From Rivera's Groove Box #400: Wizzard Of Wax - Fantasy (Close Ya Eyes)

Just like Roger Sanchez, Todd Terry or Masters At Work in the early part of the 90s – Armand Van Helden was at the top of the game when it came to making deep, groovy and soulful tracks with a bouncy bass and wicked drums. This is a very early production from the start of his career, when his productions weren't really tailor fitted for the popular charts, unlike the hits he later became widely known for.

From Rivera's Groove Box #399: Mike Dixon - Merry G-Swing Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone! There aren't really that much good Christmas themed dance music out there, and many of them sound a bit quirky and camp, or just weird. King Street released a Christmas themed deep house compilation in 2007 - Christmas In The House. But for me, it had a bit too much serious gospel vibes going on. Mike Dixon is from Chicago and was one of the first to make his own brand of swing house, which I would have to say kind of predicted the coming of the later popular Electro Swing style.

From Rivera's Groove Box #398: Wyndell Long - She Heard Me Cry

In my opinion, this is the very best work produced by Chicago veteran Wyndell Long, who is mostly known for his very loud and banging basement style techno stompers he has made for labels like Djax-Up-Beats, Intense and Primate. With the tempo slowed down a bit, you'll get a nice deep house track.

From Rivera's Groove Box #397: DJ Hyperactive - Chicago

I'm seeing a lot of renewed love for Chicago's well known techno DJ and producer DJ Hyperactive, who's busiest days were in the 90s, where he released a string of well received raw and pounding warehouse classics. It was very nice to see him featured in the second techno blind test episode from Telekom Electronic Beats. Also Eris Drew & Octo Octa used 'Reptilian Tank' in their latest Fabric mix, which seems a fitting tribute. My favorite track from the Chicagoan techno veteran is the minimal acid cut from 1994 - Chicago!