We catch up with Dutch producers Freek Geuze and Wouter Simons, AKA GUZ, whose tech house rework of “Set U Free” just hit Beatport’s overall top spot.
Hello Freek and Wouter, congratulations on your first overall Beatport number one! Did you already have a chance to celebrate the news?
For sure! It’s not like we’re throwing a big party with all the restrictions at the moment in The Netherlands, but we surely celebrated the fantastic news!
“Set U Free” is your take on a ’90s house track — Kellee’s “My Love”. What’s your relationship to this track? What made you want to use it for your own track?
I was in a Zoom call last year with Mark van Nieuwenhuizen and Addy Addy van der Zwan (two producers from The Netherlands who are behind several hits), and they pointed me to this track. Of course, I knew it from back in the day, but I never really thought of it as a sample for GUZ. The energy of the diva type of vocal works so well with the groove and the ravey stabs.
Instead of sampling the original, you decided to have the vocal hook re-recorded. Can you tell us a little bit about the production process to “Set U Free”?
There weren’t any acapellas to be found, so I extracted the vocal, so it was isolated enough to make a setup with it. After that, we cleared the publishing and had it resung. We actually made a little reel on Instagram how we blended all the elements together.
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“Set U Free” is coming out on your two-year-old label Sink or Swim. You already had a couple of outstanding records out, for example, by John Summit, but at the moment, you’ve got not only one but two hits — the other one being Don’t Blink’s “Vibration”. Is this all part of a big plan?
Well, I think every label has a plan to be successful, but it’s so good to see it all come together at some point. “Vibration” is such a pumping groove, Wouter played it in literally every set, and the DJ feedback said sort of the same. I think that might be the ingredient of these tracks. They are not too corny for one group of DJs, but also not too deep and complicated for the other group. And yes, we surely have a bigger plan, next month, we will collaborate with Ferreck Dawn, and this Friday, the brand new Don’t Blink release will be out exclusively on Beatport, so very exciting times are coming up!
Have you been more productive over the last ten months due to the lack of touring?
Well, for Freek, it doesn’t really make a difference because he doesn’t tour anyway. Wouter was able to be more involved in the process now, which is good because you have an extra pair of ears in the studio. The streaming events we have done have been nice and fun, but let’s be honest, we all want to go back to crowded festivals and sweaty clubs as soon as it’s safe enough to do so!
