If you missed DeepCitySoul last year, then there’s little chance you will this. Birmingham’s fledgling house duo is set for big, beautiful and very soulful things in 2010.
The boys – Matt McKillop and Owen Taylor – represent a fresh approach to both music-making and career-building in clubland. The rules are rapidly changing as we enter a new decade and, as such, many dance music artists and producers have had to adapt their strategies.
That’s if they even had a strategy. “A lot of great people and labels have gone under in recent years and, sad to say, a lot of it is down to poor planning,” opens McKillop. “The new kids on the block have wised up; they’re organised and understand marketing. They realise there’s a lot of hard work amongst all the fun.”
And hard work is most definitely DeepCitySoul’s raison d’etre. The double act has actually been together for a couple of years now, with a discography already including productions and remixes on Soul Heaven, Pacha, Toolroom and Further. The list of collaborators is equally impressive – everyone from Chicago’s revered houser Stacy Kidd to Radio 1 stalwart Pete Tong.
In the past 12 months, Taylor and McKillop have founded two new labels, DeeCeeEss Recordings and DCS Trax, onto which they’ve dropped a handful of scene-stirring releases, and worked their impeccable contacts and friendships to ensure expansion is guaranteed next year.
“We’ve started work on some big productions with several of our house heroes, but it’s early days and I can’t go in to too much detail” McKillop teases. “DCS Trax is a brand new imprint that will distribute DeepCitySoul’s deep, truly underground productions, whilst DeeCeeEss will move through the gears next year with a stack of higher-profile grooves.”
Higher profile you say? “Well, we’ve been recording recently with live musicians and gospel choirs to create a bigger sound” he replies. “We’re also been developing a live act for the festivals.”
A little reasonable prying reveals that Kidd and New York heavyweight Tedd Patterson are in the frame for studio collusion, as well as vocalist Robert Owens. But that’s all we’re getting.
“Our tag-line on emails is ‘gotta have soul’; that’s the best description of what we do that I can give you,” he explains. “There’s been a lack of good quality, soulful house music from the UK this year and we want to rectify that. There are signs to suggest the scene is reviving but those tunes with real feeling and emotion are still, it seems, thin on the ground. House music is still too preoccupied with fashion, not function.”
The boys, wisely, are open to all promotional channels: “We’ve got a lot of music lined up for next year and not just on our own labels. We’re hoping to finalise releases with some of the major US imprints, and keep growing our sound.”
They warmly embrace downloads and internet radio (their House Is Home show on SSRadio goes from strength to strength, alongside a cult club night of the same name) but continue to sell via vinyl too: “Vinyl does still sell well and gives us a tangible presence. But we will always diversify according to the market. The challenge for emerging artists over the next decade will not just be to make great records but find effective ways to get them to the public. In an increasingly competitive, multi-channelled market, that’s key!”
DeepCitySoul have the attention of clubland’s taste-makers. Good organisation and killer records like November’s Earthly Angel and this month’s Groove School are to thank for that. In the coming weeks they intend to release another wave of singles, including Nicc Johnson’s super disco-fied Love For Now (featuring singer LT Brown.)
“People in the business keep telling us we’re the ones to watch now” McKillop laughs. “It’s an amazing feeling but there’s still a way to go.”
Yes, but what a way. The boys are ready for a journey in house music’s truest sense...
Words: Ben Lovett
