This is thee glitz

Felix Da Housecat aka Felix Stallings Jr. is one of the most influential people in dance music and certainly one of the most talented. Music always played a huge role in his life. Growing up in Detroit in the 1970s, his father who was a saxophonist instilled a love of music in Felix, especially soul and funk like Stevie Wonder. During the 80s he started to develop a big interest for house music, listening to the pioneers of house music such as Farley "Jack Master" Funk made Felix start recording his own house music tracks at the age of 14! He was also in an R'n'B band and during his two years at university in America's Deep South he made some hiphop. He hated his days at college there and so he dropped out, returning home to his beloved Detroit. He studied Audio Engineering at Columbia College, which would prove to be invaluble in his career.

DJ Pierre an old friend invited Felix on a trip to London. It was the early 90s and dance music was just beginning to take off. Independant record labels were springing up all over the place. The record labels went crazy for Felix, eagerly putting out his tracks for him, things really started to take off. Early nineties smashes included "Thee Dawn" and "Thee Underground Made Me Do It." Felix only started Dj-ing in 1995, a late starter for a dance music artist. During the next few years he continued to release more material and a very limited edition album in 1997 called "I Know Electrik Boy" under the name of "Thee Maddkit Courtship." That was received really well by critics but it wouldn't be until he met Miss Kitten and Dave The Hustler that he would make his most successful album.

"Kittenz and Thee Glitz" wasn't really planned Felix, Miss Kitten and Dave The Hustler just in their words they just "messed about". If this is what their messing about is I love it. They all met after DJ-ing at the same event and got on really well. This album was a massive success; with huge crossover appeal it has become one of the best albums to be made by a dance music artist. Winning numerous awards for "Album Of The Year"; dance music fans loved it and even high-brow critics from the broadsheet newspapers couldn't get enough of it.

"Harlot" opens the proceedings, funky yet rough sounding synths are all over the place on this track. The beats are rather quick and very electro inspired. Produced and arranged by Felix himself; the vocals by Melistar are sleazy and she almost speaks all the lines. It just works so well. Everything about it is perfect, towards the end as the song gathers pace, they start singing but it all fades away very quickly and the next song is on. Barely a space to think before the next song starts. "Walk With Me" is more down tempo, the beat is just a simple 4x4 house beat. What makes this song is the weirs almost distorted scratching effects in the background. The vocals are a lot more soulful than the first, Electrikboy's vocals have a sort of emptiness to them; this is cleverly done by very slightly distorted the vocals by using a vocoder in places and an echo effect. "You said, take my hand and walk with me."

"Analog City" is very short only over a minute long, almost an interlude. An organ plays a slow melody, synths add a real 80s vibe and it all fades away slowly pushing us into the next track. "Pray For Star" is a beautiful, amazing song. The strong but quiet beat and funky guitar contrast so sharply with the soulful searching vocals of Harrison Crump. His vocals are just fabulous, completely flawless and complimented by the quiet strings in the background. "Everyone knows a star. Pray for them". This song is about the emptiness and lonliness. Another interlude, this time a voicemail from Miss Kitten, one of the key contributors to this album.

"Madame Hollywood" immediately stamps its authority with its strong electro beat. Miss Kitten just speaks all her words for the maximum effect, her French accent is quite strong. This song is all about fame, celebrity and how fickle it is. "Everyone wants to be Hollywood, the fame, the glamour, the glitz." The words and concept to this song are really interesting. At the end sound effects of a photographer are so appropiate. Again barely any gap is left before the next song. "Silver Screen- Shower Scene" was the biggest song of the album. You have probably heard this song loads of times before. The huge beat, acid style effects, the song almost sounds like a machine. It's a massive song on all proportions. Miss Kitten provides her simplistic yet infectious vocals. Felix and her even join in to say a few of the words. "Hear the music, see the word, see the light, join the herd, love it comes, love it goes, diamond memories, go with the flow." Again the song is all about the celebrity obessed world we live in. A great piece of dance music that will go down as a classic.

"Control Freaq" another big tune on the album. With the help of Junior Sanchez on production, this is another electro/house affair. The beat is a strong, heavy 4x4 with typical Junior Sanchez style written all over it. Felix has added the great yet really distorted vocals made by Junior's computer. There are sound effects riddled all over the place from a flanger sound to filtered elements. It's a really great and unrelenting tough piece of music. The disjointed, quirky beats of the short but sweet "What Does It Feel Like?" are fabulous. Melistar and Miss Kitten share the duties of vocals this time. The funky guitar rift is so infectious. Again the whole idea about being a jet setting celebrity is explored. "Fed up of playing around, i gotta run to Rome and keep the party going on." The next track is very dark, tough electro. "Happy Hour" is another epic lasting around five minutes. Melistars vocals are catchy and full of attitude. As the song progresses it lightens up a bit in places. Another very strong album track and the production from Felix is flawless.

"Thee Enter View" is another interlude, it sounds like a recording off a radio show. Tommie Sunshine, a contributor to the album, asks Felix why he works with the people he did on this record. "Glitz Rock!" is another pure electro affair, the beats are quick, funky and catchy. There are a couple of samples from old songs, but they have been distorted and twisted beyond recognition. It contain hints of "Now Baby Now." The synth is another big part of this track, it has added a real 80s vibe to it all. Sound effects ring out and they sound like something off a computer spaceship game. "Sequel2Sub" has an almost old school house sound to it, a simple filtered beat provides the backdrop and the piano that resonates throughout add to that old school vibe. This is a song most definately inspired from the early 90s music scene that Felix was heavily involved in. "Magic Fly" is a weird, but pure electro song with quirky effects. This song was produced by ElectikBoy and gives an insight to what he is about. "She Lives" is another ElectikBoy production but written by Felix. This is more back on the funk infused electro of the rest of the album.

"Runaway Dreamer" is another fabulous song. A very slow, down tempo song. It's got hints of electro but they are very subtle. The instruments on this are strings, piano and some bizarre thing called a Moog. This song is very sad, Harrison Crump's vocals again do not disappoin, full of soul and meaning. "Runaway dreamer, it could fame that could ruin your life". The whole theme of following a dream and celebrity is explored in this song. Listen on and you will find a hidden track, and believe me it's a track worth sticking around for. A great house track with a funk infused bass line. The vocals are just fabulous, again by Harrison Crump. This shows Felix can make vocal house tracks as well as electro. "My life is music and music is life, sweet sounds to help you take flight."

In the world of dance music this album is considered a real classic. Released in 2001, a time of real crisis in the world this album shows that amongst all this there is still that hunger for fame and celebrity status. The inlay design and cover are done in a wondeful way. The cover is made to look like an ok! cover except it's called "Felix!". The inlay has paparzzi style photos of all the featured artists on the album. The message isn't a judgmental one, merely an observational one. However the vocals by Miss Kitten and Melistar are great, they do them in a kind of trashy "oh look at me I'm famous" way. This album brought together some of the best talent in dance music all under the guidance of Felix. Every single track is produced to a wonderfully hight standard and there isn't a bad track to be found. My favourites are "Pray For A Star", "Silver Screen-Shower Scene" and "Control Freaq". If you are looking to explore an area of music you are unfamiliar with i.e the electro or even dance music scene; this album is a great place to start.

The artists involved in this album are known as "Thee Glitz". Thee Glitz are: Dave The Hustler, Tommie Sunshine, Ms Kitten, Melistar and Felix Da Housecat. Special appearances were made by Junior Sanchez, Harrison Crump and ElectrikBoy.

At the moment Felix is still very much at the fore of dance music. He has already released another album "Devin Dazzle and The Neon Fever" in 2004. His most recent project has been producing P Diddy's new dance album. With the first single from the called "Jack U". Be prepared to be shocked, no more hiphop for P Diddy. Felix has given him a real hard tough production, almost techno.

For further information check out www.felixdahousecat.com

Thanks for reading! h.xo