Giano
This is House’ EP
[Classic Music Company]
As far as arrogant record label names goes you can file the use of Classic only one or two notches down from ‘Look at us we’re fucking awesome’. Which is fortunate really, because they are. Lovingly and memorably featuring a mere 100 releases in its early incarnation, Derrick and Luke revamped the imprint to devastating effect and have been slowly setting about delivering their own personal tastes to the fore once again, be it DLC’s ass wiggling mandate or Luke’s delectable weirdness.
This latest Classic release is 100% stamped with that cast iron Carter jack. ‘This is House’ comes off as a vibrant re-up of Blaze’s epochal ‘Do you remember house?’, gathering samples of Chicago’s forefathers outlining their understanding of how the music sprang up and what it means to them. It would be too wanky for words if it wasn’t oozing with a glorious shuffle, welding some killer chords and a pacey trumpet riff which ensures the energy is fizzing throughout.
Then there’s ‘The Underground’, a bonafide staple of irreverent funk, looping a couple of cheeky Digital Underground rhymes over the fluid and fast grooves that dominates from the off. Shock G’s dulcet tones insist that even though ‘we’re usually on a serious tip, tonight we’re gonna flip and trip’, the result is a beat so infectious you have to be either dead or deaf to not dance. Even being both of them probably won’t stop you.
There’s a nasty dub which rubs things up and gets grittier, with an acid line reverberating underneath the vocals and some metallic sheen towards the end, but it’s not that different and probably only crafted as a DJ tool for Derrick to wreak havoc with. As a whole this is house music as raw and as funky as it can get.