Review
Genre and Mood
Nils Penner made The Thing as deep house in the plainest, most useful sense: a groove, a bassline and enough air above them to keep a room moving without pushing it. The mood is groovy and carefree, a little playful, the kind of track that sounds best early in a night or on the first warm evening of the year.
Song Summary
The Thing has no story to tell; it is built from the bottom up. The label’s own description names the ingredients exactly: deep house, heavy grooves and well thought-out basslines, in a balance that never tips over. What makes it memorable is the contrast between a solid low end and a lightness on top, which the release notes call an ideal fit for the beginning of spring.
Musical Breakdown
At five minutes and fifty-five seconds, the track has time to build its groove in layers; listen to it in that order.
Intro
Listen to how the beat and the low end are set out, and how much of the groove is in place before anything lighter joins it.
Main Section
Listen for the bassline the label calls well thought out, and for how it moves around the kick instead of simply doubling it.
Climax
Listen for the lighter elements over the heavy groove, the light-hearted side the notes describe.
Outro
A club track of this length is made to be mixed; listen to how this one prepares its exit for the next record.
Concepts in Focus
A bassline in deep house is often more than support. The label’s notes single out Penner’s well thought-out basslines; follow this one alone for a minute and hear how much of The Thing rests on it.
The house groove is steady, but what matters is its weight. A heavy groove can still feel light if what sits above it is light, and that is the balance the release notes describe.
Then there is club culture. Exploited has returned to The Thing twice, on its year-end compilation #Exploited 2014 FFWD RWD and, as track 41, on 10 Years Exploited in December 2017. Labels like this work as a community of DJs and producers, and the same label gave Claptone, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah – Ghost its start.
Artistic Context
Nils Penner is a DJ and producer from Bremen and one half of the duo Penner+Muder with John Muder. Before this single he had released on Absurd Recordings, Plastic City, Wazi Wazi Music and Freerange. The Thing, paired with Bubbles, was his first release on Exploited, the Berlin label of Shir Khan, whose ear it credits with launching Claptone, Adana Twins and Joyce Muniz: a digital single catalogued EXPDIGITAL64, out in spring 2014. It sits close to the melodic German deep house of Marek Hemmann – Gemini.
Impact and Reception
The Thing never needed a hit to last. It reached listeners through Exploited’s catalogue and its compilations, and it is here because it shows how much a groove and a bassline can do alone. Play it on a spring evening with the windows open.
