This week's first update is online now at Primalrecords.com, featuring a healthy clutch of new and restocked material to add to the catalog and a pair of exclusive promos from our friends at Nightshift and Xplosion. You'll also get first crack at the latest releases from Boston's up-and-coming Mother Tongue imprint, including a new EP from Steve Porter & Eli Wilkie's Agent 001 project that hasn't left my personal box in weeks. Here's the hit list:

DJ ALI "Why Not? / Selecta / Where The G At?" Nightshift (Promo) [House, Tech-house] Primal's official producer-to-watch in 2003 according to our year-end polls, Vancouver's DJ Ali made 2002 that much better with a batch of crucial releases for Village and Leaf, among others. Here, Ali makes his debut for Tony Hewitt & Hipp-E's Nightshift label and this 3-tracker keeps his winning streak on an unabated roll. "Why Not?" is the hands-down standout here, dropping a classy vocal tech-house groover in the vein of last year's brilliant "You Don't Know," while "Selecta" is a sub-woofing funky breaks track of the highest caliber--surely one for the Tyrant Soundsystem boys. The EP rounds things off with "Where The G At?," a tripped-out cut with a dub/reggae attitude and genuinely twisted demeanor. Fantastic.

www.tangorecordings.com/ns/ns_main.html

FEX "Lo Hand" (Original & Marcello Castelli Mxs) Xplosion (Promo) [Progressive, Tribal] Florida's Xplosion imprint is certainly shaping up to be one of America's premier progressive house labels. With their fifth release, here on exclusive pre-release white label, Infusion's Frank Xavier returns under his Fex moniker, crossing tribal house patterns with Infusion's trademark techy breaks influence for a tasty peak-time affair. On the flip, Uruguay's Marcelo Castelli reinterprets the original with the kind
of dark and dirty tribal house that propelled his previous releases for Kismet, Hooj, and Low Pressings to the forefront of the burgeoning tribal progressive movement. Though it's tough to pick favorites, Marcelo's organic percussion and obvious love for classic New York house music just about edges the original mix for me. Either way, you're in good hands.

www.xplosionrecords.com

AGENT 001 "Daniel Wiggy / Acid What?" Mother Tongue [House, Tribal, Tech-house] Boston's Mother Tongue imprint is making quite the comeback this year with releases from Joeski and HDF & Bons already finding love from Primal customers here and abroad. This record, however, is the one I've been waiting for. Boston producers Steve Porter and Eli Wilkie become Agent 001 for this 2-track EP and the results are devastating. "Daniel Wiggy" is perhaps the first tech-house track I've ever heard with steel drums, and believe me, it works. No fluffy pseudo-Carribeanisms here; just rude beats and a deep, rumbling b-line anchoring the outdoor vibe for a perfect summer track. Side B goes deep and dark, and this is the one I've been hammering: Though "Acid What?," sadly, contains no acid, it does feature a Solomonic-like dub bass that literally owns every soundsystem it breathes into. Toss in a few sinister stabs and a classic Cevin Fisher sample, and you've got a tribal tech-house attention-grabber with a long shelf life.

www.growroomrecords.com

P'TAAH "The Oldest Story" (Swag & Tauriva Rmxs) Ubiquity [House, Tech-house] Chris Brann's P'taah alter-ego recently released an excellent downbeat album for the Ubiquity label. Here, the excellent first single gets reworked by Tauriva and UK tech-house pioneers Swag with stunning results. On Side A, Swag gives us a broken beat vocal mix that is perfect for early night lounging, while Tauriva gives it a quality deep house rub with a slightly disco flair. Still, club jocks will be heading straight for the flip: Swag's Version Dub will most likely become a classic remix in this duo's canon, finding its balance between the sexed-and-echoplexed original vocal and a tweaked out, jacked up backing track that is tres robotique. Simultaneously deep and dancefloor-minded, Swag once again prove their mettle as one of house music's greatest ever production outfits. (And by the way, this one's limited edition!)

www.swag-uk.net

Also new this week is remix and production work from Dopey (on limited promo only, remixed by Liam Shachar), Tony Thomas, Angel Alanis (remixed by Jay Walker and Vitamin D), Superpitcher, Haris, D. Ramirez, Toka, Pal Joey (featuring Danny Krivit edits), Jondi & Spesh, Adam Beyer & Henrik B, Hyper (remixed by Noel Sanger),Sly Fidelity & Club Foot, Overstreet, and much more.

New label output from Looq, Solmatic, Royal Drums, Kompakt, Vudu, Klang, Oblong, Acetate, Bosh, Sole Music, Trapez, and Mother Tongue Limited, among others, is also in.

As for restocks, we've got full release copies of Tony Hewitt & Blakkat's excellent collaboration as The Lewis Twins for Tango, limited promo copies of The High Plains Drifters EP (featuring Dizzy and Natural Rhythm's Thomas White) for Lowdown, and select titles from the Pacific Coast House labels all back in. (A full PCH restock with in-demand titles from Lance Desardi is forthcoming!)

Coming on Thursday: New releases from Buck, Joshua Collins, Chris Lum, and ultra-limited white label music from Jay-J & Julius Papp. Stay tuned and be good.

(Norman Arenas)