"Smooth House has never sounded so good." This is not the quote that
someone might expect hearing concerning an Atlanta-based production -
then again, maybe it's time for a change. The Southeast US is
increasingly dominating the global music market with its world-class
studios and eternal wealth of underground talent. Dance music is just
another genre of music to surrender to the awesome power of the force:
wait, strike that.
Atlanta-based producer Chris Brann ads fuel to the fire of an already
brightly-burning flame; his Ananda Project is one of the most
celebrated names in house music, a brand name whose singles continue
to slash and burn their way through the house-jock charts. This new
addition to Brann's victorious catalogue of sounds also proves to be a
champion. With disc 1 containing new and unreleased music from the
Ananda moniker, disc 2 contains throwback favorites and reworks from
the recent past.
Disc 1 begins with Twilight - an abundance of tribal instrumentation
and percussion that instantly prepares the listener for the deep
journey that awaits. A Relight mix of Secrets features swooningly sexy
vocals from Marta Gazman; soft rhythmic house grooves set the pace.
Mixing straight out of the previous sounds, the tribal percussion and
chants of Wasting My Love are elevated even further by the by the
soulful harmonies of Heather Johnson and Terrance Downs. The funky
electric bassline bouncing 4/4 of Everything You Are turns the heat up
a notch; I should also mention that Ede Wright steps in to swing the
track out with a few grooving electric guitar licks, while Clive
Stevens adds his own smoky touch on Soprano Sax. Big Boat continues to
rock the jazz/Latin sound with Terrance taking the lead vox again.
Lydia Rhodes gives the R&B styled Suite Dreams wings, and Heather
Johnson's trippy vocals echo over the very dark and tribal sounds of I
Hear You Dreaming.
Justice, Mercy has Terrance pleading his soul, while the deep house of
Brann's production rumbles on. ICU is a deep funky groove featuring DJ
Spinna and an assortment of synthetic instrumentation and vocals.
Hitting a slightly clubbier tone with Kiss, Kiss, Kiss, Heather and
Terrance both wail to the rafters. The album continues to wind its way
out on a harder note as Terrance Downs adds vocals to Shouldn't Have
Left Me. Terrance Downs bring back the funk on The One, and vocalist
Nicola Hitchcock finishes us off with a very groovy track entitled Can
You Find the Heart.
Disc 2 (Selected Works) begins with the acid-laden club-house of
Breaking Down (Morel's Pink Noise Vocal Mix), an immediate attention
grabber. It's one of those vocal tracks that would move a 4am
graveyard (house jocks take note). Cascades of Colour (Wally Lopez
Weekend Radio Mix) is yet another harder synth-bass single that has
that certain edge that would snuggle in nicely with any tribal,
prog/trog, or deep house jock set. Taking a more tribal turn comes the rocking rhythms of Falling For You (G-Pal's New York Mix), directly
followed by the deep gospel house of Glory Glory (Timewriter's Saints
and Sinners Mix).
Again with the Big Boat - this time it's a
broken-down Relight Acoustic Dub. Breaking it down even further is the
minimal Afro percussion of In the Skies (Wamdue Mix Edited Edition).
Tangerine gets us back to the club-styled house side of things and
features hot Afro percussion matched with smoky male vocals and jazzy
synthwork. The funk-groove and broken rhythms of Bahia (Kyoto Jazz
Massive D&B Mix Edit) offers a different sound to standard 4/4 of
Wamdue's other works. The smoke-filled and loungy nu-jazz sound of
Fantasy Suite finishes us off like a cool breeze over a sun drenched
beach.
So, another album from the Wamdue Studios has come and gone, only
proving that amidst sunny Atlanta's blossoming urban declaration, the
sound of house music can be heard echoing loud and clear for the world
to groove to.
Groove on man, groove on.
