- Two years ago, RA's Terrence Fuller handily described Dokes' twitchy structures and organic palettes as "house music being reimagined from the ground-up." On more recent tracks like "Chicago Pimp," though, it's more like house rolled down a hill. His new one for Madrid's Deep Explorer, "Mother Africa," is a case in point, its ragged, tinny palpitations dumped into a front-loader and set on "tumble dry." It's not without the usual "deep" signifiers—you'll hear plaintive ripples of piano, soul-jazz electric keys and flutters of organ—but even these seem to topple over one another in jostles and lurches. And yet, for all the scraping and dissonance, a soft-spoken calm catches you off-guard. Moments like these—and there were more than a few—secured 2009 as a vintage year for this singular master.
In light of such recent highlights, who could blame you for succumbing to a bout of nostalgia for the unwound psychedelic rhythms of his erstwhile Psychostasia imprint? Deep Explorer co-founder Dubbymann's certainly feeling it, delivering a pair of tributes. A lot of Dubbyman's remix work boils down to little more than supplementing the languorous deep house drifters he loves with a little punch and muscle. Here, however, he assembles lonely, uptown mood pieces out of disparate parts gathered from the Psychostasia archives. His rework of 2001's "Black Thoughts" folds in the static pads from "Missing You" and the sermon from interstitial piece, "The Speech." At a slowed pulse, much of the same material echoes through the Tribute Mix of "Mother Africa."
A sort of cherry on top, you also get "In 2 Deep" by one Eric Johnson. Originally slated for release through Psychostasia before the label went into hibernation, its coolheaded hand drums and limpid Rhodes chords won't have much trouble finding willing jocks in 2010—nor should they, with coasting blue grooves as fluid as these.
Tracklist A1 Reggie Dokes - Mother Africa
A2 Eric Johnson - In 2 Deep
B1 Reggie Dokes - Black Thoughts (Dubbyman Deep In The Hole Mix)
B2 Reggie Dokes - Mother Africa (Dubbyman Tribute Mix)