In only a handful of months the still fresh Laid imprint has made quite a name for itself. Despite being born in the shadow of its older brother label, Dial, Laid has quickly established its own area of expertise, pummeling record buyers with five solid singles of dance floor-primed house music while Dial vascilates between floor friendly and leftfield sounds. The sixth record to don a lux Laid sleeve is the first showcasing multiple artists’ originals, for which they’ve collected some of the freshest names around for a survey of the current state of deep house on both sides of the Atlantic. Hamburger Christopher Rau and New Yorker-cum-Berliner John Roberts are both members of the extended Dial family while New Yorker Fred P. has earned well deserved heaps of praise for his work as Black Jazz Consortium. It’s perhaps no surprise that Laid006 is about as solid a record as you can get, throwing three distinctive and in vogue sounds on one wax slab.
black jazz consortium
LWE’s Top 10 Albums of 2009
It seems once again artists have looked past shriveling album sales and pooh poohed format worries while creating a truly outstanding crop of longplayers. Whether exploring the sinews connecting electronic music and jazz, amalgamating traditional African and house sounds, gearing up a set of club bangers or diving into unknown recesses in listeners’ heads, the 10 albums LWE’s reviewing staff chose represent the best 2009 had to offer.
LWE Podcast 29: Black Jazz Consortium
For many listeners, Fred P. was one of 2009’s major discoveries. Less a young upstart than a veteran finally getting his due, Fred Peterkin has become one of the key players in New York City’s resurgent house scene. His affiliations with Jus-Ed and Move D — both of whom are contributors to upcoming releases on Peterkin’s Soul People Music imprint — hint at his elegant deep house style, but his releases for the past two years as Black Jazz Consortium have established his unique voice. Fred took off from working on his ever-expanding label and his own productions not only for an in-depth discussion, but to provide us with our 29th podcast as well: an exclusive two hour journey through the deepest house — including some unreleased cuts.
LWE 2Q Reports: Top 5 Breakout Acts
One of the great joys of going to your local record shop (or, er, scrolling through menus of WhatPeoplePlay) is the anticipation, nay, expectation of discovering something or someone you had never hear of before. As Innervisions boss Dixon says of their bright young hope, Culoe de Song, “Sometimes tracks appear from somewhere you would never expect.” So far, 2009 has been no different, with a host of fresh and (more often than not) astonishingly young talent breaking through. Narrowing it down was a tough job, but here are five artists that have sent our radar haywire in the last six months.
Black Jazz Consortium, Structure
As “deep house” overtook “minimal” these past couple years as dance music’s catch-phrase du jour, a certain formula has become apparent. Slow down the tempo, loop a bass line, throw some jazzy pads on top, and add an intermittent sample of an African-American male voice saying “yeah.” Though there are some great tracks fitting the stereotype, it is hard not to crave some greater inventiveness. Fortunately, Fred P, a.k.a. Black Jazz Consortium, brings precisely this to his production work, of which 11 remarkable examples are collected on Structure. Throughout this CD, rhythms are complex, instrumental elements shift and alter themselves, and tracks otherwise develop over their durations.
Little White Earbuds May Charts
01. Black Jazz Consortium, “Whats Up With the Love”
[Soul People Music]
02. Planetary Assault Systems, “Temporary Suspension” [Ostgut Tonträger]
03. 100 Hz, “Tension” [Bosconi Records]
04. Peter Kruder, “Visions Ltd.”
[International Deejay Gigolo Records]
05. Dapayk & Padberg, “Sugar” [Fenou]
06. Âme, “Ensor” [Innervisions]
07. DJ Koze, “Mrs. Bojangels” [Circus Company]
08. Baby Ford, “No Day” [Perlon]
09. Jason Fine, “Half” (Anton Zap remix) [Kontra-Musik]
10. Peter Van Hoesen, “Attribute One”
[Time to Express]
Black Jazz Consortium, New Horizon EP
Fred Peterkin’s chosen moniker for this and many other releases seems to take for granted a point that, for some critics and listeners in the world of dance music, remains controversial. Even more so than your average deep house record, the “New Horizon EP” has a lot more to do with jazz, particularly jazz fusion, than it does with European electronic music.