10 best house tracks, according to Krystal Klear

Ahead of the release of his forthcoming ‘More Attention’ EP on Kerri Chandler’s MadTech label, Manchester-based funk/house producer and alumni of Eglo, All City and Dub Organizer Krystal Klear talks us through 10 of his favourite “house bangers”.

In no particular order are ten house tracks that no matter what I reach to when I’m playing and can never seem to walk away from.

Kerri Chandler – Atmosphere (Jeromes Runaway Dub)
I think this was the first Kerri Track I ever heard and I just remember thinking that it held every nuance that I always loved and associated with house music from a teenager in one track but basically to me this track can create every different emotion from going wild when the bass drops or even getting chill when the chords hit or vice versa…. All round track.
Raw Power – Wanna Be Your Girl (G Thang Mix)
B-side to a killer 12” off Strictly by Tony Varnado under one of his many aliases. It has a garage feel to it from the off cut vocal chops at the beginning but I think what I love most about this track is its sequencing like, the sequence makes the track continuously floor filling and doesn’t lose strength.
MK – Love Changes ft. Alana
For me you can’t talk about house without mentioning Marc Kinchen. MK is hands down one of the biggest influences to the house music I make at least. I was put onto this track a lot later by Jacques Greene after he played in Manchester. I couldnt get the progression out of my head and when we were sessioning later when he put me on and since then it’s been played in 90% of my sets. Alana who worked with MK on a lot of early stuff smashes it on this track and showed the early examples of MK’s signature vocal production techniques.
MAW – The Ha Dance
Kenny Dope and Little Louis Vega are two of my biggest heros in music. Everything by the M.A.W is untouchable to some extent in my eyes and their knowledge of disco that regularly comes through their grooves is possible why I love their sound so much. The Ha Dance doesn’t hold that much of disco step as it does some Cuban or Latino stomp to the rhythm but to me it just sounds like New York… Sounds like Brooklyn, touch of hip hop to it on a dance beat… Often reminds me of early Van Helden stuff. The sample is also from a scene in trading places – as told to me by Falty DL.
Nightcrawlers – Push The Feeling On (The Dub of Doom) / Crystal Waters – Gypsy Woman
I put both these tracks as one in the same category hense why the take a joint spot in the top 10. I think these are probably the most universally known house tunes in the world and despite their commerical standing, they’re absolute bangers and frankly when I was like 10 years old and heard Nightcrawlers for the first time I loved it and it was tracks like this, Good Life and Crystal Waters that got me listening to house grooves at an early age, so I feel they deserve there spot in my top 10 at least. And a set of mine rarely goes by without one if not both getting the drop.
Omar-S & Aaron “Fit” Siegel ft. L’Renee – Tonite (Detroit Mix)
This one might have gone by me just considering it’s a newer groove but fortunately Spencer from Numbers re-jogged my memory over the weekend at Bestival by dropping it. Classic Omar-S sound but it’s the Detroit B-side mix which gets me every time, any house track with a distorted sawtooth sax has my attention anytime – check Chez Damier – I Never Knew Love (M.K Club Mix) to see another example.
BME Project – Falling In Love Again
A close friend of mine who probably knows more about house music than anybody I have ever met put me on to this over a conversation on the Burrell Brothers after the Nu Groove Comp dropped last year. I remember one or two BME tracks off a re-issue from a few years back but this one obviously slipt my attention and no other track I have ever been so grateful to be called up on. Even now with the sound everybody is pressing out in the clubs I feel this track is ahead of its time and not in terms of technique or style, but more so to the fact that for as long as house music/ future garage or whatever is being played, this track will hold court against ANYTHING… And I know there’s a lot of tracks that have that value but to me this one is special. Why do I feel I’ve given away a secret weapon here?
N.Y. House’n Authority – Apt 1b
Another guise of the Nu Groove Legend Reggie Burrell. This one is on some ghetto house tip but is the perfect bridging track for when I wanna move into disco (also check The Bucketheads – Outro for a nifty disco changeover track) but also works amazing as an opening track. It immediately sets the vibe and after that horn synth string intro, the bass hit is enormous. For guys just getting into this end of things just check or buy any Burrell production you can, because even if you may not like it now, in time you definitely will.
Roy Rogers – Falling In Love
Like most things, I like to cover most bases, bit of Chicago so far, bit of New York, Detroit of course so it’d be wrong not to include one of my favourite genres of house. And another reason I got into dance music in the first place – French House. This track embodies everything solid about French House, you have that sidechaining beat with the filter rhythm that sets off the disco sample. A great record on the same tip as Crydamoure or Roule but I’m not gonna lie to you, I know sweet fuck all about Roy Rogers except he had two banging releases on Vegas and that, still to this day, people think this track is by Bangalter.
FCL – Let’s Go
Something closer to the day we stand and that’s by FCL. Let’s Go has been a huge track since its release two years ago. Despite the German origin of this track I feel it holds a ‘UK-ism’ as it were that really sets it off in the UK clubs. I know that sentence sounded lame but generally I’ve noticed this track go off everywhere but especially in the UK. Produced by San Soda and WPH owner Red D.

MadTech will release Krystal Klear – ‘More Attention’ EP exclusively on Beatport on 24th September and officially on 8th October, 2012.