- If you'd forgotten about Steven Tang over the past few years, you're not alone. The Chicago DJ/producer releases music on his Emphasis Recordings imprint at a snail's pace, and has often seemingly taken lengthy breaks with his recordings elsewhere too. Behind the scenes, though, Tang has remained busy, and it looks like there will plenty to come in the next few months: He's popped up with online mixes at Infinite State Machine and Energy Flash, and resumes his melodic deep house ways with this 12-inch for Keith Worthy's Aesthetic Audio.
Those familiar with Worthy's label will know exactly what to expect from Tang's four track offering. Tang's aesthetic is firmly in line with Aesthetic's catalogue. Long, winding chords back up nearly every track in some manner. "Aerial" has an upbeat acid line pushed to the fore, "Verged" gets tribal before unleashing a massive, trembling set of chords. On the flip "Glimmer" has a synth melody that does what it says on the tin, while "Rocket Deep" sounds funnily enough a bit like Worthy's own "Rockit Science." But while all have a few defining characteristics that are common to each, Tang displays the sort of versatility that is often lacking on one original/two remixes 12-inches. More labels should take heed: Names these days matter less than ever when selling records. So why not focus on giving each producer the room to showcase all of the different things they have to say?
Tracklist A1 Aerial
A2 Verged
B1 Glimmer
B2 Rocket Deep