Two weeks ago, Sunday Sounds looked at Chicago’s drill music scene, it’s own particular local spin on the trap sound that has dominated American hip-hop over the last few years.
Of course, over the last thirty years Chicago has been much better-known internationally for its contributions to electronic music than for the produce of its rap scene (even though Chicago has produced one of the most famous rappers of them all in the douche-tacular shape of Kanye West). So today I just wanted to throw up a few mixes of Chicago juke music, the hyper-speed polythythmic sound that has inspired producers all over the world in the last few years. It’s also been the soundtrack to a unique style of dancing called footworking, which was born in Chicago’s ghettos and is, frankly, pretty amazing to watch (as well as mind-bogglingly complicated) – I’ve also posted a documentary on that, too.
Last weekend, Dyzphazia and DJ Hellfury released FFMEP001, the first Freeformatted EP, as a follow up from the excellent Freeformatted Vol. 2 compilation album. This EP contains remixes of some of the tracks from the album, and features not just freeform, but also psy-trance and chill-out stuff as well.
And all for the can’t-be-beaten price of FREE!
Tracklisting:
Evolutionize – Pain (Alchemiist Remix)
MHX – Gray Death (Kranic vs Tekbet Remix)
MHX – Gray Death (Sky Dragon Remix)
MHX – Gray Death (Blue Phoenix’s After Life Remix)
Nomic – Innocence (Evolutionize Remix)
Qygen – Supersonic Speed 2013 (DJ Triex Remix)
Here’s three tracks from the almighty Dom Angas, aka Dom & Roland, aka one of the finest techstep producers of them all (check his recent banger Unofficial Jahhere) – but not tracks under his best-known alter-ego. Nope, these tracks are all undercover Dom – but still with that same amazing quality that has been his hallmark for so many years.
Here’s some excellent new school jungle sounds from Brooklyn/Toronto label Liondub. This Street Series of releases really capture the essence of classic jungle while still remaining modern and not slavishly imitating the sounds of 20 years ago. Drum n’ bass has really had a renaissance over the last couple of years, and it’s great to hear so many producers drawing inspiration from the past in order to move the music forward.
This week’s edition of Freeform Friday is all about celebrating those classic bits of freeform that never saw wax, for whatever reason. Some have since emerged as free MP3’s (never quite the same thing), some remain in limbo, and some, well, seem to be lost forever.
I’ll start with two tracks from Sharkey’s mix on Bonkers 3, which was, imo, perhaps the single best edition in that hallowed series.
Young girl playing in a South Side Chicago back yard. Photo by Justin Maxon
One thing I’ve been listening to a little bit on YouTube recently is quote-unquote drill music, Chicago’s take on the trap sound. Basically, it’s heavy 808 bass, moody atmospherics, crispy snares, and rapping about shooting people (i.e. the usual gangster rap staples). I’ve never been someone who cares about lyrics, so the ultra-violent lyrical content basically makes no impression on me (I mean, I hardly pay attention to it). Having said that, I’m obviously not the target audience for the music, being as I am from a very different background to the guys making this music.
Most of the commentary about the music that I’ve read talks about the lyrics, the rappers, and the connections to the very high crime rates on Chicago’s poorer South and West Sides (Chicago has some of the roughest neighborhoods in America). Which I guess is fair enough, that’s what a lot of musical journalism about – placing music in a socio-political context, exploring the urban reality, blah blah blah. But I’m not a music journalist, so for me what’s interesting about the music is not the lyrics, but the music, which BANGS. As a long-term fan of really bass-heavy electronic music, some of these productions are just fucking excellent (if sometimes sadly featuring the horrors of autotune).
One thing for me that’s interesting about this is that this is the first time I can think of that Chicago has become a major rap city – obviously it’s electronic music heritage is well-established, from house to acid to ghetto house and on to juke, but besides individual stars like Kanye West it’s not really been a major city for rap music in America. Something that has obviously changed now.
Anyways, some of these tunes are pretty cool. Here’s four I’ve picked out for you to check:
One of the great bonuses of the existence of Discogs and YouTube is that you can use the two services to discover all kinds of amazing music.
Case in point: DJ Dub Rush. The other day I was casually going through a Discogs seller’s list of available ’94 jungle and adding items to my cart (no joke, I have like 100 items in my Discogs cart at any given moment), when I discovered a rather pricey item by someone called DJ Dub Rush.
Look, I consider myself reasonably well informed about jungle, but I’ve never heard of this guy.
So, interest piqued by the combo of stiff price tag and obscure artist name, off to YouTube I went, eager to have a listen.
Whoa …
Damn, this guy made some SERIOUS tunes.
I mean really. Some of the finest jungle I’ve heard. Full stop.
Yet funnily enough, almost no info on this guy exists online – a very cursory Google search found only one post from Blog to the Old Skool. Still, it doesn’t matter, because these tunes are so insanely excellent.
If you’ve been hanging around these parts for a while you’ll know that I love Metalheadz, particularly their mid-90’s golden age.
Although those days can’t ever be adequately recaptured, what’s cool is that they are still soldiering on all these years later and, in my humble opinion, have hit a real purple patch of quality music recently. This is that classic technical Metalheadz sound updated for a new era – pure machine music for dark sweaty rooms. So this edition of Sunday Sounds is all about celebrating the modern Metalheadz sound … here are five killer tracks from Dom & Roland, Om Unit, Jubei, Mikal, and Artificial Intelligence. Enjoy!
Happy Friday! I’m very happy to announce that I am starting a new feature, Freeform Friday, which will (when I get around to doing it!) feature freeform mixes and tracks, new and old.
To kick things off, here’s Beezee vs Alderz from last week’s edition of the Freeformaniacs show
Tracklisting:
Carbon Based – Ancestor (170 Mix)
Pearsall – Dreaming Of Berlin
Substanced – Crank Cleopatra (2012 Mix)
Transcend – Universe
Nomic – Rule Breaker
DJ RX – Hellfire (Betwixt & Between Remix)
Narkotik – The Fucking Shit
Alchemiist – Empire
Le Dos On – Sanctuary
Twisted Frequency – Innocence (AMS remix)
Nightforce – Second Redemption 09
Re-Form – My Sickness
Three bits of site news first, then some music. As of today I’ve decided to change the Sunday Sounds format to post newer stuff I dig, with Tuesday Time Machine reserved for older stuff.
I’ve set up a Tumblr at sonicrampage.tumblr.com/ to post various tunes and whatnot. Tumblr is a strange place, full of lunatics, but I like the flexibility of the format, so I want to do some experimentation
Now that that’s out of the way, here are four deeper tunes from Om Unit, Kromestar & Jay 5ive, Actress, and Anton F for your Sunday. I’ve been listening to a lot of these sorts of tunes recently – I guess I’m getting old and a bit more relaxed, but they do make excellent commuting and working music.
