Detroit's Filthiest - Premium Content

  • The bass mechanic channels deep house and jungle on the latest electro EP from a top Moroccan label.
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  • The recent releases from Detroit's Filthiest, AKA Julian Shamou, have offered us a full panorama of electro, from paranoid Drexciyan sounds to sweaty ghettotech. Shamou's latest EP in his ongoing series for Morocco's Casa Voyager looks to deep house, another sound heard in the Motor City. Ryan Keeling described the collaboration between Casa Voyager and Shamou as part of a larger project of "cultural exchange" between the label and Detroit. But where many labels outside Detroit might, say, simply reissue rare Detroit records, Casa Voyager is showing new sides to a storied producer, suggesting a truly symbiotic partnership. Although the hit of the 808 snares in "Poetry In Motion" channels the aggression of a factory floor, the bass is slippery, with a wiggling Rhodes solo that wouldn't be out of place on Sound Signature. This gentle touch is the record's defining atmosphere. "Cabaret"'s smoky, sultry piano chords weave across the bassline, providing the feeling of a caress. When the strings arrive, it's clear that even the filthiest need tenderness. The other reference point on this record is jungle, but still Shamou treats it with a lover's touch. "Smooth As Silk" may have a vintage jungle rhythm, but the synths twinkle like checking daybreak from beneath the duvet. "Illision" also starts with a clipped breakbeat and a zipping bassline, but the piano that wafts through the track is more Theo Parrish than Goldie.
  • Tracklist
      A1 Cabaret A2 Illision B1 Poetry In Motion B2 Smooth as Silk
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