Little Louie Vega & Erick Morillo

HOUSE NATION AMERICA

(Ultra)

Because Little Louie Vega is one of the three most electric house-music DJs in existence, and Erick Morillo one of the most deserving of greater attention, this two-CD release should be 2000's standard setter for classic house music. It isn't. Vega's surprisingly soft 14-track set lacks the frenzy and fire of the early-'90s Men at Work mixes that made his reputation, and Morillo's set, though more active than Vega's, cuts too narrow a groove. House should raise its hands in the air every which way; it should sound homegrown and exotic, dark and bright, deep and high. Morillo keeps to one texture and one tone; he's constricted and at times a bit harsh, in the manner of trance. His best moments -- the Committee's "Scream and Shout" and Celeda's "Burning Up," jubilant and diva as they wanna be -- pass by all too quickly. As for Vega, one has to wait through the fusionoid first track to reach Joe Clausell's "Spiritual Insurrection," one of those percussively sweet "tribal" beat broths he's famous for. Isolee's Ibiza-perfect exotic French "Beau mot plage" follows, as excitement dissolves into dreams. But then Vega drops the ball. He picks it up again, much later, with Kimara Lovelace's "Misery" and Latina Café's "Aldela de Ogum" -- assuming you're still listening.

-- Michael Freedberg