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Seven Presents - Knee Deep

Author: Seven
Monday, July 11, 2005
SEVEN PRESENTS

KNEE DEEP

SATURDAY AUGUST 13 AT SEVEN

The acclaimed German Soulful house duo make their long awaited
reappearance at Seven.

Of course, their success started in Hamburg, Germany's undisputable
house stronghold. Basti, who started his success as remixer and
producer under the name of TBA and, together with DJ Daniel Klein
(currently running flamingo discos), already formed another
successful project under the name of Kiez Kidz, got to know his
partner Toddie in the club life of Hamburg. Already their first
production (Aug 1998)- a remix of the D'Influence Track "Rock With
You" - was able to gather overwhelming reviews. both realized
instantly how much they could learn from each other and what could
reached together.

Numerous remixes followed. At first they had work with rather unknown
domestic artists but soon the big cats cued in for getting their
tracks in the club with that soulful, pumpin Knee Deep sound (David
Morales, Bob Sinclair, Brandy, Jamiroquai, Everything but the girl).
Best known remix to date probably still is afro medusa´s "pasilda"
which was THE tune of summer 2000.

Later that year Knee Deep won the German dance award "best remixer"
defeating names like Timo Maas.

Soulful and thrusting grooves are their trademark, both in producing
and behind the decks. Never too sophisticated or stuffed with loops,
but more decent, that's the way the Knee Deep grooves are pleasing.
Skilfully, they manage to combine Soul, Funk, and Latin and their
beat into a sound that's downright charming and unobtrusive in the
way it creates movement on the dance floor. Slowly, without much
claptrap or drum rolls they build both their DJ sets and their
productions - spontaneously spiking them with little details,
bringing them to the climax, thus impressing their individual seal.

It's not even single tracks or hits that inspire, but the mixture of
record selection and the DJ's interaction with the audience that make
a Knee Deep set or production work on the dance floor.
their own productions for the label R.O.I. quickly found a major
label partner in Universal, which is quite unusual for German house
producers and emphasizes the mixture of quality and countrywide
acceptance.

Unfortunately one of their biggest clubhits never made it into a
proper commercial release - Nassau roules, a funky interpretation of
a late 70ies rare groove, never passed the sample clearance. Although
it was voted best house record (year 2002 charts DJ MAG) the rights
owners didn't see the commercial possibilities of this track.

During their Australian dj tour in December 2001 basti and toddi met
Simon Grey, a talented jazzkeyboarder and songwriter in Melbourne.
After getting to know his abilities during a studio session they
decided to invite him and his bassplayer Gavin Pearce for an extended
recording session to Germany.

The following stay in January 2002 was so successful that all three
of them decided to turn this into a closer business/musicpartnership
which ended in Simon's relocation to Germany in august 2002. among
the first projects there were big names like Jamiroquai (which liked
their mixes that much that he asked them to do 3 (!) in a row),
everything but the girl and Bootsy Collins.

In 2003 Basti and Toddie successfully founded their own label
kneedeep recordings, a new imprint for soulful and inspiring house
music. During this time, when almost the whole Germany club and
producer scene followed that oh so popular electro hype, Knee Deep
reclaimed their soulful roots.

Besides their highly respected houseactivities several rnb, hip hop
and even dancehall/reggae projects were started with artists from
around the globe. The near future looks bright for basti and Toddie.
Knee Deep have already taken the next steps toward an international
producer career.

This success hasn't been a lucky shot, tho. Within the last two years
they worked their w
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