Mr G - Still Here

Mr G
Still Here
REKIDS

A man who should need no introduction to the house music world, Mr.G aka Colin McBean has been producing for the best part of twenty years. This latest release is, quite simply, a collection of top-notch house music produced with a raw analogue clarity and a certain freedom to it that takes it beyond the realms of the mediocre tribal house being churned out at the moment ad infinitum. The album is packed with the juiciest, smile-inducing basslines you'll hear in a long time.

G starts things off with the peculiar Blessed – a pace setter – the repetition of the vocal "deeper inside myself, I journey inside myself" guides you through this introduction positioning you for the oncoming sonic journey. From this point on, the tracks increase in prowess, involving you more and more and casually playing on different techniques and themes. Firewater chugs along nicely with chord stabs, Dark Town Orchestra recycles the striking, almost haunting Ferrer & Sydenham Timbuktu sample without sounding tired or dated and Platonic Solids No 5 introduces the first groove-infected basslines to bless Still Here. Again the repetition of neat vocal phrases creates a mood of anticipation and sweaty club vibes: ‘I can’t control these feelings / darkness is calling me’ leads into the album’s (quite literal) centerpiece the almighty pumping sweaty Get On Down.

Things move back downwards from this peak-in-sweatiness, meandering through more club fare until we see the light at the end of the tunnel (Light N Shade) and G’s anomaly non-four-to-the-floor closing track, Stolen Moments, a chill out track that works its magic as a coda, a moment of reflection after the preceding workout.

The nine tracks that make up the album don’t quite reach the sum of their parts however, and like a lot of LPs a more experimental approach to the album format might have paid off. Nonetheless, there is still a journey to be taken here and it is certainly well worth the ride. Still Here is predominantly a straight up club affair resulting in a collection of floor stomping tracks interspersed with moments of deeper reflection that leave you pining for more.

David Russell 

Tracklisting: Mr G - Still Here (Get On Down)
01. Blessed
02. Firewater
03. Dark Town Orchestra
04. Platonic Solid No.5
05. Get On Down
06. Space Bassed
07. Lord Have Mercy
08. Light n' Shade
09. Stolen Momentz