- The future sound of California.
- Since debuting his Liquid Earth project in 2019, Taylor Freels has become California's tech house golden boy. He's put out absolute belters on labels like Kalahari Oyster Cult and his own Liquid Earth, has played alongside the likes of The Ghost and Sugar Free, and turned in mixes for '90s revival powerhouses like Faciendo and Trommel. He really hit his stride with 2020's Transcedenton for Butter Side Up. Melodies whizzed by like golf balls at a driving range alongside cheeky vocals and sleazy basslines piped in from some forgotten '80s AM radio station. The tracks were both sunny and sinister, like the good time pal who's great to party with, but you wouldn't trust with your house plants. For Deputy Dog, Freels' second appearance on Butter Side Up, he keeps his vintage tech house wiggle but takes it to a darker place.
"Rim City," for example, could be throwback California house in the vein of San Diego's Siesta Music with its offbeat snares, drum rolls and intermittent piano house breakdowns. But it's like Halo and Hipp-E can't keep their balance of chemicals right at the afters—the track keeps slipping into a churning vortex, with a twangy synth echoing across the stereo spectrum. There's something a bit ominous about the speed garage-esque bassline in the title track and the bad-trip chord progression (think Green Velvet meets 187 Lockdown). Heck, even the organ melody on "Feels So Good" has something of a comedown eeriness to it.
When I interviewed Freels for a feature on the resurgence of tech house last year, he explained that he wasn't interested in looking backwards. Instead, he was thinking about where dance music was headed next. He wants to "create dance music with evolving and introspective structure. Club tunes with timing switch-ups, counter melodies and emotive intros are the future." Deputy Dog hits this brief to a T. There might be plenty of retro analog funk here, but these are mutating club tracks that demonstrate Freels is only moving forward.
TracklistA1 2 Tha Dance Floor
A2 Deputy Dog
B1 Rim City
B2 Feels So Good (As It Should)