This is an overview of the music that the 909 crew are feeling this month. Not focused on new releases, it serves as an insight to our musical journeys and the discoveries we make on the way.
Prince – Uptown
Apologies for this being a very 2018-ey post for December 2017, but I’ve been far too mindlessly drunk and stuffed full of food over the past couple of weeks to get even close to a laptop. Hopefully I can make up for it by posting some especially killer tunes. First up is a nearly forgotten gem from the greatest musician who ever lived. You can find this on the b-side of his 1980 album Dirty Mind, which is an astoundingly solid album, yet is unfortunately so often dismissed because its release was sandwiched in between Prince and Controversy. I guess it’s kinda like the Ringo of Prince albums. There’s probably a better analogy somewhere out there but life is far too fleeting for me to be bothered to think of anything else. I won’t gas too much about Prince’s production, but this is almost a perfect combination of funk and rock. It defines the Minneapolis sound that Prince both created and championed during this period and the main riff is about as simple and catchy as almost anything you’ve ever heard. The lyrics have attitude, the production is tight and the song has a casual looseness about it that makes it perfect for easy listening. To think that Prince was just 22 when he released this, and that this was his third (!!) album and had already created a genre is indicative of just how much of a master he was, and considering he’s the same age as me at this point is something that really depresses me. No wonder I was pounding the sauce over Christmas…
Tominori Hosoya – Chihiro
I’ve known about this song for a while, and I had always considered it too good to really share around. I’m all for preaching the truth about music, but some tings you just have to keep that little bit closer to your chest. However, I promised that this feature will remain true to what I’ve been listening to at the specific month, and the truth is that I’ve been absolutely caning this recently. There’s something so beautiful about coming back to a song that you love. I guess the added nostalgia and the memories it evokes gives the song greater gravitas. My relentless hunger for new music often means I’m casting aside songs that deserve far greater recognition than I give them. When I found this a couple years ago I was obsessed with it for a couple weeks, but like almost every tune I have and love I played it out a couple times and then used it in a mix and then left it for dead. Sometimes the best place to dig is in your own collection, and this is an example of what you can find if you pay greater attention to what you’ve found in the past. This for me is almost the perfect deep house song. The chords for me paint an evocative picture of luscious, rippling water. They are achingly beautiful and contain so much mystery and wonder. The kicks maintain that this song is danceable and so I expect – although I’ve never heard it on a floor – that this would be dynamite in a club. I don’t really think that there’s any other song that sounds quite like this, or that has the same effect on my ears and my emotions. Simply amazing.
Sterac – Asphyx
I really believe that this techno-trance hybrid stuff is massively underrated and overlooked. If you look at the popularity of people like Bicep and Denis Sulta today, and see the selections that big DJs are reaching for at the moment, it’s clear that trance in some form or another is making a big comeback. It’s manifesting itself in loads of different ways, whether it’s Vlad Ivkovic playing old trance records at 33 or the slick melodies in someone like I Hate Models’ ultra-fast productions, it’s everywhere if you look hard enough for it. I don’t wanna say I’m ahead of the curve, cause I’m certainly not, but in 2018 stuff like this is what I’m gonna be playing out a lot. Most of Sterac/Steve Rachmad’s stuff is pretty gritty, loopy techno. However, the trance tip he had on this EP is completely ahead of its time and is as classy as it is superb. The melody is riveting and wholesome, and constantly pivots and mutates in your ears as the song unravels. It’s busy, sometimes to the point of confusion, but when the stabbing chords emerge out of the madness they are triumphant. As people’s tastes mature out of the simple, formulaic big room melodies that are cloying the scene, it’s shit like this that will really capture the heads’ attention. And boy will I be ready for them.
Møzaika – Taba Taba
This was the first song I heard this winter that made me long for summer. If anything, this song seems out of place in the dark, cold depths of London. I could understand if this wasn’t to the taste of some heads, as it does have a whiff of the Majestic Casual about it. However, to me, this is one of those lazy songs to listen to on a nice sunny day, when you’re just not really in the mood for listening to experimental industrial noise, ya know? I like its wistfulness, as though it aches and longs for a distant memory of a better time. The bassline is also surprisingly easygoing, and it adds a rich backing for the chords to bounce off of. I don’t think I would ever play this out, but it’s unoffensive enough to play almost anywhere else. You could use it to spice up some deadout pre’s or to wind down some messy afters. It has that commercially friendly vibe to it that would appeal to a far broader audience than most house music. You could almost define this as the much loathed ‘tropical house’ genre, but I promise, this is actually quite good.
Glass Candy – Computer Love
I know I know. This isn’t the original. It isn’t better than the original. And NO, it hasn’t stolen that melody from Coldplay. But my oh my, this is one hella beautiful cover version. I listened to the whole album when I was in Phonica recently, and as soon as I heard this I knew it was an instant buy. The chords are just absolutely gorgeous. I don’t know what synth is used to make them, but all I know is that if I ever start making music that sound is the first thing I would reach for… and of course I would put them with a stonking electro beat using an 8 0 muthafuckin’ 8. My future Mixmag Track of the Year aside though, it’s not often where a cover version can actually add greater depth and find more emotional layers to a song. Kraftwerk’s version is untouchable, but I find it uplifting and full of hope and optimism. This version is distinctly melancholic in a way that is hard to explain. Perhaps it’s the whispery vocal combined with the brash melody, or maybe it’s the slower pace of the song, which allows the chords to linger that little while longer. It’s a mystery, but it’s one that is best left a secret. I also absolutely love the ending of this, the vocoder sounds awesome, the melody goes up an octave into a beautiful twinkle and the bassline really goes to work. It’s a fantastic crescendo and its emotionally encapsulating. This is truly a song to close nights with. It touches upon all of the emotions that I want to evoke at the end of the night, and because it’s a cover of Computer Love, enough people will know it to make it that extra bit special. Cause for those lovers and dancers who need a rendezvous, I know what to do.