It's a bit miserable outside today. I quite like it.

There's something about old US garage which fits perfectly with rain for me ever since a community festival in Endcliffe Park in Sheffield which got totally washed out, and everyone gave up and went home except for a soundsystem and a few committed ravers (at the age of 14 or so I was the most committed raver of all at these free festivals since I didn't know about free parties and I couldn't get in to any clubs) dancing to chunky Armand Van Helden-esque beats...

So it was well timed that I picked up DJ Romanthony - Live in the Mix from a charity shop yesterday and I was bumping it in the car on the way to work this morning... I love Romanthony's production style, but I'm finding it hard to express exactly why... there's something kind of thin sounding about it - but that's not really a word normally used positively when describing dance music. It's the way it seems to just lightly brush over you from a distance, like an overheard snatch of a party in the next room, or next street, or maybe the next universe, which gives it a sense of urgency, but also a sort of relaxed generosity. You gotta dance, but no need to go crazy if you don't want to. Teeny dancing will do.

One tune in particular really got me, a repetetive, hypnotic, addictive groove that made me want to get out the car and get lost in the music & the mist... here's a cheekly lil 128 for ya:

Romanthony - Down 4 U.