Recordz editorial

The 50 Essential Deep House Records

Deep house means the soulful, jazz-inflected strain of house music, not the genre at large — the Chicago lineage of Larry Heard and Chez Damier, the New Jersey/New York lineage of Kerri Chandler and Mood II Swing, and the second-generation Detroit and European artists who carried that sound forward. This list is hand-curated from that lineage itself: Larry Heard's Mr. Fingers and Fingers Inc. sides, the Prescription and Shelter labels' foundational catalogues, the Detroit deep-house axis of Moodymann, Theo Parrish and their circle, and the New York, Chicago and European producers who kept the sound alive from the 1990s onward. Ranked by who defined the genre first, capped at two records per artist or alias family (three for Larry Heard) so the list reads as a survey of the sound rather than a victory lap for its most-collected acts.

50 tracks

ElectronicDeep House

The selection

50 tracks

1
What About This Love

Mr. Fingers
6:37
2
Mystery Of Love

Fingers Inc.
6:39
3
Ammnesia

Mr. Fingers
5:52
4
Prescription Underground EP

Chez N Trent
5
Hip To Be Disillusioned Vol. 1

Chez Damier & Ron Trent
6
Altered States / Altered States (The Remixes)

Ron Trent
13:34
7
Atmosphere E.P. Vol. 1

Kerri Chandler
6:29
8
Burning

Pépé Bradock
5:24
9
Parallel Dimensions

Theo Parrish
4:48
10
Beau Mot Plage

Isolée
11
I Can't Kick This Feelin When It Hits / Music People

Moodymann
15:42
12
Don't Be Misled!

Moodymann
5:48
13
Can You Feel It

Chez Damier
14
Morning Factory (Dubplate)

Ron Trent And Chez Damier
15
First Floor (Part 1)

Theo Parrish
9:27
16
Rain (The New Mixes)

Kerri Chandler
7:54
17
New For U

Andrés
5:42
18
Closer

Mood II Swing
6:16
19
Alabama Blues

St Germain
7:16
20
Rej EP

Âme
8:00
21
Metro Area 4

Metro Area
8:29
22
Atmosfear

Glenn Underground
7:59
23
Raw Cuts # 1 / Raw Cuts # 2

Motor City Drum Ensemble
6:25
24
Born On The 24th Of July

Charles Webster
25
Lovelee Dae (PartOne)

Blaze
26
Be Free

Jovonn
6:52
27
Late Night Basix

Rick Wade
28
Envision

Osunlade
6:48
29
Man Or Mistress

Levon Vincent
30
Leave My Head Alone Brain

Henrik Schwarz
31
Passing States

DJ Qu
32
God's Promise

Black Jazz Consortium
33
Our Music

Trackheadz
34
The Midwest Advocates E.P. Part One

Marcellus Pittman
35
Come See

Marcellus Pittman
36
Do It Your Way

Mood II Swing
9:36
37
Spiritual Insurrection Mixes

Joe Claussell
38
Raw Cuts # 5 / Raw Cuts # 6

Motor City Drum Ensemble
39
Turn Of The Century

DJ Jus-Ed
40
Summer Daze EP

Nick Holder
41
Fifth Quarter

Atjazz
7:05
42
Paper Moon

51 Days
11:42
43
Hibernation

Gemini
6:40
44
House Rhythms

Bobby Konders
5:10
45
The Effects Can Last Forever

Major Problems
46
Kunststoff

Move D
47
Drifting Back

Genius Of Time
6:36
48
Ron Hardy

Braxton Holmes & Mark Grant
49
New Day

Round Two
7:41
50
Nice EP

The Melody