(Soma Records)

Probably like many of you, I’d never heard of Tony Thomas – but I’m not going to forget his name in a hurry. He is a prolific producer in England, has been producing for years, and apparently every discerning DJ has at least one of his tracks in their record case. Hmmm.

So much for the blurb – what about the music? Well – how does the idea of deep, dark, groovy, tribal house grab ya? If that perks up your antennae, you have to give Mr Thomas a chance, as I’ve seldom heard such a solid slab of said tribal house on one CD. This is the sort of music that Steve Lawler would make if he wasn’t just a DJ and didn’t have such a penchant for annoying Latin vocals and an obsession with getting naked. Congos and bongos set the pace, dark progressive sounds give it weight, and African-inspired rhythms and Thomas’ impeccable musical timing make it irresistible – this is fine dance music.

I had a number of favourites on the album, but much more important, the album overall hangs together brilliantly. Unlike the vinyl version, the CD is mixed – I suspect electronically in the studio – and that adds tremendously to its appeal. The flow builds from the classic tribal house of Good Fortune through the deeper and darker Beginnings into the darker tribal prog of Medicine Child, getting harder and more serious as it goes.

What Comes Around is more traditional house while Feel Me has quite a techy feeling – a clanking percussion like Oliver Lieb’s Smoked Metropolis mix, and a bass line very much like an Angel Alanis track, but with a saxophone – a sax with the reverb cranked up until it could fill a cathedral. This is not shy music.

Lovely brings it all back down to earth though, with a beautiful, deep, deep bit of chilled out house – lovely indeed. And from this mid-album hiatus, he works the pace back up again through a number of good tracks to the climax with Cannibals, another deep, dark, techy bit of tribal prog.

I’ve recently complained of a CD that I was reviewing that the artists had tried to mix too much into one album, and it didn’t work. This is the opposite – a carefully themed, beautifully mixed, very well produced album of nothing but tribal house, in subtly different flavours – I loved it. You probably will too – give it a go.