Kerri Chandler reaches way back to his 1993 release Atmosphere EP on Shelter Records and comes up with a handful of gold. "Track 1" is widely considered one of Kerri's finest instrumental releases, and it brought back a flood of memories of the old school days before Techno and House hit a fork in the road and DJs easily mixed tracks from Chicago, New York, Detroit and Berlin in the same set. This new package of five mixes seems almost an individual challenge by Kerri to see just how versatile he can be, with mixes ranging from the ultra deep Bigga Mix... read more ⇢

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Welcome to the June 15, 2009 edition of New Mix Monday, 5 Magazine's signature DJ mix series, giving you a new mix every week from some of the stars of House Music as well as Chicago's up-and-coming talent. We're thrilled beyond belief this week to feature this new mix by Jamie Lewis. Jamie's released a stagger number of hot releases over the years, and features many more on his A list label, Purple Music. He began DJing on the Swiss club circuit in 1985 and exploded in popularity with the release of his first productions on UMM and Definitive in the early 1990s. Purple Music followed in 1997, and it's now considered one of the top House Music labels in the world. Jamie's also kept up a busy touring schedule and a hand in remix projects on Defected, MN2S, Salted, Soulfuric and many others... listen ⇢

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You remember the original, and you'll no doubt experience those 1980s suicide keyboard riffs going through your head again now that I've mentioned Teena Marie's "Lover Girl". Sunshine Jones loves up the original track in this re-edit with a juicy bubble of a 303 bassline (muted, for sure - don't expect a wild pitch). I wouldn't exactly call it retro as much as a spirited reinvention of the original. permalink ⇢

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Aphrodisiax are a relatively new combo out of west London, made up by the DJ/production team of Gavin Peters and Sy Sez and generating a lot of heat from the likes of Phil Asher, Louie Vega and the like. This EP actually contains 4 distinct tracks without remix or DJ tool filler (imagine that!) There's a heavy tribal vibe to the A side tracks "Unfinished Business" and "Keep It Movin'", both instrumental shakers with a moody, mental vibe. On the flipside, "My Getaway" is more up-tempo and energetic - similar in some ways to early Ron Trent/Prescription Records productions. I don't know if this is the "future sound of London" but these are mini-masterpieces of tribal deep house. permalink ⇢

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This is the third release on LA-based S.O.W.A.T. Music and the 2nd by Atnarko - an impressive run for a label that just debuted four or five months ago. The original mix is a funky house stomper with high enough atmospherics but a tight enough snare to sound gorgeous on small and big room systems alike. Hot remixer Jay West gets souled up on the remix, smoothing the sharp edges on a classic-sounding remix. His Deeper Mix is seriously polished enough to elicit play on commercial radio - this is just a great track for the middle of a mix. permalink ⇢

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This is some deep tribal funk from Alton Miller. If you're a fan of deep house, I don't know how you could sleep on this one. The production sound is thick and the drums in the original mix are muted. The Seed in the City Space Edit (nice one!) is, as you might expect from that wonderful name, spacier but still deep. Seed is releasing some terrific music on this end of the spectrum these days and this is another good print. permalink ⇢

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Atnarko and Jevne - two of the top remixers in House lately - combine here for an original production (interestingly, all of the four released remixes are done by others) on Onethirty, Jevne's home imprint. This is a juicy slab of funky house and most of the remixes that don't stray too far from the spiritual groove of the original. Ben Tom contributes a superb deep house mix with beautiful shimmering keys. The sharp, funky bass is preserved across the spectrum of flavors, but the Replika remix just has that cool moodiness that creates the vibe of a good room. permalink ⇢

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This new single represents a bit of a comeback for Tony Records, being their first release of 2009. This marks a bit of a comeback for Chicago producer Big Ed (aka H.E. Matthews) too - one of the cats whose name comes up constantly in conversations with the hot Chicago producers of the 1990s, from Mike Dunn, Ron Carroll and other friends and family. His best known track from that era is probably 1996's "Do Me a Favor" featuring Dana on Cajual - DJ Pope and Lil' John Coleman had a hand in the production of what became a Red Dog classic. The main mix features spoken word in the forefront over a simply gorgeous layered background chorus. There's a hot disco groove to all of the mixes. Favorites here are the minimal dub and the two remixes by Tony Records' "Italian Connection", Tony Loreto and Jacko. permalink ⇢

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Not sure what to make of this one. As described in our DJ Dealer interview this month, Defected often recycles and I'm not sure this package is enough to equal "sale" for most DJs. Sandy's 09 Remix is pretty atmospheric and loaded with fader FX. The DJ tools and acappella are probably worth it if you're a fan. permalink ⇢

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This week's episode of the 5 Magazine Radio Show, hosted by 5 Magazine editrix Czarina Mirani and DJ Rees Urban and featuring a tribute to the 1990s: the Golden Age of Chicago House Music. listen ⇢

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On Tuesday evening Andre Hatchett and his little party gang came over my house for a special project: him and Rees Urban were recording a joint mix cd for the upcoming party featuring them on Thursday, June 25th. We were excited because we finally managed to lock Andre down...and all we had to do was essentially throw a mini-party. There was Linda Redd, Derrick, Ojay, Steve and Angie. Later on Lito came by along with Rees' friends Steve and Mike. There was food, lots of drinks and lots of lots. I even took out my big disco ball and strobe lights to give a bigger fiesta feel. read more ⇢

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FROM GERMANY - a country characterized in the US by hard techno and day-glo raves - Ralf GUM (discography, myspace, facebook) is one of the top Deep House producers in the world. Last year he released his first album, Uniting Music - a tour de force of soulful House which spawned a torrent of hits, including "Kissing Strangers" with Monique Bingham and "What I Like (About You)" with Inaya Day. Ralf's label, GOGO Music, is likewise a beacon of soulful House in Europe, with a consistency of releases representing the creme de la creme of today's top producers, from Raw Artistic Soul to South Africa's Blackcoffee to Andy Compton and Ralf's collaborations with Monique, Inaya, Diamondancer, Wunmi and other vocalists. His remixes have been released on labels from Defected to Peppermint Jam, and his DJ skills (honed by nearly 20 years of spinning records) have taken him around the world... read more ⇢

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Welcome to this week's edition of New Mix Monday, 5 Magazine's signature DJ mix series, giving you a new mix every week from some of the stars of House Music as well as Chicago's up-and-coming talent.

Known for the staggering number of quality releases with The Rurals (more than 70 singles and 12 LPs that should be in the crate of every serious Deep House DJ), Andy is one of the most respected House Music producers in the UK. Now establishing himself as a solo artist, his recent release "Above the Sky" on Ralf GUM's GoGo Music earned rave reviews, from this mag among others. The full playlist is below... listen ⇢

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A proud "re-plant" to Chicago, DJ Dealer recently moved back to his former childhood home after spending much of his musical career in Denver. It was there that he built an incomparable reputation as a solo artist in addition to being part of Pound Boys, the powerhouse production duo with his former partner, Craig C. Dealer has over 100 releases spanning 12 years on his Look At You record label alone, and has worked with many of the top House vocalists, including Inaya Day, Lisa Millet, Byron Stingily and Dajae... read more ⇢

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Welcome to this week's edition of New Mix Monday, 5 Magazine's signature DJ mix series, giving you a new mix every week from some of the stars of House Music as well as Chicago's up-and-coming talent.

Based in Philadelphia, Dirty uses his multicultural upbringing to pioneer new ground in today's dance music culture. His monthly 4AM Party has been highly successful... listen ⇢

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This week's episode of the 5 Magazine Radio Show, hosted by 5 Magazine editrix Czarina Mirani and DJ Rees Urban. listen ⇢

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Last weekend I did a last minute trip to New York, which was so very needed for me and my sanity. That city is my muse, and the economy has kept me from going there as often as I'd like. Watching dance classes, clocking in countless walking miles and painful Chinese massages were some of the treats I indulged in.

This past Friday, 3 very talented musicians from Brooklyn called Tortured Soul performed at the Double Door. Always a crowd favorite, this must have been the 5th time I've caught their show. I interviewed them briefly backstage before the show, so look out for their cover story in next month's issue. read more ⇢

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Welcome to this week's edition of New Mix Monday, 5 Magazine's signature DJ mix series, giving you a new mix every week from some of the stars of House Music as well as Chicago's up-and-coming talent.

When I asked Mike Dunn if he could contribute a mix for this month's issue, he asked what style we wanted. "I wouldn't tell Picasso how to paint" I said, and that was my only possible response. Mike's delivered with 1:18:28 of audio mastery, with tracks ranging from DJ Spen, Jovann and his own "That's How Dadah Got Down" to a couple of new discoveries I'd never heard before... listen ⇢

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This past weekend Rees was booked for 2 parties in Minneapolis and was kind enough to bring me with. The promoters (Nick & Liz) had brought him out several months ago for their weekly Saturday party called "Black", an awesome House night that has brought in many Chicago DJs. Friday night there was a big party with Rees, Hyperactive and Terry Mullan at a club called Barfly. It was like a reunion of sorts since all 3 of them were big DJs in the rave scene... read more ⇢

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This is another live recording in the files sent to us related to Spencer Kincy, aka Gemini. Unlike the previous mix (Live @ Deep in the Flowers), there was no discernible information available with this file - just a large MP3 with a continuous mix clocking in at nearly four hours.

A little bit of research led me to believe that this was recorded at Staple, a long-running House Music residency in San Francisco, sometime in May 2000. This would coincide with roughly the same period when friends remember Spencer had moved out to the Bay Area for what would wind up being a temporary stay... listen ⇢

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