Pete Tong

ESSENTIAL MIX

(ffrr/Warner Bros.)

Half a decade ago, when house music was taking over, the London-based ffrr label was a source for many of the genre's rawest sessions. DJ Pete Tong's set recalls those days. Here you'll find deep beats unusually textured, hoarse divas, spaced-out pillow talk, and several returns by the heroes of house music's glory days (Photek, in "Mine To Give," mixed by David Morales; Pete Heller's "Sputnik"), in which guy vocals soar and chick singers wobble while stressed-out keyboard riffs poke and tickle them. Tong has none of Danny Tenaglia's blissed-out suavity, Louie Vega's Latinism, or Junior Vasquez's voluptuous elegance (to name present house's three best turntablists); instead he harks back to the scratch-mixing roughness of Todd Terry, deep house's first master. His beats push and shove, whether the voice they carry is a cute one like Emilina Torini's ("To Be Free"), or Photek's ("Mr. Nice Guy"), or horny gal Rui da Silva's ("Touch Me"). Neither is it a surprise to find him selecting "Pilgrimage to Paradise" (by Sourmash), which is harsh and lumpy with not so even a single soft and dreamy moment. If you like a hard ride without shock absorbers, Tong awaits you.

-- Michael Freedberg