I’m going to be out of town for the rest of the week in Cooperstown, NY, visiting family and hopefully taking some great outdoor photos for the upcoming round of album cover projects for the end of the year.  As such, I probably won’t have any internet access until next week.  These tunes should keep things moving for the week though.  Here are some of the deep house cuts I’ve been bumping this week, and an amazing photo I came across (not sure of the creator…anyone?).

Homewreckers – Wreckers (Delight Remix)

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First up is (yet another) solid tune that came out recently which I heard on the Freerange podcast.  It’s a remix by Delight of the semi-eponymously-titled track Wreckers.  This hazy roller is sticky with a thick-as-honey synth backing, ignited at times by what sound like faded memories of a brass band playing a jazz tune.  My brother eloquently summed up this track in a single term: “dénouement music.”  Look it up.

Gramophonedzie – Why Don’t You

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Next up is a much more sociable house track I’d definitely play to some of the more mainstream crowds here in Philly, but which I think would also please the true house heads, justifiably disgusted with most of what’s going around.  This one, also a very jazzy tune, borrowing from the brassy Why Don’t You Do Right? (Get Me Some Money Too) by Peggy Lee, recorded back in 1942.  I see a lot of cultural parallels which the mainstream can identify with here.  The irony is so sensational, you almost don’t need a beat this good to appreciate it, but obviously (horrible name…I mean c’mon guys) set out to turn more than a few heads with this track.

Major Lazer – Cash Flow (Classixx Glass Bottom Dub Mix)

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Switching gears, here’s a track that seems to take equal parts nu disco and R&B into the mix with a deep, soulful groove.  The unassuming source of the track is ‘s (Diplo and Switch) dancehall tune Cash Flow.  The duo known as Classixx really did a full makeover on this remix, resulting in what can be considered almost a new track in its own right.  Lucky for us, it’s up for free over at XLR8R.

DJ Sprinkles – Brenda’s $20 Dilemma

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Finally, I think I initially passed over this release when it came out earlier this year.  The artist, the acclaimed Terre Thaemlitz, certainly came as an eye-opener to me.  In a veritable galaxy of tacks that are deep house for deep house’s sake, Thaemlitz is very vocal about a range of issues as many tracks on Midtown 120 Blues would suggest.  These issues of identity politics– gender, sexuality, race, etc. are ones not commonly explored in such an up-front manner, but Thaemlitz, as someone who was there when deep house was born over a decade ago, and who has seen where it’s gone since then, has something important to say.  The original sentiment of the music now largely absent (which I think it can be argued that music can still be just as real, regardless of the presence of the original context of the genre’s creation), clearly there is not enough knowledge of these roots.  It all seems to be summed up perfectly in the Midtown 120 Blues when Thaemlitz recalls being turned away from a Loft party in ’95 while he heard one of his own songs being played upstairs.  Further reading here.

Posted in Music Posted by Alex on Aug 05 2009 12:00 pm

Tags: Classixx, Delight, Diplo, DJ Sprinkles, Gramophonedzie, Homewreckers, Major Lazer, Switch