Life has taken a rather different turn for the Detroit native musician, DJ and producer since stepping into the world of house since 2001. Original creations for labels Jellybean, Restricted Access, Shelter, Strictly Rhythm and NRK along with faultless club mixes of Donnie’s ‘Rocketship’ and ‘Cloud 9’ to ‘Let’s Be Young’ amongst others has catapulted him into the international house forum as a main player for sometime now. Considered a star of deeper, definitive raw-edged and sometimes evocative house remixes and productions – he’s the man with the know how in turning out dance floor gems when it comes to R & B too. Quentin’s prior schooling as a trumpeter session player for Aretha Franklin by the time he was 20, preceded by an apprenticeship in his own formed MC troupe Da Bio Chemist with the then unknown members of D12, Slum Village and Eminem, later rounded off by a relocation to New York, to handle work with his group The Masterminds; stints that lead to his venture to step into remix work. An India Irie remix proved to be the break for him that gave him a major promotion by default, an opportunity like no other. Thanks to Timmy Regisford, he then became the resident DJ with him at the renowned Club Shelter. Moving on, finding time in his rather pressing schedule, 2007 was the year Quentin felt to launch his own night ‘Kiss My Black A**’. According to him it is a vision declaring confidently “I feel music is something that brings people together”. All sorts of “club kids” venture through the doors – his own homosexual leanings attract the straight one’s too, costumes freaks and party go-getters alike. They’re there for the music and to have fun. Expressing that vibe on vinyl/CD, King Street Sounds who are celebrating their 15th anniversary this year decided to take advantage of his brassy attitude by enlisting Quentin’s musical talents to add his signature stamp to the label’s 17th instalment of MTV. A great move in the right direction for house music, this mix is truly too hot to handle. Non stop is the energy, as each track represents a chapter of a story book; your gripped from the start, taken to a climax and with an ending that any diva worth her lyrical weight in words would proudly ask ‘don’t you want some more?’ The resultant project is a gritty, soul combo that is typically indicative of underground house – some long gone. Altogether, its vibe rewound me to an era of the nineties house sounds that emanated from many a London club, Feel Real being a good example. Gospel stoked songs ‘Heal My Heart’ by Kerri Chandler or the organ derived ‘Show Me’ by Urban Soul are just of the two tracks expressing deliverance – good for those caught up in the seedy murky world that club land has at times become. To work your mind into overdrive the darker, sublime repetitive driving beats and patterned template of cuts like Muzzaik Productions’s ‘Reflex’, or the hypnotic techno rhythmical slap of ‘P 2 DA J’s by Dennis Ferrer becomes sweetly entwined with Johnny Dangerous’s poem ‘Only Yourself’. Thankfully, one’s mind is renewed afresh from any likely moodiness with Carol Sylvan’s ‘Closer’ classic – the fierce bounce and groovy Dub mix from Mood II Swing became a wow highlight for me. As is KC’s ‘Hallelujah’ nugget, in addition to modern anthem ‘Touched The Sky’ which beautifully work as one in a seamless mix. It’s an inviting prelude to the mind of his forthcoming UK licensing of his highly anticipated long player ‘No Politics’.

Marcia Carr

It seems that some of us do have a heart that goes beyond living for the music, or the money to be made from it. This is great, particularly regarding the meaning, thoughts and intent on releasing this digital only album – thanks to the vision of Hiro Ishioka, KSS’s A & R man also behind the recent success of instalment 2 of Toyko Calling series. Full of poignancy; lyrics flow with sincerity that is undeniably driven by an innate faith as demonstrated on Diviniti’s soul electro stacked ‘The Reason’. As is Kenny Bobien’s inspirational and emotive falsetto signature mark that makes sound the basic of the original hymn ‘Let Us Adore Him (Come O Ye Faithful)’, adding a sense of meaning so strong even this MP3 generation can get to grips and fall in love with it. Equally gorgeous and made for those deeper house dance floor gatherings is the instrumental percussion consortium of ‘Silent Night’ – so well produced by industry house keyboardist Eric Kupper, it’s never sounded so fresh. Sparkling and glittering not only to set disco lights off all over the place, but made with the season in mind – to be cheerful, as the Afro rhythms and jamboree come alive in piano playfulness on Jihad Muhammad’s ‘It’s Holiday Time’. Noticeably, there tracks that might only get airtime during the holidays, whereas some have been so cleverly crafted and worded it won’t matter what day or time they’re played. That said, with so many stand out tracks including those of DJ Spen, Joi Cardwell, two vocal offerings from Chris Bran aka Ananda Project and the opening from Stephanie Cooke reminding us why and what we get into spirit of it all for; Jesus, family and peace. We can all indeed be spoilt for choice; Christmas can be in the house all year round.

Marcia Carr

Fourteen cuts tracking vibes and differing yet collective sounds have set an overall tone quite distinctly British, yet fittingly encompasses of these individual acts hereditary roots; spanning genres of jazz, reggae, gospel, Afro, funk, drum & bass, soul and so much in between. This long awaited follow up (the label’s this LP) showcases the talented troupe of DJ’s, vocalists, MC’s and producers birthed out of the now 6 year old club night: Broadcite Basement Sessions. An air of political incorrectness is broached on the smoothly inspirational but almost flippant flow of Leon Williams featured on the Ceramic (aka DJ Magic) produced hi hat sparked and rolling sythn patterned broken track. His big bass line track ‘Body Shock’ bounces and jumps up with masses of hi hats and drum kit loops, a huge puller for club floors. Magic’s third contribution ‘Feel The Rush’ ably assisted by the blued-eyed Black man Colonel Red is an intelligent broken creation. ‘That Touch’ (Tempo) hints at seedy bedroom talk with blended minimalist tech house. Contrastingly, Soundbwoy Killer gets tech-twisted with a slightly darker dub element set off by lashing beats and a suitable MC vox sample. Method Unique’s bashement club rhythms and popular key synths of ‘Superstar’ could easily make the UK Top Ten chart. Should that prove to be hampering for anyone’s underground charismatic style, two class offerings from up and coming young bucks called Souled; a jazzy tech beat laden ‘What Reason Do I Have To Go Back’ or the vocally energised soulful house offering ‘Waiting’ featuring Incognito’s Joy Rose are guaranteed to please any discerner of the good groove. Speaking of which, Altered Natives assembly of techy effect inserts, some inspired booming beats and the odd, unmistakable grunts from the late James Brown on ‘Tribute’ rounds up this session, that is insightful, inclusive, brimming gloriously with optimism and quality (except for a couple of tracks with unnecessary expletives) reflects a part of club land which is all about community, talent and contribution with soul feeling – the UK album market needs more projects like this.

Marcia Carr

There’s a lot to be said for home grown talent, even if this Camberwell born dancer, spitter and diva of all trades, who’s also Nigerian (because she’s lived there for more than a decade it therefore entitles her to have dual nationality)has her foot in many territories – including the US. As confusing as it may seem, this girl’s no rolling stone. Wumni’s journey through music on her debut album entitled ‘A.L.A, meaning Africans Living Abroad, is very clear in what it encompasses. Defined as a combinative reflection of where she’s been and what her experiences have birthed, by spending time in all of these places, has proved very favourable and made her a hot commodity in the dance arena. Since leaving behind her Soul II Soul days as the infamous silhouetted dancer of that ‘Back To Life’ video and being the mainstay of their crew, she then headed to New York, hooked up with the MAW boys Kenny and Louie, as well as helping out the likes of King Britt, Roy Ayers, Osunlade but became most notably a lot more recognised for her work on the Fela Kuti tributes back in the mid-late nineties. It’s some of those same Afro house rhythms along with today’s broken beat sounds and her unique Nigerian twang and broken English quirkism which her album captures with eloquent expression. Getting you on your feet there’s broken beat aplenty to be found in the presence of the politics of "Greedy Body", "Crossover (Commercialism)", while they funky fusions of the Bugz In The Attic’s Seiji was responsible for the effervescent percussion and drum production of "Good Foot Charlie". The comical lyrics of "Talk, Talk, Talk" wonderfully marries jazz and hi life as she gets to expressing the nature of man . Deep house tasters "Fanaticals" and "Sweet Lullaby" and the smooth acoustic displays on "Illegal Alien" and a few other choice selections complete this discography of inviting and tasteful collection that’s surely been a long time coming.

Marcia Carr

In less than a decade Osunlade’s become something of a phenomena to those that resolutely support the underground house scene. To be frank before 1999 I didn’t really know anything about the deep house, Afro, broken beat, soul spirited producer, DJ and musician native of New York. Setting up Yoruba Records over seven years ago, opened up many doors for him, namely acquiring himself a record and distribution deal with UK independent Soul Jazz records, which definitely helped to put him on the map following his ‘Paradigm’ debut offering for the said label. Offloading many LP, DJ mix compilations and singles for any credible label worth its salt both in England, Japan and Europe, it’s a wonder how the Nigerian ordained priest of his Ifa faith, who lived for a while in Puerto Rico and now presently resides in Greece manages to find the time come up with any fresh material as he has done on his latest ‘Elements Beyond’ magnificent project. Its shortly due for release on the new repackaged, rebranded Strictly Rhythm label – thanks to Simon Dunmore of Defected. For fans of his work expect no real surprises in terms of genres; from the minimalist approaches of dreamy techno on “139th Street”, the rather hauntingly demure ripplings of “A Monk’s Tale”, the middle eastern subtleties of “Frequencies” to the appealing disco funk homage of the seventies on “Momma’s Groove” which sit alongside each other with the greatest of ease. Other highlights include the rap timing monologue of Lotus A on the “Cream” love ballad, whereas the beats per minute drive full throttle but not manically on the Afro house musing called “April”. The one and only disappointing feature “Queen’s Battle” has a horde of foul language that totally ruins the track’s production of what could have been adopted by today’s funk devotees. As far a comebacks go Strictly have made a good move showing that they have moved with the times in the sounds of house. Kicking off with a class name as Osunlade should prove a solid investment on all sides, be you a DJ or a collector, you’ll dig this for sure.

Marcia Carr

For the south Bronx resident whose days in production started out with Damon Wild as techno producers back in the early nineties, the shape of Dance music today has developed many changing faces since Dennis’s first release. In that time his growth as an in demand producer is of itself testimony to his longevity within a rather fickle industry, but also of his ability to turn his hand at off loading successive dance floor gems of great strength; both in quality and lyrical profoundness and classy with mass appeal; as reflected in his work to date. His God given talents also display in various ways parts of who he is now, what he’s grown up on by way of music from many Black artist’s of the seventies through to a foray of influences from electronic dance of the eighties as well as dabbling with many West African Hi life sounds that have so complemented much of his classic works of the late nineties and beyond. Capturing all of the aforementioned elements and more is where is his debut double long player for King Street records comes in, so much so that a timely UK home for its release on Defected records was without question a must. For every track written and produced by Dennis bar a few co-written numbers, his skill for writing songs be it on the r & b crooning of "I Can’t Imagine", the Philadelphia enthused resonance of "Change The World" featuring Karlon Brooks Sr., or the accolades of poetical reasoning that is "Underground Is My Home", or the gospel-leanings of "How Do I Let Go" and "Run Free" reveal that speaking from the heart is the key to Ferrer’s success. It’s having a conscious to speak about the things that matter combined with a key bass line of simplicity that have made the status of the rather emotive opening cut ‘Church Lady’ the pinnacle of club hits of all the major dance floors around the world. From start to finish each track stands up for itself with a voice that has much to say as the booming bass driven beats of ‘P 2 Da J’ suggests, also the sublime techno and Afro tribal injections of ‘Transitions’ favoured by many DJ’s it blurred the lines of all house genres, just like the infectious organ thrills of ‘Son Of Raw’ a rampant foot stomp of a tune if ever there was such a template to hold up. Bonus cuts on CD are classic bullet tracks, no fillers but pure thrillers on this totally competent and impressive offering. It may be the world as Ferrer sees it but when others can see where you are coming from and share your sentiments things can only keep getting better for him and his fans.

Marcia Carr

Being championed by likes of Gilles Peterson for some time and now signed to his fledgling label is a dream come true I guess for the brilliant pianist, singer-songwriter and deejay Ben. He’s since made a name for himself with the trendy "So Good Today" taken from his said album with its Domu soul-fuelled broken beat mixes gained him notoriety amongst the heads (at Co Op shindigs amongst others), the house lovers alluring grooves came about thanks to a Part 2 twelve-inch single release of deep Afro house tipped Osunlade rubs that made it into the boxes of certain DJ’s and thereby giving the Bristolian a welcoming boost to those in the know. Ben has a definite love for soul, jazz classics and standards, drum and bass and for the original London sound of broken beat which have all made vast impressions on him. I dare say some of his productions may draw parallels to the early works of Jamiroquai when he offered a lot more soul passion in his work. However, Ben has a voice that is neither Black or urban in sound nor is it immediately obviously that of a blue-eyed soloist either. He’s not trying to be or sound like anyone he’s just keeping it real. What is original in his work is his ability to adapt melodies and bass lines of songs from yesteryear making them fresh and appealing by imprinting the technology of today’s hi tech sounds with live piano to make it work for the present generation of clubbers out there. "Get Closer" is a prime example as it effortlessly twists and turns through a busy drum and bass line and frantic rhythms with clean drops out and reverb effects behind the flashback melody of "Elevate Your Mind", a rare groove joint. Other cuts like "Bright Future" jaunts around various panned out brass sounds, some hard stepping drum licks and snares that would suitably get hardcore jazz dancers or enthusiasts of early seventies jazz styles in Jamaican reggae going on any dance floor. Similarly made for both the floor and lounge listening the r & b ethos of "Hang Around" would be a huge pop winner given some major backing, "Nothing Else" and "Dance With Me" are great stand out cuts also with potential for single’s options. Of the fifteen tracks showcased making a point of spotlighting Ben’s more sensitive and social consciousness is not forgotten and is most notable on the down tempo scribes of "Gotta Keep On", the instrumental sound of "Beauty" and the acoustical "Grey Skies". Consistency and a tight production holds this set together very well, placing this newcomer in the spotlight to hold his own with great prospects for the future. He deserves to be supported.

Marcia Carr