The Little Ginger Club Kid

Well preceded by a pair of killer singles ("It Just Won't Do" and "Less Talk More Action!"), The Little Ginger Club Kid aims to be an audacious debut full-length for Tim Deluxe. And indeed this colorful release by Darren Emerson's generally on-point Underwater Records label largely hits the mark, bundling those killer singles with nine similarly fun-spirited tracks that should delight anyone who'd already taken note of this talented Brit and his exuberant style of vocal-driven house music. If you're not one of those people who'd already taken note of Deluxe when "It Just Won't Do" and "Less Talk More Action!" were burning up dancefloors from London to Ibiza during 2002-2003, it's helpful to think of Basement Jaxx, who not only share a similar style of music-making but also embarked on a similar career path — brewing interest with a few club anthems before leaping out of the gate with an endlessly pleasing debut album of flavorful house tracks, each with a unique edge to it, many of them vocally highlighted. Granted, Deluxe is no Basement Jaxx (few are), and The Little Ginger Club Kid is no Remedy (again, few are), but still, the music here transcends the traditional boundaries of house. It does so not by being particularly experimental or forward-thinking; in fact, these tracks are quite the opposite — they're simple and fetching all at once, without ever once rolling the dice or pushing the envelope. Deluxe has a very keen sense of style, for sure, and melds that sense into every track here, giving each its own character and its own appeal. Above all, he leans heavily toward Latin inflections (but not outright Latin motifs per se) and also his charismatic stable of vocalists (Sam Obernik, Terra Deva, Ben Onono, all of whom make multiple appearances here), and he never drifts too far from good old-fashioned pop-song structure, making these tracks undoubtedly dancefloor-ready yet sufficiently palatable to even the most casual dance-music listeners. Audacious debut albums this on-the-mark don't come around too often, much to Deluxe's deserved credit.