At 66 BPM, Duplex's 'Sunbeam' is the strangest data point in the whole selection and also the most useful one: pure opening material, the kind that fills an empty room without spending any ammunition. It isn't alone down there: Aera's 'Rotunde' (90), Sand 11's 'Eyeliner' (94), Takuya Matsumoto's 'Camouflaged Letter' (103) and Rick Wade's 'The Chateau' (110) add up to an unusually generous warm-up arsenal for a deep house pack.
The bulk lives between 119 and 127, where the tonal clusters do the heavy lifting. Five cuts orbit B-flat minor —counting the A-sharp of Musumeci's 'Mr Q', which is the same note— and two of them land back to back, one BPM apart: Andre Lodemann's 'Where Are You Now?' (126) over Tuff Sherm and Patch Free's 'Bikini Spill' (125), a transition served on a plate. The Heist Recordings double comes just as ready: Scan 7's 'The Best Is yet to Come' and Dam Swindle's 'Move Out the Way' with Jitwam share A minor and beg to be chained as they stand.
The hot stretch belongs to Rupert Ellis' 'Jumo' and Daniel Boserup's 'Afterhours', both at 130, plus Web's rework at 131. Right underneath sits KiNK's 'E79' on Ovum (124): Bulgarian producer Strahil Velchev, voted best live act by Resident Advisor readers in 2015 and 2016, is the safest bet in that range. As a wildcard, San Soda's Panorama Bar Acca Version of FCL's 'It's You' (119) reads as a tool rather than a standalone cut: material to layer, not filler.
E minor for the landing
The last hour comes pre-solved: Move D and Justin Carter's 'Leaves' stretches almost ten minutes at 125 for the long blend, and Matthew Dekay and Lee Burridge's 'Fur Die Liebe' (123) locks into E minor with the closer, 'I Am With You' (122), featuring Chez Damier, KMS A&R alongside Kevin Saunderson and Prescription co-founder with Ron Trent. That the curtain call rests with that school says more about the judgment behind this cull than any name in the middle stretch.
Sources: Wikipedia · RA · ReSolute
