00Deep - A Review Of The Decade - 2005

Halfway through the decade, and it seemed like house music was flagging somewhat, NRK had decided to rest up any DJ mix compilation series largely due to a rapidly declining market, and concentrate more on single releases. And any doubts about house music's future were swiftly dashed, as NRK put the A&R work into overdrive, and signed up what are possibly the most important house tunes of the noughties ...

Kerri Chandler, a long respected member of the house scene, came up with such a huge house bomb in 2005. Originally released on legendary US label King Street Sounds, and picked up by NRK for re-release, "Bar A Thym" was such a simple track, yet hugely effective and influential. It's marriage of precision drums, funky cowbell percussions, and almost rave like stabs, produced a track that was absolutley caned the world over by house DJs and techno DJs alike. NRK treated the project with care, and enlisted Tom Middleton to remix the track, and in doing so, created one of those remix beasts where the remix is just as hot as the original mix; Middleton turned out a huge deep house track that works every time it's played. Another version of "Bar A Thym" was released with Foremost Poets laying down some spoken words, and producing a very worthy alternate remix.



One huge tune in a year is every labels dream, but to score two.......step forward another US house producer, this time it was Quentin Harris and his mammoth "Let's Be Young" track that NRK picked up on. Originally out on UA Records, this string laden, 10 minute epic track was the sound of 2005, part garage, part techno, it had all the elements to get DJs of all persuasions salivating. Parisian Julien Jabre and Trackheadz ably remixed the unremixable, and "Let's Be Young" can still be heard out every weekend all over the world, still scoring the same euphoric reactions time and time again.



Also in 2005, NRk found time to release records from former H-Foundation fella, Hipp-E (with his deep-ass "Psych-Delics" trilogy), Rulers Of The Deep's "The Last Survivor" with it's crucial Buick Project remix (AKA Nic Fanciulli & Andy Chatterley), more musical goodness from Magik Johnson ("Follow The Groove", "Rollergirl") and Peace Division's minimal tech funkness on two EPs, "Poke" and the mighty "Club Therapy".

2005 was also the year that NRK celebrated 100 single releases, and issued a couple of special 10" vinyls to commemorate the occasion. NRK100 "The Remixes" and NRK100 "The Edits" brought together some of our favourite tracks and remixers; step forward Pete Heller, Sirus, Joey Negro, Miguel Migs, Nick Holder, Magik J). We also decided to go rummaging in the vaults, and released the ReMasters 12" series and triple CD album, literally re-mastering some of the finest moments of the last 100 releases and sonically dragging them into the noughties .

00Deep - A Review Of The Decade - 2004

Canadian deep house legend, Nick Holder, has been a regular on NRK since the very first releases, and 2004 was definately his "coming of age" on NRK Music. The previous year had seen his third album for NRK, "The Other Side" get a release, but it was in '04 that the killer spoken word/anti-DJ mantra, "No More Dating DJs" became of of Nick's most memorable tracks. More of a sultry R'n'B track that a deep house tune, "Dating Djs" featured the vocal of Gemini, and went on to show up in places we least expected. Radio 1's Trevor Nelson championed the track from out of nowhere, playing it on his hugely popular radio show for weeks, with Giles Peterson to follow suit. Remixes were swiftly organised from Mood II Swing's John Ciafone (for the house heads), Yam Who, and US hip-hop legend Pete Rock. "Dating DJs" went on to become a hugely popular track that year, and other remixes of Nick's album tracks came from the likes of Solid Groove, Harmonic 33, A Man Called Adam and Freaks, resulting in the remix album "The Other Mixes".



Dick "Magik" Johnson also followed up an album from the previous year ("Cardboard Journey") with singles "Follow The Groove" (also remixed by that man Solid Groove) and the "Kingsland Dubs 2" EP.



Miguel Migs also featured heavily on NRK in '04, releasing the smooth deep house "City Sounds" trilogy of EPs, and also compiled and mixed the last ever nite:life compilation (more of that in a bit).



Meanwhile David Alvarado produced a stunning mini album of deep, hypnotic, electronic tracks, heavy on the Basic Channel influence but also pre-dating the "minimal" explosion by a year or two. The "Transfiguration EP" was an underground gem.



NRK also collaborated with London party collective, Faith, and produced a mix CD and "fanzine booklet", taking things away for the same ole "mix CD" format and offering a reading companion to the Dj mix ably created by Terry Farley and Stuart Patterson.

2004 was also the year that we decided to put closure on the nite:life mix CD series. It was felt that we had taken it as far as we could, and wanted to end the series on a high, but not without another three stunning entries to the series from Tom Stephan (nite:life 018), Rulers Of the Deep (nite:life 019) and that man Miguel Migs (nite:life 020).

Meanwhile, Honchos Music continued to release the finest tracky/acid/tribal moments, with releases from D'Julz, Jamie Anderson, Dano, Noel Nanton, and the debut album from Bristol based sci-fi tech house bod A J Scent. His "B Good" album was perhaps a little ahead of its time, with heavy electro and synth based ideas, a sound that would come to prominence later in the decade.

Nick Harris - December 09 Hotmix

NRK's Nick Harris presents a brand new 60 minute DJ mix. Download here

Martin Landsky - Who's Laughing Now (Poker Flat)
Mountain People - 008.3 (Mountain People)
Justin Drake - Slow Hand (Tsuba)
Pawas & BLM - Online (Cally Vinyl Remix) (Fear Of Flying)
Steve Lawler - Hocus Pocus (Radio Slave's Mole People Mix) (Viva Music)
Alexkid & Rodriguez Jr - Le Doight African (Bearweasal Linear Dub ) (NRK)
Matthias Meyer - Infinity (Liebe Detail)
Neville Watson & Kink - Blueprint (Rush Hour)
Ben Klock - Goodly Sin feat. Elif Bicer (Robert Hood Remix) (Ostgut Ton)
Baeka - Right At It (Michael Cleis Deeper Remix) (Rekids)
Radio Slave - Orchestrating Maneuvers In the Dark (Om)
Nick Harris - Another Sleepless Night

DJ bookings: ally@avant-booking.co.uk

00Deep - A Review Of the Decade - 2003

NRK's mix compilation series, "nite:life", was fast gaining a reputation as one of the best series in a largely saturated market. We were not interested in ploughing one musical path, rather we wanted to provide a snapshot of the current sounds and trends in dance music. The year of 2003 was no different, as NRK released another 5 mix albums in the series from label regular Jamie Anderson (nite:life 013), Pete Heller (nite:life 014), Chicken Lips (nite:life 015), Rolando (nite:life 016) and Kenny Hawkes (nite:life 017). Out of these, it was perhaps Chicken Lips and Rolando that pushed the boundaries for us, with Chicken Lips enjoying huge success with their electro/disco tinged sounds that blended together old electro classics from Captian Rapp and Electra with contempory experimentalists Playgroup, Daniel Wang, Freaks, the Idjut Boys and Kelvin Andrews's Soul Mechanik. Subtitled "Body Music", the Chicken Lips nite:life offering was just that, and vertainly helped pave the way for today's electro fascinations. NRK also scooped a major compilation in '03 from one time Underground Resistance member, DJ Rolando. Enjoying huge success from his "Knights Of The Jaguar" track, Rolando mixed up an amazing DJ mix for nite:life 016, fusing Detroit and European techno and house sounds with great flair and energy.

Single releases in 2003 included our debut from Dick "Magik" Johnson, with the brilliant "Kingsland Dubs EP", a revisit to a genuine house classic in the shape of Ralph Falcon's "Every Now & Then" with remixes from Pete Heller and Kenny Hawkes, another offering from Dave Lee, AKA Joey Negro, and his single "The Way" which came with remixes from Magik J and Octave One, and Nick Holder announced his third album "The Other Side" for NRK with the release of the single "On My Mind" which came with a very groovy Ian Pooley remix.



2003 was also our year with Peace Division, who released their three part single series "Beatz in Peacez". Devastatingly deep, tribal monsters, "01" and "02" were typical of Peace Division's big sound, and perhaps marked a turn in style for NRK to the more minimal sounds. However, it was "Beatz in Peacez 03" that caused the most ruckus, with it's heavy disco bassline and hypnotic vocal sample, so big was this tune that it was re-released later in the year under the title "What Is This Sound" and was remixed by Tom Stephan, and later King Unique.

Honchos Music saw the release of a brace of A J Scent singles, including the brilliant Medicine8 remixes of "Pling Plong", Rob Rives double EP "Standing Alone", singles from Scott Pace and Dano, and another offering from Ian Pooley & Magik J, with the masterfull "Heke".

00Deep - A Review Of The Decade - 2002

2002 saw NRK continue to nuture the existing talent on the label, as well as reaching out to artists new on the label. Miguel Migs had another busy year for NRK, releasing the "Dubplate Sessions EP" and "Satisfied EP", on each one throwing down his trademark dub inspired house tracks. NRK continued to work albums from the previous year from Audio Soul Project (pictured) and Jamie Anderson, with key single releases.



The legendary Francois K enlisted studio partner Rob Rives to create his timeless mix of Audio Soul Project's "Community", a track that has since been sampled to death, but FK and Rives did the original justice with an epic mix. Also enlisted to remix the ASP "Community" album were artists such as Rob Mello, Tony Thomas, Joeski and Ricky Montanari & Davide Ruberto. A "Community Remixed" album was released in this year. Meanwhile, Jamie Anderson's "Blue Music" album was revisited with the "Rebel Sound" single, complete with remixes from The Beloved and Jeno. Ian Pooley was also busy in '02, unleashing a trilogy of 12" singles; "Missing You", Ready To Flow" and "The Fly Shuffle", all released on coloured clear vinyl!



NRK Music has always liked to 'keep it in the family' and certain artists were brought back to the label to keep a sense of continuity. The aforementioned Ricky Montanari & Davide Ruberto released the killer "Redzone EP", a huge Italian deep piano track, and Jeno cropped up again on the label via his now legendary "Stormy Weather Remix" of Rocket's "People".

Other big singles for NRK in 2002 included Q-Burns Abstract Message and their "Innocent" single, remixed by King Britt and Magik Johnson, Sandy Rivera & Jose Burgos produced a great tracky EP titled "Keep Flowing", and UK stalwart, Pete Heller, supplied some great remixes of Louie Balo's mystical "Guiding Light".

The nite:life series continued, again breaking down genre barriers, as we brought to the platters some great mix comps from Joeski & Onionz "Nu-York nite:life", the dark and druggy sounds of Peace Division's "nite:life 010", the solid tech-house sounds of Lexicon Avenue, and a great double mix CD by Danny Krivit, one of the Body & Soul crew and all round NYC legend. His "Expansions" mix was a masterclass in mixology, including cuts from 808 State, Pal Joey, Blaze, DJ Food, Dennis Ferrer and Kerri Chandler.



Our sister label, honchos Music, delivered its biggest record to date. "Piha" by ex-pat Dick "Magik" Johnson, and Germany's Ian Pooley, was picked up by Pete Tong who hammered it on his BBC Radio 1 show for five weeks on the trot. With a remix package from DJ Sneak and Jamie Anderson, "Piha" was released at the end of the Summer 2002, narrowly missing a Top 40 chart position, but certainlybecoming one of the most memorable house cuts of the year, with its blazing disco strings and funk driven beats. Honchos also released key singles from Noel Nanton (including the still huge Ian Pooley remix of "Your Love"), and A J Scent's "ahead of its time" vibes on "I Love Digital".

00Deep - A Review Of The Decade - 2001

2001 was quite possibly the year when NRK Music went for global house domination! In this year, NRK released a slew of quality releases from some of our favourite producers, Honchos Music began taking huge strides with some great, tracky/tribal/wobbly club trax, and the NRK nite:life compilation series dominated the year, with no less that five releases from some of the scene’s most revered names.

It seems like a distant memory now, but the 12” vinyl single was very much alive and kicking in 2001. Whilst not possibly enjoying the sales in house music’s honeymoon period, the vinyl single was the format that drove NRK’s busy 12 months of 2001. Hot singles from this year included Miguel Mig’s “Soul Selecta EP” and the double EP and CD “Underwater Sessions”, Joey Negro and Linda Clifford’s absolutely huge “Ride The Storm” (which narrowly missed a UK Top 40 chart position) and Joshua’s “Watch Da Bass”.

01 was definitely the year for most things samba/latino in house, and NRK scored two big singles in this year, namely Nick Holder’s now legendary “Summer Daze”, and Joeski & DJ Chus “El Amor” (with the remix courtesy of Tim Deluxe).

Tech-house also scored highly for NRK in this year, with the release of albums, and respective singles, from Chicago’s Audio Soul Project, and UK’s Jamie Anderson. Audio Soul (AKA Mazi Namvar) had his sprawling concept album “Community” released, with singles “Techtonic Blur EP” and “Memory” out, and Jamie had his “Blue Music” debut album released, with the devastating “Black Sun” and lighter “They See Nothing” released as singles.

Our sister label, Honchos Music, also got in on the act, with pivotal singles from Mood II Swing and DJ Dan, alongside new rising talent such as A J Scent. Mood II Swing’s “Slippery Track” was picked up from Stickman Records, and Honchos added an awesome Dano remix to the package that already included a Jamie Anderson and a Josh Wink remix. DJ Dan’s “Put That Record Back On” got the re-rub from Junior Sanchez, H-Foundation and Peace Division, a heavyweight package if ever there was one!

And so onto nite:life, our DJ mix compilation series. Such was the breadth of DJs and punters out there at the time, it was possible to squeeze in no less that five compilations that year. Terry Farley (Junior Boys Own) gave us a taste of the darker tribal rhythms working the clubs, whilst Nick Holder’s “nite:life 05” was pure deep house, with those aforementioned latin influences. “nite:life 06” was brought to us from our favourite German friend, Ian Pooley, with some wonderful funky/techy/discotech moments on there, and NRK showed big support for the underground by enlisting ex-pat, DJ Garth, to the series, and his wonderfully trippy/psychedelic deep house offering. Finally, Joey Negro completed another year working closely with NRK with his mix for “nite:life 08”, a pure hedonistic deep garage house mix that still gets an airing in the office regularly!

00Deep - A Review Of The Decade - 2000

As we approach the end of the decade, the NRK Music blogspot hi-lights each of the years that made up the "noughties", a year that had it's ups and downs for the house music scene, but is certainly come out on top as we approach 2010. So here we go with the first installment...

2000

NRK Music surged into the new millennium with all cylinders’ firing, having already spent the late 1990’s making a big impact on the deep house scene. Already a label noted for bringing forward cutting edge trends in house music, via artists and releases from the likes of Dimitri From Paris, Francois K, Ian Pooley and Nick Holder, the year 2000 saw the label’s long standing relationship with a certain Mr. Miguel Migs, via a release called “Inner Excursions EP”, featuring the classic “Petalpushing” track.




Miguel Migs was already making a name for himself, via super deep and sophisticated releases for Naked Music and Yoshi Toshi. And the “Inner Excursions EP” marked out Miguel’s love of deep, tracky house music, a sound that was to become synonymous with NRK Music over the decade.



2000 also saw another relationship develop, this time with UK house stalwart Dave Lee AKA Joey Negro, who went on to record for NRK many times. He releases the superb “Your Wildest Dreams” 12” in this year, along with a robotically funky 2020 Vision remix (AKA Ralph Lawson and Carl Finlow) on a nice clear 12” vinyl pressing!



The decade also kicked off with one seriously major music trend, that of the reverberating, dub heavy house sounds of the West Coast crews. NRK Music was one of the first UK labels to pick up on these sounds, and in 2000 releases 12”s from Twisted Pair (AKA Dano & Joeski) “Horny Hustle”, Onionz & Master D’s “Celia’s Groove” and Dano’s “Drifting On Continents”. Perhaps the most successful artists emerging from that scene, H-Foundation (AKA Hipp-e & Halo Varga) supplied a killer remix of Plastic Avenger’s “El Bombata” whilst Halo went solo for a devastating remix of Sirus’ “An Eye For An Eye”, a track that was already huge with Danny Tenaglia that year.

It was decided to test the waters in this year with out first ever DJ mix compilation series (a format that the label still excels in to this day), and so “nite:life” was born. The scene’s most celebrated DJs, and the most cutting edge, underground sounds, our first three selectors did not disappoint. Jon Marsh, lead singer and producer of The Beloved, mixed up a great CD to kick start the series, whilst the aforementioned H-Foundation set the standards high with a genre defining double CD mix for “nite:life 02”. Miguel Migs nailed the sound of the Millenium with “nite:life 03”, a mix that has beome such a huge favourite with many fans.



Other notable releases for NRK this year include Nick Holder’s second album for the label “Underground Alternatives” and Sirus’ “On The Edge Of A Dream” featuring the singles “Big Ben” and “An Eye For An Eye”. The year 2000 also saw NRK’s sister label, Honchos Music, make its first steps with a more trackier/tribal sound, and it’s first two releases from Dirty Gringo and George T.