Content Pack — Deep House 12" Records

Pick a legendary deep house label (Prescription, Guidance, Strictly Rhythm, Nervous, Peacefrog, Freerange — your call / your stock). Build a 30–45 min set using ONLY that label's 12"s. Open with the pinned comment: "Every record in this set is on [Label]." Hold each sleeve to camera as it goes on. Title names the label.

Dig the bargain bins / charity shops / car boots for deep & soulful house 12"s. Build a set only from records that cost under a fiver. On-screen tag each record with what you paid. The message: great deep house doesn't need deep pockets.

Feature your single rarest / most-wanted deep house 12". Title names it outright. Tell its 20-second story before you drop it: label, year, why it's hard to find, what you paid vs what it's worth now. Then let it play. This is your highest-ceiling video — the record IS the hook.

Partner with a local record shop. Film a set in-store; the shop gets exposure, you get a venue + stock to pull from. Everything played is in-store and buyable — caption links the shop. This is the format doing numbers right now (Buenos Aires Wax "In Store Sessions", Wax Lounge).

Everyone argues about what deep house is. So here's the blueprint, on one record. [Play a Mr Fingers / Larry Heard-lineage record.] Hear that? The warm electric-piano chords. The space — it's not busy, it breathes. Around 118–122 BPM. Soul on top, machine underneath. That's "deep". Not a genre of loudness — a genre of feeling. Everything else is a debate about how far you can stretch it.

Play two records back to back — a deep house cut and a tech house cut. The deep one leads with CHORDS and mood. The tech one leads with the GROOVE — the percussion and the bassline are the hook, not the harmony. Same tempo, totally different centre of gravity. Once you hear it, you can't un-hear it.

Play a 1987 Chicago cut, a 2013 chart "deep house" record, and a current one. Talk about how the label got stretched — the 2012–14 boom slapped "deep house" on everything. Purists say only one of these qualifies. Don't declare a winner. Ask THEM. This is the "is deep house still alive?" debate in 60 seconds.

Rapid-fire: pull one record for each sub-style, 8–10 seconds each, name it and its flavour. This is a mini-map of the whole genre in a minute — and a natural "save this" post. Point people to the full directory (see end note) for the deep dive.

Discogs grading, in plain English, with a real record under the light: • MINT (M) — sealed, never played. Rare, be suspicious. • NEAR MINT (NM) — looks unplayed, no marks. What everyone OVER-claims. • VG+ — light marks you can see but barely hear. The honest workhorse grade. • VG — audible surface noise. A player, not a collector's copy. Tilt it to the light — those hairlines? That's not NM, that's VG+. Grade the sound, not the hope.

Flip the record, look at the smooth ring between the last track and the label — the run-out / matrix. Those scratched letters and numbers are the pressing's fingerprint. Match them against the Discogs release page to know EXACTLY which pressing you're holding. Original first press vs a later repress can be 10× the value — and the runout is how you prove it. Never buy a "rare original" from a photo that hides the runout.

Three patterns to know: 1. The fake tracking — seller sends a tracking number that isn't addressed to you, to fake "shipped". Check the delivery address on the carrier site. 2. The too-cheap grail — a rare record priced way under market from a new/low-feedback seller. Real deals exist; this usually isn't one. 3. The "wrong house" non-delivery — as a seller, always keep proof-of-delivery photos. Rule: buy from sellers with real feedback history, pay so you're protected, screenshot everything.

The right way to post a 12": • Take the record OUT of the sleeve and tape the sleeve opening — stops seam-splits and the record punching through in transit. • Two stiffeners, record sandwiched, in a proper record mailer (not a padded envelope). • Tape the mailer flap; corners are where damage happens. Do this and "arrived smashed" basically disappears — protecting your feedback and your buyer.