New York luminary DJ Romain returns to the classic Hard Times label this February with the second part of ‘The Lost D.A.T.S’.
A permanent fixture on the New York club scene since the 90’s, DJ Romain featured heavily around the city in the early to mid 90’s earning his stripes playing at parties like Save The Robots and Body & Soul. As a producer his first release on Strictly Rhythm back in 1991 was “Get Your Thang Together” and since then the Belleville-based artist has appeared on labels like Nite Grooves, Nu Faze, Quantize Recordings and now the legendary Steve Raine ran Hard Times label.
This second part of ‘The Lost D.A.T.S’ follow on from the 2024 Part One release. Hard Time of course needs no introduction, as a party or indeed a label. Seminal releases from Todd Terry, DJ Disciple, Michael Watford and Karan Pollard all favoured heavy with both UK and US DJ’s from across the globe.
“1996-97? Yeah, that’s when New York was still NEW YORK! DJ Romain
This follow up EP opens with the silky tough ‘Insane’. A juxtaposed sound with tough, almost tribal drums chugging down the centre of the track whilst bulbous bass lines step up and down scales rhythmically, allowing the female vocal to be chopped and filtered, keeping a human touch to the sound. Imagine a 70’s love song jacked up on early NYC house drums and you are on the right path.
Next is ‘Release My Body’. When it started we instantly thought of ‘New Jersey Deep’ by Black Science Orchestra, maybe the same sample was used? But when then cosmic, spaced out synth melodies begin to float out the speakers, this is a track of it’s own magnitude. Deliciously deep, the plunging chords, heavy reverb-soaked female chops and cool high strings all come together to make a real piece of magic. The ‘Tribal Dub’ of ‘Find My Way’ is next. No messing with this one as tough, driving drums plow through looped vocals, sustained e strings and low slung bass lines. There’s a shimmering lead later on that really just sounds magical. A end of the night sort of hands in the air moment. ‘Gotta Make It Better’ is a disco swung groove with jackin’ drum lines, soulful female Vox snippets but the show stealer is that stunning organ melody. Funky as hell, this is the moment of the EP for us, just for when the bass line drops…. this is house music!
‘The Lost D.A.T.S (Part Two)’ by DJ Romain drops on Hard Times from February 7th, 2025. Pre order here.
