Lee Curtiss – Ride
VQ042
02/06/2014
Back from a brief hiatus from solo output, Lee Curtiss follows up the masterfully naughty ‘Lunatic Fringe’ EP with another heavy dose of dancefloor debauchery for own imprint Visionquest. Showcasing his undeniable flair for libidinous club music with a hint of the unusual, Lee takes time out from producing his upcoming album to deliver two killer originals for ‘The Ride EP’. A-side ‘Drink Tickets’ is a suitably dusky and contorted trip with a growling modulated bassline, pseudo-sinister vocal and kinetic groove while B-side ‘Dancing Girls’, a collaboration with his Chicago partner in crime, Nick Bassett is a simmering hypnotic summertime affair with a filtered 90s feel and dirty funk bassline combined with sonically sophisticated detail.
A veteran of the electronic music scene, Lee Curtiss has successfully straddled the industry’s many contradictions, releasing hits as exquisitely crafted and mentally twisted as they are in global demand. As a founding father of Visionquest’s forward thinking outfit and label and a DJ renowned for mining the depths of dance music’s history at establishments such as DC10 and fabric, Lee Curtiss is a true eccentric and innovator guaranteed to deliver a sonic melting pot of humour, sex and funk.
Initially making his mark as a producer with releases on Spectral, Get Physical, Supplement Facts, and Wolf & Lamb, two of Lee’s biggest hits, the Visionquest remix of ‘Good Voodoo’ remix and ‘Smoking Mirrors’ were in RA’s top tracks of 2011 and out of the techno realm, Lee’s remixed the likes of Tracey Thorne and David Lynch. Since then there have been massive releases on Culprit (Candy EP feat. Matt Tolfrey) and of course with the ‘Lunatic Fringe EP’ on Visionquest.
Nick Bassett is a true gentleman helping to shape the new chapter of Chicago’s long history of dance music, a spokesperson for the futuristic sounds of modern deep house, and a devoted student of electronic music’s past. Nick grew up in the academic cornfields of Urbana, Illinois, with extended visits to a village in West Africa. He’s lived the last seven years as a proper Chicagoan in the Windy City. Nick’s life has been influenced as much by art and design as it has by the explosion and reinvention of new house music and digging for classic 90s vinyls. Nick’s music selection has been described as “elegant yet understated…dripping with passion, sweat, and creativity.” Bringing these qualities to his music production promises to catapult his career another great step forward.