DJ Pierre 'To Tha Muzik (Strictly Rhythm, 1993) (SR12199)

Nine minutes and thirty-three seconds. That's the first number on the Muzik Side of SR12199, and it tells you most of what you need to know about "To Tha Muzik". In 1993, when most club records were working to the seven-minute mark, DJ Pierre opened this one with a track that runs well past nine. It isn't padding. It's the method. Nathaniel Pierre Jones had already helped change dance music once, as a founder of Phuture in Chicago. By the time he was making records for Strictly Rhythm in New York, he had refined the idea people would come to call wild pitch: a track that withholds, builds by small degrees, and trusts the DJ to let it run. The label says it plainly. "Recorded at Wild Pitch Studios." Written by N. Jones, produced and mixed by DJ Pierre, published through Strictly Rhythm Music and his own Kick Tha Bass Pub, both ASCAP. Everything here is his. George Morel is credited as executive producer. The two shared the Joint Venture split records, and with Morel overseeing Pierre's own release it feels like a record made among friends inside the building. The labels don't use A and B. One reads "Muzik Side", the other "Give Side", so the record announces itself as two propositions rather than a single and its flip. Discogs, following the runouts, files it with "To Tha Muzik" leading. The Muzik Side pairs the long ride with "Fall" at 6:15, shorter and more concentrated, which ends the side on a tighter note. Turn it over for "Give Me What I Want" in a Club Mix and a Tribal Mix. The sign-off on both labels is among the warmest in the catalogue: thanks to everyone who ever supported his muzik, "and special thanks to those who still do!! Peace." TRACKLIST Muzik Side A1 — To Tha Muzik — 9:33 A2 — Fall — 6:15 Give Side B1 — Give Me What I Want (Club Mix) — 7:03 B2 — Give Me What I Want (Tribal Mix) — 6:23 All titles written by N. Jones. Produced and mixed by DJ Pierre. Executive producer: George Morel. Recorded at Wild Pitch Studios. Published by Strictly Rhythm Music / Kick Tha Bass Pub (ASCAP). TRACK BY TRACK A1 — To Tha Muzik · 9:33 This is the reason this edition exists. It's the longest cut on the record by more than two minutes, and it is built on patience rather than peaks. Pierre gives the DJ room to blend in, sit back and let the track do the work. It's wild pitch as a working method, credited to the studio that carried the name. A2 — Fall · 6:15 The counterweight. After nine minutes of slow build, "Fall" makes its point in just over six. It's a separate title with its own N. Jones credit, not a version of anything else, and it rounds the Muzik Side off as a complete statement. B1 — Give Me What I Want (Club Mix) · 7:03 The Give Side's floor version, and the title the sticker puts first. If the Muzik Side is for the DJ who stretches out, this is for the one who needs the room moving now. B2 — Give Me What I Want (Tribal Mix) · 6:23 Percussion forward and everything else pared back, very much where New York house was heading in 1993. It's the most adaptable tool on the record. Essential for: wild pitch devotees, DJs who like a long track they can actually live inside, and anyone tracing DJ Pierre from Phuture's Chicago acid to his New York years at Strictly Rhythm. The Muzik Side alone justifies the record. Subscribe to Strictly Rhythm: http://po.st/StrictlyRhythmSubscribe Web: https://store.strictly.com/ Facebook:   / strictlyrhythm   Instagram:   / strictlyrhythm   Twitter:   / strictlyrhythm   Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/user/strictl...