- Deep house, Detroit-style.
- Detroit's most underappreciated producers are women, from the late, great Kelli Hand to Rebecca Goldberg to LADYMONIX to the formidable DJ Minx, AKA Jennifer Witcher, who received of the Spirit Of Detroit award (past honorees include Hand, Juan Atkins and Kevin Saunderson) in 2018. Dubbed Detroit's "First Lady Of Wax," she's also the founder of pioneering women's collective and record label Women On Wax. Though respected at home and abroad, her talents—as an exceptionally classy, restrained, inventive producer and DJ—have always merited far more attention than they typically received. Beyond her storied "A Walk In The Park" release on M_nus in 2004, her output in 2021 alone was a treasure trove, from the alluring tribal beats and buzzing synths of "Queendom" to Tronic D, an EP of sexy, uber-deep house split with Gari Romalis, another underrated Detroiter.
Witcher's profile has been rising, belatedly, in the past couple of years. On this latest release she serves up a track that feels a little more accessible than her usual fare, with sophisticated flourishes to please a broad spectrum of clubbers. "Do It All Night" is a tech-house roller, embroidered with high-pitched, droning synths and sparkling arps stuck on a narcotic, endless loop. The bleary refrain is obvious, but hypnotic—"we dance all night"—engineered to strike a chord with anyone on the dancefloor past 4 AM and requiring little more than a gentle sway to follow its rhythms.
Honey Dijon's remix, on the other hand, is more for getting down than getting sideways, fitted with an energising kick, juddering bassline and whompy house chords primed for peak-time. On his C2 edit, Carl Craig's subtle tweaks are felt mostly in the whooshing percussive stabs, accentuated to hit like whip-cracks.
Any of the EP's tracks will pack a punch when dropped by Minx at one of the coveted bookings she's already secured in 2022, the most important being the invitation to host her own stage at Detroit's Movement Festival in May, a festival she's played at every year since its inception in 2001. No one is more deserving.
Tracklist01. Do It All Night
02. Do It All Night (Honey Dijon Remix)
03. Do It All Night (C2 Edit)