--and this one, my friends, is massive.

DJ GARTH & MARKIE MARK "The Anthem" Grayhound (Promo) This white label is literally so hot off the presses that we don't even really know for sure what the names of these tracks are. Barrie handed me a CDR of this EP about a month back, it was labeled "The Anthem," and that's what we're sticking with here until we know for sure. Because if it's not actually called "The Anthem"... well, it should be. Here, Garth teams up with longtime Wicked cohort Markie Mark for a quality 3-tracker of truly anthemic proportion--the kind of track you would have heard in a dank Chicago warehouse or at a vast field gathering outside of London somewhere in 1987. Acid, groove, an uplifting vocal sample that distributes the vibe in droves--let's face it: This is the best thing Garth has laid his hands on since "20 Minutes Of Disco Glory."

http://www.grayhound.net

HANNA "Time" (Original & Lawnchair Original Mxs) Viva Jon Lemmon and Johnny Fiasco's Viva imprint returns with their first release since Chorduroy Music's "Stealth Jazz." Here's one for being worth the wait: Hanna (the production guise of Warren Harris) contributes "Time," a deeply soulful house cut that will most likely be finding itself in the capable hands of traditional heads like David Harness and Ron Carroll. Check the flip for Carlos Mendoza's faultless Lawnchair Generals mix, my pick for this week. Keeping it deep, but stepping things up a notch, Doza puts the original into a techy post-modern context with tougher beats, dubby vocal snippets, and ethereal key stabs that keep the original's earthy ambience. Expect David Duriez, Mazi, and Natural Rhythm to agree.

http://www.viva-recordings.com

ANDREW MACARI "Time and Space" EP Nordic Trax If you don't know the name yet, you should. Nottingham-based Andrew Macari started his production career in the mid-90s as one half of Flow, the bulk of whose recording output was issued by Clive Henry's Low Pressings label. Macari then went on to join the much bally-hooed Toka Project alongside Andrew Riley of Inland Knights. And when he isn't busy doing that, he's off making music with Jay-J or Blakkat under his Filter Flow guise. With the "Time & Space" EP, Macari demonstrates sheer versatility: "Seven Of Nine" is a pumping funky tribal houser that brings Alex Dean's Souldoubt project to mind, while "Trek-House" heeds comparisons to his Moulton Studios cronies--deep, rhythmic, and sexy.
Vancouver's Nordic Trax is, once again, on point.

http://www.nordictrax.com

CLYDE BUILT PROJECT "Do It 2 Me" (Original & Moody B Mxs) Deep Freeze This one's my vanity pick. It would be really easy for you to skip on by this one, but I felt compelled to point it out. Body & Soul-types will flock to Moody B's percussive disco remix, but funky house DJs should be playing the hell out of the original. If you've ever believed that a track should be able to work when it's stripped down to the bare essentials, then this is exhibit A in your next argument. Wonderfully minimal house with a potent drum groove (and occasional funky breakbeat) riding underneath brilliant
mutating bass lines to propel a track that could literally find itself anywhere in a set--early, late, peak-time, in the mix. This will be in my box for a long time to come.

New remix and production work from Mazi & Nathan Drew Larsen, Noel Nanton, Sir Drew, Nail, Toka Project, Wally Lopez, Greenskeepers, DJ Sense, Charles Webster, Freaks, Terry Francis, Peace Division, Chicken Lips, Josh Wink, and lots more are also in this week, as is the latest unmixed vinyl version of the latest mixed CD from Omid "16B" Nourizadeh for Alola and (finally!) the long-awaited Derrick Carter mixes of "Hey Chica" by Tony Senghore for Moody. Not to be left out, new label releases from Bluem, Airtight, Transport, Tweekin, Northern Lights, Dessous, Silver Network, and DIY Discs are also in, as are white label mixes from Prince and Pink and much more.

Coming soon: Primal Records' official label relaunch and exclusive white label copies of our first new release in over a year. It's Phil Weeks and Hector Moralez as Fries & Bridges, and it's getting amazing early support. Be the first to find out why, only from Primalrecords.com.

Be good!

(Norman Arenas)