Weekend Weapons…Erick Morillo

Weekend Weapons…Erick Morillo

16 February, 2009 | 10.05AM

• Written by: Ryan Keeling
• Filed under: Music News: erick morillo, subliminal records

This week’s Weekend Weapons comes direct from arguably the world’s biggest house DJ, Erick Morillo.

Since establishing himself as a Strictly Rhythm mainstay way back in the early ‘90s, Erick Morillo has gone on to become an all-encompassing, global phenomenon, reaching the point of notoriety where perhaps even your mom has heard of him. 

It was around those early days in his nascent career that Morillo was thrust to fame as a pop star: His international smash ‘I Like To Move It’ under the Reel 2 Reel moniker conquered charts and mainstream clubs across the globe. Conversely, 1995 saw the release of ‘Reach’ - an underground classic that is still being dropped to this day - recorded alongside Louie Vega as Lil Mo Yin Yang. 

One of the defining moments in the Morillo tale was back in 1997 and the inception of Subliminal Records; a project that has spawned countless monster club cuts, multiple compilations, artist albums and truly crossed over into what marketing men would gleefully term as a ‘life-style brand’.

All of this aside, it’s been Morillo’s breakneck DJ career that has, and continues to, stand him out as an international ‘main event’. His long-standing Wednesday residency at Pacha in Ibiza is among the most densely populated parties on the island, and, as you will read below, Morillo is still attracting jaw-dropping attendances wherever in the world he ventures.

The story is about to come full circle as Morillo prepares for a Strictly Rhythm reunion with the release of ‘Strictly Erick Morillo’, a triple CD mix for the label that takes in some of the aforementioned classics alongside upfront material, to released in March.

This weekend saw Morillo do nothing more than relax and recuperate, as part of his enviable month-off in Miami.

So despite the downtime, here are his currently heavy-hitting trio:

1. Juan Kidd & Felix Baumagartner ‘Now You’re Gone’ (Club Mix) [Defected]

This is nuts. I played it in front of 48,000 people at Temptation in Sydney on New Years Eve.

The event broke the record for the biggest indoor gathering ever (according to the Guinness World Records) and what was the track that slammed that dancefloor? It was Juan Kidd & Felix Baumagartner ‘Now You’re Gone’.

This is an uber-pacey house track injected with just the right amount of hair raisingly good electro synths.

It has massive peak moments and the swooshes are drawn out to mess up your head.

This is one of those rare tracks that really induce those goose pimple moments.

If that wasn’t enough, the vocals then drop in, sung by the lyrical goddess Lisa Millet (of ‘Bad Habit’ fame).

Jason Herd is masquerading as Juan Kidd but I’m not sure if I should tell you that, as he is a good mate.

Ultimately this is positively a slammin’ cut - trust me. 

2. DJ DLG & Erick Morillo ‘Where Are You Now’ (D.O.N.S. & DBN Remix) [Subliminal Records]

I couldn’t do a Weekend Weapons feature and not include one of my own bad bwoys.

Subliminal is back and this is my second recent release in ‘09.

I’m working with DJ DLG who is a bit of a protege of mine.

It is an absolutely killer cut called ‘Where Are You Now’. It’s been reworked by the D.O.N.S. and it’s a project that I’m particularly loving at the moment.

It’s just a great peaktime dancefloor moment that connects every time.

There is a good remix package that comes with a version from Hardsoul’s DJ Roog and Prom who drop some seriously dope chords for their take on this.

I’ve also got the Canadian Redroche giving it a little pedal to the metal, with an electro house twist. You’re going to definitely hear this one in Miami .

3. U2 ‘With Or Without You’ (Dr. Kucho! Rework) [White Label]

This one is a major stomping, euphorically crowd pleasing, big sing-along re-rub by the Spanish producer and DJ Dr Kucho!.

I played it in Creamfields in Buenos Aires and I swear that there were 60,000 people singing this back to me.

It’s a classic example of how rock can meet dance on an absolutely epic level.

Some great, drawn out and spine tingling breakdowns which is something I’d recommend for you to drop; an especially good end of night tune.

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