First released as the title track of his now legendary EP on Dance Mania back in 1996, ‘Freak Like Me’ is a stone cold classic from ghetto house and Chicago master DJ Deeon. Having started out by selling DJ mixtapes in the parking lot of his hometown, it wasn’t long until records like this found their way onto decks all around the world and Deeon was influencing some of the biggest dance acts of all-time, most notably Daft Punk who featured him on their illustrious roll call record Teachers…
Deeon: “Back in like ‘94 or ‘95, I got to meet Thomas Bangalter from Daft Punk, before they came out. I met him at Gramaphone Records; the guy that I bought records from called me and said, “This guy from Paris wants to meet you, you played his track on a mixtape.” Milton and I went down and hung out with him for an hour. I had his 12" but didn’t know who he was. I haven’t talked to him since, but look at him now. I was so happy when he showed us respect on the album, man, you couldn’t tell us nothing when that happened."
Always a serious weapon for any underground DJ over the past 20 years, it wasn’t until early 2015 when ‘Freak Like Me’ reached a whole new generation of selectors, following a reissue of DJ Deeon classic's on Jackmaster’s much-loved Numbers imprint. That was followed by continued support from techno superstar Nina Kraviz, already a big fan of Dance Mania, and a video of Berghain resident Ben Klock working the record masterfully at Dimensions Festival in Croatia. It was clear that this record was special, sounding just as fresh in 2015 as it did in 1996.
Fast forward to September and a video goes viral of Marco Carola dropping a new bass-house version of ‘Freak Like Me’ at Music On in Amnesia, creating a state of euphoria and becoming one of the standout moments of the summer. The version in question was by a relatively unknown producer from Middlesbrough, Lee Walker, and was then picked up by Dixon, Loco Dice, Annie Mac [Hottest Record], Pete Tong [Essential New Tune], Danny Howard [Dance Anthems] and many more… You simply couldn’t ignore the impact it was having across the dance music world.
After several months of negotiation Defected officially released this exceptional cross-genre record in February, with the blessing of DJ Deeon himself. Lee Walker vs. DJ Deeon, ‘Freak Like Me’ is set to take summer 2016 by storm, with a remix package including house legend Armand Van Helden’s thumping festival destroyer and Sonny Fodera’s equally infectious club anthem and keep your ears pealed for a brand new vocal version coming very soon via Defected/MOS
To all the freaks out there… See you on the dancefloor.
Buy: Lee Walker vs. DJ Deeon - Freak Like Me
