Luke Solomon and Justin Harris are one of dance music’s most enduring partnerships, bemused outsiders casting their curious glance at the mainstream. From their beginnings in London basements in the 90s, to an older, and (marginally) wiser 2015 model, Freaks (and their desire to musically distance themselves from the remix of their classic track, The Creeps, a UK no 9 chart placing and radio 1 A list hit in 2007 ) was always the constant that brought them back together time and again but now their Music For Freaks Label will take centre stage. Reviving their prolific imprint - home to their biggest records of the 90s and noughties as well as work from Chris Duckenfield, Johnny Rock and Recloose - is next in the grand plan, with a blockbuster first EP from the vaults and remix work from Tuff City Kids and Ricardo Villalobos.

“The label was always about trying to do something different when the mainstream of house was getting a bit 'samey'. There's so much 'noise' in the industry at the moment and a lot of it sounds exactly the same.” 

For mischievous characters such as Harris and Solomon, the output is still key. Rather than just a rehash of 12” cuts from the vault, the direction from the start was to speak to current producers that they felt would ‘get’ the label’s ethos, and let them loose on tracks old and new, to bring them to an entirely new audience. The list of those collaborators is long, and impressive, from Villalobos, Soul Clap, Argy and Mat Playford to Matthew Krysko, Honey Dijon, The Martinez Brothers, Wolf & Lamb and Djebali.

Spearheading the label relaunch is an alluring package of unearthed MFF classics from Freaks and Turner which includes remixes from 2 of the finest contemporary dance producers of the moment, Ricardo Villalobos and Tuff City Kids.

Ricardo works his Leftfield magic on Freaks 2003 arty classic 'The Man Who Lived Underground', delivering a giant 12.33 minutes of Villalobos quirky deepness. Born in Chile, raised in Germany, Producer/ DJ Ricardo Villalobos had a rich musical upbringing listening to Salsa, South American folklore, Opera and Rock through to electronic music pioneers, Tangerine Dreams and Kraftwerk. Fast forward to today and there isn’t a continent where Ricardo hasn’t played; his choice of music is trend-setting, never commercial, but immensely successful. Ricardo has released and remixed for labels such as Jazzland, Warp Records, Coccon, Desolat and Gey Physical, among many others.

German duo, Tuff City Kids take on Turner's 'Been Out' and deliver a lush deep groove, drizzled with echoes of 80's electronica armed with heavenly vocals and lush keys, primed to bring the house down. Tuff City Kids (aka Phillip Lauer and Gerd Janson) are a DJ/production duo from Frankfurt who are seriously gathering momentum on the Electronic Music scene. They have released on highly ranked labels such as Unterton, Delsin, Ostgut Ton and Permanent. The pair have remixed for the likes of Sven Vath, Freeform Five and Daniel Bortz among others, appearing on labels such as Mojuba, Exploited, Get Physical, Cocoon, Live At Robert Johnson, Créme Organisation, Suol and more.

Topping off this sublime package is an original unreleased edit from 1999 of Freaks 'Instrument', ripe with it's bubbling bass and a perpetual spacey synth hook that dances around their infectious funky beats.