DjOriented

Some people get things done their own way. Regarding house music and the producers who make it, this can imply radical stylistic efforts towards change, a subtle evolution over what has come before, or lately it could be the marker of an intensely personal point of view.

I’m obsessed with this third group of individuals. The ones who aren’t reinventing the wheel, rather making it their own. Some of these creators are new to the game, others have been around for years – their common bond is a fervent personal approach to writing music.

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Deep house has gone through exciting expansions over the last several months. I usually oscillate between different styles when shopping for new dance music or picking tracks to play in a set.

Lately though, I’ve gravitated to producers and tracks that, on Beatport anyway, seem to consistently fall under the ‘deep house’ category. And it’s not just me.

At gigs I’ve had several people come up and ask for the sub genre by name, “Are you going to get deep tonight?”.

Now I could get lost in reasons why this shift is taking place but instead of speculating on grandiose external forces I prefer to focus on what I think is the main reason this vibe is relevant.

There is a burgeoning group of dynamic producers injecting the scene with a wide breadth of creativity that it has seldom known before.

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For this month’s installment of House Music Circles I decided to use an opportunity a few weeks back while DJing in Buffalo, NY, to interview one of my favorite new acts, Soul Clap.

They came to my attention earlier this year with their remix of Crazy Larry’s ‘Gargiulo’s Scarf’ on Fade Records.

Eli and Charlie, the two charming members of the group, were a pleasure to chat with. Our relaxed and laughter filled conversation covered a lot of topics including their initial meeting, their connection with the hotter than hot Wolf + Lamb Music imprint, their current European tour, their weekly club night in Boston and their love of exotic junk food.

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Lately I’ve returned home musically. Both in the studio and in the DJ booth, the Chicago influences that inspired me years ago have crept their way back into my imagination. This isn’t unique to my experience. The jackin’, loopy, disco influenced sound that permeated Chicago in the 1990s has returned as the en vogue tenor of producers and DJs all over.

A litany of labels like Cadenza, Minus, Cecille, Tsuba, Diynamic, Eklo, Moon Harbour and lately 2020 Vision are welcoming back Chicago’s golden age to modern dancefloors.

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I’m obsessed with the idea of bringing together what some might consider the many disparate camps of house music – its colorful sub genres have helped spread the four four beat across the globe and fostered experimentation that might not have otherwise happened without specialization.

Sometimes though we get caught up as fans, creators or DJs with over emphasizing the prefix of our favorite hyphenated sub genre – and I think this kind of separatist behavior harms the music as a whole.

I’ve been told plenty of times by promoters or other DJs how ‘crazy’ I am for playing so many different styles in just one set. Coming up in Chicago, that’s exactly what the definition of a good DJ was – someone who could weave a unique tapestry out of deep house, vocal house, techno, minimal, ghetto, disco or whatever else they made their own through the art of mixing.

To this end I’d like to use this month’s column to mention tracks and labels that aren’t afraid of mixing and matching styles.

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Three weeks ago I met Beatportal’s Terry Church in Chicago. After enjoying enough vodka and tequila to kill a medium sized animal we came up with the idea for me to do a monthly Beatpotal blog where I’d write about house music trends and tracks that excite me.

Because I’ve been involved in the house scene for over 18 years I thought it would be cool if I tied hot new tracks to older music that they might relate to. I want to connect the present to the past by illustrating patterns in house music and tracing circles of style and creativity. That’s where we got the name House Music Circles.

So, here’s my thoughts on house music this month.

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