[My Love Is Underground]

It can safely be said that in this digital age, starting up a strictly vinyl only label is a move reserved for the most strong-willed of folk. Aside from the audience that the label’s output is adhering to, the boss of such a label would either have a strong marketing ploy in mind or be doing it for the sheer love. Jeremy Underground Paris easily meets the latter, but in an ironic twist of fate, it is his overt passion for house and political stance on wax which has attracted hardcore house enthusiasts from all over to his My Love Is Underground imprint.

The follow up to their righteous debut, Vol.1 by Paris Underground Trax lays on gruff percussion, with a peppering of NY shuffle throughout. Each of the four tracks play out like a slight variation of each other, making this almost seem like a selection of tools as apposed to individual tracks. However, the meticulous drum programming, such as breakdowns and drum fills scattered throughout offer an unpredictability which ultimately gives each track its own live characteristic. The kicks, snares and symbol crashes all take their turn to busy up the meat of each track, while other signature touches such as cut up diva vocals and top end Rhodes keys complement the remaining gaps. “Sexy Thing Remix” stands out a little further compared to the others thanks to its big room vibe marbled with spoken female vocals and an almighty quadruplet of thuds. The remaining tracks share their own distinguishing features, such as the free flowing keys gliding in unannounced on “NYC Underground” and the charismatically brash snare aiding the utilitarian vibe of “Hardcore Deep House.” Although the record quite obviously takes cues from 90’s East Coast house music by artists like Kerri Chandler, Vol. 1 feels more like the (unknown) artist’s personal synthesis of a sound than a series of replicas.