Koen, Bearweasel, Nikola Gala, Schatrax
Here is a fresh round of deep house cuts for you to taste, a pretty decent variety of the deep, introspective, and dubby tunes, with more colorful, sociable, disco-tinged selections. Hope you enjoy!
Koen – Otherside – Otherside EP
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First up is an elusive new producer from Italian imprint Aenaria Recordings named . Now, since there is next to nothing out there in the way of information about this guy, assuming he is a different person than Koen Groeneveld, I’d rather take a moment to point out the unique and appealing art direction behind Aenaria. It’s rare to see this sort of branding–an ancient Greek-inspired art direction, which is especially rare in the realm of dance music, but Aenaria has an interesting form of iconography their four sub-components– Aenaria Music, Aenaria Tribal, Aenaria Tech, and Aenaria Chillout. Definitely check it out if you’re interested in seeing how a label sets itself apart visually.
Bearweasel – Button Down the Moose – Things EP
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I’ve been into for a little while now, I’ve always found it intriguing that a male-female couple could come together from opposite ends of the British mainland to create some of the deepest and most reserved compositions. This new track appears on Tsuba, a label I’ve always known to release exemplary deep house, but to be honest, I’ve never been drawn to any of it until this release, which includes an incredible remix from dub master Brendan Moeller aka (aka ). I love the subtly resonant ride cymbal in this track, which along with the other carefully-chosen percussive elements creates a dubbed out form of deep house that serves more to relax than to excite, which if you’ve been following my musical discoveries, would be a perfectly suitable aural effect to pursue.
Nikola Gala – Broken Chords – Keep Walking EP
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This track from ‘s Keep Walking EP strikes me as the perfect sound to exemplify Freerange Records and the direction they are pursuing, it’s evolved slowly and humbly over the past few years, but to be quite frank, it hasn’t changed too drastically. Instead, it has become incredibly noticeable to the seasoned ear, my only hope is that it will remain to sound as fresh and upbeat as it has to this day. The warm and sexy hum of the backing keys remains reserved for most of the track, but when paired with those classic piano keys, it’s tough to resist doing what the vocal sample commands, which is to “feel it.”
Schatrax – Champagne Dancer – Champagne Dancer EP
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Here’s an example of a record I was drawn to initially because of the album cover, which features Aretha Franklin. The single is called Champagne Dancer, and it’s by Schatrax out on a label called Fear of Flying. While I was expecting some sort of vocal incorporating Ms. Franklin’s unmistakably impeccable voice, I was disappointed not to hear it, but was instantly redeemed upon hearing the nostalgic selection of classic deep house tones, the most prominent of which being the bouncing, buoyant bassline and filtered synths that repeat and descend…I don’t know though, I almost want to find an a capella of Aretha and throw it on top of this track.
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