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Giles Smith & James Priestley - “Secretsundaze” (Vol 2) [Secretsundaze] (buy)

When you attend a Secretsundaze party your guaranteed a number of things, first and foremost your guaranteed excellent music, a great atmosphere, in a cool space with lots of friendly party people & some of the best guest DJ’s in the scene, month in month out. & all the rest, the crazy party goers, the fancy dress fashionistas and the infamous giant disco ball is all an added bonus.

Giles Smith & James Priestley along with a little help from regulars Matt Dawson (King Roc) & Dan Berkson are the brains behind these popular, monthly, day - time events, which sees great turn outs month in month out. Be it in London, Barcelona or Berlin the Secretsundaze name is a well recognized and highly respected brand to those in the know.

Secretsundaze Volume 2 mixed by Giles Smith & James Priestley is a excellent take on what you can expect to hear at one of their well organised parties this includes everything from Detroit techno, deep house, dub techno, plenty of funk & even a little disco. The mix is split into two discs, the first coming from Giles & the second from James.

Giles mix starts with some refreshing Detroit techno from Urban Force with Mike Huckaby on the remix, this soon melts into the incoming and more raw sounds of techno from the likes of Claro Intellecto & Radio Slave’s take on Mr. G’s “Sometimes I Cry”. We then get a taste of melody and a more warmer, classy feel of house with cuts from Lawson & a cool deep house cut from way back in 1996 by Motorbass. We then make way for a brand new track from Giles & Matt as the Two Armadillos - “Hawthornes Feel” which I must say is very warm and extremely classy, its not long before the hypnotic sounds from Cassy and her “Idle Blues” are coming through the speakers and were back in more of a deep & contemporary techno place. Scott Groove’s limited edition “Only 500″ comes in and is most definitely a highlight this plays out & in comes the funk from the likes of Brothers Vibe & Guillaume and the Coutu Dumonts which, in turn is mixed seamlessly with the warm, organic and rather edgy percussion from ”Hamlin”. As we come to the end of the first mix the quality remains high and the mixing is second to none which Giles finishes with some rolling techno from Nagano Kitchen & a great new one from Rozzo aka one half of Mountain People. He then brings the mix to a close with a superb & classic slice of deep, whispy house action from Chez Damier & Ron Trent with their 1995 limited edition track - “Morning Factory”.

James Priestley’s mix is a snap shot of a great summer day time party with the Secretsundaze crew. Listening to this & closing your eyes has you dreaming of warm sunny days, Ibiza, scantily clad babes in bikinis and cocktails by the sea. It’s such a great journey through warm disco sounds, filtered house and dare I say even a bit of balearica.  James blends Holy Ghost with Norwegian disco don Lindstrom & then adds a touch of funk with a excellent track from the ever excellent [Stones Throw Records]  - James Pants “Were Through”. In comes a deep afro inspired track from Barltan Love Express - tittled ”Theme”, I can’t find anything on this track but let me tell you its sure to be a big hit. We then have a small change in direction with Afefe Iku’s underground bubbler”Mirror Dance” this plays out in full melodic glory and then were on the ”percussive” dance floor and its time to groove to the sounds of Sety with Guillaume Coutu Dumonts on the remix & another piece from Afefe Iku which is appropriately titled “Bodydrummin”. Ronnie Parker’s fabulous, electronic “Bongcong Combination” is another highlight as it really lifts the mix, keeps it rolling and gives it that extra oomph. Things go very tight, hypnotic and percussive now with cuts from Guy Gerber, Johnny D & The Mole its a very cool section in the mix where every transition is picture perfect thus making all the sounds roll into one smoothly and effortlessly. Time for one last peak from Omar S and the fantastic “Psychotic Photosynthesis” then its time to wind down with a excellent groove filled vocal house track from Robert Owens - “Happy” with Priestley and Dan Berkson on the remix.

Such a fabulous double header, both CD’S are unique and very well thought about and mixed if your only to buy one mix CD this year, buy this, I guarantee you wont be disappointed.

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