America in the House Tonight

The first time I listened to this album, the only thing I got out of it was a headache. The next time around, I was ready to get up and go dancing. Tripping beats, wandering rhythms, and overdubs from Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream Speech" all take turns featuring on Little Louie Vega and Erick Morillo's compilation of house remixes, House Nation America. The two-CD set has a predilection for Latin beats, African song styles, and old recordings from the '50s.

When the samples are set against a solid, pop-inspired house beat, the resulting mix makes this good enough for a house party, as long as the person holding the party has enough beer to last a few rounds.

At the least, Morillo's CD, the second of the two discs, inspires because it possesses enough challenging sounds and inspired samples to keep the mix new and energetic all the way through. The first sample, an a capella incitement to get up and party like it's 1959, muses, "Remember when the music just felt so good / I don't know what went so wrong / Just close your eyes and remember / Yeah, we got to bring that feeling back."

The songs on Morillo's mix, which always flows smoothly, have a strong, old-time vibe, especially when it samples from salsa and Latin jazz. On the track "Brazil over Zurich" by the Tanga Chicks, a sing-song chant begins over a propulsive salsa beat. All of the music is inspired by African beats that seem to pound through the length of the marathon jams. This is music you can take into a shower, cook dinner with, and listen to while giving your cat a flea bath without feeling like you ever left the party.

Little Louie Vega also uses an African and Latin emphasis on the first CD. This disc, unfortunately, suffers from an addiction to pop rhythms and sounds that contrasts with the generally eclectic samples. The diva vocals that run through the album also run into trouble here as they attempt the heights of poetic inspiration, as on Kings of Tommorow's "Finally," with lyrics including "I knew you'd come knocking one day / Unannounced like a thief in the night."

On an album that tends to keep the diva poetics buried beneath the beat, awkward moments like this stand out. I know that people listen to house music for the beat, and not for lyrics that educate, but there are better ways of phrasing such a lyric, especially on an album that preaches to the listener from the start and includes an "I Have a Dream" sample on the track by Hatiras, "Invaders."

The troubled, poetic tone seems awkward, discordant, and not in the time or mood of the music. Vega's jam does, however, possess some high moments.

The first track, which opens with the sound of waves crashing on a beach before shifting to the delicate clink of piano, made me want to prepare a few strawberry margaritas and cool off on a sunny Miami beach. Now, if only everything in this mix possessed the same brightness. You'll probably recognize some of the beats and vocals; you've heard them before, even if not in these exact versions. But let's face it: house music is not made for intellectual head-nodding and satisfaction. It is designed to seem familiar even as it is played over the radio. When it comes to dancing satisfaction, Vega and Morillo know how to make the beats flow.

Various Artists (Mixed by Little Louie Vega & Erick Morillo): House Nation America, 2000, Ultra Records, $19.97.