Michael Hirtzer

You can take the man out of Detroit but you can’t take Detroit out of the man. So it goes for Matthew Chicoine, aka Recloose, a Michigan native who relocated to Wellington, New Zealand just as his popularity stateside was starting to grow.

Chicoine’s music, while certainly informed by Detroit techno dons like Carl Craig and Juan Atkins, always had a softer, mellower bounce than his Motor City contemporaries.

He famously got a record deal by slipping Craig a tape inside a sandwich at the deli where Chicoine was a short-order cook—the so-called "demo on rye." A few years later, he released his debut album, 2002’s "Cardiology," on Craig’s Planet E imprint. The record eschews the paranoia and cocaine heartbeats of techno for a collection of varying tempos, from house to funk to jazz, all with a shimmery, summer vibe. Shortly before the time the record came out, Chicoine moved to New Zealand to live with a woman he fell for at a DJ gig in Australia. The two have a son together, 4-year-old Manahi.

"New Zealand is nice but I miss America sometimes," Chicoine says from Detroit where he was visiting friends and "trying to loose my Kiwi accent." He said he misses comforts like burritos and basketball. He even stopped by his old job, where he pitched in the kitchen. "They were short a grill cook, so I jumped on," he says.

Wellington’s lack of a large DJ culture allows Chicoine to immerse himself in the more reggae and roots music popular in New Zealand. He scored a hit with "Dust," an Afrobeat house stomper, featuring Joe Dukie of the New Zealand group Fat Freddie’s Drop, and Chicoine channeling Fela Kuti on the saxophone.

He also formed the Recloose Live Band, and plans to release his second album on the Peace Frog label in October. In the U.S. on a DJ tour, Chicoine says he favors party music, like late-1970s funk, "music for girls," he says.

Chicoine says he enjoys his adopted home, without the cutthroat music industry. His biggest critic in New Zealand is his son. "In some ways I like to hibernate a little, to not be overly concerned with what’s going on," he says.

Recloose joins resident DJs Josh Deep & Dom Ritmo for The Get Down at Sonotheque, 1444 West Chicago, (312)226-7600, on June 30 at 9pm. Visit sonotheque.net for more info.

(2007-06-26)

Also by Michael Hirtzer

Spin Control
Hip-hop is Princess Superstar's first love, but that didn't stop her from trying her hand in the grand tradition of ballroom serenades. See her gentle come-on, "Fuck Me On the Dancefloor"
(2007-04-03)

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