Behold, a rare Canadian contribution to the world house scene. After putting enough time in Vancouver nightclubs to discover that partiers there only want to hear watered-down Ministry Of Sound house, Daniel “Frivolous” Gardner sent a rough demo of his heavily jazz-influenced but minimal sound over the pond to Berlin. Upon its arrival, he was immediately signed. Midnight Black Indulgence is now his second full-length to be released since. Interestingly, while working the open-minded German angle, the type of acceptably glitchy, deeply not-disco funky, 4/4 madness Gardner espouses is now almost the type of house that club DJs in Vancouver like to play, at least at Focus Fridays. Perhaps that was the plan all along. In any case, it’s obvious Daniel has the house thing down.
The opening “Me & My Social Anxiety” and its cliquey scene commentary follow-up “Sooo Savvy,” which picks on those pretentious wallflower types poisoning dancefloors from the fringes, push all the right buttons for immediate club success. His jazz influence is thankfully introduced very mildly in those tracks to great effect. However, the same can’t be said for “Long Way” and “You Gotta Sing.” Those two are actual café jazz tracks that truly reveal the embarrassing whiteness of the deliverer. We’re talking so white you might want to pop on your shades when they start playing. Save your eyesight, people. You’ll need it later. Ignore those, though, and you’ve got yourself a small piece of dope-ass as sweet as maple syrup.
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