Well, not on the soulful side, but definitely in the house, Dennis Ferrer’s “Hey Hey” did a great damage on the floors and entitled “essential new tune” by Pete Tong. Initially on Dennis’ Objektivity, it later was signed to Defected and released on February 12th (oh yeah how could Simon miss this bomd?). Simple but powerful, intriguing and strictly underground, this is a biggest since the times of DF’s Fish Go Deep’s The Cure & The Cause remix.

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Another marvelous collaboration from New York: guys from DJN Project teamed up with Fuzion duo (George Mena + Franke Estevez) to bring absolutely soulful, uplifting chune with a bit of rap, “Feelings“. Scheduled to be released on March 1st on Fuzion Records, the Original and DJN Remix are extremely impressive, expecting a great support. Additional remixes include more spiced up versions from the guys themselves and Gruv Masterz (Jose Burgos, Jerrell Battle, Franke Estevez).

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By the way speaking of Micky More, do not miss his remix for New Jersey soul songstress Angela Johnson, “Better“. As you might already spotted it in 86th Summer Fondue, it’s a nicely done 123 bpm house version, with live instruments again and worthy soulful vocals. It was out in December 2009 exclusively in iTunes Store. Another MM’s news is that Micky’s doing a remix for Groove Junkies’ “Far Away” that will be out soon on MoreHouse. Looks like they’re swapping remixes.

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Sweden based I guess already Japan based :) producer Rasmus Faber continues to seed the singles from his album “Where We Belong“. On January 6th his own Farplane will release “Any Way” featuring vocals of Swedish Emily McEwan whom we know from Farplane’s 2003’s “Ever After“. Richly instrumented with all RaFa’s doodads, the track is awesome and all in old school Faber’s soulful style.

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And to make you feel really happy in these festive days, catch a video of RaFa Orchestra with all his vocalists including Melo, Linda Sundblad and Emily McEwan herself performing live in Japan:

UK label Groove Odyssey dropped a bunch of releases in December. Some of them are good to mention in this soulful space. First off, we have veteran Danny Foster who was brave enough to cover “To Be Real“, originally by Cheryl Lynn in 1978. With Rachael John on the vocals, it’s classy soulful with keys, horns and sparkling rhythm. For respect purposes please be sure to check the original version on this video:

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Besides this release, it’s also worth mentioning Groove Odyssey’s own “Shine” with K.Tomowo and the Original mix in “Happiness” feat Nathalie Williams.

»»» Get previews, more info and buy at Traxsource.com.

Italian label Just4Funk running by Andrea Carissimi is back with the third release (check previous two: 2008’s “Lose My Mind” and July’s and already in my Top-2009 “Power In You“). Once again with Andrea’s powerful funk driven outburst and boisterous vocals of Brent St. Clair, “Straight Up” continues to glorify distinctive Italian approach. Completed with Andrea’s Funk Dub and Instrumental, it’s out on December 24th. Have a look on small promo video below.

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»»» Get previews, more info and buy at Traxsource.com.