Poussez - Modern Identity EP (Artizan)

We’ve known about Artizan for many, many moons. Head honcho Jafar is the consumate aficionado of all things deep house, producing tracks and rocking dance floors with his trademark lush and hypnotic sound for decades. When producing he’s worked with an incredible variation of collaborators, but most recently he’s discovered an undeniable production connection with Maxime Cescau. Together they are Poussez, and here on their Modern Identity EP we find a couple of alarmingly addictive deep house tracks, ready to rip WMC 2010 a new one!

Artist: Poussez
Release Title: Modern Identity EP
Label: Artizan Music

1. Spawn
2. Modern Identity

Official release date: March 22, 2010

Spawn - the first track on the release really caught my attention. A raw, kick and agonisingly simple melody introduce the track, which before you know it has built into layer upon layer of bleeps, soft pads and wavey synth. The complexity of the track develops throughout, with clever minor key changes that keep you on your feet as a DJ and hooked as a listener. The breakdowns are effective, (but not glutenous, as they often can be!) allowing short breaks to take a breath before that kick and bass line are back to pound on your chest!

Modern Identity’s origins come from the same place - raw kick and simple melody to start… but this one is heading in a far more atmospheric direction. A little deeper, and reliant on an Eric Russo spoken word vocal as the focus of this track, it welcomes layer upon layer of instrumentation along for the ride either side of some lovely breakdowns. If we’re being a little sensitive, then we’d ask for a little longer version to really work with, but in that would we’re also have a few Ferraris, and a house in Monte Carlo!

Generally, a really, really strong EP from Artizan. I’m loving the variation of the label - some deep, some techy, some almost techno tracks… all coming from the London / Göteborg label. The one defining characteristic is always the production quality, and dare we say… even that’s getting better!

Artizan releases available from Beatport here.