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Yousef & Behrouz, Frontiers CD
Yousef Track listing

1 Find a Way - Joeski feat. Mr. Reo (Sneak remix)

2 Fudge - Ponta Negra

3 A cup of coffee - Eddie & the Eggs

4 No future in your frontin' - No Assembly Firm

5 Just bounce 2 this - Switch

6 I'm no good - Yousef & Nic Fanciulli

7 Hallucinator - Johnny Fiasco

8 G0! - Justin Long & Dan X (no Assembly Firm mix)

9 Baby steps - DJ Sneak

10 Picture of you - East Coast Boogiemen & DJ Heather (Jason Hodges "Sticky Picture" mix)

11 She got well - Palm Skin Productions

12 And this is good - Lee Mortimer

13 $trictly business - Yousef & justin Long

14 Just a dance - Len Faki (Technasia's mix)

15 Trouble - Roach Motel presents Two Stupid Dogs

16 There but for the grace of god - 100% (Yousef mix)

17 Everyday - alex Wolfenden presents Bagnasty feat. Nasty EP

Behrouz Track listing

1 For the time being - Phonique feat. Erland Oye

2 Naturelize - TM project (original mix)

3 Everything - tone Depth

4 La musica vs. el dinero - Luca Ricci feat. Monica Hernandez

5 Touch it - Jaimy

6 Island breeze - Pashka feat. Ijeoma (Tommyboy remix)

7 Confidential music - the Youngsters

8 Underwater rivers - Parham & Dominic Plaza

9 You make me feel extacy - Sultan & Tommyboy

10 Esperanza - Penn & Chus (Valentino Kanzyani remix)

11 Deep sleepless night - Mad8 vs Shawn Christopher (Narcotic Thrust remix)

12 Deep inside - Adam Dived

13 Manhattan - Jonathan & Bradley (Big apple original mix)

www.djbehrouz.com
www.yousef.co.uk
www.renaissanceuk.com

Renaissance’s new 2-CD mix “Frontiers” features two DJs with very different styles of house music: Liverpool’s Yousef Zaher opens with a set of raw, driving house beats, while San Francisco’s Behrouz Nazari follows with a subtle crescendo of hypnotic tracks.

Yousef and Behrouz are the musical force behind very successful club nights in their respective home cities – “Circus” and “Pure Behrouz” – but that’s probably where the similarities end.

Yousef’s style is very energetic and is at its best when he quickly transitions between tracks, as he does in the middle of his CD. The beat is relentless, even when the tracks are kind of deep and jazzy, like in the early part of his mix. Later on the set gets techier and even acidy, but the overriding influence is funk…dirty, “get down” funk. The presence of jazz-influenced tracks, like “A Cup of Coffee” by Eddie and the Eggs, helps to give the set an overall freeform and improvisational feel. It’s the kind of mix you might want to rock a house party with.

This CD showcases some of Yousef’s musical influences, as well as some original material. Chicago’s DJ Sneak is included with his remix of Joeski’s “Find a Way” and his own “Baby Steps,” one of the best tracks on this mix. Two of the tracks are from Yousef’s upcoming “Collaborations” release: “I’m No Good” with Nic Fanciulli and “$trictly Business” with Justin Long. Other great cuts include the No Assembly Firm remix of Justin Long and Dan X’s “Go” and Jason Hodges’ take on “Picture of You” by the East Coast Boogiemen and DJ Heather.

Anyone who has ever heard a Behrouz set knows that he has a unique talent for bringing together tracks from various house sub-genres – primarily deep, progressive and tribal – and blending them into an irresistible groove. A great set is a musical journey that connects with its audience on multiple levels and Behrouz is a master at pulling all the right emotional triggers. In the process, he introduces his audience to new sounds, the common thread usually being a complex, habit-forming beat.

The set on “Frontiers” is no different. The beat of the opening track, Phonique’s “For the Time Being’ (with Royksopp’s Erland Oye on vocals), sucks you in and starts you on your way. Before you realize it, more than half the set has gone by in a succession of infectious beats. Then, suddenly, the chugging rhythm of Sultan and Tommyboy’s “You Make Me Feel Extacy” comes in to take the set to a higher level.

The set ultimately peaks with the Narcotic Thrust remix of Mad8’s “Deep Sleepless Night,” featuring Shawn Christopher’s classic vocals from her 1990 cut “Another Sleepless Night,” the end of which Behrouz loops over the entire next track. Another great touch is superimposing the acappella for Discrete Encounter’s “I Will Be” over Tone Depth’s instrumental “Everything.”

“This is true house music,” says the vocal loop in TM Project’s “Naturelize,” the second track on Behrouz’s side. As his contribution to “Frontiers” proves, Behrouz is one of the best interpreters of “true” house music today, a house music with clear links to its past but that continues to innovate through artists like Sultan, Tommyboy, and Tone Depth, as well as DJs, like Behrouz, who drop their tracks. It’s no wonder that a DJ like Danny Tenaglia, whose house roots go all the way back to New York’s Paradise Garage, considers Behrouz a real promise for the future of house music.

The Renaissance "Frontiers" series pits two DJs from different countries head-to-head, DJs who are established but not yet considered part of the pantheon of global superstars.

Review by Sebastiano Brancoli ("Seba", Soma Holiday)