Detroit house music stalwart Terrence Parker (a.k.a. International DJ Extraordinaire) has announced the upcoming release of his new full-length album, GOD Loves Detroit, on Carl Craig’s Planet E Records. The LP follows his previous album, Life on the Back 9, which was released on Craig’s label in 2014.
The Telephone Man says the concept of God Loves Detroit dates back to 2013 when the city of Detroit had just filled bankruptcy, making it the largest municipal bankruptcy debt filing in US history. “The city was the subject of jokes on late night television, and ridiculed globally. I couldn’t help but feel GOD loves Detroit and must be allowing this for a reason. As the city began to slowly turn around I too was inspired to create a collection of songs that would ultimately make up the album.”
Parker adds, “I am very happy and humbled with how this project has manifested as a piece of musical and visual art to represent Detroit in a positive way. It is my hope this project will reach beyond Detroit to let the world know Detroit’s struggles are the world’s struggles, and Detroit’s victory is the world’s victory because GOD loves us all.”
Stream the title track below and catch Parker at Movement Festival in Detroit over Memorial Day weekend.
Tracklisting:
Bassment Beatz
Don’t Waster Another Minute
GOD Loves Detroit (The Resurrection)
GOD Will Provide
Just Like Muzik
Latter Rain (Healing Mix)
Latter Rain (After The Storm Mix)
Let’s Go
Lift Yo Hands Raise ‘Em High
The Sabath
Transition
Will You Ever Come Back To Me
Prolific Detroit house music mainstay Terrence Parker might use an old-school telephone handset instead of a pair of traditional DJ headphones when he’s behind the decks, but any novelty about what he does musically ends there. Known affectionately as the Telephone Man, Parker has been dialed into house music for 30 years, remixing and producing a litany of soulful, spiritual tracks while continually blazing new trails as an artist.
Parker’s career continues along at a swift pace. He DJs all over and released his third full-length, Life On The Back 9, on Carl Craig’s Planet E label, which was released on January 27. It’s a joyous album brimming with inspired deep excursions, with many of the uplifting songs drawing from his own faith. We talked to the Motor City maestro about how the role religion plays in his artistry, how the new album came to be and what he thinks about the new crop of producers currently drawing influence from retro grooves.
Telephone Man, how’s life in Detroit? Is it cold enough for you?!
Terrence Parker: Life in Detroit is good, and yes it has been extremely cold here as well. Over the last three weeks we have had wind chills between -15 to -35 below zero. So we are chillin’ here in the D for real [smiles].
The new album is a truly deeply soulful body of work. Anyone who knows your history would expect nothing less from you. How did this third album evolve? What was the creative process like this time around?
I took my time in compiling this album. It is certainly a more mature sounding album with a message that I think most people can relate to no matter where they come from. It took me just over a year to record all of the tracks for this album. [Plane E’s] Carl [Craig] gave me full creative control. His confidence and belief in my music helped me shape a solid album project.
In the past few years there’s been an uptick in a new generation of house producers whose work takes influence from the ground that have already been laid by veterans such as yourself. How do you feel about this? In this sense, is imitation the sincerest form of flattery as long as it is coming from their hearts?
Sure, I feel the new generation embracing ’90s music is awesome. Now if we can get them to go back to the ’80s or ’70s that would really be something special!
“Night Light” reminds me of a track I’d hear Tony Humphries drop back in the day. The combination of those crisp hi-hats, deep keyboards and grooves render it an instant classic. Any special story how that track came about?
Actually, it was originally a remix I made for a pop artist, but the label passed on my remix. I still think the music is great and so I decided to keep my music as an instrumental and make it part of my album.
“For me it is about having a relationship with God. Through my music I talk about that relationship, the importance of it, and how it has changed my life for the better, keeping me joyful through good and bad days.”
Religion is front and center on this album (“Saved Forever,” “God He Is,” “Spiritual Warfare,” “Pentecost”). While lyrics in dance music are often about love, passion and nights of reckless abandon, gospel house has been a small but passionate micron audience for years. How does spirituality and religion inform your songwriting? Are you ever conflicted between he hedonism of club life and your beliefs?
For me it is not about religion because in the true definition of the word, one could “religiously” go to Starbucks to get a coffee each morning. For me it is about having a relationship with God. Through my music I talk about that relationship, the importance of it, and how it has changed my life for the better, keeping me joyful through good and bad days.
I would be remiss if I didn’t ask you about the golf reference of the new album’s title. Are you a golfer?
No, I don’t play golf (although I use to go to the driving range with my Dad to hit a few golf balls). The album title comes from a conversation I had with my Dad. I was very sad and depressed over a great personal loss. My Dad told me about his golf game where he played badly on the first nine holes, but played much better on the second nine holes and won the golf match. Then he told me to view my life like that golf game. The front nine holes of my life perhaps weren’t as good as I has hoped it would be, but God has given me a second chance on the back nine holes to have a much happier life.
Now that the album is out, what are your plans? Are you always thinking about making music? What’s your work-life balance like?
Yes, I think a lot about making music and DJing. But I also think about family and friends. It is important to have the proper balance keeping God first. I am working on music as I seem to be full of ideas.
As someone who has been behind the decks for three decades, is there anything that you learned about yourself in the process of making this album?
I see the personal growth within my spirit and the music. It does cause me to be a bit introspective to see who I am as a person. I am human and have made a lot of mistakes. But the key is to grow and learn from those mistakes. I am growing and learning a lot.
Where’s the one place I’ve got to visit the next time I’m in Detroit?
You must go see the old Packard Plant! It is an abandoned automotive factory where myself, Richie Hawtin and others have DJ’ed parties!
Terrence Parker’s Life On The Back 9 is out now on Planet E.
Kevin Saunderson and his childhood friends Derrick May and Juan Atkins — better known as the Belleville Three — took dance music into the future in the ’80s, using technology to create, define and popularize techno around the world. Little did they realize that their sonic experiments would launch one of the greatest and longest lasting youth movements the world has ever seen. To say that today’s beatmakers owe a debt of gratitude is perhaps too great of an understatement.
Where Atkins and May hovered close to the underground, Saunderson’s scope went wider thanks to crafting crossover classics like Inner City’s “Big Love” and “Good Life” in addition to producing tracks created under a slew of monikers (E-Dancer, Reese Project, The Elevator, etc.). Having weathered countless musical fads and trends, Saunderson, like his Detroit peers, has stayed true to his sound, never compromising and always thinking about how to push his sounds forward.
This year Saunderson’s KMS Records is turning 25, and The Elevator taking a rare victory lap with The Creators of Techno: KMS 25 – Tribute to Detroit, a massive party going taking place on Ma7 27 at St. Andrews Hall in Detroit featuring Saunderson, Kenny Larkin, Stacey Pullen, Blake Baxter, Terrence Parker, M.K., Kyle Hall, D-Wynn, Allan Ester, Buzz Goree, DJ Minx, Mike Huckaby & Mike Clark. Plus exclusive live performances from Kevin Saunderson’s own Inner City and Carl Craig presents 69 Live.
And if you can’t make the party, well, don’t worry. KMS will release a digital and physical box set next month featuring some of the label’s greatest moments.
We caught up with Saunderson in France on his way to Italy to find out about the early days of KMS and how his Detroit blowout came about.
Let’s get right to it and talk about the big KMS 25th anniversary party coming up in Detroit. Does it really feel like 25 years to you?
Kevin Saunderson. [Pauses] Man, it went so quick. I wish I could start it all over again! [breaks up laughing] People say that time goes quick, but I don’t think you really get it until you go through that period of time.
Looking back on 25 years, which releases stand out for you? What were some of the best moments for you?
Releasing my first record, “Triangle of Love,” on my own label and telling my brother about what I was doing. You know I’m making music now. He’s like, sure you are! So I go back to visit my family in New York where I am originally from and I’m hanging out at their place. Tony Humphries, who was mixing at the time on the radio, is on and “Triangle of Love” comes on in the mix. We were all excited, jumping up and down. That’s my record! That’s my record! That was so inspirational. It’s one thing to make a record but it’s a different level of excitement to hear it played on the radio. Especially at that tie when it was the beginning for me. I had this vision I was going to send my record to every popular DJ and get them to play it. I used to hear Tony at [Club] Zanzibar so that was a pivotal moment.
“Chez Damier, Mark Kinchen, Stacy Pullen, Carl Craig….they all started out releasing records on KMS.”
In 1988 when I did my deal with Virgin for “Big Fun.” You know I had this record on my label and it was selling like hot cakes. I couldn’t keep up with demand. It got so bad I went to the pressing plant….they were pressing my records and selling them to distributors. I had no way of knowing. So I learned an early lesson in the beginning. I wanted to build my label, but I couldn’t check the pressing plant everyday. When I signed I got more exposure, and I was able to travel back to England with my techno/house sound. I soon saw Paul Oakenfold on a Monday night at Spectrum in London and he played “Big Love.” I had never seen such a reaction to a record. It was the biggest day of my life and even at the Paradise Garage I hasn’t seen something like that. That record just touched people; it was a heavenly experience and it was magical. I was so touched by that experience and it give me a lot of confidence and belief in what I was going. I was no longer the kid who played football who wanted to make records.
Have there been any moments when you wanted to give up on running a label and pack it in?
Yeah, I’ve started and stopped and started and stopped [KMS] a few times. It’s hard running a label when you’re traveling the world and learning the business at the same time. When we started we were all naïve. Nobody told us how the music business worked. We learned from our mistakes, asked questions and made moves that we learned from. For instance, we did a Virgin compilation. They paid me and I paid an artist like Blake Baxter who was on my label some money. I didn’t know anything about royalties…we had some problems businesswise but we cleaned it up and learned about how the numbers worked. It was frustrating because some artists thought they were owed money when they weren’t. I had an artist’s wife show up at my house asking when I was going to release her husband’s album. Moments like that aren’t so great.
What about all the great names that came out of KMS?
Chez Damier, Mark Kinchen, Stacy Pullen, Carl Craig….they all started out releasing records on KMS.
How does that make you feel that you helped start their careers?
I’m proud. I still have good relationships with all of them, and we help each other out when we can. I feel great about that….I was in a position and I helped inspire and gave opportunities with my label and studio. It was all about the music back then — a true niche of artists who came together to be creative. Sometimes I left my studio open too much! But out of it came a lot of classics.
How did the idea for an anniversary party during DEMF come about?
I thought it would be nice to do a tour but then I thought it would be too hard and expensive. I thought the way to be most effective would to be to do it at home during the festival weekend. It wasn’t as hard as I thought but the only problem is massaging egos because everyone wants to play in prime time! Everyone has been very cooperative and we’re all excited. It should be a great event.
The party is at St. Andrew’s Hall.
Right. I wanted to do the party at someplace that was safe, close to the festival and wouldn’t have any problems with the law. I’ve done events there before so I know the building.
Tell me about the 25th anniversary box set dropping in June.
It’s going to be four or maybe five discs. We’re trying to decide if we should add one more. There’s some stuff I want to put on and take off. There’s also going to be a six-album vinyl sampler….and there will be stuff online. We’re pulling it together through master tapes, some of which had to be remastered.
We’ve talked a lot about the past, so I have to ask you the obvious question: what’s next?
My summer is pretty much full between doing Inner City shows and my DJing. I’m doing Bestival and lots of great festivals. It’s busy. I’m trying to get the next Inner City album done and work on E-Dancer. It’s all systems go.
Kevin Sauderson’s Big Shot Guest Mix from 2011 can be downloaded here.
