We may be months behind with our music newsletters, but we get back on the production pitching road, marking a welcome podcast return by a dynamic D.J. whose magnificent mix, “House Music All Night Long”, shows that the marvellous Mikey D has not lost any of his terrific track choice touch, making selecting it as our “Podcast Of The Week” an easy choice, download stream options an image click below, while we marvel in the mix & Mikey with our special feature beneath
We can count ourselves fortunate to have acquainted a large & lengthy list of D.J.’s & music producers both in our times clubbing at home in South Africa, here in the capital & on our exploits across Europe, a sizable selection we feel privileged to call friends, while if you have tracked our recent exploits, you don’t need to be rocket scientists to realise the even smaller & select set that fall under our now infamous “premier” & premier protégé” player lists, two having played out just a couple of days ago at PLAY>TIME, these two individuals instinctively aware of what tracks & tunes float our musical boat, all too often tumbling those trademark DM tears. But there is another D.J. in this select group of ours that also manages to move us to emotional eruptions, although it would be fair to say, the occasions recent have been few & far between, not least as Mikey D has had his hands full managing his daytime role as Ministry Of Sound’s IT manager, the spectacular sets of his we used to savour every other week at Beyond in recent years, a rarity in 2012, while the handful he has played, including just yesterday, his lastminute.com appearance apparently stealing the show, no real surprise to us, as we rank him as one of the most talented D.J.’s on the capitals clubbing circuit.
So while we missed out on Sunday, we can count ourselves fabulously fortunate that Mr Dower has also turned his time to pressing a new podcast, very much like his recent resurgence out on the scene, is a most welcome return to music making for Mikey, his last mix well over a year old and very much a departure from what we rate as his best compilation to date “Lose Control” which while forever hold magical Parisian memories (a long story). And in his latest mix, “House Music All Night Long” there are definite shades of the former, while there are also genre influences that mirror aspects of his last compilation “Heavy Baby”, so the blending of uplifting vocal with full on tech & progressive beats very much cater for a wide clubbing audience and shows the depth & diversity of Mikey’s sets & sounds. So, analogy wise, while “Lose Control” was very much Beyond and “Heavy Baby” Later, we are pleased as punch with the resplendent result that “House Music All Night Long” has achieved, as it shows those sound skills that we can draw from both clubs & performances from Mr Dower at each.
Starting with one of our favourite tracks of now, a 2012 re-work of the classic ”Let The Sunshine In”, neatly followed by the mix’s title track, Mikey then takes us on a terrific journey come rollercoaster ride of genre dips, twists & turns, elements of funky, uplifting, tech & progressive all coming together to keep us gripped tight right the way through, delicious dollops of classic tracks, like the opener, remixed into 2012 form, while up to date hits are in there too, a particular favourite being Trent Cantrell’s “Naturally”. And while the compilation is only 60 minutes long, he manages to pack a punch, transporting us onto the dancefloor delightfully, shades of Beyond, Later & even PLAY>TIME coming through in leaps & bounds, while it is also a credible cycling compilation too, not many mixes able to produce the kind of pedal power in comparison to the master in this field (do we need to mention his name?!), while it was an easy consideration to mark Mikey’s welcome return to podcast pressing by propelling “House Music All Night Long” to our podcast of the week slot, not just for one week, but three in a row. So, it naturally goes without saying that we thoroughly recommend you add this to your collection which you can do by either heading to his Podomatic page at http://mikeyd.podomatic.com or to his Soundcloud site at http://souncloud.com/mikedower, where both likes & comments would, we are sure, meet with our music maker’s gratitude, while if like us, you missed Mikey’s set at Beyond last weekend, then fear not as he is back again this week and we have it on good authority that there are a couple of Later appearances due this side of the New Year too.
So, it’s great to have Mr Dower back in the groove, both performing live & pressing podcasts in the studio, meaning we hope it won’t be too long before we all have to wait for the next Mikey mix that, just like this latest compilation will surely prove that “Music Is The Answer!” (DISCO MATT)