MAIN STREET
It's a New Day.
You’d think Mark Ernestus and Moritz von Oswald would have been content setting the template for dub techno with Basic Channel, then casually elevating themselves into the upper echelons of reggae music with Rhythm & Sound.
But even these two extraordinary achievements couldn’t contain the full scope of their creative ambitions.
Main Street launched in 1993 as a Basic Channel sub label. This was a house-flavoured side hustle for the duo’s more soulful output, and a place to explore the spaces and overlaps between their two better-known projects.
While the label’s discography is small, it is perfectly formed. Containing, as it does, a near flawless run of soulful deep house and dub flavoured dancefloor gems.
All the tracks were compiled on the essential 1999 compilation ‘Round One to Round Five - 1993-99’ which you should really just stick on right now. But before you do, let me direct your attention towards a few key items:
Round One ‘I’m Your Brother (Club Vocal Edit)’ - MSR-02 (1993)
A sublime deep house vocal that could easily have been produced by Chez Damier or one of the other early Chicago masters.
Round Two ‘New Day (feat. Andy Caine) (Vocal Mix)’ - MSR-04 (1995)
For me this is quite simply one of the Great Tracks of House Music.
Bittersweet and soulful.
Melancholic yet deeply uplifting.
A work of true and timeless genius.
Round Three feat. Tikiman ‘Acting Crazy (Club Vocal)’ - MSR 06 (1996)
A stunning fusion of dub and house music delivered with long-time Rhythm & Sound collaborator Tikiman.
Round Five feat. Tikiman ‘Nah Fe Throw It’
The boundary between Main Street and Rhythm & Sound blurs with this sublime dub excursion. Stick me on a beach somewhere with this on repeat and I will die a happy man.
Round One ‘I’m Your Brother (Quadrant Dub II)’
Finally, the track where Main Street and Basic Channel collide as ‘I’m Your Brother’ is elegantly fused with one of the key slabs from BC.
A deep, glistening, hypnotic groove that simply never gets old.
Have a blessed weekend one and all.
Peace and love.
Rubin