Champions of house music Masters At Work come together to pay tribute to their heritage and release the very first mix compilation on the newly resurrected Strictly Rhythm.
Masters At Work or MAW as they are better known to their mass of dedicated fans, are the famous DJ duo - Grammy award winning Louie Vega and Kenny ‘Dope’ Gonzalez. Travelling the world as the most sought after DJ acts ever, their live shows are a spectacle of musical passion and masterclass of manipulating beats and rhythm: Masters At Work by name and Masters At Work by nature.
Both herald from New York and have been instrumental is creating and establishing the house music scene that thrives today, their career stemming from Louie’s early days as a local DJ in the Bronx and Kenny from the original Brooklyn-based Masters At Work block party crew.
Their production CV is truly impressive. They have recorded with musical titans such as Tito Puente, Roy Ayres and Jocelyn Brown, while their remix discography is an incredible catalogue of work that includes a long list of mainstream artists from Madonna to Michael Jackson.
This time they have come together for an extra special project, one that pays tribute to their heritage. Their request was to produce the first album release on the newly resurrected Strictly Rhythm label, a label defunct for four years and now spectacularly reborn (Feb 2007).
Strictly Rhythm is widely viewed as the cornerstone of the whole house music scene in the 90’s. It established the careers of many monumental artists including Roger Sanchez, Armand Van Helden and Erick Morillo and of course helped Louie Vega and Kenny Dope on their way
.
Masters At Work were key producers for Strictly Rhythm and their association with the label was to become a long and fruitful one. Having originally followed Todd Terry (another legendary Strictly Rhythm giant) to the label, Kenny Dope wasted no time in bringing in Louie and throughout the ‘90s the pair recorded an astonishing body of work for Strictly, both individually and collectively. Although they never went under their original name of Masters at Work, they used numerous other aliases such as Hardrive, Sole Fusion and the Untouchables. Hardrive’s ‘Deep Inside’ proved one of the most popular tracks, with its
insistent chorus of ‘deep down inside, deep, deep down inside’.
This new album was a tough call for the DJ duo, who had to select 28 of their favourite Strictly tracks to include on their respective mixes. There are some absolutely essential tracks on this compilation including Rivera Ocean feat India ‘Love and Happiness’ which energetically kicks off Louie Vega’s mix, Barbara Tucker ‘I Get Lifted’ and ‘Beautiful People’, even tantalising instrumentals like the catchy ‘Horn Song’ by The Don. Not to mention the all time favourite club land smash that was Aly-Us ‘Follow Me’ This album is a first in a new era for Strictly, which includes exciting new signings and forthcoming releases from Todd Terry, Quentin Harris, Osunlade, Tiefschwarz, Mood II Swing and Grand High Priest.
Disc One- Louie Vega Mix
1. River Ocean feat. India ‘Love & Happiness (Yemeya Y Ochun)’ (Dub Intro)
2. River Ocean feat. India ‘Love & Happiness (Yemeya Y Ochun)’ (Masters At Work)
3. The Boss ‘Congo’ (Ministry Anthem)
4. Reel 2 Real feat. Erick Moore ‘The New Anthem’ (Funky Budda Mix)
5. Sun, Sun, Sun ‘Curious’ (Vocal Mix)
6. Club Ultimate ‘Carnival 93’ (The Mardi Gras Mix)
7. Hardrive ‘No Cure’
8. Ultra Nate ‘Free' (Mood II Swing Extended Vocal Mix)
9. South Street Player ‘(Who?) Keeps Changing Your Mind’ (The Night Mix)
10. The Mole People ‘Break Night’
11. Photon Inc. feat. Paula Brion ‘Generate Power’ (Wild Pitch Mix)
12. Circle Children ‘Zulu’ (Change Mix)
13. Krimp ‘Get Up’ (Original Mix)
14. The Erick Morillo Project ‘Jazz It Up’ (Extended Jazz)
Side Two- Kenny Dope Mix
1. Barbara Tucker ‘I Get Lifted’ (Duck Beats)
2. Lil’ Mo’ Yang ‘Reach’ (“Little” “More” Mix)
3. Logic ‘Blues For You’ (Hard Dub)
4. Sole Fusion ‘We Can Make It’ (Underground Network Mix)
5. Erick “More” Morillo ‘Dancin’ (A “Little”– “More” Dub)
6. The Believers ‘Who Dares To Believe In Me?’ (Original Mix)
7. Black Magic ‘Freedom (Make It Funky)’ (Color 1 On & On Strong Vocal Mix)
8. Kenny Dope ‘Deep Interlude’ Contains excerpts of: Hardrive ‘Deep Inside’
9. Barbara Tucker ‘Beautiful People’
10. Hardrive ‘Deep Inside’
11. Underground Solution ‘Luv Dancin’’ (Egotrip Mix) Contains excerpts of: Underground Solution ‘Luv Dancin’’ (In Deep Mix)
12. Logic ‘The Warning’ (Inner Mix)
13. The Don ‘The Horn Song’ (Original Mix)
14. Aly-Us ‘Follow Me’ (Dub Mix) Contains excerpts of: Aly-Us ‘Follow Me’
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