From Rivera's Groove Box #430: R.I.P. Productions - On Cloud 9

R.I.P. Productions made the best US influenced 90s house tracks in the UK. You can recognize the lush chords from Cloud 9 'Do You Want Me' - a Victor Simonelli production, which itself sampled those from the Salsoul classic 'Falling In Love' by Surface.

From Rivera's Groove Box #429: Masters Of The Universe - Space Talk (Hyper Spaced Mix)

Is this Balearic? Produced by Dave Lee (formerly known as Joey Negro) and Mark Ryder in 1990, it's a mixture of Italian piano-house, deep, soulful US house, and a touch of Detroitish techno. A really well produced tune especially for its time and it still sounds fresh today, hasn't aged at all. I'm pretty sure I have heard Octo Octa and Eris Drew spun it. A perfect intro tune.

From Rivera's Groove Box #428: Kamasutra - Censored (Under Version)

Big vocal number from 1994, produced by Alex Neri. Great build up, nice intro track to a house mix, very soulful and deep. Has that Victor Simonelli and New York garage feeling all over.

From Rivera's Groove Box #427: Strickly Dubz - Pump It Up

Jeremy Sylvester has made probably a thousand dance tracks, but this I feel is his absolute best work. Mesmeric and deep rolling bassline, luscious vocal snippets, tight beats and some irresistible electric keys makes this an easy to remember garage heater.

From Rivera's Groove Box #426: DJ Houseplants - I Don't Mind

No, really, I don't mind. It's okay.

From Rivera's Groove Box #425: Pacific Bureau - Time Of Lovers

I have no idea what this track is sampling. Is it somekind of a delicate house take based on Japanese chopped pop song? I swear I hear almost some weird "engrish"? The artist who goes by the alias Pacific Bureau hasn't released much music so far, but what he has done already is such a fresh take on the plunderphonics style dance music. And look at that cute bunny!

From Rivera's Groove Box #424: Niles Cooper - Oldtown Dub

Nothing makes my heart beat faster than a good ol' 90s house style groove. What is it about old school house music so insatiable and desirable, that when you hear those tight beats and chords patterns, it just feels so right? Maybe it's the right balance between all the sounds in the mix, where things just feel more sparse, not cluttered and too nervous. Of course, not all old school inspired dance music is executed in a new and exciting way. Truth to be told, it's getting harder to sort out the real gems from unsatisfactory duds. But Niles Cooper has gotten it right with this track, which itself is a dubbed and tricked out version of one of his previous tunes "Downtown Copenhagen". It's in Cinthies (Berlin's 803 the Meme Queen, Elevate record store) record bag also!

From Rivera's Groove Box #423: Willie Burns - She Left In Spring

Autumn is here, but I wish it was spring. Willie Burns composes his tracks often in a minimalistic way, in here you can just hear a steady kickdrum and a chord melody pattern which slowly grows with intensity throughout the length of the track. All processed through the E-mu SP-1200 sampler, which gives it a warm and magic digital distortion sound.

From Rivera's Groove Box #422: Zack Toms - Bring Me Down (Vocal Mix)

Big big UK 4x4 garage tune, which was introduced to me by Brawther. Zack Toms is mostly known for his funky disco sampling house tracks which were released on American dance labels like Nervous, Deep Cuts and 83 West Records. I don't know exactly how the Stanton Warriors got involved into remixing one of his productions, but this collaboration has become his best known work and thanks to channels like GarageVybez98 it's a sought after classic now.

From Rivera's Groove Box #421: Colonel Abrams - Trapped '94 (Smack Club Dub)

Nice and tight jersey house remix from Mentalinstrum (Eddie Perez) for the early proto-house song from New York. This remix was very influential for the developement of the UK garage house sccene, with key players dropping this track in their mixes. Colonel Abrams is widely credited as one of those artists who brought house music to the mainstream in the mid-80s.

From Rivera's Groove Box #420: DJ Topcat - I Need Weed In My Life

Another Dance Mania classic, this one has a catchy and easy to remember monologue, albeit a bit dark and sinister. A cautionary tale about the dangers of drug addiction. Toppled with a distinct raw production, tough ghetto house beats and tweaked synths, it is easy to recognise why this track is being hailed as a favorite by many. DJ Topcat is a Chicago DJ and producer - he released a handful of tracks on various artists compilations and a solo record on Dance Mania in 1997.

From Rivera's Groove Box #419: Maurice Joshua Feat. Chantay Savage – I Gotta Hold On U

That lady can sing! Steve Silk Hurley Silky Scat Dub is where it's at. Early 90s house at its finest. Some of the vocals and track elements were reused in Hardrive's 'Maurice's Vibe' which itself is an unreleased Masters At Work remix draft from this song. Also recommended to check out is Bernard Badie's 'Stressed Out' which uses some vocals from Chantay as samples.

From Rivera's Groove Box #418: Houz' Neegroz - All Night Long

One of Nu Grooves Rheji Burrell's aliases. Proper tough old school house with gritty swinging beats, the right sounds and samples directly where you feel them the most, all recorded on a dusty DAT tape giving it a lo-fi quality. But it works and has such a unique footprint.

From Rivera's Groove Box #417: Brawther - Endless (Underground Mix)

Incredibly deep and classy track from the Frenchman Brawther. Brawther told in his Discord forum, that he sent a 192kbps mp3 version of this track to Chez Damier for preview, but when he was ready to send the final mixed version, Chez had already sent the track to the vinyl plant for getting pressed. He got it mastered professionally though! But the track does sound kinda muddy and lo-fi, giving it a real underground vibe.

From Rivera's Groove Box #416: Angela Werner - Won't You Be My Lover

Crazy danceable new wave vibes with super bloody marvellous vocal from Angela Werner, whom some dubbed as the german Kate Bush when she was active in the early 80s. Clunky but groovy synth's all over the show with a fine and easy to sing along chorus.

From Rivera's Groove Box #415: Ron Allen - Whispers

Beautiful and lush deep house vibes from Ron Allen, who has almost the same producer chops as Larry Heard. This one gets into your head real easy.

From Rivera's Groove Box #414: Helen Sharpe ‎– Got 2 Have Your Love

Beautiful deep house, reminiscent of the classic sound of early 90s - like the female sung counterpart to Frankie Knuckles & Satoshi Tomiie Feat. Robert Owens "Tears".

From Rivera's Groove Box #413: Digwah - Reckless Eyes

The Digwah 'unknown artist' bootleg remix series gets a lot of hate and love equally. Many call these tracks boring, heartless, uninspiring, generic, nothing special... but yet, there is a demand for these records, they get bought instantly and are on many collectors wishlists. Ricardo Villalobos is known to drop these in his mixes. 'Reckless Eyes' is the best entry of Digwah in my opinion - it is the most musical and less on the dull side than the other entries, but that is mostly because the Sade song is such a masterpiece in the first place.

From Rivera's Groove Box #412: Phone Traxx - PT Theme

Phone Traxx so hot right now. Adventurous, bumpy, funky UKG flavored dance tracks. The guys behind this project said they'd do 5 records from the start, and this track is from the final 'Phone Traxx Volume 5' EP. Because the records and tracks have received a very warm reaction, I'm more than sure Phone Traxx will return in some kind of other reincarnation. Fingers crossed!

From Rivera's Groove Box #411: Zigg Gonzalezz - Sunday (3pm)

Sweet house track and another one from Shed's alias. Did you know he only makes music with a computer nowadays, strictly in the box!? You'll never guess where I found this track too - from Thomas Bangalter's facebook wall! Dudes a true househead in the heart. Trax on da rocks, yeah.

From Rivera's Groove Box #410: Dusk Til Dawn - Must Be Love

Syrupy, super saccharine sweet handbag house or timeless UK garage classic - you decide! I'm suprised this track is very underlooked, the production is just so tight and shows that Grant Nelson really owned the garage house club sound.

From Rivera's Groove Box #409: Bee Gees - Paying The Price Of Dub

Sweet instrumental version of "Paying The Price Of Love". I own this track as a bootleg record named "Discocaine - Paying The Price Of Dub". What is the price of a dub, you might ask? Well, in my case, I paid 1.50 euros for the record. Now that's a proper bargain!

From Rivera's Groove Box #408: The Klubb Kidz - Don't Want To Hurt You

Today woke up and the first tune I'm feeling, this classic from 1993. Unbelievably tight production, I really love the sound DJ Duke's Power Music empire was bringing at the time. For those who seek proper 90s NYC garage deep house, this is a very heavy tune.

From Rivera's Groove Box #407: Crystal Waters Feat. Dennis Rodman ‎– Just A Freak (95 N Sleazy Dub)

One-hit wonder house diva Crystal Waters and the 90s wacky style icon basketballer who spent a majority of his earnings in strip clubs, Dennis Rodman. What a crazy combination! The original radio hit was a bit too straightforward, but the producers of the song - 95 North - included a wild dub mix, which is properly bangin'!

From Rivera's Groove Box #406: T. Project - A Little Faith

I hear people throwing around the term 'handbag house' very loosely nowadays, mostly to describe all kind of house music styles which really don't fit into their definition of a more pure 'underground' sound. I grew up with a lot of soulful house music and I always considered these r&b and gospel influenced tracks pretty damn underground! That was mostly, because these weren't really played in the radio or music channels on the TV, at least not during daytime. This song here is a remix of Faith Evans 'Love Like This'. T. Project stands for Toka Project, who are responsible for many deep house gems. You may recognize these lyrics also from Kettenkarussell's 'Maybe', which used the same Faith Evans sample. 

If we can work together

Maybe this could last forever

From Rivera's Groove Box #405: Dima Pantyushin & Sasha Lipsky - Chess

Dima Pantyushin and Sasha Lipsky make some truly weird music together which I find hard even to find words to describe. Is it some kind of fusion between retro infused synthwave, experimental hip-hop and art pop with a bit of tongue-in-cheek in the middle? Whatever you label it, you can't deny their songs are very catchy and original - even if you don't understand a word of Russian language. Their debut album carries a concept where the authors investigate the inner narrative of a Muscovite (that is, a Moscow citizen) as he wanders through the city, recalls his work, and contemplates his existence. "Peshekhod" will be released on Tim Sweeney's label Beats In Space in March 2020 on limited vinyl and limitless digital platforms.

From Rivera's Groove Box #404: Black Magic - Dance (Do That Thing)

 

When Gerd Janson was asked about his favorite house music labels, he answered that Strictly Rhythm stands out definitely for the best and the worst house records of all time. And it's true. For every stellar record which came out from that label, they also put out some really questionable quality material, which was either lackluster or borderline flirting with mainstream charts material stuff. This track here however, is a great one. I wouldn't say it's the gold pot laying at the end of the rainbow, but it's decent enough.

From Rivera's Groove Box #403: Cruisin' Gang - Affair A Gogo

That ten minute mix is a 92 beats-per-minute chilled balearic bliss trip. An italian disco re-make of Mike Oldfield's 'Foreign Affairs'. Probably some Dekmantel festival DJ, Hunee or Palms Trax drops it sometime soon in their set and skyrockets the prices on Discogs.

From Rivera's Groove Box #402: Limelife - Baby Can You Reach

I was browsing through the tracklists and info sheets of old school house music mixtapes from the 90s and found this track, which suprisingly is another alias of Todd Terry. Appearantly this track was very big in the underground house scene when it came out, but I didn't have a clue about it nor heard it before. It's a very minimal and roughly put together track with sloppy sampling and scattered mess of a beats. But it has a tight groove and that's what I dig about it the most.

From Rivera's Groove Box #401: DJ Pegasuz - Unit

DJ Pegasuz is a fairly mysterious producer with really no info. His tracks sound like recorded from old school compact cassettes, which makes them sound lo-fi and doused up in a mist of hiss. I'm pretty sure I've heard these chords from some 90s deep garage house track, but can't really identify. The vocal snippets are sampled from Sinnamon's 'I Need You Know'.