ChicagoPride.com Music Reviews: A Collection of Really Good “Music”

A Collection of Really Good “Music”

Move Your Body: Ultimate Dance - Various Artists (Time Life).
This new compilation CD is a pleasing stroll down dance music recent memory lane with songs such as Tamia's "Stranger In My House" and Sonique's "It Feels So Good." Old-school and and new-school divas such as Crystal Waters, Deborah Cox, Melanie C and Danni Minogue join the likes of Sting, Alice Deejay, and Daniel Bedingfield on this 18-track collection of club hits.

Electro Slash Disco: 80's Underground Dancefloor Sounds, Vol. 1 - Various Artists (Koch).
Going even further back down memory lane is this new release that gathers some of the biggest underground dance hits from 20 years ago, when funky disco beats crashed and ultimately merged with synth-driven electronic instrumentation. Included in this must have CD for any of you who partied late into the night in Chicago during the 1980s at places such as Berlin, Medusa’s, and Neo is “Situation” by Yaz, “Walking On Sunshine” by Rocker Revenge, and “The Dominatrix Sleeps Tonight” by The Dominatrix.

Truly Madly Completely: The Best of Savage Garden – Savage Garden (Sony).
Do you remember this Australian duo (Darren Hayes and Daniel Jones) who took the world by storm beginning in the late 1990s? You should because with more than 23 million albums sold before parting ways four years ago, they are one of the most successful duos in history with chart-topping songs such as “I Want You,” “To The Moon And Back,” and “Truly Madly Deeply.” This 17-track “Best of” collection also contains two brand new songs from Hayes, whose extraordinarty voice still captivates.

“Music” – Leela James (Warner Brothers)
This is a stunningly good collection of dance remixes of a ballad from James’s debut album that will surely delight serious dance fans. The underlying song is top-notch, lamenting the fact that music just ain’t what is used to be, and is re-worked for various styles of dane floors by the likes of Eddie Baez, Dave Hernandez, Richard Morel, and Simon Aston. While these are all fantastic efforts in their own right, I found the L.E.X. Back To House Mix to be the best among this very strong set.

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About DJ Plez

DJ Plez (aka Michael Pleasants) has been DJing since the late 1980's, sharing his passion for dance music with dance floors and listeners around the world. After many years of successful toil in the financial services industry, he’s now spending much more time in a DJ booth instead of an office cubicle.
DJ Plez has quite a diverse range of dance music “likes” to accompany his true love of house music.
The incredibly wide variety of records and CDs that DJ Plez possesses helps explain the unique style he has forged: one that melds various forms of dance music - Chicago house, progressive, tribal, underground, and club - into a cohesive presentation that is rhythmically exciting, sexy, and energetic.
DJ Plez uses fresh approaches for each of his live sets, skillfully producing intricate mixes on the fly, creating a sense of dance floor drama with his in-booth programming, and most importantly to him, making sure his sets have one abiding element: GROOVE!

As would be expected from his wide ranging style, the DJs that have most influenced DJ Plez represent the vast global dance music scene and include: Victor Calderone, Derrick Carter, John Digweed, Danny Howells, Frankie Knuckles, Susan Morabito, Ralphi Rosario, Danny Tenaglia, and Junior Vasquez just to name a few. However, the most significant influence on DJ Plez’s abilities in the DJ booth are the experiences he has when he’s out dancing at parties and in clubs, staying intimately connected to the dance floors and partygoers populating them.
It’s this connection that allows him to truly find out and understand what makes a dance floor tick, thus leading to his success in the DJ booth.

DJ Plez sees himself as an ambassador of house music on a mission to help perpetuate and grow this Chicago-born art form. During the past year he had gigs in Zurich (Nuts & Bolts Party; Labor-Bar), Montreal (Unity 2; Chrome), and Miami (Cactus) and will be adding Amsterdam, Detroit, and Los Angeles to his travel itinerary. Locally, DJ Plez has residencies at Cell Block and Ezuli in Chicago and has made several appearances at PUMP!Milwaukee. In addition to numerous private and corporate DJing gigs, DJ Plez is the Music Editor of ChicagoPride.com.

Mixes of DJ Plez have been played on internet radio at www.circuitmix.com since June 2003. Additional opportunities to listen to more mixes by DJ Plez will come about in the near future on his web site www.djplez.com.