This month's guest reviewers are the ones & twos, a techno & house tag-team from Toronto, Canada. (Click on the link for contact & realaudio sets).
Copyright © 1999 Scott Lazaruk. Reprinted with permission.Glenn Underground / A Story of Deepness / Nitelife Collective NLC007Chicago's Nite Life Collective keeps up its perfect record of fine deep house releases on this latest album from Glenn Underground. Quite a range of late night grooves, disco funk, and strong soulful tracks to be found in the smooth saxxy "Strong Island Jaz" and haunting vocal "Motherless Child". Other standout picks was the gospel garage hymn "Solomon's Song", the latin jazz influenced "GU's Fingertips" and "Come On", and with it's deep disco vocals and keys. All in all a great release. 4/5
Drivetrain / Paradise Lost & Regained / Soiree SRT-130X
http://www.soireerecords.comDrivetrain delivers a quality 12" of deep house on the latest release from Detroit's Soiree Records. "Paradise Millenium" opens up with a catchy vocal hook and gradually builds through layers of percussion into a full-on tribal pump. "Paradise Forever" starts off with a strong deep bassline and drops deep techhouse synths and sparse vocal samples into the mix. Both of these tracks retain a deep dubby feel while retaining lots of energy in the mix and on the dancefloor. 5/5
Norm Talley / Two Tone / Nouveau Riche Entertainment NRE-008
http://www.nouveau-riche.comNorm Talley drops another fine techno & house release, this time on the new Nouveau Riche Entertainment which opened up with a release by Eddie Fowlkes. "Join Hands" is a melancholy keys groover with a late night feel, while "Get Up", the inside cut, gets more upbeat with its "gotta get up" vocal sample. Good stuff, but flip it over to hear "The Journey", with its "old-movie" (there's no other way to describe it, really) synths and killer percussion. Look out for Mr. Talley's releases, I haven't heard one yet that wasn't quality. 4/5
