Tracklist:
Disc 1: YELLOW

  • A1: Pigs 10’54”
  • B1: Pigs (Sprinkles Overdub) 10’54”

Disc 2: IVORY

  • C1: Daylight & Dark 11’28”
  • D1: Daylight & Dark (Sprinkles Overdub) 11’24”

Disc 3: RUST

  • E1: That’s What They Understand 10’27”
  • F1: That’s What They Understand (Sprinkles Overdub) 10’27”

Press text:
Will Long X DJ Sprinkles’ journey to the heart of deep house culminates in the third and final volume in a series of three, offering the broadest yet most subtle, spine-tingling session of the lot, presenting the former’s raw and ‘floor-ready originals backed by the latter’s inimitably sumptuous overdubs.

Conceptually rooted in the queer, black politics of NYC’s late ‘80s and early ‘90s house scene – where Terre Thaemlitz cut her teeth as DJ Sprinkles – the series can be viewed as a vital reminder of that scene’s original values and sense of social democracy, especially when contrasted with the glut of contemporary, commodified representations of that music which sorely miss the mark, or weren’t even aware of the scene’s provenance to begin with.

Make no mistake, though; this is no lecture or snub at younger producers making deep house. Rather, it is evidence of the original form’s latent potential to still generate rare, precious feelings which have been lost or glossed over with subsequent, detached and over-produced translations of its original syntax and intent.

Deep” is the key word here on many levels, from their poignant use of historical samples by civil rights pioneers Bayard Rustin, Jesse Jackson and Kathleen Cleaver, to the unfiltered innocence of Will Long’s productions and Sprinkles’ corresponding, pensile overdubs, which make utterly incredible use of the frequency spectrum to reveal acres of space in the upper registers and, on the other hand, an honestly breathtaking application of layered subbass tones that are just impossible to describe.

This one’s a little bit special…

Available as:

  • 3LP vinyl edition

 

Tracklist:
Disc 1: MINT

  • A1: Under-Currents 9’36”
  • B1: Under-Currents (Sprinkles Overdub) 11’04”

Disc 2: CLAY

  • C1: Get In & Stay In 9’57”
  • D1: Get In & Stay In (Sprinkles Overdub) 9’57”

Press text:

Second in a series of three releases, a 45 Minute doublepack featuring some of the most engrossing House music you’ll likely hear this year or any other…

We’re still dazed from the 1st volume, but Will Long and DJ Sprinkles have already cued up their 2nd session, with Mint / Clay landing handsome on Terre Thaemlitz’ Comatonse.

The format and aesthetic remains the same as Vol.1, namely two raw pieces by Will Long, backed with extended overdubs by Sprinkles amounting to thee deepest house this side of Larry Heard’s nuclear love bunker, all subtly executed and held up as a comparison to the aesthetics and intentions (or, ironically, the excess and lack of) of that sound in relief of current, conceptually-detached takes on the original NYC deep house sound which Sprinkles was instrumental in shaping as a downtown DJ during that formative era.

Again, Will Long, who’s best known for his experimental ambient work as Celer, proves that it ain’t what you’ve got but what you know and can do with it that matters. Under-Currents places sparing samples of T.R.M. Howard – a mentor of Jesse Jackson – amidst a dream sequence of carbonated hi-hats and lingering chords urged by a plump bass drum, whilst Get In & Stay In nods to civil right activist and current Georgia congressional representative John Lewis in a lush haze of crepuscular chromatics and loping swing.

On the flipsides, DJ Sprinkles contributes another pair of incredible overdubs, lending Long’s minimal elements a richer, fleshlier feel, whether with additional breakbeats or nimbly lowering the bass and layering up spirited flutes and Rhodes. Suffice to say, they’re absolute mind-melters.

Quite crucially, the concept never gets in the way of the music, perfectly demonstrating the symbiotic nature of the music and politics in the way we imagine they intended; I mean it’s not like they want you to sit in a corner of the club pondering their ideas, but they’re definitely worth bearing in mind, especially for the DJs, dancers and promoters who act as gatekeepers for this music.

 

Available as:

  • 2LP vinyl edition

 

 

Tracklist:

Disc 1: PURPLE

  • A1: Time Has Come 10’00”
  • B1: Time Has Come (Sprinkles Overdub) 10’00”

Disc 2: BLUE

  • C1: Chumps 12’18”
  • D1: Chumps (Sprinkles Overdub) 13’03”

 

Press text:

45 Minute doublepack featuring some of the most engrossing House music you’ll likely hear this year or any other – First in a series of three releases pairing original material by Will Long with DJ Sprinkles’ overdubs.

Tokyo, Japan-based American artists, Will Long and DJ Sprinkles, present sublime, durational deep house studies examining the dancefloor in light of contemporary socio-political inequalities and failed illusions of ‘Revolution’ and ‘Progression’.

It begins a series of three vinyl sets and eventually a 2CD package that effectively compare deep house’s original, economical aesthetics and function as the soundtrack to marginalised society, with its current position; repackaging and overproducing the same old ideas with empty sloganeering, operating as the catalyst of social trends, rather than an agent of social transformation.

They both make their point subtly but clearly. Two sides feature extended 10+ minute tracks by Will Long, created using relatively minimal means of rhythm composer percussion, polyphonic synth chords, and rack sampler vocals, while the other two sides provide overdub Sprinkles versions.

The beautifully absorbing results – which sound miles away from Long’s gentler ambient and experimental work – prove that it is possible to elicit subtle yet optimal responses with a well-selected palette of grooves and samples, in this case from Jesse Jackson and Rap Brown, rather than current vogue for showmanship and more-as-more arrangements.

DJ Sprinkles’ overdubbed contributions quite literally and psycho-acoustically resonate that intention, tactfully rending a farther, lush physicality and soulfulness thru deftly applied daubs of glutinous subbass pressure, airy strings and subtly shimmering FX, really offsetting Long’s trax in a whole other dimension; and via disciplined, stripped-down, full-bodied production values that rank as perhaps the deepest yet in Sprinkles’ already perfectly formed canon.

They could be taken as a call for humbleness and meditative efficiency over cliched buildups and preening vanities, perhaps a comment on “deep” house as the equivalent of a fresh tattoo or sweatshop t-shirt slogan.

Because, you know, it really does stand for a lot more.

 

Available as:

  • 2LP vinyl edition

 

Track list:

Disc 1:

  1. Time Has Come 10’00”
  2. Chumps 12’18”
  3. Under-Currents 9’36”
  4. Get In & Stay In 9’57”
  5. Pigs 10’54”
  6. Daylight & Dark 11’28”
  7. That’s What They Understand 10’27”

Disc 2:

  1. Time Has Come (Sprinkles Overdub) 10’00”
  2. Chumps (Sprinkles Overdub) 13’03”
  3. Under-Currents (Sprinkles Overdub) 11’04”
  4. Get In & Stay In (Sprinkles Overdub) 9’57”
  5. Pigs (Sprinkles Overdub) 10’54”
  6. Daylight & Dark (Sprinkles Overdub) 11’24”
  7. That’s What They Understand (Sprinkles Overdub) 10’27”

 

Press text:
We live in an era when ‘change’ is a soundbite to sell more of the same old ideas, and ‘revolution’ has more to do with social trends than social transformation. Will Long’s deep house debut on Comatonse Recordings examines that pack of lies dubbed ‘change’ from the sweaty dancefloor, sounding the aftermath of failure around attempts at equality in ‘progressive’ societies. Made with a simple setup of rhythm composer percussion, polyphonic synth chords, and rack sampler vocals, these tracks have a minimal rawness that contends we’ve been wrong the whole time about how far the US – and the world – has come. Although these tracks are sonically unlike anything Long has produced as Celer or his other aliases for minimal and ambient experimental audio, they share a stripped-yet-full sound that reacts against overproduction – within the dance music industry, and societies at large. Each track is accompanied by an overdub from DJ Sprinkles, and the packaging features illustrations by Tsuji Aiko.

Available as:

  • 2CD edition with foldout poster