Crate Diggin': Hyenah, AtJazz, Jullian Gomes and David Anthony Share Highlights From Their Back Catalogues

Long time friends David Anthony and Keith Reilly (fabric's co-founder), who both share a love of the ever changing dance culture of the last three decades, have joined together to bring the Afro House sound to Farringdon this Friday night. Sweeping across most European cities you'll hear the buzz word of Afro House coming out of the underground and now we're privileged to be showcasing some of the best artists from this world across our basement space. With a shared drive to celebrate electronic music of this caliber, the pair thought it would be the right time to give this underground sound the ultimate platform by joining forces and introducing Kemet Soul Records to our disco. Some of the chief components of Afro House, with its roots firmly planted in South Africa, are the likes of Black Coffee, Culoe De Song, Manoo & Osunlade who are spearheading this sound. Here for our latest Crate Diggin list, the lead artists from the line up have taken a moment to reach back through their own back catalogues and from their own unique perspectives, introduce their sounds each selecting a favourite record that they've had a hand in creating. It's a pretty special opportunity to gain a deeper insight into this group of producers work. Some food for thought though from Kemet Soul boss David Anthony as you listen through the below selections, "it's a misguided preconception that Afro House is also known as Afro Beats - it is only truly understood when it is heard and felt on the dance floor. This very organic, tribal sound has less tech and more groove which it truly built for the club scene - hence the reason Black Coffee was voted with best Deep House DJ of 2016. When you introduce Afro House to a minimal tech crowd they understand it straight away."

AtJazz Picks his remix of St Germain's Sittin' Here

AtJazz:I chose this record and albeit a recent one too, as I felt that it covers what I do best as a producer, I'm well known for my remixes and as St Germain told me to me face "Your remixes are better than the original works"... Well, I beg to differ but I'm not going to argue with one of my heroes. Sittin' Here lends its sound well to what we'll be doing at fabric on the 16th June at the Kemet Soul Records night, as we call it, Afro Deep, and for me as one of the sounds I work with, this is a good example of "Afro Deep" and being able to work again and again with St Germain on remixes is just very fulfilling as an artist, especially now I've been in this for 22 years all in.

Jullian Gomes Chooses Love Song 28 feat. Bobby

Jullian Gomes:Love Song 28 (Feat. Bobby) was my very first solo release. The song was made at the 2010 RBMA in London. I was in a session at the academy and heard Bobby’s music and just had to collaborate with him. We sat in studio for about two nights and at the end we had Love Song 28. I guess this song is special to me because of everything that was happening in my life at that moment. As someone that loves music and can’t live without it, Your mind spends a lot of time in a world you think you understand. Until there’s a trigger of energy that lines up your journey on a path you can’t seem to figure out but trust with all your heart and soul. There’s a deeper incomprehensible energy behind the song, that till this day I never understood.

Hyenah Puts Foreward his remix of Jimpster's Eel Pie Island

Hyenah: Probably one of my less known tracks is my remix for Jimpster on Systematic. The original already has a bit of an afro touch that I polished and emphasized. Somehow it does not grow old and works the floor perfectly whenever I drop it.

Hyenah also shares original production, Rise

Hyenah: Another track that I still play. As the B-side of my last EP on Freerange it did not get the attention it deserved in my eyes. Everybody was playing The Idea feat. Lazarusman and the amazing Frankey & Sandrino Remix. Rise though just got the groove and has been sampled and copied a few times by now. I'm actually working on a new EP for Freerange right now and I started a label called RISE MUSIC. RISE MUSIC is named after my monthly night of African house music at the well known Watergate Club in Berlin that I am hosting with Floyd Lavine and Dede. The night is obviously called Rise and actually quite magic.

David Anthony selects a production featuring Beverlei Brown and remixed by Manoo

David Anthony: This is a production by myself Featuring Beverlei Brown and remixed by Manoo, we wanted to capture the deep melancholy spirit of Afro. Getting Manoo on the remix was brainchild of DJ Spen (Quantize Records) as Manoo took the track to a whole new level, still a crowd favourite and sure to be played in most of my DJ Sets