Review: Dutch dance behemoth Armada Music might be best known for trance and hard dance, but for the last five years their Subjekt offshoot has delivered some killer house music - material that frequently gets played in some of the biggest of big rooms over in Ibiza. This expansive, action-packed collection rounds up some of the label's current White Isle hits, in the process allowing DJs the world over to get their mitts on a swathe of exclusives. Naturally it's big on current and future anthems, with our highlights of the 40-strong track list including CID and Westend's heavyweight, Inner City-sampling 'Let MeTake You', Kevin Saunderson's classic Motor City style rework of Andrea Olivia's 'Transit', the hands-aloft rush of Low Steppa's 'Your Dreams' and the sleazy dark-tech dirtiness of 'Banaza' by Kura.
Review: Mark Knight & Co.round out the year with 'Best Of Toolroom 2020', a 50 track compilation delivering a collection of the label's biggest releases from the year that was into one package. Boss man Knight teams up with Rene Amesz on the year's most massive funky house tune "All 4 Love" (feat. Tasty Lopez) with other highlights coming from: Carl Cox on his stomping heads-down rework of Kevin Knapp & Hannah Wants "Call Me", the anthemic and utterly uplifting soul of legends Gene Farris & ATFC's "Spirit of House" plus the return of the legendary American vocalist Ann Nesby - whose unmistakable voice dominates LEFTI's "Rejuvenate". There's also the worthy addition of two continuous mixes by Mr Knight himself. 'Best Of Toolroom 2020' delivers the perfect annual sign off, as the label prepares for yet another landmark year in 2021.
Review: On 'House Party Vol. 3' the party continues well into autumn with Toolroom's unmistakable blend of killer cuts, red hot exclusives and a host of essential tracks from the industry's leading imprints. Includes a whopping 80 tracks, plus three compiled mixes from current scene favourites such as Kittball co-owners Tube & Berger, Dutch house favourite Rene Amesz, and rising UK talent Iglesias. Highlights not limited to: boss man Mark Knight with the aforementioned Amesz on the funky house anthem "All 4 Love" (feat. Tasty Lopez), Hannah Wants & Eskuche serve up some slick and bouncy electro house on "The ISH", the dream team of Alex Mills, Danny Howard & Illyus & Barrientos delivering a properly soul-infused vocal epic on "Need" (Extended Mix) and the legend ATFC returns with the super sexy "Not Enough" feat. Mia Mendez.
Review: Given that the Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE) is happening on their doorstep, it's little surprise to see Armada Music's house offshoot Armada Subjekt releasing a celebratory compilation. Featuring no less than 30 cuts the label expects to do the business during the weeklong event, it's full to bursting with high quality club cuts. Highlights include Gerd Janson's chunky, acid-flecked revision of Joe Smooth classic "Promised Land", a muscular, mind-altering dark room take on Harry Romero's "Tania" by Honey Dijon, a sublime chunk of classic-sounding peak-time house from Low Steppa and Amy Douglas ("Burn Me Up"), a ludicrously sub-heavy slab of dark garage from Javi Nora and Piem, and some slick big room tech-house business by DJ Vivona.
Review: Armada Deep offer up their contribution to this year's ADE compilation mountain, which comes packing 20 very solid house cuts. The emphasis this time out is on uplifting peaktime fodder built with bigger rooms in mind - while Armada Deep HAVE put out some seriously deep house grooves over the years, you'll find few such here. But this collection is well worth checking out all the same, with cuts ranging from Thomas Newson's big, strutty 'The Worker' to Olav Basoski's fiesta-tastic 'Duende', and from more commercial cuts like MistaJam's 'Trust You' to Phil Fuldner's Glitterbox-friendly 'Take Me' to the unabashed 90s podium nostalgia of Kokiri's 'Adolescence'.
Review: If, like us, you missed the weeklong poolside party that was the Miami Winter Music Conference 2019, this killer compilation from Street King should be essential listening. There's not enough room to highlight all of the headline-grabbing cuts, but we'd suggest turning your attention to the sensual late night deepness of Art of Tones remix of P'Taah's "Dance Until We Die", the sun-kissed sax lines and retro-futurist U.S deep house grooves of Angelo Ferrari's "Decide To Study (Angelo Ferreri Remix)", the sun burst brilliance of Stacy Kidd's Latin house epic "Groove Odyssey", the hypnotic early morning stomp of Cevin Fisher's "The Message" and the angular analogue electronics and drifting vocal samples of DJ Behrouz's brilliant remix of Mood II Swing's "Closer".
Review: As you'd expect, given the label's runaway success over the past few years, there are plenty of very familiar cuts on this 52-track 'best of' from the all-conquering Toolroom, including GotSome's tribal smash 'Nomad Chat', label boss Mark Knight's infuriatingly catchy, flute-driven Shovell collab 'Selecao', Mendo's sample-heavy G-houser 'Mooving' and CamelPhat's remix of Fatboy Slim. But there are plenty of less heavily rinsed gems on offer too, and with tracks from the likes of D.Ramirez, Leftwing & Kody, Dosem, DJ S.K.T and Dale Howard plus reworks of Sterling Void and Todd Terry classics, it's a no-brainer for tech-house jocks on a budget.
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