- One of Chicago's most devoted house heads offers a little European twist.
- Garrett David loves house music. As obvious as that may be, it's worth stating just how much he loves it. He moved to Chicago as a teenager where he became a smartbar resident and a buyer at the legendary Gramaphone Records. If that was his early education, he received his PhD holding down a residency at smartbar's beloved Queen! parties, where he would play Sunday evenings alongside one of the best to ever do it, Derrick Carter. His productions are equally steeped in house history. He released the second 12-inch on Gramaphone's label (following none other than Lil' Louis) and has put out a string of excellent odes to the Windy City on labels like Brawther's Courtesy Of Balance, which originally started with Chez Damier. If there's ever a Head's Olympics, I'd put my money on David for the under-40 category.
His newest EP, Gary's Dreamland, shows off his latest dalliance with tech house. David opens with a showstopping track that tips its hat to early '00s London instead of Chicago. "Mi Casa," featuring vocalist Maudi, is built around loose hand drums that have an old-school Buschwaka! feel, while the synths ping-pong from one end of the stereo field to the other. On the other standout, "Hootie Hoo," David flirts with afterhours techno. The drums are still swung and fun, but the bassline is downright nasty, and the minor key chord stabs hit with the venom of Nicolas Lutz soundtracking a Mortal Kombat game. The other two are bread and butter Midwest deepness: the title track has chintzy Rhodes chords and there's an '80s pop gloss to the wailing synths on "The Message Hasn't Changed."
Gary's Dreamland is the perfection of a sound David started trotting out when he launched his fittingly named label Global Swing with last year's Dirty Work EP. These are tracks still steeped in classic house worship, but here he seems to be drawing closer to the likes of Europe's tech house vanguard, including Youandewan and Sweely, the latter of whom released a 12-inch on the label. This new sound has already paid dividends—2023 was David's busiest year on the road—and this might be the start of Chicago's prodigal son becoming the global phenomenon he surely deserves to be.
TracklistX1 Mi Casa feat. Maudi
X2 Gary's Dreamland
Y1 The Message Hasn't Changed
Y2 Hootie Hoo