Deep 23

 

I sometimes feel like Italian deep house is the rare groove of the 21st Century. Back in the 80s and early 90s, soul funk from 20 years before was highly sought after, and records on obscure independent labels changed hands for greater and greater sums. Nowadays it’s amazing to see how much house music on labels like Oversky that was contemporary back then goes for now. I have a few things on Oversky, some of which have appeared in earlier mixes (here and here), but this mix is all about one record, Game of Chance.

Game of Chance by Green Baize is an odd record. A 7-track house EP that might be better described as an LP, it’s very hard to find now and one of those rare records where I like pretty much everything on it. There aren’t many records I’d put in that category – a few Blue Note  LPs like Cannonball Adderley’s Somethin’ Else, Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On, and Public Enemy’s Bumrush The Show spring to mind – but most LPs I only ever play one or two tracks from. Alex Neri, the man behind Planet Funk, was involved in Green Baize but I don’t know much more about the project, other than that there was only ever one record and that EP is now highly sought after.

This new mix features several tracks from Game of Chance. It starts with another Oversky record, which has a vocal sample people may have heard before on a later Dimitri From Paris record (heard here). Over the next hour I play the best tunes from Game of Chance, mixing in a few other things that felt right in between. There’s something from about five years later on the great French label F Communications, which has a feel very similar to tunes on that label from one of my earliest deep house mixes. Then there’s a deeper mix of a Strictly Rhythm track from the early 90’s that I put in another recent set, and a couple of much more recent tracks on RNT. There’s another appearance for a French track I first put in a mix years ago, this time Roy Davis, Jr’s remix. At the end, the set takes a Brazilian turn with Joe Claussell’s remix of Snowboy’s take on the Edu Lobo classic first recorded by Sergio Mendes (heard here). This version  came out on Ubiquity’s limited edition 12” DJ series (the Jazzanova Haryou remix was another of these, as was a Longineu Parsons remix).    

1. Black (Club VRS) – Steve Banzara
2. Synthetic Rhythm – Green Baize
3. Milan Bossa – Aqua Bassino
4. Tramp Heart – Green Baize
5. The Final Frontier (The Groove) – Logic
6. Switch Back – Green Baize
7. Like It Is – COEO
8. Unrest – Green Baize
9. Love Is Madness (Friends and Lovers Dub) – Pontchartrain
10. Prix Choc (Roy’s Love 4 Paris Remix) – Etienne De Crecy
11. Casa Forte (Spiritual Life Latin Samba Mix) – Snowboy

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~ by ricardosevere on 01/21/2024.