If you don't know who Masters at Work are, I first suggest that you stop whatever you're doing and educate yourself with their music. True house masters since the beginning, Kenny Dope and Little Louie Vega have helped shape and re-shape the house sound as we know it (and by house I don't mean the new Britney remix). Sultry, soulful, deep, and hypnotic are a few of the words that I could use to describe them but most would agree that "legendary" is far more appropriate.
This two CD set of classic house tunes is one that every new DJ should be forced to purchase. Gritty and stripped, Chicago house was all about keeping it real. A song may only be comprised of a couple of looping tracks, but its intoxicating rhythm kept you on your feet. Dropped into far more complicated setlists of today, it's sound is like a breath of fresh air sweeping over the floor.
There's nothing I can really say about these tracks that hasn't been said a thousand and one times before, but I will say that it's a real all-in-one history lesson for those who haven't heard them yet. All the big tracks are included – Reese & Santonio's The Sound and Rock to the Beat, Jungle Wonz' The Jungle, Mr. Fingers' Can You Feel It, Rhythim is Rhythim's Strings of Life, KC Flightt's Let's Get Jazzy, Frankie Knuckles' Baby Wants to Ride, and Robert Owens' I'll Be Your Friend. All legendary and all required listening for any true house DJ.
