(Sony BMG)

So is this just another commercial house music CD… or something more?

The Onelove story started way back in 2001 in a small hotel in Victoria’s well known and well visited capital, Melbourne. Rumours have it that Onelove now holds an international reputation for supporting a continual entourage of big name acts, such as Moguai and Bob Sinclair. Unfortunately, I have not yet been fortunate enough to frequent a Onelove event. However, I do believe that Onelove the CD (both Volumes 1 and 2) provide a pretty good insight as to what a Onelove event is all about.

So what about the music, you ask? I’ll start by saying that there are a number of tracks on this cd that really need no introduction – that is unless you have hibernating for the past 6 months! By this I mean tracks such as The Weekend, by Michael Gray, Nasty Girl, from outstanding vocalist Inaya Day, Flashdance by the one and only Deep Dish, and the Tom Neville remix of I See Girls by Studio B. I trust that these tracks require no further introduction.

CD 1 has been mixed by well known Melbourne house DJ Grant Smillie, and showcases one of my all time favourite tracks, the Tiefschwarz remix of Kinda New by Spektrum – featuring the somewhat morbid words, “We all live and die”, together with some mashed up electro sounds. If you are yet to hear Sander Kleinenberg’s, The Fruit, then get out there and buy this cd! The Fruit is one hell of an awesome track, which I would categorise as nu electro broken beats, maybe?

For anyone who is the proud owner of Sessions One, you will all have heard Blue Water by Black Rock.  Well this time it features the vocals of Debra Andrew, providing a definite edge to an already instrumentally interesting track. CD 1 also contains a couple of songs I would place in the sexy house category, similar to what you’d hear on a Defected CD. In this category, I would include Shake Me by John Modena (featuring a trumpet melody) and If-U-Nu by Soul Mekanik Invents Ben-E-Lux.

The second disc has been mixed by Carl Kennedy, whose roots can be traced back to the busy clubs of New York, and I must say that every time I hear the first track, Morjac Theme 2005 by Morjac, I just can’t help but smile. The melody provides for an extremely happy track, which I could imagine going down really well during a morning set with the sun slowly coming up!

CD 2 also offers some soulful house with Salty by Dylan Rhymes, and some straight up house with tracks such as Utopia (Where I Want to Be) by Stereostar with Mia Ja, The Love You Bring Me by the man himself, Carl Kennedy and Raindance by Steven Mestre & Wilson Santos (a Carl Kennedy remix) – this is a track you will surely want to sing to! There is also a distinctive rock flavour featured with tracks such as Now I Get My Kicks on the Floor by Hooked, Metal by Afrika Bambaataa and Buzz Junkie by Tom Neville featuring Jellybone.

I have to be honest with you all… at first glance I did think this was just another CD with a mix of the same old songs you hear on all the commercial house mixes. And while there are a number of songs which you will find on many other mixes, there are also a bunch of new tracks that I hadn’t heard before.  And, this CD is designed to promote the Onelove club event so, for this reason, needs to cover those songs that continually draw the party people to the dancefloor.

I would probably place this CD in a similar category to, say, Ministry of Sounds’ Sessions One, as opposed to a Defected ‘In the House’ compilation. This is because, whilst it is still house music, the music on Onelove Vol 2 has a slightly harder edge to it, rock house might be a good description. So if you’re a fan of Sessions One, and you don’t already have 10 CDs in a similar vein, then get out there and buy this album! And make sure you attend the launch party coming to a club near you.