Spirit of House

Montreal's own Carl 'IndySoul' Guerrard and singer Wayne Tennant join forces for the gorgeous "I'm done", a smoothly thumpin' production featuring delectable keys and deeply felt vocals guaranteed to send shivers down your spine. To top it all off, the package comes complete with an incredible selection of soulful remixes by Adam 'Suges' Sugar, Gene King, Micheal Terzian and Franceso Gori all adding their signature touch, a raw'n'gritty dub by Guerilla Science and an 80's inspired synth fueled remix by Daniel Guetta (it brought back memories of Human League's 1981 classic "Don't you want me" with us). Highly recommended.

"Live your life" is the second in a series of collaborations between SoulfulBeats and producer/song writer/vocalist Erik Rico, and this beauty continues what "Tonight" started a couple of months ago. Once again Erik Rico impresses with an expressive performance which is combined with a funk soaked backdrop and phat keys on Matt Hughes 'Trel-Lik' version. Anthony Nicholson and PowderSoul take the song to heaven with their remixes: Anthony Nicholson serves an exquisite deep melodious version, while PowderSoul contributes a captivating underground-esque dub workout.

The wait is over and "Out of the blue" (which we exclusively reviewed back in May 2011) is finally here in its full glory. Gene King teams up with spoken word artist Tantra Zawadi and singer Dana Byrd to bless us with this delightful production featuring sultry keys, insightful vocals and gentle poetic spoken words over a smooth yet captivating percussive groove in the original version. Patrick Parades, Adam 'Suges' Sugar, Francesco Gori, Fred Bouchard, Joe Rizla and Plusgroove (Nick Tolentino) are the lucky ones chosen to lay their magic touch on this wonderful song, giving you plenty of choices to work the floor. A timeless soulful release not to be missed.

In a couple of weeks, BBE Records will release a Disco compilation which, in its own right, would be a rather common thing. But considering the tracks were selected by none other than Johnny 'D' DeMairo who also contributes a continuous mix to let you experience his unique style, this is going to be something truly special. This is not the regular selection of often heard, overrated or reputed to be Disco classics; what you get are the tracks that would inform Henry Street (the seminal label he set up with Tommy Musto in 1993 where the particles of classic Disco and the four-to-the-floor throb of house music were smashed together to create something new), the tracks found deep within the complex strings of its DNA, the tracks championed by Shep Pettibone on his legendary radio show on 98.7 Kiss or by underrated DJ Leroy Washington at Studio 54, or those dredged from crates across the city. Half-heard anthems from Italy tracked down through forensic research in the record shops of the five boroughs, rare dub versions of classics that you won't be finding on eBay anytime soon. Another fantastic from our friends at BBE.

Solid Ground Records continue to bless us with nothing but the best in soulful house music - we are sure you will agree with use once you listen to their "2012 Miami Sampler", a truly amazing package which features the creme de la creme of house music artists such as Danny Clark & Jay Benham, Jocelyn Mathieu, Jonny Montana, Dawn Williams, Distant People, Nickson, Nicole Mitchell, Bah Samba, Fabio Tosti, Dom Navarra and Michael Procter to name just a few, not to forget to mention Frankie Feliciano, Ian Friday, Manoo, William 'ReelSoul' Rodriguez and Yass who have been chosen to lay their magic touch on some of the tracks. Quite honestly, we are having a hard time picking a favorite as from beginning to the end, this is pure soulful heaven guaranteed to make you yearn for more. Highly recommended to be put on top of your shopping list.

We have to admit we almost missed out on the wonderful "Lovely bird" by the inimitable William Scott who impresses with his heartfelt rendition of the lyrics. This tremendous release comes with a phenomenal selection of soulful yet incredibly infectious four-to-the-floor interpretations of the song from such illustrious names as Tony Loreto, Mark Di Meo, Geoffrey C, DJ Pope, DJ Carl Vee, The Funklovers and Fabrizio Colasanti, all adding their enticing signature touch to the song, making it near to impossible to pick a favorite version as all of them are outstanding. In simple words: soulful house at its best, essential and timeless. Nuff said.