Since 2008, deep house has proven that it can be a remarkably durable alternative to the increasingly monolithic minimal techno of Berlin. Driven by output from Mannheim, Germany, the new deep house melds the fluidity and bass of Basic Channel's dub techno with the soulfulness of old Detroit and Chicago house. Its producers are mostly young and relatively unknown, and its best moments are found on top-drawer boutique labels like Oslo, Cécille and 8Bit. Now, Cécille and 8Bit co-founder Nick Curly has taken a giant step towards bringing the genre's highlights to a wider audience with 8Bit Reasons Part One, a CD mix that brings together the best of the 8Bit catalogue. The 15 tracks here run deep into the bass bin. New talents Gorge, Johnny D., Markus Fix, 2020 Soundsystem, Joris Voorn and Curly himself deliver a sexy, vocal-tinted antidote to minimal's cold veneer that's not too far off in design from what a young Luomo delivered on Vocalcity. Curly and the 8Bit crew deftly display why deep house has now become the progressive engine driving house music worldwide.
Can you tell us a bit about the Mannheim scene, the clubs and the producers there?
The funny thing in Mannheim is that we don't have a big scene. There is only one small club in the city where you can listen to this kind of music. My resident night, called "Loft," is actually in another city called Ludwigshafen. Once a year, we have the Time Warp festival. This is one of the biggest indoor festivals in Germany and definitely a highlight for the city. People see the sound from my labels as a special Mannheim house. But for us, the guys from Mannheim, it's just the sound that we've played here for many years.
8Bit Reasons Part One is the label's first CD. Does this mean we should expect more to come in the near-future?
Yes, that's right. 8bit Reasons is our CD series. I think we'll be releasing Part 2 also this year, mixed by another artist from the label, maybe from my label partner Gorge. On Cécille Records, we'll also be starting a CD compilation series as well in the next few weeks. This series is called From Frankfurt to Mannheim, and it's a double CD mixed by Reboot and Sascha Dive.
(8Bit)Can you tell us a bit about the Mannheim scene, the clubs and the producers there?
The funny thing in Mannheim is that we don't have a big scene. There is only one small club in the city where you can listen to this kind of music. My resident night, called "Loft," is actually in another city called Ludwigshafen. Once a year, we have the Time Warp festival. This is one of the biggest indoor festivals in Germany and definitely a highlight for the city. People see the sound from my labels as a special Mannheim house. But for us, the guys from Mannheim, it's just the sound that we've played here for many years.
8Bit Reasons Part One is the label's first CD. Does this mean we should expect more to come in the near-future?
Yes, that's right. 8bit Reasons is our CD series. I think we'll be releasing Part 2 also this year, mixed by another artist from the label, maybe from my label partner Gorge. On Cécille Records, we'll also be starting a CD compilation series as well in the next few weeks. This series is called From Frankfurt to Mannheim, and it's a double CD mixed by Reboot and Sascha Dive.
