House Music was so simple to begin with. All you needed was 2 men, a sampler and a dream machine.
Then life got complicated. Instead of simple D-I-Y Chicago Acid House everyone got ambitious and decided to make those non stop repetitive beats more complicated.
Network caught the same Quality Control bug. From starting life off with white label 12” singles the Birmingham based label smashed the zitgeist with its’ genre definining 3 x CD Renaissance Mix albums that changed the game forever.
The trouble with calling that then new sound ‘Progressive House’ is that words like Pompous and Po- Faced come into your head. The tracks on this album show that House Music’s exhilarating step away from its’ roots was anything but that.
Detroit Techno gets reshaped with the blissful remixes of The Reese Project’s so-soulful “Free At Last” by The Groove Corporation and Stereogen’s genius revamp of Members Of The House anthemic “Party Of The Year”.
House dubmeisters The Groove Corporation’s iconic “Twist And Change” captures the
renaissance of House with Ashley Beedle’s definition of the new sound remix, and GC’s own remix skills are also shown with their take on Surreal’s cover of Sade’s classic Pearls.
Italian maestros The Fathers Of Sound remix of Surreal’s “Happiness” is one of the standouts of the era. It is mindblowing.
Network’s family of Midand artists were not slow on coming to the party either as the gems from Mother, Slo Moshun, Madagascar, Xen Mantra and Stereogen testify.
As a fitting finale Dave Lee produces Ann Saunderson on the wistful “Where Do We Go”.
Network. The Dreamer Of Dreams.
The excellent Barcelona label House of (S)PUNK is back with a five-song comp showcasing the local hardgroove scene. Bandcamp New & Notable May 1, 2024