David Coleman
David Coleman's story is a San Francisco story, told through crews and partnerships rather than solo spotlights. A house producer and DJ, he came up in a city where the best music often happened between friends, and nearly every chapter of his career involves a collaborator.
He co-founded a DJ collective called Spiral Jive with Christopher Lawrence and Thomas Michael. Then, in late 1996, he joined forces with the live keyboard player Sen-Sei as Kinetic Grooves, a partnership that became the centre of his work both as a duo and as a label. The pairing made sense: Coleman brought a DJ's sense of structure and floor-reading, and Sen-Sei brought freehand keys that could lift a groove into something more musical. Together they made funky, deep, tribal house for local floors, and they later recorded as Atwater Syndicate for Deep Dish's Yoshitoshi.
In 2000 Kinetic Grooves released Shack Traxx, featuring Coleman, John Howard and Sen-Sei. From 2001 into the mid-2000s his productions also found a home on Jah Love Recordings, the San Francisco dub-house label, often alongside Sen-Sei, Dub Theory or the vocalist Rootz. That dub influence, with space in the mix, echo on the stabs and bass you feel more than hear, runs through his best work.
His music is the sound of San Francisco at the turn of the millennium: deep but never sleepy, tribal but never heavy-handed, and full of the warmth that came from people making records for rooms they actually played.
On Kinetic Grooves came Live At The Paradise Lounge in 2004, a nod to one of the city's best-loved small rooms. On Jah Love came The Underground E.P. in 2006, and he later produced and mixed for Late Night Sneakin' Records, including The Ridge in 2013. He has also remixed for Six Degrees Records and Kraak. Back in 2001 he also appeared on Blowfish Music To Die For and the Surf@Sonic project. Kinetic Grooves also issued Groove Traxx, and his tracks were picked for compilations such as Café Solaire 2nd Edition in 2002.
The same year as Shack Traxx, he joined Dano and Sen-Sei as Shack Attack for Red Melon. The release paired two West Coast deep-house cuts made for the booth. Use What U Got, written and produced with Dano, with Sen-Sei on keys and percussion, turns a pitched-down vocal chop into percussion over dubby electric-piano stabs, while Something Wonderful rides a bright electric-piano and organ riff. Dano later picked Something Wonderful for his The Sound of San Francisco mix in the Tech House Phenomenon series, a fitting title for a track that captures the city so well. A year later Sen-Sei played keys on Show U Love, from the Cloud City record Dano made with Halo.
