VA: Mo 2 Meaux-2
Soiree Records International

What we've got here is more fabulous material from Soiree Records International, with Drivetrain, J. Garcia, CloudMasterWeed, and Professor Inc contributing four slamming house jams to the label's latest round-up Mo 2 Meaux-2 (the title a reference to the merging of two transcontinental cities, “Motor City” Detroit and Meaux, France). Drivetrain sets the bar ridiculously high at the outset with the lush house anthem “Lift Me High.” Buoyed by a soulful vocal sample, the tune kicks into high gear almost immediately with an effervescent gallop and an acidic bass pulse leading the charge. J. Garcia's “One Day” brings samples of Martin Luther King's “I Have A Dream” speech (“I have a dream that one day this generation will rise up…”) into its Detroit-fueled orbit, with the “one day” part snipped out and looped o'ertop a swinging, synth-heavy funk-house groove. CloudMasterWeed hauls out his congas for the deep body-shake of “Wicked System,” which wends a darker path when its weary female chant (“Some days I feel like a victim of this wicked system”) navigates a groove that's so low-end and raw it verges on primal, while the EP-closing “Sizzle” shows Paris-based Professor Inc to be no slouch in the soul-funk and bass-pulsation departments. Mo 2 Meaux-2 is hard-grooving, funky, and soulful in all the ways we like it. Would it be too soon to ask for volume three?

March 2011