Review: Esteemed Canadian deep house producer Fred Everything's "Mercyless" dates back to 2008; in its original form it was a funk-infused, feelgood 90s-inspired house anthem. In the hands of AtJazz it was turned into an introspective piece of after hours house with soft organ tones and shuffling percussion. This release presents the "Unreleased Astro remix" from AtJazz; subtly different to the original remix, it emerges in a slightly more vivid form, but with all the mellowness of the original.
Review: Amazingly, it's been 16 years since Canadian deep house producer Fred Everything dropped his first EP. It seems fitting, then, that his latest release is big chunk of '90s nostalgia for unashamed revivalists Local Talk. Everything is an old hand at this kind of thing, of course, and it shows. Both versions of "Brothers & Sisters" bolt classic garage riffs and woozy vocal samples (and, in the case of the AM Pacific version, snaking synth-horns) onto the kind of snappy, swinging groove he probably knocks out in his sleep. The best of the lot, though, is "Legacy", a flowery, near Balearic garage-house odyssey that sounds like it was inspired by 808 State's "Pacific State".
Review: To celebrate five years of his Lazy Days imprint, Fred Everything gets Crazy P, Art of Tones, Greg Wilson and Ian Pooley to provide a bunch of remixes of some of the label's best-loved tracks. While all provide solid reworks - particularly Crazy P, whose two rubs of Fred Everything's own "Friday" are excellent - it's Art Of Tones who really excels. His three reworks of Tortured Soul's 'Found A Way' are everything a disco-loving house head would wish for; loose, bumpin' and deliciously soulful, riding a wave of loose-wristed live drums and classic synth strings.
Review: We've lost count of the number of high quality house labels that Fred Everything has featured on over the course of his long career. The Winter Tones EP marks his first appearance on Switzerland's Drumpoet Community. "Winter Tones" blends his usual dreamy pads and eyes-wide chords with metronomic drums and numerous acid-flecked flourishes. The latter elements come to the fore on the deliciously stripped-back and heavy "Winter Dubs", while the gorgeous "Winter Outro" sounds like an ambient version of "Pacific State" after one too many sleeping pills. Tuff City Kids deliver two fine reworks; a sharp, stomping, acid-inspired "303 Mix", and the trippy, low-slung, bass-heavy throb that is the "Toneulator Mix".
Review: Fred Everything's Les Jours Paresseux series, which launched earlier this year, sees the long-serving producer paying tribute to the saucer-eyed, loved-up bliss of late '80s Italian deep house. This second volume in the series continues the trend, delivering cuts that bristle with period flourishes - see the loon bird samples and sweeping chords of "True", or the piano-laden humidity of "Truth" - and colourful authenticity (the spine-tingling rush of "PSC Theme" sounds like a long lost Morenas production). The EP also boasts another fitting tribute to the period in the shape of a brilliant "Beatless" version of "Organ Theme", which sounds like a long lost early '90s ambient house classic.
Review: Montreal's finest is still at it and sounding better than ever, this time for the legendary Atjazz. "A" is so typical of Fred Everything's deep and smooth tech house sound with warm, side-chained pads, a razor sharp bassline and super tight rhythms. Atjazz himself steps up to work his magic on the track, giving it his signature bassline and infectiously broken rhythm makeover, but overall: it gets even deeper! Second original track "Her" is dreamy and ethereal deep house reminiscent of the Kompakt sound with angelic female vocals and layers of lush, hypnotising pads that you could imagine Lee Burridge playing at some awesome rooftop party, the dub version is pretty sweet too!
Review: We were full of praise for Fred Everything's 2018 album "Long Way Home" - the Canadian's first full-length excursion in a decade - so we have high hopes for this expansive remixed version. There's naturally some revisions by friends and high profile remixers, with Atjazz's deliciously intergalactic deep house take on "Spacetime", Ilia Rudman's slow Balearic boogie revwork of "Palma" being arguably the most notable. Elsewhere, the Lazy Days co-founder offers up a string of fine alternative versions of his own - see the sparkling, piano-heavy "7AM in Tisno" dub of "Barbarella" and the stunning, beat-free "Somewhere Ambient Version" of "Something for starters - as well as a handful of fine dubs and some previously unheard tracks ("Un Dimache Soir", "Alright (Original Mix)").
Review: Normally at this point we'd go into a rambling spiel about the credentials of the producer involved in this release, but in the case of Fred Everything it hardly seems necessary. After all, the Lazy Days co-founder has been releasing high-grade deep house for decades and his quality threshold rarely dips. "Wherever You Go" sees the French Canadian producer continue his recent fascination with glassy-eyed Balearic-era house, in the process serving up a deliciously warm and colourful tribute to classic Italian dream house. Phillip Lauer handles remix duties, first wrapping the original mix's hazy vocal samples around a wild, acid-fired analogue house groove on the Dos Main mix, before necking something naughty and reaching for the pianos on the slicker and dreamier "Akai Mix".
Review: Long Way Home is the first Fred Everything album in a decade, but it has been worth the wait, as the Canadian producer delves into musical territories. "Cinema Paradiso" is underpinned by lush strings and crisp break beats, while "By Day" features the soulful vocals of Sio, accompanied by gentle piano lines. Even the title track focuses on a more electro-funk sound than the typical Fred Everything sty;e - albeit one that is soaked in strings. The pace finally picks up on the electronic disco of "Un Dimanche Apres-Midi" and fans of Fred Everything's deep house style will not be disappointed, with the blissed out vocals and trippy keys of"Wherever You Go" sounding like one of the most soulful tracks of 2018.
Review: Here's something to set the pulse racing: a collaborative, three-track excursion from long-serving deep house producers Fred Everything and Hollis P. Monroe. As you'd expect, the composition and production is on point throughout, with the new studio buddies achieving a near perfect balance between club-ready grooves and ear-pleasing melodiousness. Opener "Dawn" sees the duo wrap rising and falling synthesizer lines and blissful electronic melodies around a shuffling deep house groove, while "Anywhere" is a much more low-slung and bass-heavy affair (albeit blessed with the colourful synth riffs and melancholic chord progressions). Arguably best of all, though, is closer "There Is A House", which pits the analogue synthesizer-driven melancholy of the Pet Shop Boys' Behaviour album against the snappy drum machine percussion of New York proto-house.
Review: You couldn't wish for a more expert duo than Fred Everything and Crazy P mainstay Chris "Hot Toddy" Todd. Either solo or in collaboration with others, they've been responsible for too many fine records to mention over the last two decades. This collaborative affair is rather good, too. "Same Old Sound", a deep, slow-motion nu-boogie number rich in sparkling, glassy-eyed chords, catchy synth-bass, tasty jazz-funk guitars and head-nodding drum machine beats, sounds like a particularly loved-up tribute to Dayton classic "The Sound of Music". This is particularly evident on the original mix, which also boasts a robotic vocoder/talkbox vocal reminiscent of the 1983 classic, but the influence can also be heard on the drowsy, sunshine-friendly "Guitare Dub" version.
Review: Fred Everything, who has appeared on the very best of house labels including 20:20 Vision and Drumpoet Community, teams up with the rising Fred Iveson for a split EP on the US' Lazy Days imprint. Everything's "Gentle As The Sun" is a bouncy and docile house gem for the early morning, a tune which cleansed the soul. Iveson's "Leave Me Here" is similarly placid and soothing but with a more stripped back approach recalling the sorts of percussion sounds heard in many darker minimal tracks.
Review: In its original form, Fred Everything's latest collaboration - this time with sugar-voiced British soul man Jinadu - breathes new life into a once mighty variation of deep house: dub house. Rich in sub-heavy dub bass, delay-laden reggae guitars, dreamy chords and UK steppas style drums, it's every bit as good as anything you would have heard in the late '90s or early 2000s. Ian Pooley offers up two contrasting remixes. While the more straight-up deep house vocal take is rather good, we still prefer his 'Dub' revision, which wraps delay-laden synthesizer motifs and head-in-the-clouds electronic flourishes around snappy drums and Fred Everything's killer dub-style bassline.
By Day (Andre Lodemann & Fabian Dikof remix) - (7:09) 122 BPM
By Day (Fred re-version instrumental) - (5:20) 120 BPM
By Day (Andre Lodemann & Fabian Dikof instrumental) - (7:09) 122 BPM
Review: At the back end of June 2018 Fred Everything will release Long Way Home, his first album for a decade. To get us all in the mood, he's decided to release LP highlight "By Day" as a single. You don't get the full album version of the dreamy, broken soul gem (think Atjazz circa "Harmony"), but rather an on-point radio edit and a swathe of previously unheard reworks. There are vocal and instrumental editions of Everything's own sparkling deep house rework, and similar variations from Andre Lodemann and Fabian Dikoff. Their remixes are superb, wrapping Everything's attractive original chords and melodies - as well as some alien-sounding motifs of their own - around a shuffling, tech-tinged German deep house groove.
