The sound of a decade is difficult to capture. To express the influence of a particular time and space presents many challenges. Chicago’s RealDEEP Recordings delivers just what its name suggests: deep music. From deep, soulful house and neo-jazz, to stripped-down beat tracks, this label’s releases take the listener back in time, back to the loft.
Sultry vocals and lush, pulsing synths recreate the feeling when the sun lit up the room at 5 AM and everyone kept dancing. Recall a crowded dancefloor competing for the space before the speakers as stomping jack-house kickdrums meet swinging, bouncy basslines and layered keyboards.
RealDEEP’s mission is to remind us of the loft party sound that emerged in Chicago, New York, and Detroit from the late 70s throughout the late 90s, a recreation of the time when house wasn’t divided into subcategories and anything vibrant and welcoming qualified. RealDEEP reminds us with every release that “house is a feeling”.
Label artists and co-founders, Brian “Bjak” Cullen and Julio Bishop, spent years cultivating the ultra-relaxed, percussive sounds of RealDEEP, playing and promoting events with Chicago’s world-famous DJ crew, Soul Foundation Kollective. Cullen brings to the table a wealth of experience behind the industry scenes, such as running WAXaddict, an influential Chicago record store. While Cullen’s skills sharpened behind the scenes, Bishop’s history with Soul Foundation, as a locally and globally renowned DJ, confirms RealDEEP’s commitment to the dancefloor.