After meeting in a Mons record shop in 2000 and initially recording together under the Vernon&DaCosta alias, Vernon Bara and Massimo DaCosta have released music on labels such as OM Records, AMA Rec, Robsoul, Aroma, OFF and Icon, as well as setting up their own Homecoming Music imprint back in 2010.
Their new project is Raw District which will see them focus on the darker and deeper side of house. In their own words, “Raw District tracks will feature fewer samples and more organic influences. However, the trademark soul, funk and disco influences will still be evident, mixed up with the fresh European sounds coming from Berlin.” Here for In Their House, they drop close to two hours of exactly such sounds...
Thanks for talking to us… how are you today?
Vernon: We are a little bit tired, because we worked till late the night in the studio, putting some final touches on a new tune.
You run your own Homecoming Music label… what particular qualities do you look for when signing artists and their music?
Massimo: As with a lot of labels, our goal isn’t just to deliver music to the public. If we hear something that freaks us out then we are inclined to investigate and work out on a proper release with the artist. There are no specific musical style guidelines; it can be deep house, vocal, tech-house or even techno. It just must be quality. It’s really important to us to have a personal bond with the artists. We want to develop a strong long-term working relationship. Most of the time, they are friends like Sneak, Phil Weeks, Brett Johnson, Djebali, Inland Knights, Jay Tripwire, Julian M, but it can also be producers we really like and we ask them to do something specifically for us. That’s the case of our forthcoming compilation Mysteries of the Deep. It’s a selection of exclusive tracks produced by friends or talented people we really like.
Vernon: One of our goals was also to push artists who we feel are talented but don't have the immediate connections to get their stuff heard.
How does your current Raw District project differ from the music you have previously made together?
Vernon: We’ve been working together for the last 10 years. It just made sense for us to make a break with our main project Vernon&DaCosta which always had that Chicago house influence and start to explore some deeper and darker musical directions. This break gave us the opportunity to be involved in some others projects (Ultrasone for me) and to give Massimo more time to focus on Homecoming.
Massimo: Deep house was always our favourite direction. We are now extremely excited to start releasing under this new guise.
Tell us about the mix… how and where was it recorded?
Massimo: We started mixing and choosing in our favourite tracks that we’ve been playing out in the past 2 months or so. We tried to build the right flow for a mix you could listen everywhere or in every circumstance, not just peak-time tunes. We tried to mix it all from deep to tech-house tracks, new and older stuff because we truly believe that good house music is timeless.
Vernon: Unfortunately it was recorded at home, rather than on a sunny beach.
Are there any tracks in particular you’d like to pick out?
Massimo: We included a really excellent edit that Vernon did of Barnt ‘Geffen’. There is also a strong track from Eric Volta and Jonny Cruz coming out soon on Homecoming. It will be included in our Mysteries of the Deep compilation.
Your Bad Angel record came out last week… tell us about the record… Was Defected a label you had in mind when you were making the record?
Vernon: When we started Raw District we really wanted to put focus on deep and vocal tunes. As we really enjoyed a first collaboration with Ingrid Hakanson a few year ago on Aroma Records we sent her the tune. Ingrid is really cool and easy to work with. She was into it straight away and started quickly writing the lyrics and sent us the vocals.
Massimo: We knew that our long-time friend Luke Solomon was re-launching Classic and was looking for some new materials. We sent him the tune. He was really into it and played it to Simon Dunmore who decided to pick it up for Defected. We were honoured and said “hell yes!”. At this point there isn’t a better possible label than Defected for this project.
Anything else you’d like to tell us…?
Massimo: We are already working on a follow-up single of Bad Angel which I hope will generate even more excitement.
Vernon: We hope people will enjoy the mix as much as I did doing it.
Bad Angel is out now on Defected - buy from Beatport
Tracklist:
1. 2nd Shift - Interlude 1
2. Uffe - I'll Leave Soon (Catz n Dogz Talking Remix)
3. Art Department & Konrad Black - Graveyeard Tan
4. Blanc 1 - It's All Over
5. Eddie Matos - Hypnotized (Dubtribe Sound System Mix)
6. Quell - Real People (Jerome Sydenham Remix)
7. Raw District - In the shadow - Homecoming Music
8. Dyed Soundorom - I Care
9. Tale of Us - Discochord
10. The Selph - An Ancient Secret
11. Panos & Sentenza - Mele
12. Art Department - It's a common situation
13. Eric Volta & Jonny Cruz - Mayhem Electric
14. Raw District - Bad Angel
15. Barnt - Geffen (Vernon Bara's Edit)
16. Pezzner - Not A Good Idea
17. Kate Simko - Your Love feat Jem Cooke
18. Pippi, Tuccillo & Kiko Navarro - Back 2 Back (Tuccillo & Willie Graff dub)
19. Natural Rhytm - Rock Countdown
20. Burnski - Sometimes Takes Longer
21. Adam Shelton feat. Francesca Lombardo - Mirrors (Subb-an Terrace Remix)
22. Mano Le Tough - Primitive People (Tale Of Us Remix)
