Take Me to a Higher Ground…
!!!! Warning: some expletives and drug references !!!
Set could have been called “15 Shades of House” or “What is House without Big Piano Keys?” But I thought I shouldn’t pass on the opportunity to give Blonde and Grant Nelson a some exposure..
14 good tracks … 13 from the last quarter of 2014.. Proud of that!
In the past few months, I have been utterly bored with Soulful and, to a certain extent, with with any non-progressive house. "Take Me to a Higher Ground" reunites me with the genre..
What changed my mind?
- Mixing it up between true soulful gems and edgier tunes with some rasp built-in gave depth and colours to my set.
- Inviting House royalty to the party did help! Grant Nelson, Richard Earnshaw, Sandy Rivera, Kings of Tomorrow, Spiritchaser, Eric Kupper and Miguel Migs.. Need I say more?
- Finally finding great, very recent tracks! “Higher Ground”, “Need 2 Know”, “Bang, Bang” and “Special”… The latter 3 released in the last fortnight and all of them in my 2014 House top five..
The pleasure to discover new tracks, associated to the relief of not having to include old ones, rekindled my interest.
There you have it.. A very decent House set to listen to! I promise it will grow on you.
Playlist:
Highlights:
“Higher Ground”: I first heard the track on Grant Nelson’s housecall. Grant had done a private edit of the Blonde’s tunes, it was clear it had anthem potential. You get a mash on my 3 favourite remixes. I am sure more will come, too much potential for other producers not to have a go. Big keys, heavy bass and an outstanding melody line.
“Need 2 Know” from Richard Earnshaw, heard it first unreleased on Jask’s ThaiSoul podcast on MixCloud.. Immediate love. Earnshaw is one of the top five house producers and never, never disappoints. As to the vocalist, Cassandra London, absolute respect. Production is immaculate.
“Bang, Bang”: Sandy Rivera, April and the KOT outfit.. Sandy and April, not sure who is the muse of the other, but very much like the previous track, this tune is intricate and goes way beyond the melody line.. I needed a wider appeal than a purely melodic one to regain interest in Soulful House.. Grant Nelson, Richard Earnshaw and Sandy Rivera just provided it.. As for April, what a vocalist! Listen every word is expressed not just sung.
“Don't Look Any Further”: old tune, new take.. My wife was cringing a bit with the tenor sax.. I had to tell her that the sugary, well-know tune needed the edge. The sax solo is not too long and without it.. It would just be another cover of a classic..
“Special” from Billon feat Maxine Ashley.. I discovered the track on Housecall # 120.. Must have been a private edit because the track was only released on the 7th of November.. I waited all that time for I wanted to use a legal cut and check out the different remixes.. So catchy! And the CamelPhat remix is perfect.. I could not resist to fuse in Grant Nelson’s edit but left the Housecall jingle to acknowledge the source. I believe I did a decent job of fusing both version.. and yes this tune is F@ckin’ Special!!!
With “Secret” we delve back into classic but recent soulful house. A track, which I think is more for the dancefloor than just podcasting.
Jumping quickly straight into a bit of U-ness and Jedset with their Mandela’s tribute to steer the set back to true soulful
“Paradise Row” from Spiritchaser.. The only relatively old tune of the set ( 2012), an old time favourite of mine and I felt I deserved dropping a classic by that time. I have to mention the vocalist, Emily Cooke, full respect!
“High Enough” , new take on an old classic.. Inaki Garcia, whom I have played a lot of tracks, gives the tuen an edge it needed to make it relevant.
“My Feelin’” from AM2PM. I discovered AM2PM on Housecall recently with a mini mix they did. It blew me away. AM2PM is a collaboration unit where the amazing singer adlib on instrumental tracks, this is House at its absolute finest.. Do to miss and go to their soundcloud page to hear how creative and amazing they sound.
“Missing You” Kupper’s Director’s Cut of the Frankie Knuckles classic.. The track would not have made the playlist if it had not been for all the rest.. This is what I mean by being bored with Soulful.. As it is and by the time it dropped, I felt it was perfectly suited to play it.. It is really all about mixing it up…
Kissin’ and Huggin’… Old househeads will immediately recognize Peter Heller’s Big Love, Boy Orlando inspiringly twisted it to Kissin’ to Huggin and Xtian had to play around with the Phill Weeks sample to had the personal naughty touch.
Last track “Let the Music Play”.. fitting ending and loving the swag, the production, the “now” feel.
Just by the length of the highlights you can see I like this set.. Give it a fair go, this is a little journey into the various colours ( hence the 15 shades) of current melodic House Music.
It will grow on you.
Next up could be another soulful though most probably will return to progressive before embarking into TranceMission Episode 03
A bientôt
Xtian
