it's all good... » deep

Abacus – We Cookin’ Now

Pinky — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 12:06:18 +0000

I think this was the first record that I bought on the then fledgling Guidance Recordings label which in it’s first fifty or so releases, heralded the beginning of a new wave of deep house productions in the latter part of the nineties. An ear catching feast of deep vibes mixed with edible lyrics.

Something smells good, we cookin’ now!

Discogs listing

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San Soda – Just In

Pinky — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 20:37:47 +0000

Was released in September but didn’t seem to hit the stores until late October, like most pressings these days, is in limited numbers so don’t hang around if you’re into it and wanna piece of black wax action. Introduced to San Soda via Jus-Ed’s UQ radio show where the two tracks from his debut release on We Play House Recordings were getting regular plays. Just In is both the deepest and my favourite cut on this four track release, constructing an introspective melancholy atmosphere with a mostly constant slightly changing chord in the background and a repeated simple keyboard melody, it’s entrancing. Got Me Jumpin’ In My Car, the second track on the B-side, qualifies with an honourable deep mention and I like it’s slightly distorted percussion and low bassline rumblings. This is a strong release that deserves support so WPH can continue to press and serve up the deepness.

www.myspace.com/sansoda
www.myspace.com/weplayhouserecordings
www.weplayhouserecordings.com

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Discogs entry

Z-Formation – Secret Departure

Pinky — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 17:17:59 +0000

Another track from my early days of getting into deep house, probably got Steve Jackson’s Kiss 100 show ‘The House That Jack Built’ to thank for introducing this into my life but Danny Rampling would have equally played this sort of track on his Kiss show at the same time. Back to 1991 and I was an acne-ridden teenage trainspotter with a developing deep house habit and only a paper round to support it; man, it was tough but y’know I scraped the pennies together, delivered a few extra newspapers and went up to Black Market Records on D’Arblay Street, Soho to buy it. I failed miserably at looking ‘street’ amongst all the other hardcore, considerably older djs and vinyl junkies that would throng the counter facing a wall of hot new import releases but managed to acquire a copy and escape unscathed to enjoy the deepness.

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Joey Negro – Do It, Believe It

Pinky — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 09:56:37 +0000

Joey Negro’s (aka Dave Lee) first release on the cult underground New York label, Nu Groove. With an eye to establishing some extra credibility in Britain, not only did the UK artist get this released on a US label but, so the tale goes, include a publicity photo of his artistic alias as a black American with an afro. Nu Groove had an avid, obsessive even; I can imagine the eyes of the vinyl anoraks fluttering with excitement seeing this new release in the import racks, the distinctive Nu Groove logo acting like the plumage on a rare bird.

In December 1990, the UK dance magazine, MixMag, gave away a free cd with issue for that month. Although not revolutionary by today’s standards since most periodicals include free cds, back then it was unheard of and they were one of the first lifestyle/music magazines to do so. On it there were five short mixes by different djs each representing a particular style and/or label and if you were finding out about the nascent genre of dance music at the time, like I was, this was a godsend. This track was part of the Nu Groove Records Mastermix and I just loved the omnipresent chord sound in the background with the repeated gentle keyboard stabs coupled with the positive vocal samples that gave the track it’s title. Essential listening.

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Discogs entry

Sunshine Jones – We Are Free

Pinky — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 20:49:55 +0000

Deep is as deep does, down deeper we go, in search of more adjectives to describe it’s deepness but no we can’t and instead just nod our heads sagely, deep in thought and time, d-e-e-e-e-p, and see how many mentions of deep we can get into one long deep sentence. A sublime track with a sound that epitomises deepness, melding with the alpha waves of your brain and taking your mind away…

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DJ MIX: LTJ Bukem – Mellow

Pinky — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 18:44:26 +0000

One of my favourite mixes, period; it’s been part of my life for so long that it’s like a family member. Bought from a small shop that sold trendy ‘club wear’ in Chelmsford where I studied, that also sold mixtapes. We’ll forget about the baggy zebra-stripe Gio Goi shorts that I spent forty quid on which made me look like a clown; the guys who ran it were real clubheads and had good connections for some of the best mixtapes around, both nationally known djs and local ones. It’s fortuitous that I managed to rip the cassette to the computer and burn onto cd before it wore out and snapped which was an unfortunate circumstance that befell another prized deep house mix that belonged to ck. That mix (which was held in as high regard as the Bukem one) was by Dean Savonne; a victim of it’s excellence, chewed up by the car stereo.

It became an obsession to identify and then hunt down and buy all the tracks on this Bukem mix, only one left but it’s taken over ten years to get to this stage. The mixing is tight, transitions quick. No long snooze-a-thon mixes here, an average of three minutes a track and the next is being seamlessly blended in. Having listened to this mix hundreds of times, I’m biased but it’s all killer no filler; you could not get a better overview of what deep house sounded like in ’91/’92. If I had to choose, my favourite tracks would be the Masters At Work, QX-1 and M.C.J. releases; the M.C.J. one especially, I didn’t know what the track was until a few years ago when someone ID’ed it on a forum. I’ve hosted this mix online since 2003 and it’s been downloaded thousands of times, tracks from here will definitely be featured by themselves on this blog in the future.

Downloaded 1490 times

Tracklisting

| 0:00:00 | Coldcut – Jade (Aleph mix)
| 0:05:25 | Endangered Species – Endangered Species
| 0:09:54 | Masters At Work – Our Mute Horn (Ken Lou mix)
| 0:12:40 | Springboard – Make Some Noise (Nod Your Head mix)
| 0:16:11 | Monarch – Forever Slammin’ (Forever Slammin’ mix)
| 0:19:53 | Gio Canepa – ORE: Nove Nove
| 0:24:32 | Beautiful People – I’ve Got The Rhythm (Club mix)
| 0:26:08 | Jamie Principle – You’re All I’ve Waited 4 (E-Smoove Late Nite mix)
| 0:28:53 | PWM – Are You Ready To Move (Deep Rave mix)
| 0:33:08 | Z-Formation – Frenzy
| 0:35:49 | L Factor – Claim To Be (Mike Dunn’s Mixx 2)
| 0:39:24 | Raw Elements – Raw Basics
| 0:42:54 | ???last unknown – help!???
| 0:44:18 | Rhythm II Rhythm – A Touch Of Jazz (Do It Tonight mix)
| 0:46:49 | DTR – Journey Into A Dream (Sex In Paradise mix)
| 0:51:40 | Simply Red – Something Got Me Started (Hurley’s Dub)
| 0:54:46 | Chocolate Fudge – To Be Now
| 0:57:15 | QX-1 – Love Injection (Inject Me Love Mixx)
| 1:00:59 | Red Light – Who Needs Enemies
| 1:04:28 | Optimystic – 4 A.M.
| 1:07:19 | Mystique – Want Your Body (Coolout mix)
| 1:09:48 | World Power – I’m Happy (After The Rave mix)
| 1:14:13 | Korda – Move Your Body (Club mix)
| 1:17:03 | Déja Vu – Move Your Waistline (Sweat mix)
| 1:20:36 | Urban Rhythm – Love Will Make It Right (House To House mix)
| 1:24:38 | M.C.J. – Sexitivity (Deep mix)
| 1:27:14 | Keep Moving Ahead – Always Searching (Uhura mix)
| 1:31:08 | Jovonn – Be Free (Instrumental mix)

Discogs listing

Soultek – Dreaming Under A Starlit Sky

Pinky — Wed, 21 May 2008 07:35:33 +0000

Deep techno soundscape flavour from the Chicago based producer Steven Hitchell, excuse the authentic vinyl crackles at the beginning, adds a little character anyway. I haven’t got access to my record cleaning machine to run it through at the moment but there appears to be plenty of copies available to buy for yourself. Entices you in with the reverb and echoes then chugs along on an introspective journey.

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