I just spent the last six weeks writing about UK Garage. This is not the wind-up for a joke (well, probably not – depends on how you feel about UKG, I guess), but one of the insights that I brought from that experience was the way that a good record stayed current for a long time and resurfaced again and again in the playlists of the best selectors. I don’t mean people played it for four years running. It dropped in and out, sometimes it took years to discover and sometimes it was bootlegged or legit remixed years later, as happened with a number of Victor Simonelli and Parris Mitchell records from New York and Chicago, respectively.
A good record just stays with you like that, man, and it should. Chez Damier once told me that a poverty of new, good music was like having to dress up for a party when you’re broke: you go back into your closet and you get creative.
This comes to mind when I’m digging through some records I missed and lamenting that they’re just a few months out of date. I mean, fuck that, right? A good record should be current for years, maybe decades. And this is one that’s will be.
Eargasmic has put out a fair share of records from the group listed here, and the four ones I own are all dust free from being handled more or less constantly since the time I bought them. That’s a pretty good indication that they’re on to something and I should pay more attention here. This double vinyl set features Cura’s Tangerine Dream-inspired “Sun Day Three,” backed by one of the best groovers to come out of this city in 2017, Isoke’s remix of Frique’s “Are You Hear For The Music?” (a record I reviewed when Frique first put out the original). Isoke’s “EGC Players (Theme)” has a certain Latin swing that really makes it stand out – this is almost atmospheric soul, if I could put it that way. Chicago Skyway’s “Ding” is cosmically attuned – like “Spastik” got into a fight with “Forever Mona” and wound up getting the worst of it.
Sometimes people ask what’s happening in Chicago and I’m not sure there’s a clear answer on that anymore. But if you want to know what should be happening in Chicago, pick up this record and then follow the trail up the back catalog of everyone on here. That’s what should be happening.
Support #RealHouseMusic! This post was originally published in 5 Magazine Issue 145 featuring Joeski, Ricardo Miranda, WildPitch and more. Become a member of 5 Magazine for First & Full Access to Real House Music for only $2 per month!
