A1. Massiande - Freedom

Phonica’s white label series returns with a real deep house excursion by Chilean producer Massiande in the form of his ‘Freedom EP’. Massiande is an artist of multicultural roots. He was born in Santiago, Chile, yet he has lived most of his life alongside US American people and has Dutch family roots, which has greatly affected the way he perceives and lives music. Growing as a big fan of US Soul, Jazz and Disco, he found his way into music production through House and his biggest influences have been artists such as Larry Heard, Ron Trent and Chris Brann (aka Wamdue Project). After a well-received, excellently-produced EP on Aroy Dee’s MOS Recordings and another on Rawax offshoot Housewax, the ‘Freedom EP’ is a strong 4-track conceptual record based on the feeling of freedom in life and, for Massiande, how it relates to house music. The title track “Freedom” launches the EP attempts to recreate an aural scenery of flying exploration centred on a spacey synth line and an almost Detroit techno bassline. “Be With Me” starts with an almost Mr Fingers-esque groove before melodic elements take over.”Straight” is more of a straight-up dancefloor track with obvious elements from US house from the 90s, clipped Chandler-esque beats, nagging stabs and a vocal sample ‘Gonna take you to another land, where there is no race’, going straight to a place where you can allow yourself to be free on the dancefloor. Many ‘90s U.S. American House and Garage influences go through this track, which brings us to the final track, the epic “Ode To A Tortured Soul”. Deeply melancholic with an end-of-night feel with its own flute solo, channelling Frankie Knuckles ‘The Whistle Song’ or Flow’s Bottom Line classic ‘ Another Time’! Rounding off a strong EP.