As one-half of Sfere Recordings along with house legend Kerri Chandler, Dennis Ferrer’s name has rapidly built momentum over the past five years amongst house music aficionados. Ferrer’s soulful and afro-house influenced productions have appeared on leading house music labels stateside and in Europe. With a discography of original productions that extend from respected labels such as Sfere, Ibadan, Large, and King Street to Basic Recordings, Madhouse and Chillifunk, Ferrer is poised at the very top of the game. He is also widely accepted as one of the leading remixers of this generation of deep house producers and has lent additional production to multiple works on Distant, Defected, Papa, King Street, Large and Slip n Slide labels to name a few. Hits of the past include afro-house biggies “Funu” (Basic Recordings), “Ko Ko” (Ibadan), “Reach 4 Freedom” (Kingstreet) and “Dem People Go” (Kingstreet) to soulful numbers such as “Wonderful People” (Metaphor), “Joy to the World” (Sfere) and his classic Soul Collective series on Large Records. Currently buzzing from the Ferrer catalogue: his exquisite production of “It’s A Beautiful Life”, a remix of S.U.M.O.’s “stay”, and the sublime “Sandcastles” (co-produced with Ibadan’s Jerome Sydenham), reworkings of D’Jaimin’s “Oule Oule” (Slip N’ Slide) and Dubtribe Sound System’s “Nothing Is Impossible” (Defected).
Ferrer’s interest in production and dance first led him into the world of early 90’s electronic music. After a number of years working with the critically acclaimed Synewave label from New York, he connected with Kerri Chandler who re-introduced him to the soul and funk of music from his youth via House. Ferrer’s love of such artists as T-Connection, DJ Rodgers, early Herbie Hancock, early Cameo and ConFunkShun finally found ways to surface in his music. Chandler instantly recognized Ferrer’s talent for production and business sense and together they formed Sfere Recordings in 1998 (Sfere being a name derived from Chandler’s Shelter / Ibadan classic “[track artist=Kerri Chandler]Atmosphere” combined with Ferrer’s old techno alias “Aurasphere”). The label was devised with the ambitions of exploring many different aspects of soulful house including Brazilian, Gospel and Jazz sounds. The emphasis at Sfere is clearly, however, focused on songs since both partners believe in the timelessness of a great song.
Ferrer’s DJ career runs in tangent with his increased visibility as a producer and his creative reach covers five continents. December 2003 saw his return to South Africa for a Heineken sponsored series of events alongside UK DJ powerhouse, Pete Tong. He has traveled to multiple European markets and played with regularity in many of the major venues in countries such as the UK (MOS, Soul Heaven, Back To Basics, Ultragroove, Angel Deelite, Neighbourhood), France (Cheers, Sunslice Festival, L’Ambassade, La Noche Festival, Queen), Scandinavia (Hultsfred Festival, Jeriko), Benulux (Pizzaz!), Russia (Propaganda), Greece (Balux), Italy (Red Zone), Japan (Module) and S. E. Asia (Club Ohm and Rouge). In North America he has crossed the continent with performances in NYC, San Diego, San Francisco, Chicago, Miami, LA, Toronto and Montreal. |
