Roger Sanchez: Release Yourself

Vol. 6 | Stealth

This two-disc volume in Roger Sanchez’s Release Yourself series begins with a “pre-party” CD that includes many worthy house tracks: DJ Leo’s steamy, delicately rhythmic “Sex in the Morning,” Patrick Green featuring Will Barnes’s “Shades,” Claude Von Stroke’s “Who’s Afraid of Detroit,” Joi Cardwell’s “Imperfect.” Tastier still are the mixes that he makes of these tracks, delicately at the beats’ most delicate moments. Sanchez is known for intense mixes and loud, massive rhythms; to hear him moving on kitten feet takes some getting used to. And though the set’s “party” disc does rise to the slamming intensity that he’s loved for, he takes a long, wayward route getting there. Still, digression and eclecticism are an integral part of Sanchez’s live sets, and fans who’ve seen him in action will feel right home as he moves from Brazilianism (Relight Orchestra & Margareth Menezes’s “Uma história de Ifa”) to hip-hop house (the Nightcrawlers’ “Push the Feeling On” and Bebe Brown versus Phunk Investigation’s “Dark Beats”) to electro (Laidback Luke’s “Hypnotize”) and tech house (Agent Greg versus Audiopunch’s “Symphony of Love”) on his way to intense, deep, black beats, from Noir’s declarative, powerful “All About House Music” to Suzanne Palmer’s transcendent “Free My Love.” Sanchez tests the limits of the tough, the frantic, and the joyful. Fans expect no less.