- Just as King Street finishes wringing everything they can out of The World As I See It (and, honestly, who can blame them?), Dennis Ferrer drops 'A Black Man in Space,' which heralds the imminent release of his next LP on his own imprint, Objektivity. As if anticipating Âme’s recent remix of Etienne Jaumet, the A-side features a 'sax version' of the original. It's far more fascinating than its parent, even if the horn never does much except sidle up to the groove and continually put lie to the idea that "there is no soul in space."
Both versions work that inimitable Ferrer magic wherein tech house and deep house sit comfortably alongside one another. On the original, where many of the underlying elements work harder without a sax to prop them up, Ferrer can't help but put himself into the mix. He gooses the track along, intoning "yeah" as if he was daring you to contradict him. Here and in the sax version, it's almost stunning to hear him at work: in both instances you can tell that Ferrer has complete command of his surroundings, subtly building up and tearing back down before the payoff.
There's a long history of soul in space, if you're wondering (check Guion S. Buford, George Clinton and assorted homeboys for reference). But aside from the "gogga googa"'ing Clinton, this may be the most convincing take yet. And, lucky for us, Ferrer lets us know near the end of the track, "Some might call this the final frontier / I just call this the beginning."
TracklistA1 A Black Man In Space (original mix)
B1 A Black Man In Space (sax mix)
B2 A Black Man In Space (drum mix)