Outdoors in the starry-eyed January night the warm sounds of DJ Octopuz’s, “House Music All Nite Long” (Deep Octopuz Mix) escaped the wooden locked doors to the heart of the venue. But indoors the saga played a different tune. The night was off to a slow start; a super slow start; so slow that a budding sense of sympathy was felt for Tambor’s founding fathers DJ Stan Zeff and DJ BE and apprehension for Timmy Regisford. As a matter of fact a Felix the Cat with dollar signs for eyeballs strutting across a pink canvas on a corner brick wall saw more action than the dance floor. It was the artwork from vendor Hie Cue selling painted portraitures to painted earrings from the likes of MJ to the other MJ (Mary J. Blige) that is. Also, the room was hot; not only from DJ BE’s brilliant deep house opener but from the venue’s central heater playing second fiddle to Jamie Wood’s, “Weak” (Maurice Joshua Main Mix).
As the party’s momentum maneuvered from subzero to boiling hot; the crowd grew and with it several outlandish outtakes. A camera’s bright flash blinded the room, causing a sensitive Timmy to wave in disapproval. Several hand held smartphones danced in the air with touch screen buttons stuck on record filming the shirtless wonder. The battle grounds were formed as dancers squared off in combative rounds. All of this occurred while the sound system’s volume escalated from ear pleasing too ear shrieking.
Timmy the provocateur most certainly spoke his own language through beats and song. New York deep house music has that distinctive minimal tribal flavor that dances on its own two feet without the need of aid. It’s this language that NYC’s club Shelter speaks and the purview which Timmy rained upon Tambor. For better or worse, many of the city’s house heads are NYC offspring that dictate Atlanta’s deep house center.
Perhaps the night’s greatest audio pleasure came from Englewood, New Jersey native-not a stones throw away from NYC-Atlanta, GA transplant Regina Belle’s, “Baby Come To Me” a sultry, sensuous, and soulful 1989 R’n’B ballad sounding so fresh and so clever served over a deep bed of house. Who would have thought it? As the vocals built to a rousing crescendo Timmy killed the music to allow the crowd to vocally climax. This whimsical remix was this year’s solution to last year’s “Careless Whisper” by George Michael remixed by Abicah Soul that replicated the exact emotions. By far, this sugary concoction sealed the night’s fate. Another standout from earlier in the night beamed bright from soul hitter Adele with, “Set Fire To The Rain” (Timmy Regisford Mix) that needs an XL/Columbia label representative’s blessing to be officially remixed because that ish sounded too hot to pass up.
Keeping the party’s thermostat on max, Peven Everett’s, “Burning Hot” brought more heat to the scene and set the room ablaze. “Burning Hot” simmered to a heated boil that was allowed to explode into “Think Twice” from The Detroit Experiment remixed by Henrik Schwarz with that three bar piano intro. Apropos, the latter seems to be the unspoken theme of every NYC deep house DJ. Later, Peven Everett’s second offering, “Simmer” remixed by the night’s all-star headliner cooled the room to comfortable temperatures as the song itself was allowed to stand on its own merits minus the extras.
During the night, certain songs mimicked the shade of gray straddling the fence of audible indistinguishably. Certain beats spoke louder than the vocals clawing for the lime light in a dim club. Trying to decipher the first verse to MJ’s 1979, “Off The Wall” or Jodeci’s, “Cry For You” proved dizzying.
Mad props to Timmy’s inveterate style of mixing not one but two but three songs at once, but perhaps if certain songs were allowed to shine on their own without additional frills the music would have had a more pragmatic scope. Instead, punched drum loops, pulsating percussions and percolating piano riffs served raucous to music’s audible clarity. The far too many drop heavy drum kicks served as slight nuances. Although the beats; diverse in their own right, molded together sounded like incessant chatter. Was someone out to beat the life out of the music? Or perhaps the ability to hear out of people’s ears? This made for a mad night and by far not the kind meant for gentle words. After all, the highs and lows of stereophonic are what makes for legendary nights. Right?
All photography by Carlos Bell
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Tags: Atlanta Georgia, deep house music, DJ BE, DJ Stanzeff, house music, Tambor, Timmy Regisford