Finding the Rhythm

One bit of weirdness when it comes to the dance music industry is that artist and track names seem to have less relevance than they did at one point, or even today with other genres. My theory is that it’s due to the relative unimportance of the long-form album in dance (few produce them these days, though there are notable exceptions with artists like Moby, ATB, DJ Encore, etc.), and beyond that, that singles tend not only to be the focus, but that they are islands—projects with a start, and a defined end, at which point they’re released, promoted (or not), and the producers and/or vocalists move-on to the next project. Finally, it think it has something to do with the fact that in dance, the original producer, the vocalist (if applicable), and the remixers on a specific project are all islands too… Often times, they come together, they do something, they move-on to other collaborations.

Whatever the cause, it has the rather strange side-effect that talented producers end-up working under numerous aliases, project names, group names and so on much of the time. If you are a fan of a specific individual, it becomes a bit of a challenge to figure out what they’re actually working on at any given moment. (That dance artists in general don’t seem to understand even the most basic aspects of marketing or building brand contributes greatly to this too.)

One of the more talented production teams in my view is UK-based Soul Seekerz, consisting of Simon Langford, Julian Napolitano and Andrew Galea. Napolitano in particular goes under numerous monikers, including One Hit Wonder (with Soul Seekerz partner Simon Langford), Ruff Loaderz (with Sheryl Deane), and Perpetual Motion (with Andy Manston). Langford also has a number of names, including Avalon Superstar (with Billy Mead), and Koishii & Hush (with Alex Sowyrda). I’m sure I could go on… You get the point.

Along with each single being an island, it’s not unusual in dance for an artist to work with several different record labels. Many so-called “record deals” in dance are informal, and usually it’s a singles-focused deal. Gone are the days that many people still think exist, where associating one’s self with a record label is some sort of sweet high-dollar deal with big advances, slick parties, limos and all that. Not anymore. Not in dance anyway, and probably not in today’s broader music industry. And seemingly way more often than not, artists create their own “record labels” to release their tracks, bypassing established labels in an effort to keep as much of the limited take that exists these days as possible.

Which brings me to the real subject of this post: Groove Factory Records.

Scant information is actually available, but as near as I’m able to piece together, this Boston and UK-based record label was started by Simon Langford and Billy Mead for their joint project, Avalon Superstar (which features the vocals of the talented Rita Campbell).

These days, they’ve been taking-on some additional projects that for all I know are just other names for Langford and Mead. This summer, in particular, Groove Factory released a pair of incredibly strong dance tracks.

Loveless feat. Amanda Wilson with Found a Miracle is the one of the pair of songs that’s gained some traction in radio and club play. Wilson’s vocals are, as usual, very strong (she’s a staple of dance, having worked extensively with Freemasons), matched with good songwriting and some sweet production work from the remixers on the project.

The other track I’ve grown attached to is Lisa Law’s Wicked Ways, which was distributed to promotion several weeks ago, but which I haven’t heard being played or seen being charted anywhere outside of my own sets and my own chart. Law is a UK singer-songwriter, and the sole club-length mix is from Soul Seekerz (Langford/Napolitano/Galea again), and is perhaps one of the catchiest pieces of production work I’ve heard in the past few months. The rhythm track is driving and razor-sharp, typical of Soul Seekerz, and the samples and instrumentation used in the arrangement are very well thought out, and well chosen. As a complete track, it represents some of the very best of today’s house music in my view, and it baffles me why this track hasn’t been more widely picked-up. Much to the chagrin of some of my audience, it’s also not available for sale yet through any of the usual suspects; so many people are clamoring to get this song, it’s a shame that Groove Factory are keeping it under wraps for whatever reason.

In any case, it’s clear that Langford and Mead are a very talented, very capable duo. I have no idea what their plans are for Groove Factory, but if they keep cranking out work like their own Avalon Superstar project, Loveless, and the Lisa Law release, I can guarantee they’ll continue to find a strong audience.