Steve Porter: Porterhouse Vol. 2
EQ Recordings

Single-handedly clearing away any and all possible aural cobwebs, Steve Porter's double-disc mix is a relentlessly storming affair, especially when the Progressive house DJ works a staggering fifty-seven tracks into an ultra-maximal, pulsating set of electro, house, techno, and trance. One thing's for certain: his Molotov cocktail is never boring, especially when many tracks are in the two-minute range and Porter cuts to the chase in most of them.

Roger Lee's mix of Gaz Nevada's “Secret Agent Man” ignites the set in a laudably jubilant spirit, and Nixon's “Turn it Up (Phunky Toast Dub)” only jacks the euphoria quotient higher. Chris Micali's “Kinshasa” and Agent 001's “Juicy Froot” drop jazzy electric piano and organ boogie into the mix, while a massive bass thunders through Aaryn Blain's “Raging Elephant” and a swinging synth swarm infests Mario Ochoa & DJ Fist's “Showtime.” Dizzying cuts include the feverish tribal trance of Golden Girls' “Kinetic” and Carlos Montes' slamming “Walking on the Sky.” Emjae gets four cuts, including the wiry electro-funk of “Ghetto Girl,” and Porter works in a generous sampling of his own grooving material, too, including jazz-tinged, funk-house fusions like “Pity Stix,” “Beau's Jam,” “She's Cool,” and “Tazmaniac.”

There's no question the release overflows with hi-octane energy and exuberance yet one also longs for a chilled episode or two to offset the frenzy and allow one to catch one's breath. Agent 001's “ReDan” does provide a rare moment of calm but it lasts a mere second or two before the mix resumes its unstoppable churn. That weakness aside, there's no denying the release's exhilarating spirit and dizzying impact.

May 2007