DISTANT MUSIC
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Soulful House and Garage
DJ Jorg ft Gary Pinto – Only
You (Blaze Remix) – Shrine Mix and Shrine Dub.
"As if the
original 'Only You' did't already remind us of the beautiful Blaze track with
it's effortless vocal harmonies, strong song writing and hypnotic drum rhythm.
So it would only be natural that Blaze would follow up with remixes of this
glorious song. And glorious this follow up is. It has a simpler and clearer
drum pattern that allows the instrumental solos to cho out in between vocal
breaks. With an added piano accompaniamnet and slightly different vocal
arrangement Blaze have touche dthis up with graceful finesse'.
This mellow and
thoughtful remix from an already great cut from last year is fully justified.
On the top side the vocal is prominent as with all good Blaze mixes (in my
view), but the mix is dreven all by the percussive beats and the choral harmony
and latiny guitar. On the dub side the intricate instrumental breaks whether
easy guitar or percussive are gently entwined between the sweet vocal harmonies
John Cutler ft Luna – Alone
The long awaited
release by Distant's own Jon Cutler with singer Luna. Already picking up plays
in the house clubs and the more upfront soul and radio outlets. Didn't hit me
at first somehow I felt the thunderous beats outweighed the vocals but hey
that's not Jon's ways and now I feel the total reverse. Strange what goes on
inside your head. The vocals are haunting and mellow yet soulful and that beat
is so melodic. One of John Cutler's great strengths in a world of so much
indifferent product is to have all the right ingredients but above that there
is a wonderful tuneful melody.
The TV Track hits to
good effect and hauntingly Alone lingers in and out
Harley & Muscle present He
Did it ft Dawn Tallman -
Original Production
byWilliam (Harley) Cataldo and Flavio (Muscle) Romainiello for H&M
Production – Executive producer of course is John Cutler. A glorious uplifting
track featuring Dawn Tallman. This is where soulful house should be and there
is no reason why such cuts shouldn't 'cross over' to the soul rooms. Beats me
why the two can't cross over, probably more to do with snobbishness than the
music
Additional mixes by
Troublemen and The Rurals. The Troublemen mix is deeper yet sparser and the
vocals are that much more prominent and th track benefits for that in my view.
Rurals mixes have a certain mellowness or melodicness to them and this is no
exception, but it's Troublemen for me.
Naked Soul ft Consuela Ivy -
Talk to Me (Naked Soul & 83 West Mixes) - Distant
Naked Soul are direct descendants of the Chicago
House scene from the early days. Their original mix of this is very chilled and
laid back, very smooth but hauntingly gorgeous. Smooth and easy but substantial
Peter and Tyrone of 83 West Records and formerly
of Traxx in Toronto take it to another level with a harder old skool vibe. Certainly
the mix for the soulful house crew, somehow the increased drum programming
brings out a stronger vocal enhanced by some string like samples.
DJ Jorj ft Gary Pinto &
Simon Grey - Only You/ Brazilian Horns (DJ Jorj Mixes) - Distant
John Cutler apparently 'discovered' DJ Jorj on an
Australian tour and these unreleased tracks. Some testimony and if they're good
enough for Jon........
Only you is a good vocal track with a very
percussive Latin feel. Gary Pinto is the singer hereon this track that features
some great instrumentation and backing vocals.
Brazil Horns featuring Simon Grey on piano and
horn solos this instrumental was recorded live. Similarly Latin in feel as the
title would suggest but the vocal cut more than edges it for me.
Patrick Green featuring Big
Brooklyn Red - Shine your light on me (Patrick Green & Restless Soul Mixes)
- Distant
Haven't been reviewing much soulful house lately
but this one recently hit me, the Patrick Green remix from Florida. Positive
soulful vocals by Big Brooklyn Red, backing vocals by Nadio Ascencio. This is
as uplifting as you get, gospel feel and well laid back jazzy groove but the
strength of the vocals bring it on home.
Phil Asher of Restless Soul mix is deeper with
organ and horn solos.
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