- Two standout EPs from the Detroit producers, including one of the year's best vocal house tracks.
- A few days ago I was listening to a brilliant new mix from Marcellus Pittman. He kicked off the set with Deviere's arpeggio driven psych-house cut "Takara" mixed into Ron Trent and Anthony Nicholson's "Ncameu," the latter a pinnacle of Prescription-style vocal house. As a house producer and a DJ, Pittman has always shown an equal interest in warm, soulful sounds and tripped-out machine funk. While many producers focus on one or the other, Pittman often explores both traditions on a single record, DJ mix or track.
That's certainly the case on the two Unirhythm 12-inches Pittman slung on white labels at Movement 2019. (They've just been released via the Unirhythm website.) "Pick Up" features raw, emotional vocals from Crystal Procedures that stick to time-tested deep house themes: "Sometimes you get down / And then you pick yourself back up." Pittman's backing track, meanwhile, mixes a couple of jazzy chords with a weird, whistle-like synth. The breakdown has Crystal Procedures improvising wordlessly as the melodic theme stops and starts before finally lurching back into motion.
This tension between the traditional and bizarre is also central to "Bumpin Squwow???" The A-side off the second 12-inch, it sounds like a Kyle Hall cut intercepted midway by an urgent Jamal Moss track. When we think of Detroit house we often think of music made by the likes of Moodymann or Terrence Parker, which looks to the past through samples or disco-rooted melodicism. Pittman upends this typecasting, using his deep knowledge of house, disco and boogie to venture into far-out and rewarding territory.
TracklistPick Yourself Up feat. Crystal Procedures
01. Pick Yourself Up feat. Crystal Procedures
02. Ode 2 Juan
Bumpin Squwow???
01. Bumpin Squwow???
02. Faze Out
03. November Peoples