fijiama.net - more f*ing house music

It’s been quite slow lately music-wise, or maybe that’s just me (probably…). Some of the tunes that have caught my ear have been the DJ Bone “No Sleep” record (featured in Little White Earbuds) or the Nick Holder “Time” remixes (I’m thinking Manuel Tur rather than Wahoo).

But as long as it’s slow, I might share with you two classic tracks.

Pepe Bradock – Life
Atavisme - ATA 001

This one has been creeping back into my sets recently, showing off its timelessness. The use of the Prince’s “Purple Rain” samples is downright magnificent. This is why I forgive the man tracks like “Rhapsody in Pain”.

Joe Claussell – Agora E Seu Tempo (The Acroostic Percussion Version)
Spiritual Life Music - SLM PRO 11

This is an ultra-rare version of the beaufiful Mental Remedy (Joe Claussell + Jephte Guillaume) song. A couple of weeks ago, I walked into the MVE shop on Berwick St, London, and there it was, as if to remind me of my Spiritual Life Music obsession years ago. Fate, I presume. And I didn’t even have to pay the usual 50 pounds that it goes for on eBay. Shouts go out to Mr Madis Nestor who first turned me on to this one. I hope you like your percussion intros long.

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Atavisme - ATA 008

If you look at Pepe Bradock’s career, you will see that has been very determined in making increasingly undanceable music. The days of “Life” and “Deep Burnt” are in the past, the recent records like “Rhapsody In Pain” or “Sakura Incident” make you wonder if Mr Julien Auger is using his credit to play practical jokes on the deep house peeps. However, be it a joke or not, I’m definitely falling for it.

This time it’s “Intriguing Feathered Creature”. Yes, that’s the name. No, really. This somehow illustrates the Pepe Bradock way of thinking, since it could have just as easily and randomly been called “An Interesting Bird”. But that wouldn’t be freaky, or rather, not freaky enough. Or we are just missing a very simple everyday background story on this.

“Creature’s” bizarre chord progression reminds me of “4” from 2003 on Atavisme, which was kind of a lullaby sounding tune that I liked for that quality. It’s definitely out of the ordinary and has the effect of growing on you, along with the steel drum melody. Somehow, it still seems like a caricature of deep house exploring the jazzy chord progressions to sound more sophisticated. The chords are overlaid with strange seagull-like noises that obviously give the track its name. The dub is essentially the main mix played from inside a big tunnel – like you would expect from the guy. And then you have the AK-Pella that allows you to get a bit deeper into the chirping sound of the seagulls. Which is nice.

While Pepe might be lost to our world of mortals, I do appreciate his messages from the other reality.

A: Intriguing Feathered Creature
B1: Intriguing Feathered Creature (Dub)
B2: Intriguing Feathered Creature (AK-Pella)

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