Oscar G finally releases a compilation reflecting his dirty and sometimes diverse sets from Miami. Check it out!

Oscar G – Made In Miami (Star 69 Records)

Finally Oscar G has released a mix compilation and for those who love Murk (his project with Ralph Falcon), the news can be better. With GU Lights Out 3 released last week, the tribal fans are wetting themselves with anticipation. To sum up Oscar G’s contribution to music in a proverbial nutshell, he has been around a long time and he was born and raised in Miami. He is known best for his Murk alias, with long time music partner Ralph Falcon and they have released some real corkers of tracks, especially the nasty and always club ready “Fired Up” under their Funky Green Dogs alias. Since Murk has become more world reknown, they have started to push their own labels and they are playing more gigs in the world. So Oscar G spent a few months preparing his compilation, which he takes seriously as a deejay. So here is a slice of Miami!

CD 1

1.Shahi feat. Razor Cain – Adrenalin (Kut Mix)
2.Friburn and Urik – Yapany
3.Paul Harris feat. Double H – Falling Stars
4.Funky Green Dogs – Reach for Me (Steve Lawler Mix)
5.K&S Project – The Music (Peter Rauhofer Mix)
6.Paul Harris – Guitar 1
7.Peace Division – Groove Me
8.Blaze feat. Barbara Tucker – Most Precious Love
9.DJ Pezi – The New Dimension coupled with Basement Jaxx – Fly Life coupled with Ralphie Rosario feat. Xavier Gold – You Used To Hold Me
10.Paul Harris and Mark Knight – This is Jack
11.Austin Leeds – Violence
12.Lee Coombs featuring Katherine Ellis – Shiver (Murk Miami Heat Mix)

CD 2

1.Dirt Crew – Nervous
2.Big Black Boot – Vibrate 2005
3.Divided Souls – The Walk
4.Lower East Side – Sword Fight
5.Psykofuk – Psykofuk (Robbie Rivera Mix)
6.Dirt Crew – Rok Da House (D.Costello Mix)
7.Sammy Peralta and Rooster – Move Your Body (Armand Pena Mix)
8.Carl Kennedy and Johnny Gleeson – Banta Boom
9.Soul Mekanik – Wanna Get Wet (Buick Mix)
10.Mark Knight – The Box
11.Tolfrey and Sylvester – The Horn
12.Emjae – Vanity

Disc One really gives you a representative of Oscar G’s sound, that many people are not familiar with because the Miami Sound is quite unique. Yes, Murk is known for Tribal but they are also known for dirty house, just like Steve Lawler. Murk and Lawler don't use the slow burning technique that Danny Tenaglia seems to use and it is quite evident here. Right from the get go, the CD instantly tries to capture Oscar G’s sets and I'm sure his style is probably quite close in the clubs.

The introduction gets you going. It seems that a lot of deejays are putting more stock into introductions these days. “Yapany” is a subtle house track, which surprises me because I thought it would be tribal land for nearly two discs and with some dirty house in there at times. Well, we get into house music and then Paul Harris’s Falling Stars kicks it up a notch and then we get the first real corker in the mix. Steve Lawler's remix of the Funky Green Dogs' classic aka Murk called Reach for Me, it is just plain nasty and completely downright filthy. It has an electro line coupled with a heavy bassline that just seems to smack you in the face and its probably going to be tearing apart the clubs, good choice on Oscar’s part.

New York's often forgotten, and sometimes neglected genius and sometimes madman called Peter Rauhofer and his mix of “The Music comes in here” and it has that electro sensibility but it is not electro house. It seems to chug and chug along, with a haunting vocal saying simply “Good Music” which instantly leads us into track number six, which is another track by Paul Harris called “Guitar 1”. Track six instantly continues to push up the tone of the mix into more driving territory, which is always great and while mixing it in, Oscar G allows the “Good Music” vocal to filter over the track, which is really nice. I love how this track could be considered something to reduce the tempo but I still think it is uptempo and it pushes the mix into higher levels.

Peace Division seem to be everywhere these days, they have always made excellent tracks but some argue that their sets are very boring. This is another chugathon and it has some weird noise at the back of the track and it really adds to it. The mix so far has been outstanding, with some excellent variety and great mixing. Now as I first listened to the CD, I saw the legendary Blaze with Barbara Tucker and I thought vocal driven house but I was wrong. This is probably a dub mix because you don't hear any of Barbara's vocals and the song is so driving with this melody that just makes you want to dance and I'm sure it’s a slammer in the clubs. It is so well done and how is Oscar G picking these tracks, they are all slammers.

Now track nine was originally a mashup that Oscar G himself created for his sets and you ask how can three tracks fit so perfectly together? I don’t know how but I love this track, however many tracks are involved. It is driving, which seems to be Oscar G's game and this is more tribal influenced, which is great because the world needs more tribal CDs. Paul Harris appears again in track ten with “This is Jack”, which adds those drums that everyone just loves and the vocal is haunting, not in the person saying it but the tone that is used. Austin Leeds seemed to have disappeared after 2002 and showed back up in 2004 making subpar progressive by numbers for the massive. This is a driving dirty progressive number that just seems to pull you in and it is just downright filthy.
Disc One ends on probably my favorite track of the year so far in the Murk Mix of Lee Coombs' Shiver. It is electro tribal house (if there is such thing) but it's just plain disgusting and it draws you in and finishes off what has been an exceptional disc one in fine fashion.

Disc Two starts with the excellent acapella “This Music” over a slow turning house track. Vibrate 2005 comes in as track two and its downright filthy with a weird vocal. I love how the track is not quite electro house but it incorporates dirtiness into the mix. You could classify it as two faced, it shows two sides. “The Walk” starts the drive of CD 2 and it has a singalong chorus that goes “Walk the Line” and it sounds like a mass of people are singing it. The bassline is just dirty and the effects are just something else. “Lower East Side” is track number four and it’s an effect track with a nasty gritty bassline and its just mean.

Remember the sample from Tiesto's Traffic, well he used the sample from Sean Deason's alias Psykofuk and the track had the same name as the title. Robbie Rivera like it so much, he remixed it and its here on this CD. It does not use the usual traffic sample as often as you might expect, that Tiesto loved so much, its more special sound effects with a heavy bassline and some drum rolls coupled around the main line. Dirt Crew's Rok Da House comes in at track six and here we are given electro house with a weird vocal.

Sammy Peralta is a fast moving new face on the scene and if you judge by what you hear, he might be a big name. The guy has talent and here we are given Armand Pena's mix with an almost electro house, which is probably the norm these days. Everyone is playing it and if you hate it, you better go lock yourself in a cave because it is not going anywhere. It is heavy and filthy but not as tribal as you might expect Murk to be. Carl Kennedy's Banta Boom takes the filthiness of the disc and takes it into a warmup house tune, I'm not sure what Oscar G is trying to achieve here but I'm baffled. It just seems that he has thrown a curveball into the mix and that was on purpose.

The Buick Mix of Soul Mekanik shows how this disc is fading fast into obscurity because I always thought it was a weak electro house tune with too many effects. It was all show and no follow through. Mark Knight's The Box seems to steer the mix's u turn on the right path, here we have more percussive edged house and that’s always a good thing. Tolfrey and Sylvester’s The Horn and Emjae’s Vanity finish it off on a good part.

Conclusion:
Where the hell is my tribal, I thought Murk was more tribal like Tenaglia and Lawler but I guess I was wrong. It shows how everyone is hammering the hell out of electro house, which will be gone like last week's celebrity hairdo in a short manner. It is certainly dirty house and this compilation certainly has some real corkers but it seems that it just feels lifeless in parts of CD 2, after the genius of CD 1.