Its sample-delic Technicolour sound sits beautifully with the collage art of De La Soul’s 1989 album ‘3 Feet High and Rising’, but also foreshadows the cut-and-paste production puzzles that The Avalanches would make their own two decades later.
‘Groove is in the Heart’ is a patchwork quilt of influences, from funk to house, pop to jazz, that shouldn’t work together but somehow do. What makes it all the better is how utterly unlikely the song is, a work of pop art that sounds perfectly of its time and eerily prescient. Slice ‘Groove is in the Heart’ in two and it bleeds good vibes and rubbery, melodic funk. The New York group’s classic track is infectious, euphoric, nigh-on impossible to dislike.
In 2017, Cherry Red reissued World Clique in a deluxe set that featured a generous amount of remixes and an interview with Kier.In a dance music world fractured into sub genres and micro niches, there are two things that unite global clubbers in love and admiration: a well organised cloakroom, and Deee-Lite’s ‘Groove is in the Heart’, which celebrates its 30th birthday this year. The group's members pursued separate careers as DJs Dmitry relocated to Berlin, where he also worked as a producer, while Tei continued his solo career and also played in Metafive, a supergroup featuring Cornelius' Keigo Oyamada and members of Yellow Magic Orchestra and Denki Groove. After the release of 1996's remix album Sampladelic Relics and Dancefloor Oddities, Deee-Lite disbanded. Kier and Dmitry, meanwhile, enlisted DJ Ani for 1994's Dewdrops in the Garden, a sensual outing influenced by the growing rave culture. Towa Towa left the group soon after rechristened Towa Tei, he released his solo debut, Future Listening, in 1995. With their 1992 follow-up, Infinity Within, Deee-Lite's music turned overtly political as songs touched base with hot topics like the environment, safe sex, and democracy. In 1990, they debuted with the album World Clique, a crossover smash thanks to hits like the loping classic "Groove Is in the Heart" (featuring the fluid bass of Bootsy Collins and the saxophone of Maceo Parker) and "Power of Love." Formed in 1986, the trio was led by vocalist Lady Miss Kier (born Kieren Kirby in Youngstown, Ohio) and fleshed out by a pair of DJs, Super DJ Dmitry (a classically trained guitarist and Russian emigre born Dmitry Brill) and Jungle DJ Towa Towa (born Doug Wa-Chung in Tokyo, Japan).įusing house, techno, rap, ambient, and funk music with an outrageous visual flair largely influenced by the drag queen community (Kier's fondness for Fluevog platform shoes helped the '70s fashion revival gather steam), Deee-Lite became hugely popular among New York club denizens, and the trio's own unique cultural make-up earned them a following which ignored racial and sexual boundaries. With the massive popularity of their hit single "Groove Is in the Heart," Deee-Lite brought the colorful sights and sounds of New York's club culture into the mainstream.