2 x Vinyl LP, Compact Disc (CD)
Born in house music’s birthplace and spiritual mecca, Chicago DJ and producer Jamie Watson (aka Jamie 3:26) has built an impressive catalog of edits that have been smashing dancefloors for more than a decade. From his heavy reworking of Swiss new wave band Yellow’s 1980 hit “Bostitch” to his dark flip of Loleatta Holloway’s joyous disco classic “Hit And Run,” Watson has established himself as one of the finest remixers working in dance music today.
Watson’s latest, A Taste Of Chicago, pays homage to some of Chicago house music’s staple tunes, putting his gift for re-envisioning classic dance music on full display. The album opens with a scorching edit of BSTC’s “Venus & Mars,” complete with rousing brass, slick jazz guitar lines and shuffling, rapid-fire percussion. “The Jungle (Jamie’s Jungle Sounds Edit)” strips away the original vocal, leaving listeners with a quirky, minimal banger. Watson flashes out Chip-E’s acid house classic “It’s House,” transforming it into a warm and weird slice of contemporary experimental dance music. A Taste Of Chicago is further evidence of the continued vitality of Chicago house music, revealing the genre’s endless potential when placed in the hands of a producer who is intimately familiar with the music’s true spirit.
