Ltd Repress! By now, Chicago s home of the ghetto house movement, Dance Mania, should need no introduction! If you didn t already know, they are the original purveyors of that hard-ass, stripped back, tough, hitting electronic funk, they ve never held back with their output. Operating since the late 80 s the label has gained legions of fans over 2 decades as well as a certain notoriety and one of their most well-known artists has got to be the legendary DJ Deeon and his various production pseudonyms!
This, the second in a series of samplers focusses on some of his unreleased cuts, rarities and classics from the DM catalogue. Kicking things off with the demented over-sexed jacking off of Da Dik Suk this EP shows you what s up from the jump. Lifted off 1996 s Freak Like Me EP this is vintage Deeon to the core! This is followed up with the minimal, acidic runnings of 1112 , from Deeon s 1996 Chop Shop release, a wigged out, simplistic groove that just won t stop. Classic Chicago weirdness that simply just slams.
The frenetic Phenomenon opens up side B, produced under his Mute pseudonym and originally released in 1997 this is a sure-fire rarity from the DM vaults. A tough one to track down and a real essential under the radar cut. Also featured is the wild acid of Playground Productionz The Box , here in unreleased (!) rare remixed form by another Chi-town legend – Paul Johnson. Top shelf business.
Last but certainly not least is another Playground jammer in the form of the killer Vertigo lifted off the same EP from 1994 which is surely enough to whet even the toughest of appetites. File under JACKIN . Every track on here has been remastered and repressed with the full consent and involvement of DJ Deeon and Parris Mitchell, selected and programmed from Deeon s private archives and DAT tapes for Above Board, London. 100% hater free.
Chicago label, founded by Jesse Saunders in 1985. Started off as Dance Mania Records before later (in 1988) changing name to just Dance Mania and later still to Dance Mania Inc. Jesse conveyed Dance Mania in 1986 to Raymond Barney when he left for Los Angeles.
The label became known for raw, percussive tracks from the very beginning. Early hits included Lil' Louis "Video Clash", "How I Feel", "War Games", "7 Ways" by Hercules, and perhaps the most known classic, "Housenation" by The Housemaster Boyz in 1986. Ray's own company, Barney's Records, distributed many of the early Chi-labels, like G Strings, Chicago Underground, Warehouse Records (2), etc.
In the period of 1992-1993 Dance Mania began to release records from new the breed of Chicago artists, namely from the likes of: DJ Funk, Paul Johnson, Eric Martin, Traxmen, Parris Mitchell, DJ Deeon, DJ Milton and more. Label returned to it's roots, to the dirty side of disco that was always very popular in Chicago. In few years it released around 200 records, making the matrix number rise close to "DM300".
