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DEEP SWING feat. A7
Label: Kult Records
Artists Genre: Dance
DEEP SWING ERIK WIKMAN & JD DONALDSON
If your concept of house music is limited to
tracks that consist of sampled blips and
bleeps, then Erik Wikman and DJ-JD (James Donaldson),
aka Deep Swing are about to shattered all
your ill-conceived notions. Formed around
1993, "Deep Swing" is gaining a solid
reputation for their vocal, gospel and
jazz-tinged garage house. Their musical manifesto
is simple, but potent; their
productions must be deep, soulful and, above all,
swing. Both producers have solid backgrounds
within the music scene. JD has
built a firm foundation as a DJ in his
native Mid-West & Chicago spinning house.
Wikman, an accomplished guitarist and former R&B
ballad writer, was a pivotal member of a
dance funk outfit.The LA-based duo, who had
been living in the same building for
over a year before they were introduced by a
mutual friend, began their collaboration producing
hard house tracks. The first effort was
picked up by Megatone Records, home to the
late disco icon, Sylvester. Wikman
and JD continued to release various tracks
underdifferent monikers, with dance music sub-genres
that ranged from progressive house
to Balearic beat. They soon found their house music
veering back towards a more soulfuldirection,
when they recorded songs as Urban Motion Project
(U.M.P.). While the U.M.P.
sound remained true to its deep roots, there was a
generous infusion of soulfulness that Wikman
and JD felt the need to get to. Their experimentation
into the mellower territories of house
finally led them to develop the Deep Swing
concept. Though the two continue to record as SunKids,
U.M.P. Jazz Transit, Soul-Justice &
Dept of Soul, their main focus is the
soaring, optimistic Deep Swing sound that they have
made all their own. "Deep Swing" is
gaining a distinguished reputation as producers
with cuts such as "Jazz Transit" on Soulfuric,
Shelter on SoulShine, .."Stand Tall" for
Narcotic and "Do You Really Wanna Love"
for Kult Records. They've also recorded tracks for
Hi-Bias, SunTune (Italy)and Maxi, and are
actively moving towards expanding their remixing
career. Whether remixing or
producing, Deep Swing add a musicality that is
often times lacking in house music. In their
relentless pursuit of musical perfection,
the duo will add live instruments to give their
work added dimension and texture.After years
of hard work and dedication to their craft,
the duo received major critical acclaim
from the dance community with their cut
"I Am Somebody" a heady gospel extravaganza
featuring the luscious vocals of A7, which
was premiered at the Winter Music Conference '98.
At WMC '99 Tony Humphries premiered
"SunKids" feat Chance on his Yellorange
label. The song was called "Rescue Me" and
was one of the top songs of the conference. Since
then it has blown up all over the
world, with AMPM in the UK releasing remixes in the
fall of '99. Watch out for the follow up to
"Rescue Me".. titled "Rise Up!"... coming
to a turntable & club near you 1/1/2000. Other
projects have included... "The Left Turn" E.P., a
high-octane house tune for the 4th Floor
imprint under the guise Total Experience,
a project.."Shelter", on Soul-Shine
Recordings, & "JOY" on Velocity Records, Deep
Swing are set to become a permanent fixture
on discerning turntables worldwide. Up next is the
follow up to "Shelter".. which will be
called DeepSwing feat Xavior "Takin Me Higher",
on a local Los Angeles label called Raw Nerve
Records. Acetates are already
making crowds go crazy around the world with DJs Tony
Humphries, Disciple, Marques Wyatt & Deli G
on full support. Also next is "Jazz Transit
II "Let's Do This" on Soul-Furic Deep in
October.UPDATE Using other alias such as
"The Sunkids", "Jazz Transit" and UMP, Erik
and JD's steady dedication to pushing forward their
production style and sound came to fruition
with the release of the biggest records
to emerge from the 1999 Winter Music Conference
in Miami. "Rescue Me" which featured the
vocal talents of Chance took the annual
Music Conference by storm when it was promoted by
Tony Humphries on his label
YellOrange Records. With additional remixes by The
Masters At Work, many DJ's and Industry
people proclaimed "Rescue Me" as the
"Anthem of the Conference". 1999 was a
phenomenal year for the Production duo as
every record they released gained critical acclaim
across the world. Apart from "Rescue
Me", tracks such as "Rise Up", "Shelter", "I
Promise You", "I Am Somebody", "Lets Do This",
and"Takin' Me Higher" have propelled the duo
into one of the hottest Production teams
around. Deep Swing were formed in 1993
with their first release on Megatone
Records, and since their first production Erik and JD
have gone on to record tracks for
labels like Yellorange, Soulfuric, Soulshine, Kult,
Narcotic, and Suntune, during their career.
Inspired by many music styles and influences,
the Deep Swing sound is based around strong
and funky musical arrangements, drawing on their
own musical abilities, plus Erik is an
accomplished guitar player as well as
playing keyboard and other instruments. JD is the main
DJ of the duo, learning his craft in his
hometown of Wisconsin, and playing in clubs
across the USA. Within their various
projects, the duo are equally at home
working with strong vocalists such as Xavior
("Shelter" and "Takin Me Higher") and
Chance ("Rescue Me" and "Rise Up") as well as
instrumental jazzed up house tracks such as
"Lets Do This" and "Steppin Out". Deep Swing
draw on their musical background by employing the
talents of musicians to add a
real, live flavor to their productions. They currently
appear in playlists and charts across the
world, having just delivered the much
anticipated follow-up to "Rescue Me" with
"Rise Up", proclaimed as one of the major
records of Winter Music Conference 2000. There
is also the forthcoming production "I
Promise You"which again features Xavior on
vocals, and the remix of "Music Is Life" produced
by The Groove Junkies and performed by Mijan,
along with several additional remix projects
currently in work. There are also plans to establish
their own label provisionally called Generate
Records, which will be a base for
future productions for Deep Swing and other
like-minded producers. So expect to hear a
lot more quality, funky, soulful house grooves
from Erik and JD this year.
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