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PQM - You Are Sleeping (PQM Meets Luke Chable Dub Pass) [2002, Yoshitoshi Recordings]
Heard this during my favorite DJ set of 2025, which was ffan, a DJ from Seoul I'd never heard of till then, playing sometime around eight or nine am at Panorama Bar for the Sound Metaphors party. the set had many highlightsβTantra's "Hills of Katmandu, Mr G's "Consequences," which came right before this oneβbut in the year since then this one's gotten the most repeat plays of possibly any club track to enter my proverbial "crate." on the dance floor i didn't notice what the acapella was about and wasn't sure how I felt about it heard in the cold light of day, potentially uneasy mix of human misery and a gurn-tastic reese bassline, but in isolation it's a fantastic poemβ"The Gospel According to John/Youβre Not Sleeping" by John Harrisβand over time it's place in the track grew on me. (if you'd rather pass on the addiction and sex work motif, the dub mix slaps, too.) this is a type of track i'd like much more of: the dark, trippy side of progressive house, which in my imagination was the soundtrack to the '90s New York club Twilo, about which i've only heard exaggerated rave tales. yoshitoshi has a lot of great onesβcheck "Psycho X Girlfriend" and "The Baguio Track (Full Igorot Mix)."
Dialogue - Rolemodels [2001, Morris Audio]
to paraphrase a friend of mine, "bargain bin tech house Dozzy is my favorite Dozzy." i can't disagree. Donato Dozzy is a man with many modes, from celestial techno to ambient to bits of drum & bass. for me personally, his take on deep house has always been my favorite, exemplified by his 12-inch "Cassandra" and the occasional DJ set. This track was one of a bajillion highlights on his supernaturally good five-hour "house" mix for Boiler Room last summer. the set was recorded in Rome, his home city, and before I knew what this track was called I heard it as "Roma is for you." which, in context, it sort of becomes, regardless of the actual track title. dreamy deep house bliss.
Olive - You're Note Alone (Oakenfold / Osborne Remix
found this one while fruitlessly trying to track down Traumprinz's never-released remix of the same song. i think i like this one even more, with the glaring caveat that, in a way i've really never heard before, the track turns to complete dogshit about four minutes in, when we suddenly veer into ridiculously overblown, commercial progressive house (I can't help but picture Oakenfold wresting the wheel away from Osborne when the switch happens). the first few minutes are classy, 140 bpm drum & bass with excellent pop vocals, a combo I've heard precisely one other time on another long time favorite...
Everything But The Girl - Before Today [1997, Atlantic]
first heard this as a child in my dad's car. he was a fan of Everything But The Girl, who, until this album, I knew only as an acoustic / vocal duo, though they always had an unlikely club affinityβguitarist Ben Watt also makes house tunes and ran the label Buzzin' Fly Records, and singer Tracey Thorn sings on one of Massive Attack's best songs, "Protection." (There was also the ubiquitous Todd Terry remix of "Missing.") The big track from this album was "Wrong" (also remixed by Todd Terry), but this the pick of the litter for me.
Ed Chamberlain - Does Ape [2013, Semantica Records]
I've been an evangelist for the UK producer Ed Chamberlain since Freerotation 2018, when Overmono played his absurdly rowdy track "Dave" in room 2 (before or after "Easy Lee (Smith N' Hack Remix)"). This guy's relatively short runβ7 EPs from 2005 to 2013βis packed with tunes that are totally bonkers and perfectly club friendly, full of glitchy flourishes that sound like DJ tricks. This was the last track he released, on a compilation for the generally more straight-forward techno label Semantica.
Jon Sable - Imperfect Circuit [2025, In Dust We Trust]
Shantisan
hard to argue with a more or less optimal dub house slammer with depth and soul
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