HEAD TO HEAD REVIEW!!! TWO REVIEWERS, ONE CD:

ESCAPE ST. BARTH'S (SOULPHONIC)

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There should be a label affixed to the front of this CD that says: "WARNING: NOT A CHILLOUT CD". From its azure blue cover to its laid-back name, Escape St. Barth's might give you the wrong idea about what you're going to hear, and that would be a shame if it missed making it into your shopping cart or stereo because you were thinking the last thing you need is another island-inspired chill out CD. Let me say that again: this is not a typical chillout release! Imagine more like you're in the disco next to the beach, or maybe sailing in your new best friend's yacht drinking sweet rum drinks, and you'll know the happy move your body kind of beats we're talking about here. Someone (unnamed in the credits) over at the brand new label Solphonic picked out this incredible selection of upbeat, vocal-infused, incredible house tunes - and all the best mixes of said tunes as well. These are some of my all-time favorites from the past four years, including Dr. Kucho! "Lies To Yourself", Roger Sanchez "Another Chance", Tim Deluxe "It Just Won't Do" (remember that one??) and the instantly classic The Supermen Lovers "Starlight." The continuous mix is flawless thanks Urban Rhythm's skills. Actually, if it were really up to me, I'd sticking my own label on this case: WARNING: INCREDIBLE FEEL-GOOD MUSIC INSIDE! -- review by Claire Truman

Friendlier and more melodically oriented than most of the house I'm accustomed to hearing, I can't help but like what I hear. From the tropical kick-off of Alistair Colling's "Cafe Sol (Para Carolina)", through the disco referencing "Point of View" by DB Boulevard and GusGus' high energy, anthemic "David (Tim Deluxe Mix), to the funky house wrap-up of "Keep Rockin'" by Mr. Timothy (a tad more traditional house than some of the other bits here, this highly vocal set of house tunes is cheery and infectious and boasts a relatively heady amount of personality, beauty and dynamics for the genre (in my trancehead opinion, anyway). I was quite impressed by the rich set of tunes Solphonic mixed together on this compilation. I don't know what well they're digging these flavorful, summery tunes from, but there's some other house compilers who would do well to find the same beachy source. Groovy -- review by Kristofer Upjohn

PHILIPPE COHEN SOLAL - INSPIRACIÓN-ESPIRACIÓN: A GOTAN PROJECT DJ SET (XL)

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I've actually had the pleasure of interviewing Gotan Project founder Philippe Cohen Solal before. He's France French, so I expected a requisite arrogance. Not so; the man's a gent. He does, however, have every reason to be boastful. The Gotan Project live act is responsible for updating the tango for the 21st Century by marrying it to electronic elements ("Gotan" in fact being an anagram of "tango." Clever, non?) and the rearrangement was picked up on by DJs like Thievery Corporation, Jazzanova and Gilles Peterson, who gave the ensemble ample exposure on his BBC Radio One show. The GP debut, La Revancha Del Tango ("Tango's Revenge," loosely translated), is indeed impressive, but the idea of a Solal DJ mix sort of seemed like a blatant cashing in on the live act's success. But after listening to Inspiración-Espiración, I've learned something very important: I'm one jaded, stereotyping and frequently-proven-wrong little bitch. With half the tracks being by the Gotan Project, there's definitely a tango vibe happening. And through GP, Solal has said he hopes people get alerted to tango masters like Astor Piazzolla (included here with the original "Cité Tango"). But who knew Solal also dug on abstract hip-hop? (See Antipop Consortium remix of GP's "El Capitalismo Foránco" and Al-Shid's "M.A.T.H.") Tango's template gets further expanded with atmospheric stuff from Chet Baker, Peter Kruder (of Kruder & Dorfmeister fame) and Pepe Bradock with an ominous and trippy mix of GP's "Santa Maria." Add a bonus CD with video footage of GP live, and you've got one of this year's most mesmerizing releases. www.gotanproject.com - www.xlrecordings.com ­- review by Yuri Wuensch

PH10 - HELMUTVISION (HELMUTPLEX RECORDS)

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Helmutvision's "Intro" starts out with atomic beats, editing, scratching and rap. Next up, drum and bass take over the second track which features Pete Miser - one of the pH10 components. "Find Strength" is a brief moment in deep darkness with spoken word and wrenching synths. "Helmut Theme" brings out the big beat weaponry - then drum and bass returns with "2600 Funkus", a more minimalistic track. "Think It Through" is a faint reminder in vocal style of a BT favorite - "Madskillz" from the album Movement In Still Life. "The Red Arrow" is well done drum and bass with beefy synths and "4PM" is deep, down, and funky. "Tough Love" throws in some spoken philosophy such as "the expression one wears on one's face is far more important than the clothes one wears on one's back" - yet there is a humorous side to the seriousness of the statements. Toward the end of the album, the live performance of "T.P.C." shows that pH10 can rock it live as well. "T.P.C." is a dark, thick, drum and bass track which is a seven-minute-plus performance recorded at the Rhinecliff Hotel in November of 2002. Dispersed hints of humor are thrown in throughout the album and are an unexpected and welcome placement. Another cool twist is that the album sleeve includes the equipment Recone Helmut used on the album such as Emu samplers, Roland and Emu synthesizers, and Alesis Drum modules. The techie in me is always curious as to what equipment is used and it was a cool concept to have included the info rather than have to search through an article in a magazine. Helmutvision is technically sound in all aspects from sound design, editing and production to the final stages of mixing and mastering (of which the mastering was done by Alan Douches at West Westside Music) while still keeping an emotive force in the music. Slick, phatt, and diverse, Helmutvision should intrigue those interested in a mix of big phatt beats and drum and bass. www.helmutplex.com - www.petemiser.com - www.westwestsidemusic.com -- review by Jules Mari

PERFECTO PRESENTS... SEB FONTAINE: TYPE (THRIVE)

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Seb Fontaine's nightlife neon prog house on display on Perfecto Presents... Seb Fontaine: Type is short on melody but long on deep texture and relentless hooks and this is what gets the listener interest. Partway through the first track, once you've decided maybe it isn't going anywhere the throbbing pulse of the music seeps into you and you become assimilated. The muscley textures and sometime nod to vocal hooks keep the proceedings interesting and unboring, across the two DJ mixed CDs in this set. The only downside is the length of the tracks. Granted, there's a certain progressiveness afoot here but this album would benefit from mixing Fontaine's lengthiness but keeping things moving with more frequent track shifts. Somewhere in the middle would have upped the ante on Type a bit, but all told this is still a solid house album. -- review by Kristofer Upjohn