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(Yoshitoshi/Stomp/EQ)
Deep Dish were one of those serendipitous discoveries – trawling through a row of second-hand CDs, I discovered this lime-green cardboard double-CD called Yoshiesque, mixed by Deep Dish – and the interesting name and the $10 price tag for 2 CDs was enough for me to splash out on something completely unknown. I don’t know who the CD came from – maybe some rock-music lover who bought it by mistake, or perhaps someone whose angry ex-lover sold their CD collection. Either way, I’m forever grateful to the person who unwittingly introduced me to the masters of smooth, deep, sexy house – Deep Dish. Their Yoshiesque album is one of those rare dance music classics, an absolute masterpiece, and one of the very few dance-music albums that can seriously claim to have changed the way dance music has progressed. Yoshiesque II didn’t quite hit the same sublime peak, but was another superb double album of warm, deep, sexy house remixed in the Yoshiesque style (their label Yoshitoshi is crammed with artists recording music in the “Yoshiesque” mould…) . Their latest release on Boxed in the Global Underground series was less interesting, but I was over the moon to be asked to review their latest release, Penetrate Deeper. Not for long, though.
The mistake was mine, but perhaps a natural one – far from being a new release, Penetrate Deeper is a re-release of a collection first released in 1995 – the year I first got into dance music. Sometimes there is a good reason for re-releasing music (or books or films) many years after their first release date – but generally (and pardon my cynicism) it is purely to cash in on an artist who is making a great deal of money now. Deep Dish have moved on from 1995 when they were relatively unknown, to being one of the best known house/progressive DJ duo and re-mixers on the planet – but it was on the strength of Yoshiesque & Yoshiesque II, not this release from a bygone century (albeit the Muzik Magazine compilation of the year in 1995…). Sharam and Dubfire are exceptionally talented musicians and DJs – but does anyone remember their Junk Science album? Some things are better left obscured in the mists of time, and this album, while perfectly pleasant, is one of them. Anyone used to the intensity, depth and soul of the modern Deep Dish is likely to be disappointed – despite nearly all of the 14 tracks here being remixed by Deep Dish, it will add little new to your understanding or enjoyment of dance music. It is perhaps only of interest to Deep Dish obsessives from a historical perspective.
Maybe I would have enjoyed this more if every track hadn’t been separated from the next by a voiceover intoning in nasal American “You are listening to Penetrate Deeper from Deep Dish on Yoshitoshi recordings”. I believe this is the latest anti-piracy thing to stop reviewers from copying pre-release review CDs for all of our friends – maybe Yoshitoshi picked this up from Boxed, who are notorious for doing this with their Global Underground series. Hint to labels -spoiling a good mix with a dodgy voiceover is not guaranteed to endear you to your reviewers. But even without the voiceover the album has little real interest for a 2003 audience – save your money, and buy Yoshiesque if you don’t already have it.
