footwork/footwork/footwork

This is a compilation from the Teklife crew, a group of Chicago DJs and producers founded/led by the late (great) DJ Rashad. Teklife makes footwork, which is high-tempo heavy electronic dance music, usually in the 160 BPM range, and usually built around stuttery/spazzy drum-machine break beats (so more like the insanity of jungle than the steady 4/4 of house). And while that’s the default mode for the tracks on this compilation, it’s often a jumping off point, with many songs mutating that structure into spacier and weirder territory (and occasionally into even spazzier harsher territory). And while most of this is unpretentious functional dance music, it’s also totally weird and experimental (championed by Planet Mu and Warp Records types), and the catchiness of it often comes from things like bizarre repetitive vocal loops. If you’re into this sort of thing, the whole comp’s great (if you’re not, it’ll probably drive you up the fucking wall).

RIYL: frenetic 808s, Aphex’s unrestrained high-tempo stuff, playfully dark/aggressive catchy experimental dance music

1. starts with warm female vocals and halting drums, transitions into spazzy footwork with warm atmospheric pads and male vocals (imploring you to burn that kush). goes halftime at the midpoint and gets trappy and minimal. stays halftime for a bit in the last third as warm pads come back. 3:37
2. echoed wailing female vocal syllables from a couple different voices. rapid wash of kicks underneath, ticky cymbals. DnB snare runs flit in at points. some R&Bish guitar way in the background, not so noticeable except when the beat drops out at points. 4:07
3. bleepy keys and quick clinky cymbals open, then kicks enter with downward spiraling 8-bit synth. 8-bit firefight and massacre continues, warm electric piano pads enter in the background (reminiscent of that murky east coast hip-hop texture). zomby-esque. 3:13
4. nicks a trope popular with both house music and cut-up sampledelia, weaving in sermon snippets. fidgety pitched woodblocks, smeared snare rushes, ebbing and flowing cymbals, intermittent warm synth washes. kicks actually go a bit 4/4 at the end. funny bit of cynicism: the preacher’s asking for money the whole time. strangely catchy, stays looping in my brain. “i am excited!” 4:01
5. bouncing synth strings and galloping kicks to open, joined shortly by dry synth claps. the kicks really rush in just before 1:00 and it takes off. half time strings keep it grounded, as the kicks and snares keep churning and folding in on themselves. chills out for just a bit in the last quarter, but finishes full speed. 3:15
6. fuzzy ringing pads open, followed by a rapid 4/4 kick that starts decaying into something breaky. short male yelps chopped up in the background, dry snares start clicking in slowly around 1:00, followed by snaking high pitched synth line. the kicks disappear into a deep bassline and things chill out (and stay chill). synth strings start coming in around midway. 3:59
7. foreboding 8-bit dungeon synths and bouncing beat with occasional pitched percussion flourishes. kicks drop out at points and synth washes are left to echo with other percussion. definitely one of the chiller numbers. 4:49
8. cut up (sometimes over each other) phrases “lil mama” and “get buck”, half time snares and pulsing bassline. other vocal samples slowly enter later. high tempo like most of the other stuff, but doesn’t feel pushy because it doesn’t have that frenetic kick at all. bassline has a pleasant industrial machine hum. distributor says FCC, but it sounds like “get buck” (not “fuck”) to me (but i can see the confusion). 3:13
9. fast 4/4 kick, starts off like high speed techno. warm vocal pads enter around 0:50, wood blocks a little later. kicks start to become breaky and warm rolling percussive bassline comes up and sort of overshadows the kicks. kicks go 4/4 for a while again around halfway. 3:42
10. scratchy distorted vocal sample of the title opens, rolling kicks and bass come in around :30 with plinky woodblocks. half-time kicks and snares with a bit of a trappy feel come in just before 1:00, then intermittent plaintive syllable. picks up some jungly momentum around 1:40, but stays chill, keeps threatening to explode but stays restrained. 3:18
11. swirling filtery synth and trappy kicks and cymbals with looping male vocal sample (“ghettotech”?). vaguely middle-eastern flute (and maybe vocal) sample starts winding through. soft metallic percussion at points. kicks slowly get denser and some DnB snares start entering around a third in. beat drops out for a bit before the middle and comes back slightly mutated. other descending keys and percussive runs stop by in the second half. 4:38
12. warm bright rays of synth, spazzy kicks, and a snaking moog-like synth run threaded through it all. sounds like percussion sounds are run backwards for a while in the middle, with video game blurts and additional synth runs. the feel of the rhythm programming reminds me a little of daedelus or old AFX (never thought of those as similar before), keeps kind of folding in on itself and subtly shifting the way the same things are cut up and pitched. 3:18
13. frantically chopped titular vocal sample, frenetic kicks. cymbal rolls later on. enough reverb on the drums to fill the space, but no melodic elements. pushes the bass slightly harder than the rest, but this whole comp works the bass pretty hard. 2:49
14. FCC (“we are the shits” repeatedly) similar to the prior track till just before 2:00 (all kicks and chopped vocals). but then gets a nice dusky synth wash over the rest of it. kicks also change up and get a bit stuttery in parts. good track, maybe ok for safe harbor? 4:25
15. it actually feels a little more 16-bit to me, but whatever, it’s dope. bright synths like from a classic RPG, frenetic but controlled kicks, rolling bassline, clicky runs of cymbals and some other metal-on-metal sounds. synths swirl and pitch up and down throughout. 4:38
16. FCC (“my n---a”) glowing but subdued keys, chopped male and (raspy) female vocal sample interplay, the usual rapid-fire drums, but kicks drop out for stretches. a bit of house texture on the piano, but it’s all footwork rhythmically, and it has sort of an R&B feel overall. 3:21
17. FCC (“fuckin high” repeatedly) pulsing warm synths and funky half-time drums. some 90s hip-hop/R&B sampled female yelps way in the background. slow-rolling undulating bassline, truncated DnB snare runs flit in and out. steadily ticking cymbals enter later. 3:13
18. pulsing 4/4 bassline, rising synth, gives way to something more hiccuping/galloping after a bit. a touch of “EDM” flavor (but not too much). chopped vocal samples of the title. beat picks up and bassline goes 4/4 (and then starts breaking down again) later on. 2:52
19. warm ringing synth line, galloping almost soca inflected rhythm, occasional laser rays. other synths come and go, claps and other percussive elements enter for a bit just before 1:00, rhythm almost gets to being 4/4 for a bit just after 1:00, but breaks down again. synths mostly recede for a while at points. beat gets emphatic for a bit in the middle. 4:28
20. opens with a disco-housey piano line and 4/4 kicks, but sped up and tweaked the fuck out. drums decay to something breakier at points, but keep coming back to 4/4. chopped up sped up synth strings and diva wails (“you should know”). gets chopped all to hell in the middle, then goes half-time and trappy with screwed reggae vocals. goes back to manic at the end. like an avalanches song did a line, started to come down, and re-dosed. 3:48

recommended: 4, 10, 15, 20, 6, 12, 17, 5, 7, 3