Chris & James – Club For Life (The New Skool Balearic Mix) [1994] February 21, 2012

What a huge gurner of a track this one is, another classic from Stress Records. Its a guaranteed dance floor destroyer with that Piano riff just tearing the roof off when it drops. Right now for the life of me, I cannot remember where this accapella is from, its on the tip of my tongue and is going to bug the crap out of me for the rest of the day. That said, the rest of the track is a progressive tinged arm-waving marathon. Yes, there’s panpipes for extra cheese but we can let that one go, it was 93 after all. Cracking!

Technotronic Feat. Ya Kid K – Get Up (Before The Night Is Over) (The Wing Command Mix) [1990] January 30, 2012

Apologies for the lack of posts, ive been out of town for a couple of weeks and havent been near a computer for much of that time, bliss!

Anyway, this classic popped up on the iPhone this morning, a quality remix of the classic cut from Technotronic. Yes, the vocals havent aged well at all, were they really ever any good? However, the rest of the track is a cracker, a nice laid back bassline groove and the break lifted from Funky Drummer. Its even got the classic “woo yeah” sample in it, awesome.

Ramos, Supreme & Sunset Regime – Sunshine [1993] July 22, 2011

what a cracker from the trio of terrific tunes, Ramos, Supreme and the Sunset Regime. These fella’s were untouchable back in 93 for their uplifting hardcore tracks Gotta Believe and Sunshine. Its got a very faint cheese aroma, thanks to the box throwing sounds of the introductory synth riff. But get past this and your laughing, the riff is dropped early on for the squelchy bassline, strings and some piano business. Then the vocal drops and your head explodes. Later years had DJ’s pitching this up 15-20% to please the kids but be honest now folks, the breaky, stompy uplifting original speed is where its at. Classic.

Bizzare Inc – Playing With Knives (The Climax) [1991] July 12, 2011

The perfecty antidote to the full force (and awesome) cheese assault of the original, The Climax mix is a wholly different beat. Slower in tempo, more laid back and chock full of crowd pleasing vocal clips from Kariyah, Holloway et al. Still plenty of cheddar to be had but to be honest, its a cracking piano led track thats just so easy to love.

The Breakfastaz – Kick It [2004] April 6, 2011

Ive not been the biggest fan of the Breakfastaz, strange given my near fanatical devotion to the breakbeat, however this slice of banging cheese is one of my guilty pleasures. Its an unapologetic arm waver with some cracking bassline and break work. Its not too complicated, like Ronseal…. it does exactly what it says on the tin.

X-Static – Free [1991] April 4, 2011

Oh yes, y’all know this. The track samples the cracking vocal hook of “The sounds in the air will make you move and groove” from Jomanda’s On Top (Of The Groove) from 1986. It then drops in a great rumbling moog-y bassline and rolling break, tosses in that synth riff that is so cheesetastic you cant help but grin and then tops it off with a piano riff that can rip the roof off any place. The pace was slow enough that you could find it mixed into house sets, bridging different hardcore break tempo’s and drops very nicely into an array of R&S techno releases from around the same time. An oft overlooked classic.

Cappella – Take Me Away (Feat Loleatta Holloway) [1991] March 24, 2011

Some love it, some hate it but the eurodance sound was everywhere between 91 and 94 and Capella sat right on top of the pile with this banger. Thankfully, Pierre Feroldi actually licenced Holloways accapella for this release.

RIP Loleatta Holloway March 22, 2011

Its a sad sad day for music. We lost one of the truly great female vocalists. In this day of autotune and refined marketability, Holloway continued to find cuts of her vocals in all manner of music, in many cases without any financial compensation. Her voice remains one of the most sampled in the history of music with Love Sensation being one of the most prolific accapella’s of all time.

I grew up with Loleatta Holloway’s voice, from the originals back in the early to mid Eighties to the rise of the sampler and House & Garage tunes from 1987 onwards. From that point on, I dont think ive heard more than 20 different electronic tracks before I find one with a vocal from Holloway. Ive lost the plot with her, i’ve danced around a field with her voice floating across the fields, heard in raves, mixtapes, hardcore, house, drum & bass, commercials, movie trailers, on my ipod about four times a day and i’d hazard a guess that she was playing the day I got married. There are very few artists that I know of that can claim to have been in the collective audio unconscious of sample based music lovers for almost four decades.

She was one of the truly great vocalists of our time and one that will be very sorely missed by me. In an effort to do any kind of justice to this memory, lets get the music underway.

RIP Loleatta Holloway, you were fucking amazing.

Digital Orgasm – Running Out Of Time (Rave Mix) [1991] March 8, 2011

Ah yes, you do remember this one though dont you! Another decent track from Maurice Engelen and Nikkie Van Lierop aka Digital Orgasm. Plenty of collaboration from Praga Khan as well, as if you couldnt tell! Get in!

Shauna Davis – Get Away (Stonebridge & Nick Nice Club Mix) [1995] March 3, 2011

Alright, grab your waistcoats, chuck on your very best satin shirt, ladies, grab your furry bra’s, we’re going back to the heyday of club tunes, mega-clubs and bouncy cheddar filled tunes. Total classic bouncy house track with a storming vocal from Shauna Davis, pre-requisite low end moog bassline riff and a pounding kick drum. I always find it amazing that while the drum & bass at this time was dark as shit, house had swung the complete other direction and was pushing the envelope of fluffy bunny cheese. Hell, crank the bpm up 30% and it will sound like Happy hardcore!