Andy Vaz's Straight Vacationing is his first full-length artist album since the 2006 release of Repetitive Moments Last Forever. This album registers as less a straight-up collection of dancefloor burners and more of a variety pack that mixes club tracks and full-fledged house songs. Listeners hungry for just ordinary 4/4 throw-downs will not entirely get their share of those, but they'll also get a whole lot more on this dynamic and well-rounded set of eight album tracks. Straight Vacationing dives into house in all its rich variety: from deep melodic, early Chicago-influenced acid house, jacking-Jedi mind tricks to disco-type grooves and last but not least excursions into Bizzaro World, with an almost psychedelic experimental-edged sound. The album perks up the moment the first track, "Detroit In Me," appears and when its acidy bass line percolates so determinedly alongside a female vocal motif, Vaz polishes the track's Detroit surfaces to a mirror-like sheen. It sounds a little bit similar to what Maceo Parker might sound like soloing over a funky Detroit-styled bass. Saxophonist Andreas Pasternack spreads his creamy playing all over "Stubnitz" and in so doing, bolsters the album's already soulful character. The album's poppiest moment arrives on "Just Another Round," whose hooks Vaz powers with a lead bass line and sweetens with a chirping female vocal. The funky-as-hell bass playing and the music's cold sweat, not to mention the honk of Pasternack's sax, might remind listeners of a certain age of the J.B.'s, James Brown's '70s band. On the experimental tip there's "Fukuoka Liquid," a bubbly, acid-techno shape-shifter featuring a hammering groove overlaid with synth smears, and "Worlds Collide," an exercise in jacking acid-house -- old school all the way. The album features occasional guest players contributing to the house-driven sun-showers. As a bonus, the album offers free additional digital remixes from Yore all-stars such as: Patrice Scott, Rick Wade, Alton Miller, Memory Foundation, Ibex, Kez YM and Orlando B.

track listing: detroit in me stubnitz straight vacationing fukuoka liquid just another round colliding worlds a dope jam (bullshit mix) the other place