- A sprawling tribute to Miami's many musical lineages and its exciting new innovators.
- Danny Daze has long been a champion of the underground dance music scene in Miami. As he's trotted around the international club and festival circuit throughout his career, he's always done it as "Danny From Miami." Now, with his label Omnidisc, he serves as a dance music historian and documentarian for his hometown with Homecore! Miami All-Stars a stacked 44-track compilation showcasing pioneers, icons and up-and-comers alike.
With artists like INVT, Coffintexts, Nick León and Sister System, Miami has re-emerged onto the international scene in a big way over the last year and a half as a source of endless musical inspiration and innovation. For tuned-in club kids, these producers are already known characters in modern underground music. They're part of a much longer and more elaborate story, though—one that can't be fully told without Lazaro Casanova, Tre-Oh-Five and Otto Von Schirach (whose intro here is a definite highlight), all of whom appear on this perfectly timed compilation.
Danny Daze puts it bluntly in the release notes: "there is a misconception as to what Miami has to offer." And he has a point. Overly commercialized EDM events like Ultra Music Festival and top-dollar Miami Beach nightclubs like Story or LIV don't really represent the whole scene. (Dedicated scenesters aren't typically dropping $10,000 on a table and another $90,000 on a bottle of Ace Of Spades when The Chainsmokers come to town.) These 44 tracks not only educate a new generation of ravers but also remind us of the city's long-running musical ambition. It's risky to try to do both at once. Still, through careful, comprehensive selections by a scene figure who has been active for over a decade, Danny Daze pulls it off, despite the occasional generation gaps between featured artists.
Take Murk's "Filth" and Coffintexts' "Muy Bien." The former is by venerated '90s house legends Oscar G and Ralph Falcon—the first Murk release in over eight years, by the way—while the latter is from one of the cornerstones of Miami's current new wave. They come one after another on the tracklist. That's 30 years separating the two. And while Murk's gravelly, hypnotic basslines differ from Coffintexts' Latin-infused broken beat, both are funky, visceral and drenched in sweat, better than anything you'd likely hear on South Beach.
This small sample is a testament to the balance that Homecore! strikes with its representation of talent. For every recognizable name like Greg Beato, who gets ultra-spacey with the undefinable "Kaboosh," there's a fresh face to follow, like Sohn Jamal and his emotionally-charged IDM orbiter "TQ Visa." This happens several times throughout the compilation.
Somewhere in between the earliest Miami trailblazers and the latest creators, Danny Daze makes sure to include tracks from prolific scene staples like Jesse Perez, Exzact, Push Button Objects and Dino Felipe. Each one of these characters could probably write a decent memoir about their journey through the city's music underworld, but here they humbly each contribute a tune to the pot, which broadly consists of electro, techno, house and Miami bass—only the finest, mind you. Even DJ Craze's raucous drum & bass only feels a little out of place here, and it's clear to see why Danny Daze might have carved out a spot for him. Craze has been a friend and inspiration to him for over 20 years. It doesn't get much more Miami All-Star than that.
It's just further evidence of the loyalty and dedication of Danny Daze, which is what makes this release truly worthwhile. He took on this project because he's fighting for his city to be heard, and the inclusion of over four dozen different Miami All-Stars ensures that as many of the city's representatives as possible get a seat at the table. Of course, considering the rich culture and history that the dance hub has, he probably could have included 100—and maybe even more—but one has to draw the line somewhere.
It took Danny Daze over a year to put this release together, and it'll take you three-and-a-half hours to fully consume it. It's anything but work, though, as the mind-boggling genetic makeup of Homecore! has something different around every new corner, highlighting the distinct mix of styles that come from Miami. Nearly every track is some mixture of at least two of the following: house, techno, electro, hip-hop, R&B, reggaeton, dembow, jersey club, jook, IDM, breaks, 2-step, drum & bass, jungle, dub. He's spoiled us this time—you don't often find a scene leader willing to put together such an extensive guide to his or her hometown and give the shine to everyone else.
Tracklist01. Otto Von Schirach - Miami All-Stars (Tremendo Intro)
02. Low End Resorts - Night Asylum
03. Tre Oh Fie - 4AM
04. Jesse Perez - Pocket Full Of Ones
05. Bitter Babe - Gimme
06. TIDUR. - You And I
07. MJ Nebreda - Arquitecto
08. Miles Amillion - Heavy Heads
09. Roiju - Sin Gravedad
10. Nick León - Sapo
11. La Goony Chonga - Phonkay (prod. by Danny Daze & Nick León)
12. Danny Daze - 110 Dudes
13. DJ Craze - Sureshot
14. SEL.6 - Drop In2 The Pain
15. Feph - Resolve
16. INVT - Dassit
17. Glue Boy, El Gusano - Beak Dub
18. Ctrl+Opt - Buzo
19. Exzakt BFX - Let Go
20. Nicholas G. Padilla - Zone
21. Push Button Objects, Danny Daze - I.E. ft. Tushna
22. Deroboter - Cid
23. Fwea-Go Jit - Touch It Turn It
24. Lazaro Casanova - Nieve
25. Greg Beato - Kaboosh
26. Sohn Jamal - TQ Visa
27. Elias Garcia - Radiant
28. Murk - Filth
29. Coffintexts - Muy Bien
30. Jan Anthony - Trees Whispers Leave
31. Max Buzone - Epoch
32. Jonny From Space - Refresh
33. Sister System - Feel It In The Heat
34. Bunni - Colirio
35. Dino Felipe - In Order To Ground The Listener
36. 3K - Always Down
37. Troy Kurtz - Hey Angel, Whatever
38. Black Ant - Bellfast3
39. Near Dark - Light Bounce
40. Emma - Light Bounce
41. Alpha 606 - Cacique