Vic Latino – One Night in NYC

Slip Into Something Comfortable

Dance music snobs consider DJ Vic Latino about as underground as scaffolding, per his associations with the likes of MTV Spring Break and the Ultra Dance mix series. Take it easy, people. Someone has to get PTA moms and attitudinal rich kids out on the floor, and Latino’s One Night in NYC — a set influenced by his service to New York’s KTU radio — will work better than, say, glitch-hop.This double album more accurately represents two nights in NYC. The second disc/night focuses on sounds with more international influences. If you’re not a serious reggaeton fan — and this author is not — the first two thirds of this disc are particularly weak, with three songs for los puertorriquenos y sus amigos surrounded by standalone R&B from Deborah Cox, irritating neo-dancehall from KMC and Sizzla, and Armand Van Helden riding the coattails of Duran Duran’s Andy Taylor.

Oddly enough, disc 2 finishes strong with help from the David Morales/Angela White anthem “Feels Good,” as well as Vinylshakerz filtering the Murray Head chestnut “One Night in Bangkok” through the fat keyboards Benny Benassi loves. This cleaner, Top 40 Dance feel actually gives the whole first One Night in NYC disc some consistency. Sure, it’s a bit cheesy early on (Lucas Prata’s “And She Said” is the worst offender) but redemption is found in artists like Freemasons, Lola, and Narcotic Thrust.

One Night in NYC is too spotty to get oldheads to tap their feet more than once or twice. Instead, one hopes Vic Latino has really made a “gateway drug” to better, bolder dance music meant for other nights in more exotic locales.