- Tevo Howard and his Beautiful Granville label have been one of house music's newer success stories, injecting full-blooded soul into a scene that is often at risk of sounding flat and two-dimensional. While Howard's music usually veers towards the deeper side of Chicago house, this release on the Rush Hour offshoot Hour House Is Your Rush sees him go for a more primal yet equally rewarding interpretation.
Although the original version features dreamy jazzy chords that drift through the arrangement, the heavy claps and spaced out warehouse beats quickly make it apparent that Howard is following a different path. The same mournful chords feature again on the acid mix, but here they play a secondary role, overpowered by the prevailing elements. Indeed, it would be necessary to make a lot of noise to be heard on this version: Howard adds heavy claps and skipping snares to his echoing drums, all of which provides the basis for one of the fattest, most powerful acid lines in years.
It's reminiscent of Phuture at their most brain-meltingly insane, and provides a reminder that while many producers are influenced by the 303, very few can recreate that sound with the same kind of rawness or intensity as its inventors. That it is delivered with an unparalleled fluency or that it is then seamlessly joined up with those displaced chords only serves to demonstrate yet again what an intuitively talented producer Howard is.
Tracklist A Move (Original Mix)
B Move (Acid Mix)