Friday, 29 January 2010 05:38

When British dance music magnate Andy Horsfield announced that Global Underground was resurrecting Nubreed, its highly regarded new talent mix series that helped launch the careers of Sander Kleinenberg, Danny Howells, and Steve Lawler, he said he’d “finally found a DJ worthy of the Nubreed series.”

And then out trotted Jim Rivers, the baby-faced Brit from Maidstone, who seemed more like a shy teenager than a superstar headliner.

Asides from a few low level productions on US prog label Saw Recordings, and his own imprint Misfit, Rivers was off the radar of most people outside the progressive house scene.

But in the prog world, Jim Rivers had slowly been building his castle. Through deep and melodic electronic house cuts such as ‘Ron Hardy Said’, notably remixed by Swedish super producer Eric Prydz, the ‘Empathy’ EP on Bedrock, and a number of releases on Audio Therapy, Faith Music, and Simple, Rivers became progressive house’s great new hope.

The plaudits from prog pundits fell thick and fast. “It’s young blood like Jim Rivers that keeps the scene moving forwards, he was a real inspiration this year,” declared long-serving prog DJ Dave Seaman back in 2008.

America’s Satoshi Tomiie, himself a former Nubreed DJ, agreed: “Jim Rivers is the man to watch, I am so impressed by his ever improving skills.”

The proof is in the pudding, and in Jim Rivers case, his Nubreed mix exceeded almost all expectations. Even long-time followers of Rivers’ productions proclaimed it was one of the mightiest mix compilations Global Underground had ever released.

Simon Jones, progressive house’s most prominent journalist, and a former Beatportal blogger, gushed in a wholly positive review, “To be frank, while I’m already a fan of his previous work, even I didn’t expect this to be of the quality that it is.”

Since its release, Jim Rivers has proven that he’s an all-round accomplished producer and DJ, as comfortable producing arena sized progressive anthems, as he is popping off soulful deep house ditties.

It is with some delight then, that we hand over this week’s Weekend Weapons column to him. Here are Jim Rivers’ favourite club cuts of the moment.

 

TJ Kong ‘The Centre of the World’ (Seulo Remix) [Four:Twenty]

 

 

Seulo is an alias that I use to write some more deep and housey stuff under. This one is a really paddy warm affair that just flowed when I got the parts from TJ. Something I like to play if I have a few hours.

 

Tony Lionni ‘This Feeling’ [Freerange]

 

 

I’m an absolute sucker for choppy old school synths! I instantly loved this when I heard it. ‘This Feeling’ is great to play on its own, but it’s also one of those records that you can get really creative with when mixing.

 

Steve Parker ‘Mexilhao’ (Handycraft Mix) [Weave Music]

 

 

This tribal sound is big at the moment and I really like this one, as it has a more tech edge. It just rolls and rolls, and always seems to lock people in the groove!

 

John Tejada & Arian Leviste ‘Messenger’ [Palette]

 

 

John Tejada is one of the absolute dons of tech house! This is the first thing from John and Arian that I had heard in a while - those stabs and pads are just monstrous. Tejada is a really consistant producer for this sound, and over the years he has always delivered.

 

Paul Woolford ‘Timebomb’ [Intimacy]

 

 

Now I know this has been around for a while, but it’s one I still come back to all the time. The thing I love about Paul’s productions is that they stand out - you know it’s his sound and you can’t say that about too many people these days in my opinion. With big FX and an excellent funk-licked bassline, this one’s a bomb.

 

Wollion ‘Largo Embargo’ (Jim Rivers Remix) [Blufin]

 

 

This has quite a housey feel to it with key stabs and sliding hats. It has quite a simple arrangement but that’s why it works for me. It has that warm and groovy feel that I like to play earlier on in my sets.

 

Tim Green ‘Lone Time’ [Cocoon]

 

 

What a year Tim has had. Another great drummy cut from him that just works whenever I’ve played it. The drum hits and sounds in it are so good, and full of funk. Definitely one of the hot names of the moment.

 

Chris Lattner ‘Sick’ [Fear Of Flying]

 

 

I’ve been really into the last few things that I’ve heard from Chris Lattner. Again it has Detroit warm chords, and a stutter funk to it. Simple but very effective.

Source: beatportal