Kelli Ali – Inferno High Love

God i used to play this record when i first started DJing.

Forget the Sharp Boys mixes, they just don't make sense. They are banging filtered house for the sake of it. It's all about the 2 Riva mixes, particularly the vocal mix.

Riva had just come off the back of a hat trick of top notch productions ("Stringer", Iio's "Rapture" remix, Weekend Players "Into the sun" remix) and had forged this quite dreamy trance/house hybrid sound.

Kelli's vocal creep in about a third in, over a great offbeat bass groove. The synths then start to filter in. The vocals work exceedingly well with Riva's backing. The high point of the track is the breakdown where the synths filter out, and you are left with just the kick drum, the offbeat bass and Kelli's vocals - quite euphoric - i know, i experienced Judge Jules playing this in Gatecrasher, Sheffield at the time. It really does work wonders on the dancefloor.

Interestingly i have never heard the original mix, but on the strength of the Riva mix alone this should have crossed over and been a big hit, i was disappointed it didn't. Oh and Kelli Ali is a very beautiful woman ;)