Feature_(Mixmag)

TUNES HOUSE
THIS MONTH’S MUST-HAVE TUNES
SANDCASTLES IN THE SKY
INTERNATIONAL HOUSE STARS FERRER & SYDENHAM PROVE THAT A LITTLE BIT OF SOUL CAN GO A LONG WAY
FOR SOME, SUCCESS comes
overnight. But for Jerome Sydenham
and Dennis Ferrer it has taken a lot
longer than that. In the 90s, New Yorker
Ferrer was inspired by the militant
posturings of labels like Underground
Resistance. Knocking out platter after
platter of similarly thunderous techno,
he didn’t sell much of it at all.
“During that period we all lived
hand to mouth,” he recalls. “I
couldn’t do what I wanted to do.
It was pointless.”
A chance meeting with NY
house legend Kerri Chandler
persuaded Dennis to branch
out. “It was a no-brainer,” he
says. “I always leaned
towards adding a more
soulful element to techno,
which wasn’t appreciated.
Kerri took me under his wing.
With house I was able to do all
the things I wanted.”
38-year-old Jerome
Sydenham was in a similar
position. The gods smiled and five
years ago the pair began working
as a team. “We all used to hang
out together anyway so it was a
natural progression,” says Jerome with
a smile.
The collaboration created Dennis
and Kerri’s Sfere Records and Jerome’s
Jerome, right, and Dennis, left
CHEEKIES
WHAT’S HAPPENING
IN HOUSE
BARRY GILBEY’s been
asked to remix WU BAI,
China’s biggest-selling
rock artist. The track,taken from his
album ‘Two Face Man’, will also be
tweaked by ADAM FREELAND, ILS
and WAY OUT WEST. He also played
his biggest gig ever last month: to
300,000 people at the Mexico City
Love Parade. “I was shaking like a
leaf as I stepped up to play my first
tune,” Barry tells us.
This summer’s DC10
album has been mixed by
LOCO DICE and CLIVE
HENRY. TANIA VULCANO’s mix
from last year is still getting a
rinsing in the Mixmag office, so
we’re looking forward to hearing the
latest instalment. DC10 itself opens
with a bang on Monday June 6th.
As well as their monthly
residency at Pacha
London, Defected has
announced its summer residency
at Pacha Ibiza. The Ibiza party will
run every Tuesday from June 21stSeptember 20th, with residents
JUNIOR JACK, KID CREME,
SANDY RIVERA, MARTIN
SOLVEIG, KENNY DOPE, and
DIMITRI FROM PARIS.
Which massive US DJ
threw a strop when he
arrived to play in London?
Unable to follow the previous DJ’s
storming selection, he claimed the
poor positioning of the CDJs were
were affecting his abilities!
>>
>>
Barry Gilbey
This month, we received
some brilliant CDs that we
couldn’t find space for in
the albums section. First up is
‘Tsunami Relief’,an album put
together by JAY HAZE. Featuring
tracks from RICHIE HAWTIN,
RICARDO VILLALOBOS,
FREESTYLE MAN and Mixmag
faves DIRT CREW and STEVE BUG,
all the proceeds will be donated to
an orphanage in Indonesia. If you
like your house deep and minimal
you’ll love it. Also look out for the
new album on Palette Recordings
from JOHN TEJADA & ARIAN
LEVISTE. It’s packed with 10 tracks
of bubbling late-night action. “It’s
not glitch or 80s synth crap,” says
John. Check it out!
>>
112 MIXMAG
>>
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Ibadan imprint; a pair of labels that,
while hardly household names, have
shown that with integrity and flair,
house music can still be a progressive
and emotionally satisfying place.
The meeting of minds created two
of the most highly-regarded house
platters of recent years. Sydenham and
Ferrer’s ‘Sandcastles’ and ‘Timbuktu’,
both originally released on Ibadan,
soon became bona fide DC10 classics.
Quick to pick up on its ethereal charm,
Defected snapped up ‘Sandcastles’
and re-released the tune with new
mixes from Mark Knight and Joeski.
It wasn’t so simple when
‘Sandcastles’ made its understated
debut back in November 2003. “At first
a lot of people didn’t get the idea,”
remembers Dennis. “It was a mixture
of Jerome’s African elements
combined with the ghosts of my past.”
Despite having created one of the
hottest tracks in recent memory
Dennis is still refreshingly modest. “I
just live my life by a line from one of DJ
Roger’s songs,” he tells Mixmag
philosophically. “I just make records to
get people from Monday to Tuesday
…and I’m absolutely gratified if I can do
just that.”
Job done, Dennis.
■ ‘Sandcastles’ is out now
on Defected
2
Large, epic and warmsounding house from the
consistently excellent Fine label.
If you liked the fluttering
melodies on Chable & Bonici’s
‘Ride’ you’ll love this. There’s a
tougher electro mix on the flip
from Cass & Tom Mangan. The
man behind this track, Jack
Henney, is only 19. We’re tipping
him as a name to watch.
Epic, fluttery and warm.
One for the summer
Þ
3
‘Rotbauchunken’
(remixes) (Traum)
One of the weirdest, freakiest
records we’ve heard in ages gets
the remix treatment. Robag
Wruhme’s mix is all stop-go
percussion, but the stand-out by
far is Tobi Neumann’s next-level
tweak, which manages to make
it sound like three different
records, all playing at the same
time. It’s far from accessible, but
beautifully innovative.
Freaky sounds that
push the boundaries
Þ
THE JINKS ‘Love
Like This’ (MN2S)
4
The Jinks, aka Dan
Savidge and Chris Gau, won our
Mixmag Bedroom Heroes
competition last December. Their
winning entry, a mix CD with
everything from De La Soul to
Beenie Man, was brilliant. ‘Love
Like This’ is an impressive piece
of vocal garage featuring US bod
Ricky Collins. With clean beats
and a wonderfully chuggy
groove, this’ll have the soulful
heads going crazy.
Soulful, vocal garage from
up-and-coming duo
Þ
10
Not a month goes by when we
don’t get something tasty from the
Mood stable. Among a batch of
great tunes they’ve chucked out
recently (including new tracks
from Henrik Schwarz and AN-2)
this stood out like a Tory in
nightclub. 2 Dawgs are Berlin
dudes Kiki and Mohan and the
original mix is pretty good, but it’s
the epic, hypnotic tech-house of
Jori Hulkkonen’s mix that does it
for us. One for the early hours.
Expertly hypnotic
tech-house
The Ibadan label had one of
last year’s biggest growers
with ‘Sandcastles’ (from
Ferrer & Sydenham), and the
Cocoon hit ‘Timbuktu’, which
crossed over from house to
techno. This lush, percussive
track is a wonderful tribalmeets-techno-in-the-middleof-a-string-section groover.
We’re looking forward to
hearing more from this label.
Africanism-style vibes
with nice strings
Þ
‘Stockholm Go Bang!’
(Ibadan)
Þ
‘50’ (Confused)
Not only is German label
Confused ten years old this year,
they’re also hitting their 50th
release. Label boss H-Man (aka
Oliver Huntemann) steps up
under his pseudonym H-Man to
drop yet more glitzy-but-minimal
electro-disco, in the form of two
tracks, ‘50.1’ and ‘50.2’. ‘50.1’ is
by far our favourite and even
comes with added static and
crackles. But don’t clean the
record, fool! The static is meant
to be there.
Crazy, deep electro vibes
from Herr Huntemann
Þ
DOMINIK
EULBERG
SYDENHAM
& D’MALICIOUS
9
6
This is the second release
from D Ramirez’s 24-year-old
Spanish prodigy Bobby Lorenz.
The first was big room
destroyer ‘1995’. This is tough
house on a similar tip, but this
time with a female vocal.
Remixes come from Mixmag
Future Heroes and newly-signed
Slave duo Deepgroove. If you
like it big, noisy and tribal then
you’ll love this. Expect to hear it
in the sets of people like Tom
Stephan and the Deepgroove
boys themselves.
Big, noisy and a dash
of diva
Precious Love’ (Defected)
2 DAWGS
‘It’s A Dawg’s Life’
(Jori Hulkkonen
remix) (Mood)
H-MAN
‘Think’ (Slave)
1
My Moog’ (Fine)
Þ
7
BLAZE FEAT.
BARBARA
TUCKER ‘Most
JL HENNEY ‘Me &
The first single from Ellen’s
brilliant new album ‘Thrills’ (see
the full review on page 108). With
creepy, distorted vocals and lots
of trippy sounds the original mix
is creepy, techy house. Remixes
come from Modeselektor and
The MFA. Modeselektor go
glitchy and hack up the vocals
with a blunt axe. But standing
out by far is The MFA remix,
which in true MFA style builds
into a wall of urgent sound.
Look out for more from BPitch
next month, including a
slamming new track from Tomas
Andersson, with a Tiga remix.
Deeply sexy and deeply,
well… deep
BOBBY LORENZ
BY JAMES MOWBRAY
Þ
5
Þ
TOP20 HOUSETUNESTHISMONTH
There’s lots of cheesy funky house
about, but this is the bollocks. It’s
the most energy-packed, banging
funky house record we’ve heard in
months. It might owe its groove to
King Britt’s remix of Josh One’s
‘Contemplation’, but it’s also proof
that no one does funky-with-balls
like Defected. Whether it’s the
Dennis Ferrer edit or Martin
Solveig’s dub, this is awesome.
Essential, banging funky
house from the experts
ELLEN ALIEN
‘Magma’ (BPitch)
POKER PETS
8
‘Lovin You’ (Positiva)
Originally surfacing as a
limited release on Shapeshifters’
label Nocturnal Groove late last
year, this is now back on Positiva
for a wider release, and featuring
the soulful vocals of Nate James.
Poker Pets are a duo from
Sweden, and if you like your
house sunny, soulful and
summery, you’ll love this.
Remixes come from ATFC
(funky), Paul Rincon (summery)
and Behrouz (deeper).
Summery funky house
via Nocturnal
Þ
▼ JON CUTLER FEAT.
MICHAEL WATFORD
‘Watcha Gonna Do’ (MN2S)
One of Miami 2005’s biggest
vocal/soulful records on a label
that’s gaining a good rep.
▼ ZIGGY KINDER
Marc Almond
▼ VARIOUS ‘The Eleven EP’
(Stompaphunk)
Wicked four-track EP from Brighton,
featuring some warm and deep ’n’
dubby tracks from David Parr, Tula,
Serge Santiago and Ben Burns.
▼ E:GUM
‘Stop 2’ (Dexter remix) (Klein)
Electro-r’n’b hybrid with top female
vocal. Check out the top-notch
Dexter remix.
▼ JOHN TEJADA
‘Paranoia’ (Palette)
Fantastic minimal-tech from Cali
with a spoken word. Expect to hear
in the early part of Josh Wink’s sets.
▼ SANDY RIVERA
MEETS ROBERT
OWENS
‘Just Won’t Do’ (Black Wiz)
Sandy Rivera’s new Defectedaffiliated label debuts with this
brilliant Roberts Owens-vocalled
funky house cut.
‘Viel Bass & Wenig Hund’ (Ware)
We don’t know what the title
means either, but if you like fast
tracks with fat bass and
breakdowns packed with crazy
animal noises, then you’ll love it.
Scary, but good.
▼ SUENO SOUL
‘Tempo Da Solo’ (Stealth)
Soulful,summery Latin vibes on
Roger Sanchez’s label. With remixes
from David Vendetta and Dennis
Ferrer, expect to hear this in Ibiza.
▼ THE KNIFE
‘Pass This On’ (Rabid)
Sexy little number with the strange
but seductive lyrics “I’m in love
with your brother”. Comes with ace
remixes from Dahlback & Bahlback
and M.A.N.D.Y.
▼ BRIQUE ROUGE
/FREAK N CHIC
‘Miami Sampler 2005’
Hard to track down, but worth it,
featuring awesome cuts from
Shonky and Marc Romboy.
▼ KING ROC FEAT.
MARC ALMOND
‘Prime Evil’ (1 Trax)
Noisy house featuring 80s electropop legend Almond. Check out the
Boris Dlugosch remix.
NEXT MONTH’S INCOMING...
TUNES
Look out for hot new
tracks from Daniel Taylor,
Domestyk, Break 3000,
Defected and Pear Music,
plus an exclusive
interview with DC10
ressie Loco Dice.
BRILLO IN
THE HOUSE
The latest from the
Subliminal head honcho
on the tracks rocking his
dancefloors and a ruck
of crazy international
parties. Heavy.
“Miami’s been and gone and we’re all getting ready for Ibiza now.
I’ve never partied as hard as I did at Miami, which made it the best
year I’ve been! It’s not about the music or the industry anymore,
its about parties. By 1am, the US clubbers had descended, making
it hard for the industry people to hear what’s hot. Our party was
out of this world. We were not prepared for the influx of people
and there were issues with security, so for anyone who was
squished, stepped on, or mistreated, I apologise and I’ll try to get a
bigger venue next time.
In Ibiza we’ll be going every Wednesday from June 8thSeptember 28th. Our exclusive
residents this year are Harry
‘Choo Choo’ Romero, Seb
Fontaine, Jose Nuñez and Steve
Angello. Kicking off the opening
party with me will be Timo Maas.
We have a lot of surprises up our
sleeve, so stay tuned.
I recently had a Morillo
Birthday Tour with parties in
Miami, New York, London, Ibiza,
Portugal and New York, which
was particularly out of this
world. I’m so happy with the
way the US has opened up to
me. As I’m writing this I’m in
Paris, where I’m about to
release my ‘Two Sides Of My
World’ album. I’m here to do a
boat party, sailing round the
river with 200 competition
winners and 50 industry
people so it should be a
wonderful evening
I’m off to Brazil next, joining
Pete and Seb at a festival for
50,000 people, and then onto
Australia and New Zealand to
be part of the Heineken Thirst
DJ Competition Tour. I’m
happy to be a part of anything
that supports young talent to
get set up in this industry.
MIXMAG 113