DJ Rashad - Double Cup

Label: Hyperdub

One might have assumed that with its breathless pace, demented vocal sampling and rough, DIY nature, the Chicago-born juke sound wouldn’t have the staying power of some of clubland’s more considered genres. Yet since its inception nearly twenty years ago the style has shown no signs of slowing down, and following its arrival on UK shores a few years ago juke has gone from strength to strength. Much of the genre’s appeal lies with the prolific nature of its key practitioners, many of whom ally themselves with Chi-town’s Teklife crew: an outfit who trade ideas and collaborations at breakneck speed, spitting out explosive tracks at a dazzling rate, many of them certified club-weapons.

Footwork’s success can in many ways be accounted for by this community spirit and creative fertility. Yet of all of Teklife’s members, it’s Rashad Harden who has proven most exciting sonically over the past few years. A US transplant now based in London, DJ Rashad’s two EPs for Hyperdub this year have shown a keen interest in genre cross-pollination, and it is this embracing of generic mutations which has placed his productions a cut above the rest, on the likes of jungle-indebted tear-stepper Let It Go or the menacingly abstract I Don’t Give A Fuck.

Album Clips

With Double Cup, DJ Rashad introduces a range of new sonic influences to his malleable footwork mould. Soul is still a major touchstone, from the dreamy bliss of opener Feelin to the breathily sensual Let U No (whose Floetry sample will be only too recognisable to fans of Eats Everything’s anthemic Entrance Song). Yet the softness of these tracks is new: Rashad eschews the jagged edges of footwork’s vocal cuts for a smoother ride, resulting in a more polished, accessible collection of tracks. Yet dancers need not fear: Rashad is still concerned with the ‘floor, and the astounding vocal and percussive acrobatics across the album make for a constantly-shifting tapestry of engaging, foot-spasming sound. The remarkable vocal manipulations in Rashad’s work are particularly striking, from the pitched-down trap references of Drank, Kush, Barz to the manic snips of First Choice-tribute Every Day Of My Life.

These funk-soaked moments are certainly beautifully constructed, but Rashad’s reliance on his Teklife team of collaborators at times feels as if he’s retreading old ground – some of the Spinn collaborations in particular sound like lost cuts from Rashad’s last LP, Teklife Volume 1 . These are still solid tracks, but for the sake of novelty the LP’s less predictable moments consistently prove its best. I Don’t Give A Fuck is as striking now as it was when first released over the summer, its ominous test-tone lead making for one of the album’s most blistering highlights. The only other solo offering from Rashad, Reggie, is another strong outing: a disorientating string sample searing a bed of jittery, ever-shifting percussion. Of all these exciting experimentations Addison Groove collaboration Acid Bit is the strangest cut of the lot, and whether the listener finds the fiery acid lines storming or tracky will depend on individual disposition. Later the LP’s closing collaboration with Earl also offers an interesting diversion, as a fantastically listless vocal sample is run through a blender over simmering chords, insistent synth stabs and frenzied breakbeats. Here it sounds as if Rashad’s thrown as much as he possibly could into a single track, and it’s a credit to his artistic ingenuity that it all works so well.

As with any hour-long collection of club-focused music, particularly one at such a hyperactive pace, Double Cup can be exhausting to listen to all at once. Yet as a survey of the current status of footwork – its soul-indebted past, its hip-hop-inflected present and its uncertain, hybrid future– it’s an invaluable, remarkably coherent statement.

8/10

Machinedrum - Vapor City

Label: Ninja Tune

If Travis Stewart is one thing, he’s prolific. A veteran of the New York and Berlin scenes, Stewart’s stream of strong releases is matched only by his collaborative material, both with Jimmy Edgar as JETS and with Braille as Sepalcure. Yet even considering his reputation as a restlessly talented producer, Stewart’s career remains an anomaly: how many artists are capable of both producing for a mainstream rapper and securing a hallowed 5/5 from dance authority Resident Advisor? The album in question, 2011’s superb Room(s) on Planet Mu, hints at the explanation. Here Stewart cemented his trademark sounds – urgent, jukey percussion and colourful melodies – in a work which fused countless styles into a dazzling hybrid. Here was a producer obviously forward-thinking but also impressively versatile, leaving a pair of enormous shoes to fill for follow-up LP Vapor City.

The album in question is a concept piece of sorts, each track a soundtrack to neighbourhoods of a city that Stewart frequently visits in his dreams. It bears many of the traits of Room(s), from the still-fresh fusion of juke and jungle to the blissed-out melodies which adroitly counterpoint the frantic rhythms. Obviously these sounds can’t be as captivating second time around, but Stewart does a good job of it, offering a worthy successor which perhaps only suffers from a narrowed focus compared to its predecessor.

Gunshotta

As on the memorable She Died There, Vapor City opens with a compelling sense of desolation in the form of Gunshotta’s frosty junglism. Here throaty bass growls beneath roiling breaks, later adorned by a spitfire ragga vocal loop which brings the dread inna 90’s style. From here on out it’s largely a smoother journey, as Stewart offers softened breakbeats, liberally adorned with breathy vocals and emotive melodic movements. It’s an interesting approach, particularly given that the current hardcore revival tends to revel in the style’s toughness and menace, and at first proves refreshing. The technique is perfected on the heavenly Center Your Love, where delicate breaks tumble beneath sweetened guitar and lilting female vocals, before giving way to Stewart’s trademark frothing rave chords.

These softer numbers make for pretty listening, but the formula grows weary as the album progresses: the sweeter concoctions, from Infinite Us to Seesea via Don’t 1 2 Lose You, shine less brightly when placed next to their similar brethren. It’s unfortunate, because this is clearly the work of an eminently talented producer – the acrobatic vocal manipulations of Seesea are a case in point.

Eyesdontlie

The mood may get a bit lost somewhere across the album’s midsection, but Stewart re-takes the reins for Vapor City’s outstanding final suite. U Still Lie is an insant winner, where echo-chamber futurism takes form with a slow trip hop swagger, as half-heard rocker’s croons (perhaps Stewart’s own?) are slowly submerged by a glistening 80s synthline. In an album which brings tropes of dance music past so determinedly into the future, it’s a gorgeous moment of retro fervour which warrants repeated spins.

This leads straight onto the straight-up album highlight Eyesdontlie, a killer fusion which twins pitch-bent vocal loops over steel-plated snares to intoxicating effect. These two tracks, along with Gunshotta, show just how brilliant Machinedrum sounds when he lets the darkness in, and many might wish he did so a little bit more. Any tourist will find something to love in Stewart’s well-realised dreamscape, and while it might not mark a huge departure from the sound of Room(s), it proves another welcome exploration of the mind of the restless artist.  Ultimately though, while the album's lovestruck compositions are undeniably attractive, they lack the weight and memorability of those vital trips to Vapor City’s roughest neighbourhoods.

7.5/10

DJ Rashad - I Don't Give A Fuck

Label: Hyperdub

I Don’t Give A Fuck isn’t just the name of DJ Rashad’s second EP for Hyperdub, it’s a mission statement. We all know what to expect from footwork by now: those frenetic vocal dissections and epileptic snare rolls make for a nauseous trip shot through with soul; the sound has resulted in some of the most forward-thinking dance music of the last few years. Yet after 40 seconds, the release’s title track lets loose a keening high-frequency synth pattern cast over nihilistic vocal snips – ‘I don’t give a fuck about you… I don’t give a fuck about myself’. Gone are the soft pads, the chopped diva vocals; the prevailing mood here is angst, a bleak paranoia closer to London’s distinctive sound than footwork has ever before ventured. Over the course of this EP, Rashad lets loose a series of brusque, masterful sketches that offer a dissection of juke past and future, making for another thrilling statement from the genre’s most electrifying producer.

Footwork landed in the UK a couple of years back thanks to Planet Mu’s Bangs & Works collection, and Hyperdub’s Kode9 quickly caught the bug – not only in his mixes and productions, but also in his choice of signings to the esteemed label. Chicago veteran DJ Rashad’s first Hyperdub offering, the Rollin’ EP, was some of the best juke to see release this side of the pond, showcasing an authentic cross-pollination of styles as footwork left Chi-town and started rubbing shoulders with the likes of jungle, dubstep and garage.

Brief they may be, but each of Rashad’s new offerings leaves a strong impression in its churning wake. After the titular solo effort, a trio of the genre’s finest make for a series of breathless collaborations. First Rashad recruits regular partner DJ Spinn for the exquisitely programmed Brighter Dayz, where a deconstructed vocal is stripped and treated, woven with barbed precision across a field of warm pads and hollow drum rolls. Later Freshmoon helps Rashad spin out the most surprising of vocal samples in a tongue-in-cheek cross-section of jungle breaks and bright synthwork. While the track in question, Everybody, perhaps lacks the seriousness and power of its sibling tunes, the choice of vocal stands as a clear example of the restlessness and sonic adventurousness that makes each of Rashad's releases such a thrilling surprise.

The EP’s final cut, a collaboration with DJ Manny, is perhaps the straightest juke joint of the lot, yet loses nothing for its traditionalism. Here a Mary J Blige vocal is twisted seductively around a remarkably polished field of shifting synth notes, rattling snares and canned drum rolls. While some of Chicago’s juke practitioners have released in the UK before, particular on the Planet Mu imprint, few have taken to the UK’s sonic lineage as gracefully as DJ Rashad. As a result, with each consecutive release one sees a real ambition to expand and explore the genre’s potential in a new context. It appears that after fifteen years of practice, juke is finally ready to leave Chicago.

7/10

Dawn Day Night – Dawn Day Night EP

Label: Astrophonica

Fusing the high-tempo genres of Juke and DnB might doesn’t seem like the wildest stretch of the imagination, but it’s still surprising how few producers have managed to get this one right. Aside from Dream Continuum’s EP from earlier this year, perhaps only one song has really stuck out in this niche genre-threshold; Fracture’s summer highlight Get Busy, which featured mysterious producer Dawn Day Night. Here the collaborator is setting out his own mission statement on his debut EP, and it proves for a frantic and intoxicating injection of dancefloor madness.

 

EP Clips

These four tracks run an impressive range, racing between genres while never sounding anything but part of a powerful, cohesive sound. Opener Alcoholic Dance Flow ricochets between DnB and Juke beat tropes, the Amen break battling for space with strong keys and a perfect vocal hook. Although there’s a lot going on here, it never sounds overloaded, retaining a balance that would surely churn up any dancefloor into a state of frenzy. The DnB break is traded for a Hip Hop equivalent as Dennis Coffey’s 1971 classic Scorpio is twisted into a manic footwork number on second cut Death of Scorpio.

Not one to rest on his laurels, the next genre Dawn Day Night targets is Ghetto Tech in the weighty Big Booty Girls, where serrated basslines duel for prominence with an impressive array of percussive tweaks and a perfect call-and-reply vocal. His talent for twisting existing genre tropes to this twisted new fusion is never less than superb, so it makes sense that it’s only on final track Voodoo Vibe, which again nods to big jungle beats that we’re perhaps left wanting more, having been spoiled by variety in the first three tunes. The slight dissatisfaction with the closer does nothing to diminish the breathless power of this unhinged debut, making this one an essential listen for anyone curious about the blurred borders between genres in our current music scene.

8.5/10

Jets – Jets

Label: Leisure System

One of the most hotly anticipated collaborations of the year finally arrives as Jimmy Edgar (responsible for the funky sleaze odyssey Majenta) and Travis Stewart (aka Machinedrum producer of last year’s magnificent Room(s)), finally take their 12-year friendship to the next level on a collaborative release. The idea of two of dance music’s most distinctive voices teaming up may at first sound a little conceptually jarring, but the Jets project is assuredly greater than the sum of its parts, as the pair fuse their sounds into a breathless, colourful and contrasting four-track EP.

 

Lock Lock Key (clip)

It kicks off with the powerful mission statement In Her City; where colourful synth stabs bounce on a bed of clicking percussion, before the tune takes off with a breezy, iridescent synthline and expertly manipulated vocals. Recalling Edgar’s flirting with IDM and pretty much all of Machinedrum’s output, these tunes never sit still; there’s a restless energy that means each track is constantly shifting and mutating, individual elements and colours jostling for attention without it ever feeling cluttered. Second track Sin Love With You hits a little harder; Stewart’s established technique of call-and-response between big synths and clipped vocals reigns free for the first half before a funky synthline that is all Edgar emerges later in the track. It’s the distinctiveness of the producers’ voices that make this such an exciting collaboration; you can hear each artist’s sound but the audible conversation between styles creates a fluid whole.

 

Meu (clip)

The precision that both producers have brought to the table in previous releases is present here but is never stifling, as these four cuts deftly tread the line between complex and spontaneous, giving out copious ear candy while always keeping a tight grip on those core grooves. Final cut Lock Lock Key is the most restless of the bunch, going through at least four distinct phases before finally settling into a warm, effortlessly classy and chilled final stretch. While these three tracks feel like the quality output of two distinct producers, its on the pacing standout Meu where we get a glimpse of a more exciting cohesion. Here the duo turn down the brightness for a kinetic workout that trades jukey rhythms with tight vocal-work and the late emergence of a showstopping synthline. The Jets EP is bright, explosive and consistently thrilling, and it should leave listeners hoping that this is only the beginning of this intensely fruitful collaboration

8.5/10