fp-oner: 5

Anyone who follows American house music is aware of the art of Fred Peterkin aka Fred P aka Black Jazz Consortium. The New York City native is known for some of the gentlest soul-infiltrated four-to-the-floor house creations around. As a man who danced in his younger years in legendary NYC clubs like the Red Zone, Sound Factor, and Tunnel to DJ sets by larger-than-life selectors like David Morales, Frankie Knuckles, and Danny Tenaglia, he learned that sometimes less is more. And that he would rather listen to his heart and soul than to the susurrus of the music market. Most of his work as Fred P or Black Jazz Consortium has been released via his own label, Soul People Music; as Fred P he has also dropped 12"s on Jus-Ed's Underground Quality imprint and Toshiya Kawasaki's Mule Musiq, which now presents his album 5, released under the moniker FP-Oner. 5 is the first release in a planned trilogy focused on the jazzier, relaxed, atmospheric side of his artistically deep house expressions. Opener "In the Mist of Sunrise" seduces with a deep, heavy bass-line; moony, emotive chords; and a hint of a gentle piano melody, charming in its unfinished sound. It's followed by "Manifestations Taking Place," an emotive, deep, jazz-influenced track that could easily fit in his Black Jazz Consortium body of work. With "The Art of Regeneration" he pushes the beat for the first time. It is a simple sensation of a track, with an alien synth melody in the background, intermittent cool claps, and soft, seductive keys. From then on the album oscillates between uplifting and smooth sensations, and seduces with African percussion, serpentine melodies, jacking beats, emotive deep jazz moments, airy analog chords, ethereal synths, tinkling keys, lounging soul vocals, and dreamy atmospheres. A groove-based work of introspective, elegantly constructed house music that makes the listener feel entirely at ease, and solidifies Fred P's position as one of the great spiritual house masters of our time. Produced in Berlin and on the road in hotel rooms between New York City and Tokyo. The English poet William Blake once wrote, "He who binds to himself a joy / Does the winged life destroy / He who kisses the joy as it flies / Lives in eternity's sunrise." The poem suits the art of Fred P, as all his creations come to stay. CD includes three extra tracks.