TuneLab
Joseph Ray - Sunset DJ Set
A ‘Sunset DJ Set’ live from ESCAPE, CA—the branding alone promises a certain windswept, cinematic grandeur, and Joseph Ray, one-third of NERO and a solo Anjunadeep staple, delivers exactly that: melodic house as widescreen drama. This is music for looking at horizons, real or imagined. The vibe is golden hour captured in sound, a gradual cooling of temperatures matched by a warming of the soul. Technically, it’s a beautifully eclectic journey through melodic and deep house, with global influences.
The average BPM is a cruising 124.2, and Joseph Ray expertly modulates between keys, spending significant time in the reflective 3B and the brighter 2A. The energy profile favors the mid-range (0.54) for its melodic storytelling, supported by a solid low-end (0.44), making it a dynamic yet consistently engaging listen. The crate is a global fusion feast. Jennifer Soothe’s ‘Underneath a Lunar Lullaby’ opens with ambient wonder.
Carole Abah’s ‘Zambe ane veve’ introduces vibrant, West African vocal loops, while TACHITO MAIZÓN’s ‘Mi Chica Virtual’ is a quirky, Latin-tinged tech-house detour. The centerpiece is the sprawling, nine-minute ‘The Rapture Pt.III x Discoteca’ by Santos Iturria, a progressive monster that builds and releases with tectonic patience. The journey begins in celestial ambience, builds through the cross-cultural rhythms of his collaboration with Lakou Mizik on ‘Bade Zile’, peaks with the epic release of ‘The Rapture’, and concludes with the organic, folk-infused house of their other collab, ‘Ogou (Pran Ka Mwen)’.