2016 was a huge year for Red Rack'em with his smash hit 'Wonky Bassline Disco Banger' being hammered by just about everybody all over the place. It's been one of the biggest tracks of the year so far in the underground scene with The Black Madonna professing it as her 'track for the summer' on Pete Tongs Miami special on Radio 1 and a whole host of other DJs (including MCDE, Mr Scruff, Mano Le Tough and Detroit Swindle) jumping on board it's cracked out and super fresh take on disco house. Wonky Bassline is the culmination of a producer spending years honing his craft and while the world was justifiably going crazy to it, Danny Berman was quietly putting the final touches to his first 'proper' Red Rack'em artist album, which is aptly titled 'Self Portrait'. Released on his own label Bergerac 'to retain complete creative freedom', the album is a super personal journey through the many facets of house, disco and club music that Berman has explored in his 22 years as a DJ and 10 years of releases for Philomena, Ramp, Phonica, Wolf Music, City Fly and of course on his own labels Bergerac and Nettles. Focussing on sample heavy, off kilter yet danceable grooves, it's an extended trip through the mind of a true auteur who truly has his own unique perspective of what house music should sound like and how it should function in the club. Berman says that he was working on the album over a period of 'at least 4 years' and the music has been specially selected from 'stacks of tracks' so rest assured only the best has made the cut. The artwork comes from an old high school friend Abby Smith who got in touch with Danny via Facebook and asked if she could paint him. As it was the first contact they had had for many years, it seemed like fate and created the album concept - a true musical self portrait. The album opens with 'April Fool', an optimistic, sweet jam with a sun drenched halcyon feel. Super emotional and built for those eyes closed moments on the dancefloor. 'Hot Weekend' features NZ ice queen City Hayes on vocals - this is a full on Detroit influenced monster with a rolling breakbeat and vintage Planet E/Recloose vibes. Hayes sings of debauched times while the music simultaneously peaks out on a UPS. Big! ‘Something That I Thought About ' shows Bermans thoughtful side. Super deep yet driving with a slightly melodic techno feel. 'I want you to show me how to love you every day' ‘Wonky Bassline Disco Banger' is present here in its full form but comes with a brand new intro constructed from a fan video. A monster of a track which drops again and again - Danny shows us just how far you can stretch the disco house formula to explore new heights. Side B closes with 'Mad House' which is a super sinister, garage influenced warehouse banger designed to wreck the discotheque. Sinister rolling hi hats and held notes build the tension while offbeat snares and staccato bass slap the listener round the head. ‘Tomato Pope' is another biggie which harks back to the Africanism days with its North African influenced sound. Huge swinging beats, a system testing bassline and dubby delays make for an almighty party smasher which is sure to see plenty of play. Tomato Pope indeed…. Several years ago Red Rack'em interviewed Detroit legend Rick Wade on his much loved Smugglers Inn Radio show. During the interview, Rick reminisced about his teenage years listening to music and imagining how he could present this fascinated feeling to other people in a club context. The rest is history for Rick and it's the inspiration for 'The Music'. As well as featuring Ricks spoken words on the track it's a heads down Deep House number which is not a million miles away from some of the early Rick Wade tracks which influenced Berman. Cosmic disco house anthem alert…'Kos Mich' is a track which Rack'em has been testing out at gigs over the last couple of years and it's also had quite a lot of other labels requesting to release it as well. But thankfully, it's place on the album is safe. This is another big club track with that elusive deep yet big room feel. Kos Mich baby! Things slow down a touch with 'Sel' but the club wrecking ball potential remains. This is Danny demonstrating his well-rehearsed beat down skills with a super swampy, bluesy hoe down of a track which is already picking up a lot of attention from recent club plays. More of a slow BANG than a slow Jam. ‘You Used To Make Me Feel' closes the album with an off the wall dissection of why some people choose to have sex. 'I like to do it to unwind' professes Berman while the beats skitter and scatter before resolving into something resembling a normal beat.