Friday, June 15, 2012

Robert Owens - Gotta Work



Though electronica has always been a producer's medium (and the few vocalists keeping their head above water are usually women), Robert Owens became one of the figures most associated with the late-'80s golden era of Chicago house. Born in Ohio in 1961, he grew up singing in the church, but was working as a DJ when he met pioneering Chicago producer Larry Heard in 1985. The pair formed Fingers Inc. with Ron Wilson, and released a few excellent singles ("You're Mine," "It's Over") and the 1988 full-length "Another Side" .The group dissolved soon after, though, as Heard's burgeoning solo-production career (as Mr. Fingers) took over.

Owens had already released tracks on his own - "Bring Down the Walls" and "I'm Strong" for Alleviated, with production from Heard - and he signed a solo contract with 4th & Broadway. His 1990 LP "Rhythms in Me" was a solid effort, though it soon disappeared within the quickly disintegrating Chicago house scene. (One of his best-known features of the late '80s, the epic house moment "Tears," appeared under the names of Frankie Knuckles and producer Satoshi Tomiie.)

Owens had basically retired from music by the early '90s, preferring instead to run his own Christian bookstore. By 1996, he'd returned to dance music with "Ordinary People", a two-part EP for Musical Directions. He teamed up with Tomiie and Cevin Fisher for a track from Tomiie's "Full Lick" LP in 1999, and one year later Owens appeared on the Photek smash "Mine to Give".

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Thursday, June 7, 2012

Roy Davis Jr - All I Do



Added on board the Chicago house production team Phuture, as a replacement for DJ Pierre, Roy Davis Jr. later followed his mentor to New York and worked at Strictly Rhythm, recording his own singles for Force Inc., Big Big Trax and Power Music. Originally born in California, Davis moved to Chicago's south side early in his childhood. After being turned on by legendary acid-house pioneers like Phuture and Lil' Louis, he became a DJ and began producing as well, with his first single, "20 Below," recorded for the Jack Trax label.

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Sunday, June 3, 2012

Cottam - Work It (Quintessentials)



Paul Cottam

UK based DJ and Producer.

Cottam has been spinning other peoples records from the age of 14 - after ‘borrowing’ his brothers 80s soul and early hip hop he discovered house music and was hooked. Clubbing in the north through his teens, as acid became rave became progressive DJs like Dave Clarke introduced him to harder techno and electro, a love that still lasts to this day with DJs like Surgeon and the black country crew introducing dubstep into their sets.

After so long loving the music and tinkering with his own ideas, 2009 saw his first house experiments emerge, often re-working soul and hip hop tracks.

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