Currently, many trendsetters in Germany are talking about the big return of deep and soulful house over there. As far as I’m concerned, I’d like to tell them how there can’t be a “big return”, for the sole reason that it has never been big here. As a matter of fact, I was invited to numerous gigs the last month, where I was told that THEY (?) definitely look forward to having a “real deep house” set!!! I was said that the club wanted to return with some real house music program. Alas, the reality often ends up being different. Mostly the warm up DJ would play minimal or electro on 134 bpm already at 10pm. As a consequence, should you decide to play something deeper than just as an example a pumpin Defected release at peaktime, the crowd would ask if you please can play some house music, as this is not a chill-out event!!!

 

Not everywhere though as there are good places with musically well-educted people who really appreciate a well done deep house set. Besides as long as it has a good flow and build-up, I’ve got to say that it’s working well in more and more venues to date. So what’s the problem with some foreign house DJ’s tending to say that Germany is a “no-go” country for them, that it has no “scene with soul”? Well, I have to say they’re wrong as well!

 

Of course, a lot of venues there are devoted to a harder club sound such as techno, mostly inherited from Detroit before getting the resonnance we know in Germany with big budgets along the years. As a result, the major radio stations ignore the house sound apart from a very few exceptions such as the ”Clubnight” on HR Radio, which is quite a big difference as compared to most of our European neighbours who’re provided with house music on major stations too. That being supposed to lead to a more educated club-crowd.

 

Of course, with the electro and minimal sound coming to a major play over the last years, the said soulful sound seemed like almost disappearing. But to me, the biggest problem is that loads Germans who are into deep house have tended to make things worse than they are. They only hear about clubs in New York, Chicago, Paris or elsewhere with impressive line-ups, get instantly jealous and figure that the scene in those countries is much better and bigger, spending their time blah-blahing about the ultra-sophisticated sound there instead of making it happen here as well.

 

There are few places everywhere where the “real shit” is played and Germany is no exception! A handful of upfront producers and DJ’s prove on an everyday basis that we feel it deep as well on this part of the world! And refering to my DJ experience over those last weeks, there are more & more venues where this sound is being played. Not to mention the upfront clubs which really try to establish HOUSE nowadays. So next time when I hear  one of this trendsetters telling me that deep house will return big, I’ll simply explain him that it can’t return, but it looks like time has endly come for it to be accepted. Times never looked better for it. So what we gotta do is just continue to spread the vibe and the word + stay true and positive...

Yours truly, Ralf