Theo Parrish - Detroit US - 1999

Biography of Theo Parrish

Theo Parrish released 'Parallel Dimensions' in 2000 on his Sound Signature label. Frustratingly for many dance music lovers only 1000 copies were ever released on CD and no full length album was ever pressed. Through a unique deal with Mr Parrish Ubiquity has the opportunity to release a new pressing of this milestone release on CD and LP. On 'Parallel Dimensions' the Detroit based producer makes house music that is haunted, mournful, elegant, and cavernous. Organic horns and voices beautify super deep drum rhythms, signature hypnotic Parrish beats and Detroit schooled bass lines.

Theo Parrish was born in Washington, DC in 1972 and raised in Chicago, IL where his passion for music developed. Miles Davis, Stevie Wonder, Jimi Hendrix, Nina Simone, Bob Marley and his uncle, jazz musician Dexter Sims, all influenced Theo's early musical life. Chicago radio DJs and house producers such as Ron Hardy, Larry Heard, Lil' Louis, Farley Jackmaster Funk, Gene Hunt, Mike Dunn, Frankie Knuckles, Walter 'Get Down' Brown and Andrew Hatchett helped to spawn his early career - Parrish began spinning and producing tracks in 1986 at the age of thirteen. In 1994, he received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from KCAI with a concentration of Sound Sculpture, a form of orchestration using live generating devices. The same year Parrish moved to Detroit where he has lived ever since and become a pillar of the citys vibrant underground music scene. Producing music and delivering unique and dynamic DJ sets in venues throughout the world Parrish has gained attention and respect of DJs, producers, listeners and dancers alike.

On 'Parallel Dimensions' the epic 'Serengeti Echoes' begins with a simple disco-like loop and builds into an entrancing work of art with cut up vocals, reversed keys and strings releasing and adding tension over an epic 12 minutes. 'Space Ghosts' buries the bass drum thump inside busying rhythms and thick keyboard textures and the hypnotic sounds of 'Brain' and 'So Now What' offer more music than beats with layers of alternating repetitive cut and paste sounds as building blocks. 'Summertime is Here' could be Sun Ra jamming with Fela while 'Violet Green' brings the straighter beats up front again, threading a 4/4 rhythm and strong percussion through rich echoing pianos and a bouncy bassline and 'Anansies Dances' chops-up lyrical bits, piano, kalimba and string sounds up over another persuasive b-line. This is beautiful but abstract, clever but endearing and hooky house music for fans of Carl Craig, Herbert, and even hip-hop producer Jay Dee. *'Summertime is Here' was originally found on one sided 12' release released in July 1999. 'Reaction to Plastic', 'Serengeti Echoes', 'Nefarious Stranger' are featured on SS009 'Parallel Dimensions' (2x12) released in June 2000. All other tracks previously unavailable on vinyl.

The Sound Signature statement accompanies all Sound Signature releases:

Sound Signature: A symbol or icon defined by things heard. How many songs have names, and of these songs, how many of them inspire visual images for our minds to enjoy? How many noises are made by only one thing or situation? How do our names sound when we say them? When others say it? We all have something to say; a mark to make. A message to send. It is received when it is heard, when it is felt, when it inspires action - action in movement, action in emotion, action in mental stimulation. No sound is wrong. No sound is to elusive too escape arrangement, one's signature. Sound Signature: An event, emotion, or feeling described by sound, but not limited to it. Expression given a direction. A focus through arrangement, our personal language at any given moment. We all wish to be more precise in conveying our messages. We all want for others to receive what we have inside. We want it understood, however we also want for others to know they cannot truly understand. Even when misunderstood, we all demand respect. We want to communicate in a general way but we can only truly tell our own story.

No one can duplicate your signature, your mark, your life. The difference between imitation and emulation is specific experience. No one else has walked your path, lived your vision. If we shut our mental limits down, we could feel vibrations moving us. Our bodies would move because our souls would tell it to. There is a shortage of information that prevents this motion. The same sentence has been spoken, copied, sold, and adhered to as a rule. All rules are broken, inevitably. Because we have become accustomed to the same patterns, we must wean ourselves from regurgitation. We must grow and change, or stagnate, fall inert and die. We must at least expand the form we live in. We are being programmed to consume with such cold precision, free will has become more about what to purchase than what to create. Children are no longer taught to challenge, to ask why and most grown folks don't seem to mind. This programming gets interrupted every time someone cuts loose and starts dancing. The medicine found in the dance is real, and is originally African, so who are these distant purists with all these adjectives and comparisons? Irrelevant. There is no room for limits in the act of creation. There is no right or wrong way, only different ways as there are different people. It is your choice to listen to the teacher or the class clown. However, we all bounce between these two extremities, and inevitably we all get confused. As long as we are aware and challenge our fears, we will continue to develop. We will continue to expand our personal languages & icons. We will learn reverence from each other through expressing our symbols, our hieroglyphs. This is my attempt to share mine.