When I first started really getting into deep house, there were a few names that were as good as gold for me: Theo Parrish, Moodymann, Morgan Geist, and Rick Wade. While the rest of those guys have all achieved a pretty large amount of fame, Rick Wade has remained something of a secret amongst deep house deejays. It could be due to the elusiveness of his Harmonie Park label (of which I am still missing 001, 002, and 004!) which has put out nothing but heat including some of Mike Huckaby’s first 12″s and a hot Theo Parrish joint, but mostly it is all about Rick’s own jams.
With some assistance from Dan Bell (who remixes “Nothing To Fear” on the first Harmonie Park record), Rick helped kickstart the whole house style that would later be known as “beatdown” in 1994 on Harmonie Park. It was that lo-fi aesthetic that set it off, combining samples of jazz, disco, and soul records with low tempo drum machine tracks that gives a nod to Chicago while still being distinctly Detroit. Other labels at the time were greatly influenced by Rick’s productions, leading two of the most seminal deep house labels of the late 90’s to release some of his tracks: the most excellent “Tracks from the Park Vol. 1″ for Track Mode and “Quantum Expression” on Moods & Grooves (both of which were “Holy Grail” house records to me, thanks to my man Jwan dropping them regularly!).
There has been a pretty consistant interest in Rick’s productions from European and UK labels. One of my all time favorite cuts of his is “Daddy’s Groove” on the Harmonie Project on Viva! Records, which is one of the most searing dancefloor bangers out there but it gets nearly no recognition. The short-lived Music Is… label released Rick’s first full length in 2004, “Dark Ascension”, which is already an underground classic.
I think the elements are in place for Rick to finally get some more love. Andy Vaz had Rick kick off the A Touch Of Class label for him back in 1999, and when it came time to launch the Yore label last year, Rick dropped two more ill 12″s to get the ball rolling, helping them become one of the most exciting labels out there. Now, Yore is dropping Rick’s second album “The Good, The Bad And The Deep” on both CD and vinyl, right in the middle of a resurgence in “deep house” giving it a chance to be received by a much larger audience than some of his older work.
The album has been in heavy rotation on my car CD player, helping soundtrack these way-too-close-to-perfect-for-Pittsburgh 70-80 degree sunny days we’re been having. “Hustler’s Den” is probably my favorite of the tracks, a perfect example of the way Rick’s tracks can peak to dancefloor perfection. The interplay of the chords and the live bass is enough on its own, but when the horns and trademark synth strings come in, it takes it to that next level. The track I will be banging out all summer long though is the vocal track “Free”. As far as I know, this is the first time Rick Wade has worked with a vocalist (I am close to being a completist with his records, I am only missing three but I am pretty sure none of them has a vocal!) and he keeps it simple and sublime. Breezy electric piano chords and pumping bass frame the chilled out vocal perfectly, “Free” is meant to be played outside on a beautiful day. “Prime Expansion” is interesting because it feels almost like a Rick Wade version of dubby techno. Instead of the typical cold echoed synth hits, he bathes the electric piano in reverb and sits it on top of some deep subs, leaving you with a warm track perfect for transitioning between house and dubbed out techno. I’m also really feeling the jazzy walking bassline on “Xavi” as well as the sweet horns on “Forbidden”. This album, combined with his recent spate of European and UK deejay bookings should really help increase his profile, quite deservedly in my opinion.
Also out now on Harmonie Park is the “Vinyl Refresher EP” which features the previously exclusive to CD cuts “Jazz Torrent” and “Detroit Calling” from Dark Skills, plus “Bang Baby” from The Best of Rick Wade Vol. 1, as well as the new (so far as I can tell at least) jam “Whistle Bump Track”. And for those who slept, you can also grab the two volumes of “Harmonie Park Revisited”…..
yes… good call. i was unaware of rick wade until a few years ago, but he is the real deal, his tracks have an awesome swing and groove to them that is rare indeed. he dj’ed in london for the first time recently but i couldn’t make it because i was working nights, was absolutely gutted to miss it, but heard he was excellent. i will definitely be picking up the album, his last 2 12″s on yore have been wicked, a cut above most generic house stuff out there, in fact that track “vanguard cinema” off the ‘night tactics’ ep is one of my favourite house cuts for a long time - a totally killer bassline and teasing arrangement equal a proper party tune.
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Thanks for this excellent retrospective of Rick Wade works, one of my top house producers.
What struck me is that his music always soundd full, organic and spot on, while other lesser house producers might be nearly there but not quite. Not every house producer can achieve that and among those who can there’s also Glenn Underground, Osunlade, Kevin Yost,…
I have yet to listen to his new album but my only minor criticism is that Rick Wade is quite predictable genre wise - to be more specific I’d love to ear a techno track from him some day, well, to be surprised
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pipecock reply on April 26, 2008 11:41 pm:
you know, he does tend to stay within a pretty well defined sound, but he did some ghetto tech type electro bass stuff as “big daddy rick” and he had an ill eletro jam on his first album….
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Will be surfing the internet to catch bits and pieces of Rick Wade’s productions…
…So much I’m not familiar with as far as current tunes and tunes going back to, I would say, the mid 90’s - especially on the soulful techno tip…
Just a few days ago I’ve listened to samples of Omar S. and Patrice Scott’s tunes over the internet. Liked them alot as I’m sure I would the works of other artists such as Theo Parrish (whose work I’m already somewhat familiar with); Morgan Geist (remember a cut I really liked by this artist but can’t recall the title); Karizma (recall the dap you gave this LP, Tom); JuJu & Jordash (”Time Slips” is real nice); etc. etc.
Thanks for the education all you cats at the infinitestatemachine blog. provide.
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Correction:
The above comment should read Reggie Dokes NOT Patrice scott. Didn’t Patrice Scott have some of his music on his myspace sometime back?
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good to see props going to rick wade for sure…
your words have got me real excited about the new album, whens the release date on that?
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pipecock reply on April 26, 2008 11:42 pm:
not entirely sure man, the vinyl has an entry on discogs and i have a release copy of it so it should be soon i’d like to think!
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Yep Rick is raw..im a bit more partial to his early Harmonie park stuff but I have yet to see anybody work the late night rhodes feel like rick does. (Theo parrish/Glenn Underground comes close to me).
Hey Pipe need more posts?
start a forum..ive been itching to find a decent place to talk all things detroit.
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depletedsoul reply on April 29, 2008 2:46 pm:
I second that!!, a forum is a great idea!.
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Rick Wade does have a very defined sound indeed, and could be accused of being too formulaic perhaps, but he nails that sound more often than not, and I love it. Interesting to hear he did an electro cut too!
Some of the Harmonie Park material was also reissued on the French label Funky Chocolate a few years ago.
http://www.discogs.com/label/Funky+Chocolate
those and the recent refreshers have saved me a few quid
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Shaolinsoul313 - sub to the 313 at hyperreal dot org mailing list. peepcahk unsubbed last week in a tizzy over some asshat on there who always tries to start shit, but overall it’s a pretty good place for deeeetroit music discussions, and new blood always helps.
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yeah, everyone here knows what’s up. i just picked up the angry pimp ep on chocolate city and its sooo dope. Rick Wade is a big fish in a small pond that only few people visit. Great posting!
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I love Rick Wade. He does plow the same furrow most of the time but, what can I say, I love that sound.
I second the recommendation for 313. It has it’s fair share of idiots and self promoters but a mailing list is only as good as the people who contribute and it’s always nice to see people actually talk music on there.
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I finally got around to downloading GoodBadDeep to see if I wanted to buy it, and damn am I glad I didn’t buy it based on my past experience with his tracks alone. I’ve listened to the whole thing a number of times now and damn if this isn’t one of the most mediocre things Rick has put out. I can’t believe how utterly mundane and generic it is. I am specifically really bothered by the way he overuses this one particular crash cymbal sample, and that pretty much all the patches just sound like they came directly out of some workstation with no tweaking. But that crash cymbal especially, it’s in almost every track. There’s nothing to hold onto in any of these jams. Oh, and I can’t find the track you refer to as “Free”. Maybe in his prerelease he included it but it didn’t make it to the album? Or maybe he retitled it as “Only Love”? Which, imho, is one of the standouts on the record. Overall this album sounds a lot more like something that should be on OM or Naked than on Yore. It’s overwhelmingly lackluster, especially when compared to the really great things that the other beatdown guys do. GoodBadDeep? Mostly bad.
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