George FitzGerald Digs Into His Club Roots | Features – Clash Magazine

George FitzGerald has always drawn from the deep well of club culture. The producer’s work may veer into the left-field – guided by his painterly touch – but it is forever tethered to the conduits of house, techno, and beyond that serve as his bedrock.
2022’s studio album ‘Stellar Drifting’ was a wonderful return, presenting the producer’s vision in its full widescreen glory. Continuing to move forwards, George FitzGerald lit up the opening weeks of the New Year with his new drop ‘Gleams’.
A homage of sorts to the dance music that forged his initial production work in the 00s, it also stands as a beaming shard of light, illuminating dancefloors during the winter months.
Hitting the road for a series of club shows – including a short Dublin residency – George FitzGerald is busy rifling through his record bag, working out what to play. Writing for Clash, he’s opted to look back on his roots, selecting some key tracks that defined club conduits in the 00s.
He says…
This is a snapshot of my gateway into house and tech house music in the mid-00s. I spent a lot of time in Paris and Berlin in my late teens and early twenties, discovering classics from the 90s in since-deceased Parisian record shops and Berlin’s Hard Wax, as well as the more current mutations of the genre when the minimal wave was really in full swing. There are always so many wonderful records to choose from, but these ones still make it into my sets regularly.
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Soofle – ‘How Do You Plead’
The highpoint of that incredible St Germain album. The original double AA side 12″ also has ‘Choice’ by Acid Eiffel on it. 
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Rhythm & Sound – ‘Free For All (Soundstream Remix)’ 
When I first went to Hard Wax in Berlin, I was totally ignorant of the shop’s history. After a while, I listened my way through the Basic Channel, Maurizio and Rhythm & Sound releases that were hanging on the walls. This release is a personal favourite, not least because of the amazing François K and Carl Craig remixes that are also on the 12″.
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Motorbass – ‘Ezio’
A lovely, opulent piece of French house by one of the most influential duos to do it. It’s grand and dreamy but somehow also simple and charming.  
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Âme – ‘Nia’
One of several highlights on an album that has had a huge influence on my music. A lot of house and techno from the mid-00s has dated terribly, not least because of the obsession with minimal sound design. For me, this record went against that tide and still feels timeless as a result.  
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Round Two – ‘New Day (Club Vocal Mix)’ 
A wonderful outlier in the Basic Channel/Maurizio/Round catalogue. All the warmth of full-on vocal house with just a hint of the cold edges of von Oswald and Ernestus.
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Michael Mayer & Reinhard Voigt – ‘Transparenza’
Kompakt records has been responsible for so many of my favourite club records over the years. This one is a brilliant example of the clipped, melodic tech house sound that they became synonymous with in the 00s.  
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Chaser – ‘Tall Stories’ (Ian Pooley’s Lars From Mars Remix)
Just a flawless example of joyous, loopy, sample-based house music. Still a record I turn to when all else fails. 
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Trentemøller – ‘Moan’ (Trentemøller Remix)
Poker Flat was another really important label for me. This track isn’t so typical for a lot of the back catalogue (which is excellent), but it’s special for me because it really showed what different directions you could take the genre in, in this case crossing with elements of indie, ambient and IDM.  
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Catch George FitzGerald on tour in January and February – find the full dates online.
Photo Credit: Dan Medhurst

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