Backyard: Judea Stonez Releases a Deep House 4-Tracker

Based on the title of this EP, Boston house producer Judea Stonez might think we’re questioning the intent behind this record, but from a single listen it should be clear to casual and seasoned listeners alike that this is a quality release.

Judea is no stranger to Boston’s house scene; he was fairly busy in 2008, releasing several EP’s including the Inner Expansion 4-tracker on Next Dimension as well as a highly regarded collection of house music tracks by not only himself, but a slew of additional local producers, released on DJ Bruno’s Biscuithead Recordings. In 2009 he has had a number of remixes and original tracks released on Next Dimension as well.

This is Judea’s first release that is all to himself; here we witness one of his strongest works yet, the somber yet funky tune Question Why. With no shortage of rhodes, funky percussion to keep the song moving from start to end (as well as bodies on the dancefloor when it’s played), and heavily sliced and diced vocals that syncopate nicely with the overall groove of the song, the title track is a winner. 3 remixes of the track follow, each of which are split between Judea himself, labelmate DJ Biglia, and the Bomberos Brothers (their first release!). 

Biglia’s remix re-constructs the vocals and retains a fairly similar pad arrangement and feel to the original version, however some nice Latin percussive elements cleanly occupy mid-to-high frequency range; the drums steal the show in this version instead of the pads like in the original. Judea’s remix ups the tempo a bit and shifts into a “happier” key. This 10-minute rendition takes us on a nice journey; it is almost indistinguishable from his original version and gives the DJ plenty of time to work with when it comes to transitioning in and out of it. We close with the Bomberos Brothers version which heavily focuses on the bassline and is the only version to include a guitar riff, which I might add works well and goes into a nice call-and-response with both the vocals and the bassline during the body of the remix. 

I’d have to say I enjoy Judea’s remix and the Bomberos Brothers versions the most, but be sure to preview the entire release and download the MP3’s from Juno if you dig these tracks. And be on the lookout for more original tunes and remixes from Judea Stonez!