A yearly subscription to Dirt Crew’s catalog would go a long way toward meeting a deep house DJ’s everyday needs. If there’s anything that doesn’t hit me right away, I wind up coming back to it a year later and marvel at how dumb it was to pass on it the first time around. Every year we buy dozens, hundreds of tracks and a fair share of them get retired at a similar rate. Dirt Crew tracks just last. They just do.

J. Peacock‘s latest for the label, I’m Doing Just Fine, is another outstanding release I didn’t know I needed before I heard it. This is lovely, blurry deep house, with samples filtered, cut rough and polished up until the edges are gleaming and smooth to the touch. The title track plays with a moody disco loop paired with an almost inaudible vocal, studded with blazing effects that rise up and pop like champagne bubbles.

On “Keep Running,” Peacock shows their work, leading off with a fragment of a song manipulated and sped up until it chipmunks before an even smaller piece breaks off to form the main riff. “Can’t Go Nowhere” is a fuzzy, slow groover in the same vein — soul samples and shiny loops rubbed together with the unexpected modern touch. It’s deceptively stompy, as is “Hometime,” where the sound chip from an 8 bit Atari 2600 makes a special guest appearance. Needle drop throughout I’m Doing Just Find and you might think that it’s nothing special or even (if you’re that kind of person) that you could do this. But by the end it’s in your ear and before long you won’t be able to get that emphatic disco horn fanfare out of your head.

⚪️ I’m Doing Just Fine Tracklisting

J. Peacock: I'm Doing Just Fine EP (Dirt Crew / Digital)
1. I’m Doing Just Fine (03:36)
2. Keep Running (03:54)
3. Can’t Go Nowhere (04:05)
4. Hometime (03:54)

⚪️ Disclosure Statement

This record was submitted as a promo.

⚪️ Previous Coverage

❇   Features: Discograph: The Story of Dirt Crew Recordings (2020)
🎧   Mix: 15 Years of Dirt Crew – A 5 Mag Mix vol 90 (2020)
✳   New Music: Bright & breezy house grooves on Steve Mill’s “God Given” (2023)
✳   New Music: Dial Tone is a dreamy four tracker from Dirt Crew & Petals In Sound (2023)
✳   New Music: Soul survivor Jamie Lidell teams up with Lorenz Rhode for “Sandpaper” (2020)

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5 Mag Issue 220
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MADE IN CHICAGO: First published in 5 Mag Issue #220 featuring Jamie 3:26, Ryan Sadorus, Alexander Flood, James Duncan on Canada’s Collective Rhythm Network and more. Become a member for $2/month and get every issue in your inbox right now…