Review
Genre and Mood
Mat.Joe, David Keno and Shamoozey made Early Morning as house music for the hours after a party. The label that released it, Katermukke, calls it an instant classic, an after-hours house track that keeps the memories of a Berlin party night; the blog Music Is 4 Lovers called it a funky tune with a great vocal hook, catchy and fun. Groovy and catchy follow from those words, and nostalgic from the label’s, since it looks back on a night already over.
Song Summary
Early Morning runs six minutes and twenty-two seconds and opened Katermukke 100, the compilation with which the Berlin label marked its hundredth release in the summer of 2015. Four writers are credited, and Shamoozey is credited as the featured artist. The vocal hook is the detail a review of the time singles out.
Musical Breakdown
The Groove
Mat.Joe describe their style as crispy urban house: house beats with hip-hop, soul and funk elements, deep and danceable, warm and a little rough. No source walks through Early Morning itself, so listen for those parts in the groove rather than for a fixed structure.
The Hook
The hook is what Music Is 4 Lovers singled out. Over six minutes, listen for how often it returns and what changes around it.
Concepts in Focus
A hook in house music works differently from a pop hook: it is not a chorus that arrives every minute but a phrase that a long track keeps coming back to. Compare it with Infinity Ink – Infinity, another house record that lives on its vocal hook.
club culture is the world of clubs, DJs and long nights in which house is made and judged. Katermukke came out of that world: Dirty Doering, who founded it in 2011 with Sascha Cawa, was also involved with the Berlin club Bar 25. An after-hours track is written for the end of such a night.
A <a href=“https://korczis.github.io/sonic-playground/concept/featured-artist/” class=“concept-link font-medium text-primary-700 underline decoration-dotted underline-offset-4 hover:decoration-solid dark:text-primary-400” data-concept=“featured-artist” title=“A guest performer credited on another artist’s track, usually as “feat.”: a rapper’s verse, a singer’s hook or a second voice. Features bring together different styles and audiences and are central to hip-hop, R&B and dance music.“>featured artist is a guest credited on another artist’s track; here the two producers share the credit and Shamoozey joins them.
Artistic Context
Mat.Joe are Matze and Johannes, friends from Hannover who began as the hip-hop production team Twomanics in 2008 before moving to Berlin and into house; their records later appeared on Hot Creations, Sola and Defected. David Keno, born in Bern and living in Berlin since 2006, has released records since 2004 and founded his own label, Keno Records; he names Mat.Joe among the artists he teams up with.
Impact and Reception
Music Is 4 Lovers put Early Morning at number ten in its July 2015 list of the month’s best tracks. It is here because it was among the owner’s most played songs of 2022. Play it in the early morning, and see whether it holds on to the night.
