From Rivera's Groove Box #294: DJ Sotofett Feat. Madteo - There's Gotta Be A Way (Underground Mix)

15 minutes of the same loop, but the monologue delivered by Madteo makes the track worth a deeper listen. Very clever. 

From Rivera's Groove Box #293: Rick Wade - I Feel Good

Recently Rick Wade asked on 'The worst techno memes ever' Facebook group page 'who the fu%k is this Solomun guy I keep hearing about, is he even a real techno DJ?'. And to be honest, I also never heard of Solomun before I joined that group. Thanks to the exploits of this group, I now know Solomun is the uncrowned king of throwing afterparties in villas and mansions for rich spoiled people - parties I'll probably never get into the guestlist. But do I even want to? Throwing aside his hypnotizing awesome dad dance moves, I'm not a particular fan of his rather odd track selections. He plays everything from pop house hits from the past, trance with reduced pitch tempos, the dullest progressive, minimal and techno... and sometimes throwing in a pinch of actually really great tracks. So yes, I think it's true what they say about him - he is the Beatport Top 100 chart personified. But I love Rick Wade, he is a very humble guy.

From Rivera's Groove Box #292: The Connection Machine - Echoes From Tau Ceti

Deep cosmic vibes in this mid 90s techno track from the cult U-Trax label. The 'U' in U-Trax stands for Utrecht, Netherlands - since most of the talent on the label was based there or near. 'Trax' is of course a nod to the legendarty Chicago house label. The Connection machine is Jeroen Brandjes and Natasja Hagemeier. What I like the most in this track is the lovely synthesized saxophone melodies.

From Rivera's Groove Box #291: The Minimum Wage Bros - Enough 4

This one goes out to all my minimum wage bros all over the world who struggle to buy last minute Christmas presents for their loved ones. An early Terrence Parker production - quality Detroit house.

From Rivera's Groove Box #290: Royal House - Dirty Beats

No one can match the mad house beats of Todd Terry. He really mastered the E-mu SP1200 sampler and used it heavily in his early productions. This drum beats track is a perfect example of it.

From Rivera's Groove Box #289: Wax - 60006A

Wow, I think I like this the best yet from the Shed's Wax series. Hypnotic, minimal and very well made dub techno cut. Pumping, loud, straight to the dancefloor material. Possibly a future classic!

From Rivera's Groove Box #288: Ajukaja - Ekleer

Funky, quirky disco sound, making great usage of Kleeer's 'Amour' hook. A solid track with tight beats and a supercool vocoded vocal part which just leaves you scratching your head - 'how did he do that?'. But anyone who has followed Ajukaja's work should know the man's eclectic dance music style.

From Rivera's Groove Box #287: West Coast Swingaz - Luvdrunk

Back in 2007 there began circling around this Black Eyed Peas 'My Humps' sampling track, it was really cool and catchy - a proper jacked up boompty house track, bringing the funk. It turned out to be a bootleg by the Brazilian Jamanta Crew gang. They rocked the Miami WMC properly with it that year, here's even a video of them playing it to a full house (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQHNnN3KTjk) but it never got released! Throughout the years, I have wondered, does anyone even remember that track? Certainly no-one I have asked has heard of it. I talked about the track to my girlfriend, telling her that this track still haunts me sometimes, and it's a shame it never got released. And then I thought, hell, why not try to re-create the track or something - certainly my productions skills have improved over the years and I could do it. And so I began working around the 'My Humps' acapella, chopping it up and thinking a way how to make it work in a house track. It took me a couple tries to get it right, and indeed, I got 'something'. I think it's a good groove, and may even get your butt jiggly. Check it out ;) 

From Rivera's Groove Box #286: John Tareugram - Born Ready

John Tareugram is a new and upcoming house producer from France. He mixes together very masterfully deep house with elements of funk and disco. Definitely a name to watch out for!

From Rivera's Groove Box #285: Beautiful People - I Got The Rhythm

Surely one of Pal Joey's finest productions ever! The track just builds and builds and has so many beautiful sounds layered on top of each one - very superbly mixed together. This is a a tune that once heard is not forgotten. I think it easily ranks as one of the best deep house tracks ever put together.

From Rivera's Groove Box #284: Kitchen Sync ‎– Serious Work

Kitchen Sync is a project of Scott Kinchen - brother of Mark 'MK' Kinchen! This 1993 track is in my opinion very underrated, and is not being mentioned alongside other notable garage house tracks from that period. The production on this one is very raw and minimal. A boompty style clunking beat loop with a very basic bassline, together with some deep pads and vocal snippets. I also recognize the keys of this track being the very often sampled Kenlou dub mix of St. Etienne's 'Nothing Can Stop Us'. Strictly Rhythm is just one the best house labels ever, because they have so much gems in their discography. You can always trust that red brick wall!