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Ways Of Seeing is another Konx-om-Pax full-length helmed by beat-driven electronic compositions and sci-fi synths, a newly-streamlined sonic aesthetic hints at cues taken from minimal and dub techno.
This is a monochrome variation of the album artwork to coincide with the release of the LP, available exclusively through Bleep.
Printed on Gildan Ultra shirts.
Planet Mu was also instrumental in spreading the word of footwork and juke as it transmitted across the Atlantic from its Chicago birthplace. They released music from originators like DJ Rashad and Spinn, and practitioners who followed like Chrissy Murderbot and Machinedrum. 2010’s Bangs & Works Vol.1: A Chicago Footwork Compilation would become a landmark release in the genre’s history.
DJ Manny arrived on Planet Mu via similar routes. Best known for footwork and juke takes, his recent record Signals In My Head also melds elements of r&b and classic US House to dazzling effect. ‘You All I Need’ in particular is a sunrise house track which taps subtly and sweetly into the spirit of the Paradise Garage days.
320 kbps, LAME-encoded
The world of footwork is full of unsung heroes, but few come as seismic as DJ Manny — and Signals In My Head may just be the breakthrough he deserves. Billed as an “R&B love type of album,” Manny does away with bullish bravado and makes footwork into the material of tender freakiness, utilising an array of slick samples to adorn the frenetic, mind-bending percussion we’re accustomed to hearing. There’s still plenty of sorta-G-Funk vibes going on with the likes of ‘Club GTA’ and ‘Smoke ’n’ Fade Away’, and elsewhere Manny concocts some straight-up dancefloor fire with ‘That Thang’ and its ilk.
Jana Rush’s new record Painful Enlightenment carries the torch of those pioneers - it’s a blaze of bass-loaded and sample-heavy workouts in the footwork mould. It also dips heavily into themes of depression, and was very much a labour of love. In Paradinas’ words, Painful Enlightenment had “a long gestation period, going through maybe three or four variations before settling on its final form.”
ZIQ428
320 kbps, LAME-encoded
After an on-again-off-again relationship with producing some of Chicago’s most forward-thinking footwork/juke, in addition to holding down day jobs working as an oil refinery chemical engineer and a cat scan technician, producer Jana Rush finally returns with her second LP Painful Enlightenment — and it’s even more than we could’ve hoped for. Disturbing, challenging and completely groundbreaking; this record is like a Rorschach test for the listener, inviting myriad approaches and viewpoints.
The drum pads come at you with frenetic precision as is to be extended from footwork, but the distinguishing factor of Painful Enlightenment is Rush’s bold use of samples and avant-garde sense of pace, which inspire both beauty and discomfort in equal measure. The chopped up free jazz sax snippets of ‘Moanin’’ are fearsome and bludgeoning, while the orgiastic wails of ‘G-Spot’ (which must be heard to be believed) and the strangely violent beat-‘em-up yelps of epic 9-minute endurance run ‘Suicidal Ideation’ turn the sexual bravado of ghetto tech firmly on its head, finding untold tenderness in the profane, and unspeakable horrors in the quotidian.
For all its layers, Painful Enlightenment is a remarkably joyous record about overcoming personal struggle. It’s testimony to Rush’s extraordinary sensibilities that it also happens to sound like a milestone of footwork — if not electronic music itself.
Up next in September comes Established! - the latest record from Chicago’s RP Boo, who first appeared on volume one of the label’s Bangs & Works compilation in 2010, and has steadily released solo records on the label since 2013. “I’ve been working with RP for a decade now,” explains Paradinas. “Artists like him or Jlin, they just have the raw talent I am looking for.” After discussions of releasing compilations of classics and unreleased material, a new album, which became Established!, was agreed upon instead. “He felt he had to prove himself with new material ... and he’s been proved right with this album.”
ZIQ431
320 kbps, LAME-encoded
Established! — that certainly sums up the legacy of RP Boo. Regarded as the Juan Atkins of Chicago footwork, his influence on the genre can’t be overstated enough, from his DJ-ing days in the early 1990s to his 2013-2018 holy trinity of full-length releases on Planet Mu. With Established!, the trinity now becomes four-pronged — and what’s more, Boo shows off the endless stream of new ideas he’s still capable of bringing to the beat pad.
One of the most remarkable things about Established! is RP Boo’s fresh-faced hunger and humour. Once we’re allowed into his world with the sparse piano jam of ‘All My Life’, we encounter the familiar G-Funk swagger of Dre and Snoop’s ‘Nuthin’ But A G Thang’, in which Boo locates a nascent, throbbing groove beneath the blunted sample and spins the track into a vertigo-inducing barrage. ‘Finally Here’ sees Boo teaming up with Afiya for a raunchy party rap melee, where group chants and girl group vocalisations pop in and out of ear shot across a classic footwork bass buzz.
RP Boo offers a number of reminders with Established! Chief among them is the sheer amount of fun that can be had by sending samples and beats over the 150bpm mark. He runs this joint — and don’t you forget it.
