This story would be nothing more than an urban legend if it were not real.
Two childhood friends, each with a passion for music, started out as handymen at Continental Bath, a legendary New York sauna and club – the first gay club to be associated with Gloria Gaynor, Bette Midler, and AIDS. From there they went on to work at David Mancuso’s unmissable Loft where, amongst other things, they were in charge of handing out hits of LSD. After that, Larry Levan remained in New York where he would become resident at the Paradise Garage, while Frankie Knuckles moved to Chicago to join The Warehouse...
Then it's Chicago, frustrated at not having access to all the great records being produced in New York, that created the more hypnotic disco edits, and move on to invent “house music”: a homemade synthetic dance music produced by young DJs, whose creativity is boosted by their experiences on the dancefloors.
Then it’s New York, feeling intoxicated by these new records, that created a unique, hybrid genre, strongly soul-influenced, with disco-inspired backing vocals and brass riffs. The younger sister of house music came to be called “garage”, as a tribute to Larry Levan's club. The circle is complete!
Meanwhile, not too far away in New Jersey, Tony Humphries enchants the night at Zanzibar with a slowed down and stripped down version of garage music. They called it “deep house”: the youngest member of this new family. Then followed Timmy Regisford, Boyd Jarvis and Blaze. Then Ron Trent, the Murk Boys and Joe Claussell. And then Dennis Ferrer, Kerri Chandler and DJ Spinna.
We begin our journey with a nod to one of the masters of spiritual jazz – Pharoah Sanders – and one of his deep and hypnotic tracks. Although this playlist features mostly Americans, there are a few European guests such as Ludovic Navarre aka St Germain, with a bluesy song from his first album, as well as a heady remix of “Jericho Jerk'' from Messe Pour Le Temps Présent. Amongst our guests we’ll find Yam Who? – English geniuses who created the label Midnight Riot, and producers of the perfect disco 2.0.
In the wake of the master Larry Heard come some big names from the US deep scene: Kerri Chandler, Joe Claussell, DJ Spinna and – with one of the most beautiful voices – Peven Everett.
After them the absolute masters, New Jersey duo Blaze. They provide this playlist with a lot of flavour, be it with their group, under their alias’ Funky People and Alex & Roi, or as Alexander Hope with his Cassio.
At the heart of the playlist there is a chronological overview of this sound’s emergence in the middle of the 1980s, from the Joubert Singers gospel, to the super slow track from Barbara Mason, and then “Cultural Vibe” and “Before The Storm” two important proto-house tracks.
Towards the end we’re back with some emblematic names: Ron Trent and Chez Damier, Dennis Ferrer, and Henrik Schwarz who made deep techno in Germany.
We’ll also hear the unmissable Mission Control, a side project of Murk Boys’, in order to finish smoothly with Hologram’s strange New York electro...
When house music is so deep that it becomes hypnotic.
