Objektivity

Objektivity began with a tune that didn't seem to belong to any previous Ferrer outlet. "The Cube," Ferrer's collaboration with Karizma, sounds at once like little else in his discography and like everything that's come before it. Hard, yet soft; raw, yet polished; underground, yet defiantly anthemic.

The Martinez Brothers, young New York-based siblings, followed with their massive debut, "My Rendition," which mixes the sound of tech and soul into a haunting journey that seemingly pushes past the point of no return. If Objektvity can be said to have a sound, "My Rendition" might be it.

Then again, it might also be found in Ferrer's remix of Télépopmusik, which put the wispy vocals of Angela McCluskey over a deep, grooving beat. "I Can't Go Under," which features Malena Perez, sounds like what Everything But The Girl might be doing today (if Tracey Thorn had a bit of Spanish flair), while Ferrer's recent edit of Henrik Schwarz's remix of Ane Brun's "Headphone Silence" proves that even Swedish
folksingers can sound funky now and again.

The latter, which holds Berlin deep house devotee Dixon's edition on its flip, is a conscious acknowledgement of one of the threads that runs throughout Objektivity: that much of what has been released is Ferrer's uniquely American spin on the deep house revival that is currently making waves in Europe. And as Europe takes inspiration from him, so Ferrer takes inspiration from Europe: the label's fourth release was Loco Dice's remix of Ferrer's Ibadan smash "Son of Raw," in which Dice transformed the original into a spacey epic, pulsating with life.

And under his Son Of Raw moniker he produced, "A Black Man in Space." with it's Lil Louis strong groove, bumping bassline and (in the "Sax Version," at least) an extended horn solo.

But even with all of these experiments in sound for Ferrer and friends, there is also room on Objektivity for a little bit of the old school. Timmy Regisford and Quentin Harris' "Astral," for instance, is a burner built expressly for the Shelter dancefloor, mixing few elements (ascending strings, rapid-fire synth, a solid groove) to ecstatic effect.