Mikael Nordgren (aka Tiger Stripes) was a hugely busy cat last year, firing out slab after slab of house that swam in the deep end (some of which ended up on my year end lists). So it’s entirely forgivable to have skidded past his limited edition single for ProgCity Deep Trax, a new collectors’ arm of the ProgCity monolith. “My Deep Space Part One” is a treat for dub techno fans and deep house fans alike, not least because Sven Weisemann stops by to plunge Tiger Stripes in the dunk tank. Of all Nordgren’s tracks I’ve heard from 2007, “My Deep Space Pt. 1” (denoted on the label as the instrumental version) ventures the closest to dub techno: The opening salvo of chords is soon caught in reverb and rebounds endlessly into a sawing riff, surrounded by supple bongos, long-decaying piano washes and aquamarine synth throbs. The end destination of this introspective stomper seems to be a lagoon of ear-catching echoes.
But if your deep space experiences tend to be more relaxed, Sven’s “dSpace Mix” has you covered. Like falling asleep as high tide makes its way up the sand, Weisemann’s broad brush strokes of calming blue/green melodies lap away at the ears, anchored by stiff, blocky kicks and ticks. But where some dub tracks tend to get too washed out and diffuse in their reverberating ambitions, Sven maintains well-written arrangements around which his delay forms an inviting moat. Two great explorations from these producers, ones which should be heard and purchased regardless of limited print runs.
