Mood II Swing & Afefe Iku

From what I can tell, my second Winter in Helsinki is slowly starting to come to a close. Temperatures have finally started to rise above 0°, the ice is melting to slush and days are starting to lighten up. Fucking finally.

It has been so horribly dark, cold and depressing of late that I have been forced to turn to house jams to toast my chilly lobes. These two tracks have been doing a particularly good job:

I first heard the King Street Records 'Classic House Grooves' (curated by the Dope Jams crew) towards the end of 2012. Being all wrapped up in techno and tech house at the time, I didn't really know what to make of it.. Divas? Soulful Vocals? Funk? Hm.
I have to admit that I didn't actually give it a 'proper' go until earlier this week - and I'm glad I did, because after a solid listen, it's infectious funk and self-affirming grooves have been a ray of sunshine in this bleak winter.
While not all the tracks rubbed me the right way, one that particularly did was Mood II Swing's 'Sunlight In My Eyes' from '94. The driving, yet smooth vibe is typical of a lot of the tracks on this compilation, but I really enjoyed the extra level of smooth simplicity that is represented here:

Mood II Swing - Sunlight In My Eyes

Grab Dope Jam's 'Classic House Grooves' mix here. Bucket loads more excellent vibes on that one..

This next Afefe Iku track is an absolute treat.. How eight and a half minutes of repetition can be so f'ing compelling is beyond me, but i can't seem to prise it out of my headphones of late.
Simmering, percussive funk and the occasional blast of steamy synth keep this number bubbling along superbly - it is a truly addictive track, thanks both to it's simplicity and Iku's little touches.
The big boss dogs at RA once called this track a 'stone-cold classic' and it is an easy task to see why.

Afefe Iku - Mirror Dance

Good luck trying to get that out of your head.. Iku's original 'Mirror Dance' EP from '08 can be found here. More excellent Secretsundaze gear can be found here.

Have a good weekend!