Review: Toolroom's annual White Island compilation bounces back this year with a wide range of house styles. There's the lush melodies and breathy vocals of label owner Mark Knight's "Make You Happy". Meanwhile, vocal tracks are, as always, a prominent feature. Pete Griffiths delivers a soulful track in the shape of the piano-led, celebratory "Get Together", while Melanie Ribbe's "Big" is a more subtle affair, with haunting vocals riding a rolling, techy groove. In contrast, ESSEL delivers a throbbing, primal workout in the form of "Sweat". Havoc & Lawn's "Reflection" offers another take on the perennial sound - this time, the focus is on a brittle, stepping rhythm.
Review: Here's a rather epic proposition: a 33-track collection from Toolroom that not only boasts 32 classic, little known and unheard remixes from the label's vaults, but also a CD-length bonus mix. With tracks seemingly taken from the entirety of the label's existence to date, there are plenty of forgotten gems - think remixes by D Ramirez, Funk D'Void, Full Intention, and Copywright - as well as inspired reworks from such contemporary heroes as Dusky (a suitably reverential rub of Cloud 9's 1993 US garage classic "Do You Want Me Baby"), Tensnake (a typically touchy-feely rework of Jake Island) and Doorly (a bouncy UK bass-house interpretation of Steve 'Silk' Hurley's "Jack Your Body").
Review: What was it really like back in the day? Well, according to this infectious interpretation of jacking house, it was "white, black, Puerto Rican . . . everyone was freakin". Fisher also talks about legendary names like the Paradise Garage and Frankie Knuckles and the arcing acid tones of Griffiths' arrangement makes the mention of these names seem all the more poignant. The brilliantly named Vanilla Ace adds some old school cowbells and smart filters on his reshape, while Federico Scavo goes for a more contemporary, electronic bass re-rub. But best of all is the Weiss remix, which sees rumbling drums and noisy kicks dominate the arrangement as Fisher's vocal gets turned into an angelic whisper.
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