The week's second update is online now at Primalrecords.com, and this week we're starting things off with an exclusive joint release between Primal and 360, a brand new release from our cheeky Alaskan buddies over at Igloo Music, and--progressive housers take note--extremely limited edition white label copies of Void's "Orcana," remixed by London's Hellpass. (If you're waiting for the official release of Primal's Fries & Bridges EP--and it's worth the wait!--you might want to satisfy your trainspotting tendencies by listening to the Real Audio of this one. Hot like the sun!)

Here's a quickie peek:

DARKHORSE feat. ISRAEL "Move On" (Original, Dub, and Darkhorse vs. Minimal Bob Mxs) Primal / 360 [House, Leftfield] Primal Records teams up with the reputable 360 label for the latest dub-inflected houser from Bay Area DJ/producer Darkhorse. Featuring vocals from local reggae icon Israel, "Move On" is a percussive dub excursion of the highest caliber--stylistically finding itself somewhere in between the Idjut Boys and the Wicked Crew. To cap it off, Minimal Bob--that ever-elusive producer famous for his Primal collaborations with Mephisto Odyssey and T-Collective--chimes in for a stripped down tribal mix that should have the Danny Krivit set moving, rounding out a truly solid 3-tracker for deep and dubby house devotees.

www.primalrecords.com

KOKEE "THE NOSE" ANU, KORIN LADKE & ESKIMO X "Outter City / Lie-f / Boogie / Psycho" Igloo Music [House] Those crazy nutters from Chica... umm... Anchorage, Alaska--yeah, that's it!--shell out the third release for the always-hot Igloo Music label, this time taking on everyone from Tweet to the Talking Heads, among others. If you're not familiar with their M.O., then you're missing some of the best cheeky remix jobs ever. (Surely you've heard Derrick Carter hammering Kokee's blinding remix of Thompson Twins' "Lies," haven't you?) It certainly has a lot of Chicago feel for a pair of Alaskan producers, but I guess they travel around a bunch. This will go out of print, so if you want it, act fast.

DEMARKUS LEWIS "Why U Wanna?" Fair Park [House] After a series of excellent records for Bluem and Alluv, amongst others, Demarkus Lewis brings it home with something new for the Fair Park label. "Why U Wanna?" is deep house music at its best, drawing together a hypnotic groove underneath graceful keys and a friendly pulsating bass line. James Patton & Sean Holland offer a pair of remixes for the flipside, but they obviously didn't feel too much of a need to improve on the original; besides a slight toughening of the beats, the remixes stay quite true to Lewis' original intent. Perfect for early evening or afterhours, but amazingly versatile, Demarkus Lewis retains his reputation as a dependable craftsman.

VOID "Orcana" (Hellpass' High Pleasure Rmx) White Label [Progressive] Andrew "Hellpass" Byrne has made quite the name for himself in the remix world. First there was his updated take on Orbital's "Chime" (cleverly titled "Orbital Crime") which was absolutely massive this time last year. Then came his "Little Cheeky Clouds" release for the FIRE 999 limited label which brought the Orb's "Little Fluffy Clouds" from its post as the quintessential atmospheric techno cut, and morphed it into a peak-time progressive house hit. This time, Byrne sprinkes his fairy dust on Void's "Orcana"--a track that also found recent resuscitation as a sample for Fries & Bridges' "Closer Love." The verdict? It's a dark and brooding progressive houser that finds its light at the end of the tunnel, using the original vocal as an incredibly effective building tool allowing the track to climax in an organic, heartfelt way. Sasha & Digweed have been playing the CDR for some time now; these white labels are limited to 500 copies and we're limited to our own small pile, meaning that it's first come, first serve on this one.

www.hellpass.co.uk

Also new with this update is remix and production work from SCSI-9, Hakan Lidbo, Jordan Fields, Charles Webster (oh God, this one is amazing!), DJ Stryke, John Tejada, Larry Heard, and much more.

On the label front, we're looking at new releases from Ovum, Mo' Wax, Forcetracks, Distance, Camouflage, Subscience, and more.

Until next week, be good!

(Norman Arenas)