Bernard Jones ft. Aren B – Don’t You Wish (Part 2) (LMDX011)
Catalogue Number: LMDX011
Release Date: June 2009
1: Nick Dare Remix
2: Peckos Peak Remix
3: Peckos Vocal Remix
4: Paul Hardy Dub
The Lowdown
Bernard Jones’ ‘Don’t You Wish’, featuring the vocals of Aren B, is back on Lost My Dog; Part 2 features a diverse set of remixes ranging from deep and tech house grooves through to Chicago house bumpers from Nick Dare, Peckos and Paul Hardy.
Bernard Jones has a growing number of solo releases under his belt for labels including Kolour, Funkfield and Chillin in the US and, along with being one one half of East St. Louis Players, his reputation as one to watch continues to increase. Recently he has paired up with childhood friend and vocalist Brendan Woodard aka Aren B, who found fame in the United States after being in the final 30 contestants of the TV series ‘American Idol’ in 2006. Aren B is a quickly developing vocalist and songwriter, having performed all over America opening for artists including Tyrese, H-Town and Silk.
A diverse remix package features Nick Dare and Peckos, who have both released original EPs with Lost My Dog in the past year, alongside Baker Street Recordings’ Paul Hardy.
Nick Dare’s music productions and record label have been making quite an impact since the turn of the century. His London-based label Reform Recordings has been responsible for much of his output, under the names Nick Dare, Liquid Dreams and Overdrive (his project with Justin Drake from Peace Division). His tracks have been supported by leading DJs including X-Press 2, Tom Stephan, and Paul Woolford. Nick has signed recent EPs to Detour and Wiggle in addition to his well received Dub People EP for Lost My Dog at the end of 2008.
Belgium’s Peckos is a new name on the scene, having released his first ever EP for Bridge City in early 2009. A further EP for Shak Digital and two for Lost My Dog (including the recently released Belgian Nights EP) mark him out as a name to keep an eye on over the next few years. Two remixes here demonstrate his ability to turn out deep flowing music alongside bumping, Chi-town flavours.
Last but not least is Paul Hardy, co-owner of Baker Street Recordings, full time studio geek and 2020 Vision employee. Paul has released music for labels including dotbleep, the aforementioned 2020 Vision and Zeros & Ones amongst others, and currently his ‘The Joker EP’ on Baker Street is turning heads.
Magazine Reviews
iDJ – 7/10
A series of diverse mixes from deeper soulful to tech house. Nick Dare and Paul Hardy fulfill the latter category while the peckos peak mix retains the R&B tones of Aren B. Adding plenty of fly kicks and a dub-like step to the groove, this could be big in funky house quarters.
DMC Update – 4/5
Bowser’s bollocks are in top working order for this week’s volley from the pulsating loins of Lost My Dog as they recall Aren B’s sublime vocal vehicle with Bernard Jones for an alluring array of remixes. London’s Nick Dare [honcho of Reform records] builds on his late 2008 LMD ‘Dub People’ outing with swirling keys wrapping around the rich vocal. Then there’s two from Belgium’s Peckos, a newcomer rapidly making a name after two for LMD plus other label releases. Baker Street co-owner Paul Hardy [who I recognise dropping his trousers on 2020 Vision] also supplies two corkers [vocal and dub] which mine a glistening seam of pure house magic.
This Is Why We Dance
Actually this is Don’t You Wish (Part 2) but part one seems to have slipped by me… anyway, if you can cast your mind back to the late 90s, when UK garage reigned supreme, well, that kind of near-falsetto male vocal à la Craig David/Artful Dodger/etc is what you get from Aren B here. And that’s not meant as a diss!
Mixes come from Nick Dare, Peckos and Paul Hardy, with the latter’s vocal and instrumental rubs my pick for their tuff, bouncy beats and squelchy synths. Hardy’s a new name to me but he’s apparently a 2020Vision studio boffin who’s had releases out on 2020, dotbleep and his own Baker Street Recordings.
Don’t You Wish comes atcha on Lost My Dog. LMD are kind of, if not unsung then certainly undersung heroes of the UK deep house scene… they send me loads of stuff that often gets overlooked for iDJ cos it’s on CD, so I’m gonna try and rectify that on this blog this month!
Deeplink
Read an article at DeepLink
DJ Reactions
Mark Farina: digging the nick dare mix! trippy samples, old school stabs, sweet!
Jason Hodges: Aren B is a sick voaclist and these remixes do justice!
Inland Knights: loving the peakos peak remix…..great production
Scope: Nick Dare Remix is awesome! Proper deep & funky shit!! Reminds me of Dennis Ferrer ‘P 2 Da J’.. Thats a good thing though!!!
Nick Holder: Can’t wait to rock the disco with these goodies! Thanks for sending! Another fine delivery!
Luciano: playing Paul Hardy Dub
Andy Ward: Loving the sound of the Nick Dare mix from the off…wicked bass !
Jevne Miller: dudes… the nick dare remix is killer … sure to be played! and will be in my radio set this week. also feeling the Peckos peak remix. thanks for release!
Raoul Belmans: Great vocal mix from Peckos, digging the Nick Dare remix too!
Burnski: really nice synths in nick dare remix. my favourite remix
Tommy Largo: great remix package. the nick dare remix is sick! really feeling that one. deep and techy, and still very soulful. Also like both peckos remixes. love the oldschool uk-garage feel to them. Hard to choose what version i’m going to play out.
Robert Owens: another rocking groove, look forward to playing it
Timmy Stewart: Peckos Peak Mix… Pressing all the right buttons. Ace.
Joshua Heath: solid system pumpin beats and deep techy vibes from nick dare! love the vocal work stylistically. peckos vocal mix has got a good thing going on, deep but chuggin. hard to say which is fav though..
Satoshi Fumi: Nick’s mix is fit for my set:)good grooves!
Special Interest: Nice all round package but Paul Hardys remix does it for me-lovelly stuff!
Marko Militano: Really like the Peckos Vocal Mix… thanks for the music!
Danny Stott: Thanks, quality stuff all round here. Nick Dare’s mix is superb, will be getting played lots. Cheers
Manuel Sahagun: Love the Nick Dare Remix! I will play it this weekend Cheers
Ken Christensen: Nick Dare Remix is the one for me! Will play and chart, nice layers and an infectious hot groove.
Hector Moralez: 5/5 thanks for the promo!.. looking forward to playing this!..
Chris Santiago: Nick Dare rmx… deep and techy… love it!
Jay West: paul hardy’s the one for me
Radio Support
SSRadio (Andy Ward)
Red FM (Fish Go Deep)
Beat 102-103 (Ray Colclough)
Radio FG (Advokkat)
MyHouse-YourHouse (Steve Arnell, Rob Pearson)
Chicago House FM (Louis Hughes)
Smoke It Deep (Blacksoul)
Proton Radio (Aruba)
Radio Fritz (Tobias Koch)
Wave 891 (Wendell Garcia)
George FM (Daniel McGlashan)
Motion FM (Steve Parr)
Global Soul Radio (Zweiklang)
Club FM (Bobi)
Spin South West (Dan Sykes)
