Ross Couch

Ross Couch was born in Glasgow and fell for house and techno there in the early '90s. His records first appeared on Bellboy and Panther in 2001 and 2002, starting with a remix for the Japanese DJ DJ19. Thomas Schumacher picked Backforce, from Couch's first Bellboy release, to open his Perlen 3 mix CD. Those early records of dance-floor techno and melodic tech house got him compared to Deep Dish, Dave Angel, Slam and Ron Trent.

By 2003 his sound had matured into a signature of its own: melodic deep house that kept the dance-floor energy of his earlier productions. I-DJ wrote that he "straddles the line between deep and tech house with style." That sound took him to Siesta, Kinky Vinyl, Shaboom's sister label Blaxtrax and Red Melon. Around 2005 he formed close ties with Bargrooves, releasing and remixing across its labels and mixing several of its CDs. His remix of Nayo's debut single "African Girl" reached No. 11 on the UK Club Chart. In 2007 he launched Body Rhythm, and in 2009 he released his debut album, Night and Day. Body Rhythm has since become home to a steady stream of deep and soulful house, with number ones on the Beatport and Juno deep-house charts, and Traxsource has called him "the epitome of consistency."

On Red Melon, Couch released The Deep End EP in 2003: three deep-house cuts with West Coast bounce and room for the booth. Hearts and Minds swings on bongo and conga bounce, with "Hey!" shouts at the peaks. La Musica uses its spoken title to mark the sections. The title track turns melancholic, with pitched-down sigh chops and string pads.