Down here in the antipodes, the name Frank Booker has been synonymous with quality DJ sets, club nights and studio productions for some time now. After honing his skills as a DJ - both around the country and overseas - Booker stepped onto the international production stage in 2009 with a series of disco and deep house slanted EPs for Atlantic Conveyor's Steve Harris and Christopher Tubbs' Untracked Label.
Over the last fifteen years, he's kept doing the work, releasing well-loved DJ edits and originals through Wonderful Noise Productions, Fine Art Recordings, Down In The Basement, Razor-N-Tape and other labels. Along the way, Booker has maintained a reputation as an in-demand DJ throughout New Zealand, Australia, Asia, Europe and the US, co-promoted some seminal club nights with Hit It & Quit It (his crew with Recloose) and Soundway signees Flamingo Pier, and shared bills with Hunee, Moodymann, Francois K, Dam Funk, Aloe Blacc, Kon, John Morales, Rich Medina, and Max Graef. If you really want to keep count, however, he's even played private parties in New Zealand for Quentin Tarantino and the late great Prince.
Booker's secret is his taste and his ear. As a DJ, he has an anything-goes style that keeps the dancefloor moving to eclectic grooves that draw from the rich DJ traditions that emerged out of storied New York clubs and parties like Paradise Garage, The Loft and Body & Soul. In the production world, these sensibilities have translated into his joyfully uptempo edits, remixes and originals, winning him support from Horse Meat Disco, Todd Terje, Rahaan, Detroit Swindle, Session Victim, Red Greg, Jimpster, and DJ Nature.
For the first release on the box fresh Auckland, New Zealand record label Music First, "Collected Works", Booker has gathered up four of his favourite previously released (but out of print) tunes from the last decade and a half and remastered them. In the process, "Collected Works" provides a compelling window into his enduring love of soulful sounds from across the globe.
Opening with 'The Sun' from 2012's "Beat Down & Out" EP on Sleazy Beats Black Ops, Booker kicks things off with an absolutely massive drum machine groove, filtered bass and audience recordings from a party, letting the music build into a hypnotic euphoria that's easy to be swept away in. From there, he moves into house tempo afrobeat territory with a bubbling edit of 'Egbi Mi O' by Fela Kuti from the 2013 "EDITS" EP on KAT before time travelling back two years earlier with 'El Salvador [Vocal Mix]'.
On 'El Salvador' [Vocal Mix], originally included on the El Salvador EP for Japan's Wonderful Noise Productions, Booker taps into a slow, smouldering cosmic disco vibe those late late nights in the club before closing out with the chunky percussive rhythms of one of the first tracks he released in 2009, 'Universal Drive'. Still sturdy and fit for purpose, these dancefloor weapons still get the job done.
Collected Works is due for release in vinyl and digital formats through Music First (pre-order here)
