(Kalahari Oyster Cult — LA)

The singular brand of house music that Taylor Freels produces as Liquid Earth is uniquely transatlantic, infusing the rhythmic sensibilities of London and Berlin with the sun-soaked serenity of his native California.
Part ’80s sleaze, part ’90s deepness, part ’00s wiggle, Freels makes dance music cocktails that pop like a twist of lime hitting seltzer. Melodic, crisp, and always refreshing, each track by the California-native is singularly recognizable as he refashions vintage sounds for the clubs of tomorrow.
Under his most recent alias, Liquid Earth, Freels has been pushing, as Resident Advisor put it, “tech house with a twist.” His state-of-the-art analog grooves emerged from the ether fully formed in 2019 with some of the deepest basslines and crunchiest melodies out there. Freels’ squigly take on contemporary house and techno always comes primed with a dose of California sunshine. Carrying on the legacy of storied California predecessors like Halo and Hipp-E, he’s been swiveling heads and moving bodies with releases on labels at the vanguard of the underground, like Limousine Dream and TerraFirm, collaborations with Tornado Wallace as Dinnervisions, and a remix of his starry-eyed, “Scope Zone” by Youandewan landed him a spot on Beatportal’s Top 50 Songs of 2021.
More than just a producer, Freels knows how to pack a punch behind the decks, moving from classic Detroit and Chicago tracks to UK tech house with aplomb and mastery. His bookings and podcasts have been piling up like hot cakes with best-in-class mixes for the likes of Honey Soundsystem and Butter Side Up and DJ appearances at Dimensions Festival and Panorama Bar.
Freels’ music, as both a DJ and a producer, remains unparalleled in its ability to solder funk with deepness. His early releases that propelled him to prominence on labels like NYC’s Let’s Play House and Melbourne’s Voyage Recordings, displayed an almost encyclopedic knowledge of house music. As Urulu, Freels zig-zagged across time and space to create music that felt embryonically transatlantic alongside a sugar rush of rave nostalgia. He now uses the Liquid Earth moniker to bring that same intimate knowledge to the trippier corners of the cosmos.
With a seemingly endless trove of creativity and energy congealing behind the Liquid Earth project, Freels is poised to continue his take over of club land’s headiest and spaciest dance floors.