Murk Album Review

True lovers of house music know the drill when they happen to find a remixer or mixers whose sound works for them consistently: enjoy it while it lasts. Great talents can hang around a few years, maybe longer if they're good at changing names, but past a certain point even the most talented of mixers get tossed aside. Fortunately, Murk remains, after more than a decade of quality tracks, and the global dance community is better off because of it.

Ralph Falcon and Oscar Gaetan made "Some Lovin'" in 1992 and managed to bring underground and mainstream together in awe and delicious grooviness. Their mastery, both in production and remixes, of creating hooks so memorable that the brain is engaged and the ass begins to shake almost immediately is an integral part of the evolving sound of house, sculpting with hi-hats and modulated bass the shape and stank of the underground. Their seminal Singles collection on Tribal America back in '93 remains an essential part of any truly comprehensive music library.

And now, in 2003, they've assembled a full-length record, and while it isn't the Rosetta stone of house like "Some Lovin'" was, it is stuffed with great big bass sequences, hooks irresistible enough to trawl lakes with, and, as always, the fiercest hi-hats in clubland.

I love Kristine W, and I love the Murk boys, but does that make me a bad person for favoring the original "Some Lovin'" to the new W/murk recording of it? MURK kicks off with the new version (following a tease of the classic drum pattern), and it sounds fine, it just pales in comparison. Fortunately, "Time" is a sultry male-vocaled (by Greg Chin, kicking it new romantic style) electro monster, and I could see it becoming a radio hit in more adventurous markets.

"Opera" plends an aria with the Murk sound, creating something different than the relentless opera-trance fusions which proliferate like so many fruit flies. I like trance music, but when you have as complex a musical sequence as an aria, the music should support it, rather than compete with it, which is invariably what the intricate synth sequences of trance do.

The album closer "Afro-Cuba," is a delightful updating of the early/mid-nineties trend toward Santeria house (exemplified by the River Ocean & India "Yemaya y Ochun" project), taking the tired concept of tribal house back to the dictionary, bringing back the ritualized element that is supposed to define that particular subgenre.

The highlight for me is "True," which sounds like it could have been made in 1986, this year, or several years down the road. A simmering mix of electro sounds and the kind of relentless hook that you feel in your spinal fluid, "True" is the kind of record that makes you remember why dance music can be so addictive in the first place. Tamara Wallace's vocals crackle with sassy cool energy, and between this and that Crystal Waters "My Time" record, the times could not be better for female vocal-driven electro house. Delicious.

Pros: The Murk sound evolves while still delivering what makes the great, electro sounds and doughy bass are heaven, the first essential house album of the year.

Cons: A couple of tracks feel a little less-than-cutting-edge, the "Some Lovin'" cover doesn't top the original.