I rarely get all exited about one particular artist. Every single one I know has made utter crap somewhere in his career. Even my all time heroes like Marvin Gaye, Leon Ware and DJ Premier have made some songs I can’t stand. And to be blasphemous for a lot of people, Dilla has produced his share of sonic crap too.

So has Karizma, a producer from Baltimore who’s mostly known for his House productions alongside DJ Spen / Basement Boys. Mostly well produced (vocal) House tracks but upon till now rarely outstanding if you ask me. Although I like his rework with Spen of Angie Stone’s Black Brotha a lot. But the man is going his own way now and that results in bloody brilliant pieces of music. His ‘Twyst This’ made big waves on Gilles Peterson’s and Benji B’s shows. Ripping Donnie’s Cloud Nine and twisting it into a massive broken House monster. ‘Tech this out part 2’ is another subtle, deep and raw dancefloor bomb. Spinned that at Suite 16 a couple of weeks ago and it’s total genius on a big sound. Even got Red D coming over to ask what it was.

Those 2 tunes are on Karizma’s LP on BBE subsidiary R2 Records; ‘A Mind Of Its Own’. Which can be found in the shops from this week on. Buy it because it is brilliant. It’s more than house with downbeat and Hiphop minded tracks. ‘Sad Isn’t It’ is such a tune. Deep and emotional track.

You can check this on the Straight No Chaser Myspace (check out the rest of the tracks there too, nice selection of some of the best releases of the last few weeks). Anyway, buy this because together with 4Hero’s and Cinematic Orchestra’s LP’s it’s one of the must have releases of 2007. If you buy it, you can download some extra tracks on the R2 Records Site. And if somebody would bring this kid over for a DJ-set, that would be very nice. Guy’s a hero behind the decks, too.