Tag Archives: deep

Monday Music: Greyhat, Ghostchant, Mickey Kojak, SBTRKT & Bobina

Posted on by

Freeman KittyThe last Monday in March will be celebrated with Morgan Freeman, a black cat & 5 of the most legit things I heard last week!

Greyhat coming at you from Maine, with some soothing, almost vaporwave chillout. I say almost because there’s an indie punch to the track that’s much appreciated. It’s got a Blockheads classic psychedelic rock feel to it. Never too overpowering, but most certainly guitar-focused and liquid. Speaking of liquid, it pulls into a breaking, almost d&b tempo, before melting back into this lush indietronica that deserves roaring congratulations. It feels like driving through one of those rainbow 80’s videogame .gifs.

Ghostchant is one of my favorite UK artists. His fusion of garage, ambient, downtempo, trap & ethereal beats is second to none, and this kind of remix needs to keep coming. Pulling even more echo & melancholy into The Weeknd, this six minute rework is a giant made of clouds. So much work went into creating the atmosphere that The Weeknd’s vocals soar through, I hope he sees in. Ghostchant is one of the best producers in the game, and totally needs to do some work for huge pop artists. Bieber remix next perhaps?

I mentioned Mickey Kojak a little while ago, and when I said I’d keep my eye on him, I meant it. This one is hard to classify but makes me happy, a track that gives me hope for the future. Forward looking, while almost paying homage to Disclosure, this funky house track hits all the right notes. On point vocals, a surprisingly round & well produced bassline, decidedly non-tropical sounding pad work, and melancholy come together wonderfully. As it fades away, I’m left wondering, just like the last time I wrote about him, what’s coming next from this guy.
 Hadn’t anticipated new SBTRKT, but it’s always welcome. THE-DREAM shows up to provide some euphoric hip hop fusion with potent indie bass. It’s a frenetic, tense build, but that makes the drop/chorus even more gratifying. Well put together, with all of the elements playing their position, as it were. The auto-tune is minimal if used at all, and the almost euphoric break rounds out the 3:48 nicely. Quick fun & unassuming.
 This is dope. While it’s the most festival ready shit I’ve ever posted on this blog, I have my reasons, those being, Trainspotting. Any track that uses samples from Trainspotting doesn’t get turned off immediately. And I’m glad I didn’t. The first build is EDM as fuck, but the 2nd, real build is euphoric trance that we need more of. The samples remain useful throughout, and the music video is well edited. The build puts you in a crazy, serotonin filled place, which I hope to hear more of as the US festival season warms up. Bomp this ish loud, your music junkie friends will thank you. Big ups to Bobina for making this happen.

Bonus! A friend’s tune that he only hinted at existing, one of my tracks of 2015, is finally seeing official release! Yellow@TheLight has been killing it in the whispered quiet spaces of the Lower East Side and Bali, strangely enough. His vibe can’t really be described, so I’ll just let the track speak for itself. Metal drums, deep vibes, and a techno back bone come together to feel like a beach party from the X-Files. Half deep, half almost metallic, it really shows off the breadth & depth of the production competence Yellow@TheLight brings to the table. So hopefully you & I can convince him to do it more often. If you’re feeling this, he’s got a new mix out of similar depth.

What Lies Beneath: Treetops Shoots Through The Canopy.

Posted on by

Treetops BannerI arrived as the rain began to fall on Grand Street. The not quite summer evening tried to bluster against my DanceSafe hoodie as I stood in line for Treetops. This blossom of an event looked healthy enough from the outside, so after being processed through Paper Box security, I grabbed a Tecate and said made my way through the thickening crowd. This was to be a different kind of party. Something with less pressure & pretentiousness. It had the feel of a throwback or anniversary event, even though it was the first of its kind. As I watched friends catch up on things without using Facebook, Pony’s deep house oozed through the main room.
Pony’s achieved the status where it doesn’t actually matter when he’s performing. Opening, closing, not a problem, there will be a dance floor. Even at bewitching hour between 11:45 & 1 AM, when every party in NYC somehow goes from empty to full. The Herald of House kept the crowd grooving, guiding their Friday night. The two room structure worked well, with DirtyDecibels pushing out some compelling dirty house while people still had room to move. After running into some more old friends and giving the dance floors a whirl, the open air space called to me.
The sets worked off each other and you could kind of still hear the main room, so going out to grab a smoke never represented too much of a threat to your groove.  I wanted to take a minute to give special kudos to Duane Harriott for his incredible set. Honestly, the side room from 1-3 was going off. I don’t ever hear competent fusion between hip hop, techno & tech house, but he was making it seem effortless. The room got down to it like this was a genre of music they listened to every weekend, like brolectro or top 40. The nuance associated with this sound isn’t basic, to say the least. I spent far too much time bobbing between his & the main room where Christian Martin was reminding everyone why they need to get their dirtybird BBQ tickets. This guy is known the world over for his techy but soulful signature house, and the crowd definitely agreed. DSC00976 The hour was upon us. Mat.Joe in the side room with The ScumFrog laying down main room muscle. I’m not going to get into the technical mastery Scumfrog brought, or how Mat.Joe kept the other room jumping until after last call. That’s something that should be self-evident if you’ve read this far. Hit up their various social medias to review their dopeness if you need a refresher. The skill emanating from both rooms was plain to see and people were hanging around later than you could most places that evening.  That’s right, because the L train was busted, The Paper Box was open until 5 just to keep the kids safe until the trains started running again.DSC00773 As I made my way to the door, I gave the room a once over and saw one of the producers doing what the best producers do. Crosschecking, roving, making sure everyone had a great time. We sure did man, can’t wait for the next one. In case you need further proof, check out this video shot by Jane Says Photography. That FOMO kick in yet? This is Terry Gotham, see you on the dance floor.

(Photos care of Jane Says Photography)

Midnight Music: TÂCHES – Prints Of Whales (ft. PB Kaya) [Deep House]

Posted on by

TACHES - Prints Of Whales (ft. PB Kaya)I don’t post a lot of Deep House on this blog. It’s not because I dislike the genre, as you’ll see me at deep & tech house parties pretty much weekly in Gotham. When it comes to house, I prefer sets & I don’t much keep up with individual tracks. I had to make an exception when I came across this. TÂCHES creates a soothing, spacey house track that needs to be purchased by every DJ friend of mine in the city. The deep, modern vibe is exactly what I needed to keep chugging through this week and if you need a pick me up, I know this will help.  If I don’t hear this at least once in the next month at Verboten, I’m going to be seriously disappointed. (via Fresh New Tracks)

Hometown Fire: Miss Sabado

Posted on by

Miss SabadoMiss Sabado is incredible. That’s as simple as I can put it. I’ve never really experienced someone like her, whether behind the decks, in casual conversation, or when she’s feeding a room full of people she cares about. A model by day & DJ by night, this best coast transplant is one of those success stories NYC is known for throughout the world. She threw her own series of parties a little while back, a relaxed affair at a few of the more obscure bars & basements in the city. There were a couple of really good nights there, with fashion forward people dancing to exotic & skillfully arranged beats, while sipping on good wine until late in the evening. I’ve been at a party of hers that was standing room only, and when I was one of a dozen on the floor early in the night. Much respect for this lady DJ, and Resident Advisor agrees with me.

I’ve highlighted two of her most recent mixes to give you over 2hrs of ear time with Miss Sabado. Her global yet understated take on deep & tech house is something that we’re only just starting to hear more of in Brooklyn over the last 6 months. Guess who has been on that tip for longer than tropical house has been a genre?  I highly encourage signing up for her newsletter as well because if you do, then when you get the new mixes & gig information, it also comes with what’s below. You’re welcome. Check her out and you’ll be as captivated by her work as I was.

unnamed

Midnight Music: Estiva & The Spacies – Voices (Kelvin & Lash Remix)

Posted on by

Estiva & The Spaces - Voices (Kevin & Lash Remix)Hey look, people are still making stuff! So, my boy Brockelbank is killing it over at EDMTunes, especially when he’s posting tracks like this. Frankly, I don’t know where this came from but I’m not entirely sure I care. Non-tropical deep, but light house. I know that was a bunch of adjectives, but it’s kind of exactly that. It’s a driving but muted beat that seems to pull from both tropical and minimal at the same time. It’s sunny, up-beat, but there are no steel drums, no random parrot sounds and it’s still got some oomph that I can hear working on a main-stage. This is definitely going to be a sleeper track used by DJs who are on festival billings in tiny fonts. While the headliners might not be into this kind of sound, if you’re playing for a couple of hundred people, or early in the day, there’s going to be some support from the crowd I wager, and to Kelvin & Lash’s credit. These two need to start working together more often, if just because Kelvin & Lash sounds like a cool cop drama with DJs.

Midnight Music: Funkerman ft. J.W. – The Masterplan [Deep House]

Posted on by

Funkerman Feat. J.W. - The MasterplanIn case the snow has got you down, Funkerman has you covered. This original that dropped last week is groovy & sophisticated enough that you’re kind of concerned about buying her a drink. But while she has her own money & doesn’t need you to tell her she looks good, if you can dance, you will definitely get her attention. The throbbing bass & no-nonsense chords keep you moving, but you may need to come back with a better outfit next time. In all seriousness, this is a dope little track that makes me think of the last cool party I hit up off the L train. Funkerman‘s coming up in 2015. I done told you.

Mix Of The Week: Le-Saint-T – Mixtape Afterwork Electro Posé x Le Saint T x TEEMID

Posted on by

Mixtape Afterwork Electro Posé x Le Saint T x TEEMIDIn the first 30 seconds, I knew this mix was special. This hour of sexy, deep house from Le-Saint-T the Electro Pose in France shows why you really can’t fuck with the French when it comes this kind of vibe. This mix is quality start to finish, and this Le-Saint-T is now officially on my radar. The mix keeps the pregaming energies up, and would provide a hot & alluring soundtrack to a hotel room micro party in case you’re into that sort of thing. The vibe coming from Timberlake, Thicke & Barkley remixes melds with a dash or two of tropical, a heavy dollop of deep & a whole lot of positivity. TEEMID is featured and does some fantastic work here. This is such a fantastic mix and the tracklist is below, in case you want to do what I did and go listen to each one of these separately after.

Crazy (TEEMID Intro) – Gnarls Barkley
Alicia – Darius
Rock your body (Notize Edition) – Justin Timberlake
Groovejet (Andrey Exx & Fomichev Remix) – Lissat & Voltaxx vs Marc Fisher
What – Fabich & Ferdinand Weber
Perlenklang (Original Mix) – Sonnentänzer feat. Novocaine
Boy Boy Boy – Andhim
Little Bird (Original Mix) – Lexer
Alive (Gold Fields Remix) – Empire of the Sun
The Fear (Matt Elation Cut) – Marcapasos
Jolene (GAMPER & DADONI Remix) – Dolly Parton
Only Girl In The World (TEEMID & Makeda Purple Cover) – Rihanna
Sonoro (Original Mix) – Paji
Blurred Lines (Bee’s Knees Remix) – Robin Thicke Feat. T.I. & Pharrell Williams
TEEMID – ID

Midnight Music: Flexstyle Drops 2 RaveCon Mixes Which Need To Be Heard!

Posted on by

Flexstyle, a little known OCRemix DJ/contributor, was let loose at Saboten Con a little bit ago, and we’re all better for it. Opening the live party mix with a PrototypeRaptor electrohouse banger, this guy immediately declared he was not fucking around. Mixing into a remix of my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE level music ever, really could not win more points in my book. The Ben Briggs remix does the Flying Battery Zone (Sonic & Knuckles was a damn triumph) justice and then, there’s Bloody Beetroots! I don’t know where this kid came from, but this is the first time I’ve been convinced I wanted to go to a con in years. If the tunes sounded like this? I’d be 100% down. A particularly wonderful Green Day remix helps transition the mix into original music (but not without dropping a sweet Chemical Zone Remix, with a taunting DDR sample if I’m not mistaken) half of the mix. This is another area where Flexstyle shines. The tunes are expertly produced and pushed together. I can’t wait to hear when he starts integrating his trance & bass tracks into his live mix.

Bonus set! They let him back on the decks, which is a decision I couldn’t support more. I’m not sure how to describe this. This is Nerd Rave music. This is what I wished every chiptune show was ever. Frankly, I’d just listen to 4 hours of electro, deep house, trance & glitch remixes of video game music. If you want to play synthed out West Coast bootlegs of Sonic 3 music, I really would pay you money to do that. Is that possible? This mix even brings in electro swing, which is wonderful. I think this kind of stuff can bring a lot of introverts out of their shell. It’s easy to hear something you recognize and it’s complicated enough that it’s not doofy big room anthem shit. If Big Room is the frat in the EDM scene, this is the Anime club. And man, they look like they’re having a lot of fun.