UK-based house label set up by Derrick Carter and Luke Solomon in 1995. The first 100 releases were numbered backwards from CMC100, as the label was originally conceived as a short-run project that would only release 100 records over a 10-year period. However, popular demand meant any plans to close the label once they'd counted down to CMC001 were soon shelved. Since 2010, the label and its catalogue have been owned by Defected, who continue to release new music under the Classic umbrella to this day. The label is known for its quirky, leftfield but always dancefloor-focused take on house music, with significant artists (apart from the two label owners) including Iz & Diz, Greens Keepers, Rob Mello and Style Of Eye. AKA Classic Music Company.
Review: Honey Dijon, who recently won a Grammy for her writing contributions on Beyonce's "Renaissance," returns to Classic Music Company after the success of her critically acclaimed LP "Black Girl Magic." She now presents an exclusive version of "Stand," one of the album's tracks, featuring LA-based vocalist and songwriter Cor.Ece. The record showcases serene piano chords and elevated horns, paired with Cor.Ece's warm, buttery vocals, resulting in a soulful and profound track. Drawing inspiration from the house anthems of her youth, including Lil Louis and Danny Tenaglia, the song embodies protest and standing up for one's belief system, as explained by Honey in an interview with The New York Times. The record is both smoldering and poetic, showcasing Honey Dijon's talent as a producer and artist.
Review: House music royalty par excellence, Honey Dijon is finally gracing us with a second album after she turned her artistry up a notch with 2017's The Best of Both Worlds. Once again shoring up with her spiritual home Classic, Black Girl Magic finds Dijon celebrating love in every sense of the word, and lead single 'Show Me Some Love' is a fine case in point. There's that twitchy, freaky energy she instinctively brings to the floor, plus some smouldering vocal turns from Channel Tres and Sadie Walker. Elsewhere on the album you'll find breakthrough talents and established legends aplenty, all pulled together into Dijon's sexy, funked-up strain of tech house.
Review: As you might expect, Honey Dijon's collaboration with Channel Tres, 'Show Me Some Love', is fantastic: a bumpin', retro-futurist chunk of low-slung, timeless-sounding Chicago house rich in jaunty piano motifs, vaguely foreboding organ riffs, sleazy bass, jazz-flecked post-'boompty' beats and classic male and female vocals. As well as edited and extended mixes of that, the EP also boasts a quintet of Honey Dijon solo cuts, all of which are of a similar standard. We're particularly enjoying the Inner City-esque bounce of 'Love Is A State of State of Mind', the jazz-house-goes-Derrick Carter flex of 'Work', the electrofunk/R&B/acid house fusion of 'Not About You' and the sweaty, off-kilter 'Le Femme Fantastique', which features a star turn from Paranoid London collaborator Josh Caffe.
Review: Honey Dijon's first outing of 2021, 'Downtown', sounds like a summer 2021 anthem in the making. A retro-futurist house workout featuring vocals from Annette Bowen and Nikki O (whose lyrics celebrate the joys of dancing to underground music), the edited and extended versions of the track are powered forwards by a heavy and hooky synth bassline and warm electric piano stabs. Honey Dijon's versions come backed with an equally inspired suite of remixes from Masters at Work man Louie Vega. There's a sersiously sunny, glassy-eyed nu-disco-meets-happy house revision (the 'Frisco Disco Dance') and a Mood II Swing style 'Raw Dub Mix' - both of which are available in edited and extended forms. A near perfect package: don't sleep!
Review: Luke Solomon's Classic Music Company welcomes a real legend to their ranks with Detroit Robert Hood under his Floorplan guise, which has more recently also included his daughter Lyric. The line-up may have expanded, but the sound remains the same - uplifting gospel house with a very real sense of spirit. 'Right There' has dusty hi hat ringlets and warm organ stabs over an endlessly shuffling beat that will get clubs in raptures. 'Holy Ghost' then gets a little more bouncy with piano-laced breakdowns, a body-moving bassline and and clipped vocal yelps bringing the energy.
Review: Panorama vibes in the house! Honey Dijon touches down again on Classic with a stripped back ballroom session of hollow club drums, diva vocal sketches, detuned spoken word and sample cutting techniques that burst with housed-up chords, playful tones and back breaking grooves! A R&B inspired club hit to begin that's backed up by some extra club muscle in KDA 'Legacy' remix while Kink (& Kei) turn in a starry synth shooting extended remix of "La Femme Fantastique" that pumps and turns with classic Chicago and Detroit ideologies. Big number for the clubs.