From the Dirt cover

From the Dirt

Released

Detroit producer and DJ Waajeed began his musical life as a DJ and producer for hip hop outfit Slum Village before moving into house music. This ten-track album from 2018, released on his Dirt Tech Reck label is his fourth, although it’s his first house album. You get ten tracks of expertly put-together Detroit house music, four vocal tracks and six instrumentals, and it’s almost as though he decided to show the range of sub-genres he can turn his hand to. “Too Afraid” featuring Lulu recalls Terrance Parker’s skippy semi-religious piano house jams, “After You Left” and “I Aint Safe” featuring Ideeyah are both smooth, gently glowing dreamlike deep house, “Power In Numbers” is stripped back, gritty Chicago-style house, “Make It Happen” featuring CJay Hill is buoyant soulful/R’n’B house, “Things About You” is a highly orchestrated soaring disco pastiche. A classy, vibrant and sparkling collection of accessible, dance floor-focused late-2010s Detroit house, you can file this album in a Detroit musical sweet spot somewhere between Terrance Parker’s church-soaked gospel-esque tracks, the smooth soul-house of Alton Miller and the heavyweight dance floor dynamics of Rick Wade.

Harold Heath

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