Progressive house is a genre that is hard to define and even harder to stand out in. Progressive has become so huge that no longer matters what kind of dance music you like, it becomes a question of which progressive style? System Recordings, who is never in short supply of raw talent, gives us ClubLife volume 1. This "collection of today's best dance tracks" comes packed to the gills with awesome tracks by Sausage Kings of Chicago, Joshua Ryan, Teapot and Saturated Fatty to name a few. This is a full-on DJ set mixed by DJ Dustin with flawless precision moves like a gymnast working the ribbon in the floor exercise. Starting it off, Kolo gives us "Oval." This song has hand percussion elements infused with dark loops and some tweaked-out laser sounds. It has a nice flow and is a smooth track. The Joshua Ryan track "Fury" has a deep, electrofied bassline with a funky loop that works the track. This song actually is a remix by Ian Wilkie. Ian dubs the mix, nobly, Mix 2.
The artist simply known as Dustin shines through with the Filter Overdrive Mix of his song "The Drive." This song has a nice percussion loop in it along with an enchanting vocal that isn't even understandable. On the seventh track, Saturated Fatty settles us in for the "Long Haul". This track stays in line with the rest of the CD and keeps the energy high and blood pumping. In addition to having an extremely creative name these guys can produce a house record, no doubt. "Blowfish" by Cerebal Dub is a spacy track. It has many echoed elements including cymbals, filtered synth sounds, and even a little organ.
Next up is the Ferris Bueller-inspired Sausage Kings of Chicago dirty bass houser "West End." The Sausage Kings are Nigel Richards and C. Smith and they are very talented. This dub mix was released on Numeric records and is very happening and upbeat for progressive. They keep it underground and will be showing up in the record bags of DJ everywhere.
Slowing it down at the end is Kinnder with "Got 2 U. This is more downtempo but it keeps with the overall flair of this CD. If you want to hear a nice blend of progressive house from hard to sleepy, this disc is for you. System takes us on another musical journey and I must say that it is pleasing. The groovy sounds of house music just got a little bit cooler thanks to System Recordings.
