DEMF weekend is always a goldmine for me acquiring new music, and this year it was so much that it took a while to be able take it all in. Now that I have a handle on it, here are some of the highlights of the jams that are actually out and available:
Teflon Dons – LA Housin’ Authority EP
So this one actually appeared in my mailbox the day I got home from Detroit, but still. I’ve been listening to the old TD material so much and the whole style and vibe of their music is still really underrated if anything, despite the second hand prices of the early records. It can be a questionable move for any artist to release new music after a long time not doing so, but there is nothing to worry about here. Aaron Paar took some jams he had started working on back in 95-97 and finished them off recently, which helps with maintaining the proper Worldship Music feel. All four cuts are that grimy, dubby garage you would expect, and they’re all solid dancefloor joints. My pick is probably “Imperial Courts” but you can’t go wrong with any of them.
NDATL Special Edition 2019, Kai Alcé remixes of Kamasi Washington and Gregory Porter, Rickey Corey Collective “Who Do You Love”
By now almost everybody is aware of the heat that Kai drops every DEMF weekend. This year he really stepped it up a notch. The special edition is a killer deep house record that features jams by Nick Holder, Brett Dancer, and Kai himself. This is sure to bring you back to the heyday of underground deepness like the classic labels DNH and Track Mode were notorious for.
Rickey Corey’s “Who Do You Love” is a slick little soulful vocal joint, with background vox by NDATL alumnus Kayenne and production assistance by Kai. I find the hook stuck in my head frequently. Josh Milan takes it and pumps up the orchestration and fills out the low end with fat synth bass on his vocal remix, while his dub adds layers of synth soloing and the instrumental strips it all the way back to the groove essentials.
As great as these releases are, the highlight here is unquestionably Kai’s remixes of Kamasi Washington and Gregory Porter. I mentioned this one back in April, but my feelings for it have only grown. Initially the remix of Kamasi’s “Askim” was my preference with its spiritual jazz horn business over a groove reminiscent of Kai’s Dangerfeel Newbies mix. But now I find myself reaching for the remix of Gregory Porter’s “On My Way To Harlem” more, an absolutely smoking hot vocal track that rides upbeat drums and instrumentation for a while before dropping the vocals in. Both of these are clearly instant classics, and the addition of instrumentals and a Thundercat Dub of “Askim” on the second disc only makes it all the more apparent that NDATL is on top of the house music game right now.
Scott Grooves “Over You”
Scott is also notorious for debuting new records just about every year for DEMF weekend and they’re always killers. This one is no exception, a version of “Over You” (that he originally did back in 94 on Soirée) which he recorded in ‘96 with Thornetta Davis on vocals and her backing band providing instrumentation. This transforms what had been a minimal garage track in its initial version into what is now a soulful house jam with live instruments that feels like it was made yesterday, not over two decades ago.
Stefan Ringer – FWM-002
Stefan follows up on last year’s debut record on his own label with some more of his distinctive style of house music. Taking the instrumentation of Chicago trax and the synths of boogie funk and mashing them together, “Sexual Obsession” gets the full side pressing to do its thing and it is definitely the highlight here. Stefan likes to throw his own vocals in the mix and he does so again here, more minimally than on last year’s “I Wanna Be Bad” but this feels likely to be almost as big of a track for him. “Afrotine” adopts a broken beat feel while “Time” wouldn’t feel out of place on the soundtrack for the show Insecure. Another strong release for FWM.
Whodat/Viola Klein – Workshop 26
Terri Whodat McQueen has been doing her thing in Detroit’s house underground for years and years. I met her in the early 00s when she was chilling at Rick Wilhite’s Vibes shop, and I’ve seen her DJ a bunch over the years. She also owned Ya Dig Records, a house music shop in Detroit for a while. She has had a few records out, including some collaborations with Viola Klein on her solo material. But for me, the A side here is her best work so far. “Funeral Song” is one of those deceptively simple tracks that might be overlooked by non-DJs but in the hands of someone who knows what they are doing, it’s a killer. The whole track is basically a groove featuring a melodic bassline, vaguely UR style synth chords, and a funky house rhythm with a few vocal chops thrown in. But that’s all it needs. The flipside, “Reprise AoUFC”, is also interesting, combining a grimy house beat with a sampled speech that simultaneously feels both spiritual and political.
Jeremiah Shaw/Shawescape Renegade – Escapism
Jeremiah is one of the real electro soldiers out there putting in work. His first solo record dropped at last year’s festival and it was one of the big surprises of the year, full of melodic electrofunk. This year he did it again, keeping that Detroit bounce but stripping back the synth work a bit for a slightly edgier vibe. There’s really not a whole lot coming out these days that is like these records, but they would have been massive anthems on the New Dance Show, inspiring dance lines weekly. For now I’m just happy he is doing it and doing it so well. My pick on here is “Neuron Galaxy”, but honestly I think someone needs to do a DJ mix of both of these EPs into each other, using double copies the way this music is meant to be. Maybe that could help inspire some more dope electrofunk releases.
VA – Our History, Our Heritage, Our Culture
Sean “The Butcher” Tate has been active on the Detroit underground for years, including dropping tracks on various compilations from Rick Wilhite. Last year saw him start his own label, Remember Why You Started, which kicked off with his own A Matter of Creation EP. the second release on RWYS is coming out now and this time Sean tries his own hand at a Detroit compilation. Things kick off with Strand’s “ASYNC2”, a techno soul track the likes of which are rarely heard in the late 2010’s. Deep synth work and a slightly electro rhythm create an atmosphere that feels very fresh and futuristic. Blaktony’s “Condition Critical” is a spaced out electrofunk jam, while Sean teams up with his Bassment cohort Mollison under their Folson & Tate alias for the funky techno cut “Roundtables”. On the flip is Sean’s “A Matter of Destruction”, a dark minimal Detroit techno jam, whose remix by Reel By Real adds a deep synth bass and some beautiful chords to take it to another level altogether. This is the kind of record I used to love picking up in Detroit, one that covers a range of tempos and styles, showing the diversity of techno music in its place of origin.
DJ Kemit feat Carl Mcintosh “Digital Love (Kai Alcé Remix)”, Julion De’Angelo – “Stand on Your Square” and In-Patience
The remix of “Digital Love” finally sees a vinyl release after initially dropping on one of those Sound Signature comp CDs three whole years ago. Over that time this has been one of the biggest tracks in nearly all of my sets, and it’s good to see it seems to be having a similar effect now that everybody is getting hip to it. It’s almost silly how good Kai is, but I was beating this jam to death before I even knew he was involved with it. Of course I was not surprised in the least.
Julion’s first record under his own name was a split with Thomas Xu a few years back on Sound Signature, and this new release courtesy of Tone Log Records sees him stepping it up over a full solo EP. The title track appears in two parts, both deep and synthy with a touch of off-kilter rhythms that keep it sounding fresh. “Sizzlelean” strips it back to some banging funky 808 action. If you’re a fan of that Theo Parrish and Marcellus Pittman style future soul house music, this is right up your alley. Julion also dropped a mix CD earlier this year on Sound Signature that I finally picked up entitled In-Patience. As you’d expect from that label you get a nice mix of house, techno, funk, jazz, hiphop, and even some reggae.
Moodymann – Sinner LP
KDJ dropped a new LP out of nowhere at his BBQ party in a back yard in the cut of Detroit. And it’s a weird one. The first disc is a bit more techno influenced, like if Prince had been inspired by 80s Detroit records. “I’ll Provide” is a dirty acid style jam, while “I Think of Saturday” is a more minimal track and maybe my favorite thing on the album. The second disc adds more of a soul flavor, with the full side going to “If I Gave You My Love”. Aside from beginning and ending with the vocal sample from Fatboy Slim’s “Praise You” (?!?!), this is very reminiscent of classic Moodymann jazzy soulful house music. The tracks on the flip are more neo soul indebted, especially the killer “Sinnerman”. All in all, a nice little album from Moodymann.