Delano Smith, Christopher Rau & Ray Mang

Yowch! Another two weeks of silence on Blouse has come to an end. Work apparently didn't get the memo to stop burdening me with stuff so that I could focus more on my blog. Ah well.

It was by pure chance that I stumbled across this ditty in a random Dropbox folder on my computer recently.
My eyes instantly lit up when I saw my man Mang's name on the mix, but it wasn't until I popped it on that I realised the extent to the balmy bliss that would be found within.

Wistful Mediterranean strumming over a steamily paced bassline is the name of the game here, and at a healthy 4 years old (and counting), this little fella is ageing like a fine wine:

Dutch Rhythm Combo - Cartagenera (Ray Mang Remix)

You can encounter this and other tropical sounds on Ray Mang, Dutch Rhythm Combo & Dubben's '08 project 'Sounds of the Caribbean' here.


I have been excitedly thrashing Christoper Rau's 2K10 release 'Asper Clouds' in my anticipation of his intriguingly titled second LP 'Two'. Call me a follower of trends, but his brand of deep, minimal & soulful house is pretty much perfect to me at the minute.
One song in particular that has found a happy and frequent home in my headphones is 'Always The Same'. It pretty much typifies what I love about Rau's beats - beautifully paced composition, soulful instrumentation and a subtle, yet driving beat that would see it perfectly at home on a dancefloor in the wee hours.

Christopher Rau - Always The Same

Relive the album that caused RA to call Christopher Rau a 'deep house poster boy' here. 'Two' will be officially released in a few days time on the 5th of November. Keep track of it here.


And following on nicely from that is this - a track from Detroit legend Delano Smith's recent album 'An Odyssey'. It is called 'What I Do' and is smooth, laid back Smith at his best.. Lazy keys, urgent hats and surging, rounded bass pads make this a wonderfully soft spoken d-floor bomb.

Delano Smith - What I Do

Scope out the rest of Smith's awesome 'An Odyssey' here.

For all you Aussies, Delano Smith is actually on the brink of an tour Down Undah RIGHT NOW. This very Saturday, the deep house maestro will be playing at GoodGod in Sydney. Grab your ticket(s) here.
He will be continuing his super short tour in Brisbane, Adelaide and Melbourne in the days following.. For more details on the wheres and whens, head over here.