chicago juke: dj nate, dj rashad [R.I.P. 2014], leatherface aka kaptain cadillac, dj roc &c &c

so [night slugs] are like the uk diplo right?

― i feed these skreets (tpp), Saturday, October 2, 2010 4:29 AM (2 months ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

:) Thank you for creating a phrase that captures my contempt of Night Slugs.

i decided today this stuff's not even music

http://vimeo.com/15819811

I've decide that this is just about the most depressing noise I've ever heard.

j/k i really like dj spinn and dj rashad but a lot of this stuff i'm just having a lot of trouble getting into ...

super sick: http://soundcloud.com/ghettophiles/joey-beltram-energy-flash-dj-rashad-xtc-juke-remix

super sick: http://soundcloud.com/ghettophiles/joey-beltram-energy-flash-dj-rashad-xtc-juke-remix

whoops

i still think its hilar that i posted about this on ilx like three yrs ago & its just now suddenly a big deal
not that im saying was ahead of the curve -- i just think its lol how 'the curve' exists at all considering how long this stuff has been around.

i know uk ppl misunderstanding us music is sorta the origins of rave & all but man i was at 'the club' tonite (obv, its now 5am) and for the last hour the dudes descended from relatively populist house-dance rmxes to fukkin dubstep tracks that ppl stomp around drunkenly to. it was the most unbearable shit. i can just envision the dj rolling his eyes while playing actually-listenable music just so he can get to the 'challenging' dubstep tracks that only he understands **i cram to understand** this mindset

Were they actually the juke-inspired dubstep tunes?

"Footcrab" is dire IMO. Conversely Ramadanman's "Work Dem" is really good!

deej it's only now "a big deal" for the UK ppl that are into it because everyone has only just heard it! Most of the stuff that is being talked about here - certainly Nate and Roc - didn't get any sort of promotion outside of Chicago until Planet Mu compiled it

of the earlier juke dudes I think you'll have been able to find pockets of fandom in the UK but not sure if any of them come over to play, save for DJ Funk maybe? So it kind of limits how much you can engage with it as a form

Does anyone else kind of get the feeling that a lot of the recent interest in juke is just middle-class producers and music journalists doing a quasi-anthropological search for 'authentic' new music from Chicago ghettos and whathaveyou? It's not that I refuse to believe that this music can be good in and of itself, but I can't help but have a suspicion that a lot of what you get on FACT or whatever is white dudes from London searching for the perceived authenticity of new music by young black urban producers and getting off on how foreign sounding and authentic it sounds. I don`t know but sometimes I get a very outsider looking in and (and possibly co-opting) vibe from it.

I haven't really been following it much, so who am I to run my mouth, etc. etc.

yeah but that's the same old strawman argument we used for baile funk

Or kwaito or kudoro or whatever the shanty house flavor of the month is.

not sure why "outsider looking in" is supposed to be a bad thing in this instance

calling out people for getting into music for cred is tired at this point - especially in regard to dance music, no? growing up around dc and bmore i had this problem re: club music over the past few years and eventually got over it. poor white dudes, they're just supposed to sit around playing guitars and tubas all day? from what i've seen of the nightslugs crew and associated community they aren't at all disingenuous (or as socioeconomically status quo as some may think) vs just being into music seeing what they can make out of it and sure, getting off on how foreign sounding it is. people worrying about whether or not they're allowed to like or use a sound because they weren't born in a particular place or of a particular color aren't getting much done.

back on subject - rashad did ps1 this summer and it was really awkward for a while and super-necessary that he brought some footwork guys along to warm the crowd up. it was my first time doing ps1 and hadn't taken into account that it'd be a lot of people not specifically there for the music.

Reluctant to weigh in here as I'm way out of my comfort zone. Things like the DJ Nate album and some of the tracks off Bangs and Works (e.g. DJ Trouble) completely work for me in a home listening context; I don't think the "armchair anthropologist" criticisms have anything to go on because this music is easily appreciable without any knowledge of context for anyone who digs the post-Dilla/Burial or w/e late-night-beats aesthetic. (So it makes a lot of sense that Nate et al aren't considered part of the juke scene, as suggested way upthread)

The clubbier music doesn't do much for me but I'm among the least likely target audience for that so my opinion is irrelevant.

is it wrong to say that i prefer girl unit's IRL to any footwork tracks i've heard? when it doesn't sound like ghetto house, footwork sounds really off-putting to me.

Does anyone else kind of get the feeling that a lot of the recent interest in juke is just middle-class producers and music journalists doing a quasi-anthropological search for 'authentic' new music from Chicago ghettos and whathaveyou?

This is just lame... most of this music would not be heard by anyone outside its own scene were it not for people like Paradinas putting it out. This sort of curatorial outsider approach is a crucial part of how pop music works, complaining about it is like complaining about the stuff that John Peel played. What's wrong with accepting that people want to bring this stuff to a wider audience because they LIKE it? I'd be fucking overjoyed if a hip NYC tastemaker decided he wanted to put out a UK funky compilation.

Same goes for zinging Diplo really - in Pon De Floor he's been at least partially responsible for one of the best bangers of the last couple of years.

That said, I don't think UK types mixing this music with their own stuff (dubstep, funky, whatever) really works. If only because the genres have totally different genres to momentum that go against the grain of one another - juke stutters, funky gallops, dubstep lurches forward or backward or stops dead whenever it feels like it - they're not really elements that sit well with one another.

night slugs is great for doing at least two of those three things on each gtrack

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iB_4VO3ibug

love juke though not all of it 'works' - imo the best stuff is when virtually everything is rhythmic. when producers try to make it a bit more 'musical' or mellow etc im not sure the old breaks/samples sit that neatly on top of what theyre doing rhythmically. might grow on me though. what i find weird/interesting is the contrast between what you get on bangs and works for example and the podcasts from xlr8r and fact that spinn and rashad have done - those are much more housier (?)/old school ghetto house/tech sounding.

the whole anthropology thing i think is understandable but a bit specious. journalists/djs/producers etc are just excited about this, even if it isnt 'new' to everyone. seems no diff from how bmore club was discovered years after it had been around. who cares anyway, its not like juke/footwork is 'dead' is it? its still going.

night slugs is great ropey for doing at least two of those three things on each track

(last line xpost obv)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whlVi0QobNI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlVgU0YKrTQ

seems no diff from how bmore club was discovered years after it had been around. \

― titchy (titchyschneiderMk2), Sunday, December 12, 2010 7:09 PM (31 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

think of all the great music that 'discovery' caused

ive got nothing

the word 'discovery' itself is hilarious to me. like "christopher columbus discovered america" kind of shit

i discovered chicago juke itt

is there some sort of protocol white middle class labels/promoters should follow if they become aware of an artist/scene and want to popularize it?

im in favor of juke producers making lots of money out of this fwiw

less in favor of them giving lots of money to brits doing lame versions to play side by side with dubstep songs

how are they giving money to brits?

im assuming that brit will start making their own juke songs or 'juke-influenced' songs

even in the event that happens, it's hardly the same as 'giving money', and i doubt any uk faux-juke producers are going to be swimming in cash

labels releasing juke primers will directly remunerate the original innovators tho

I'm kind of loling here at the idea of Night Slugs or Planet Mu making lots of money of this stuff. deej do you have some kind of cultural tie to juke that affords you gatekeeper status? do you buy the vinyls/mp3s on a weekly basis and go to the club nights?

what are you even talking about

i think deej was saying he knew this shit years ago and is kinda lol that some uk bros are suddenly omg juke gotta catch em all

not just that i knew it, its just funny that its treated like a huge discovery & i dont really see any exciting new music being created from this discovery. im glad that yall are helping it to sell other places

i dunno

i like that girl unit track enough tho i had no idea about its supposed lineage

is there a helpful video of british ppl showing me how to dance to footcrab

was just wondering if you have an actual stake in the music, since you live in Chicago and seem so worried about it being diluted or something. not trying to zing

of course he doesn't

this is ILM

im not worried about it, i just cant imagine what kind of good music would come from this 'dilution.' as it is, juke is marginal music in the states & exists for ppl who like to footwork. its cool & interesting & not really ever going to crossover (unless it does in this sorta juke -> nightslugs -> diplo -> lil jon -> one pop hit produced for random R&B singer with slight affect of juke drums kind of path, like the reverse-BAPE thing where japanese people only started wearing BAPES once american rappers did).

its not the same as the way house music worked in the u.s., where it crossed over from underground to the pop charts. its perma-niche like b-more club. the crowd that gets into this stuff in the uk (and music spotters from the u.s. into dubstep) has some vested interest in a narrative about sonic 'progress' that doesnt actually relate to crossover

i dont have a stake in it but im not trying to 'protect' it i just dont think that this is particularly exciting news & is kinda lol

i still think its hilar that i posted about this on ilx like three yrs ago & its just now suddenly a big deal
not that im saying was ahead of the curve -- i just think its lol how 'the curve' exists at all considering how long this stuff has been around.

― lotta diamonds ... but prolly more display names (deej), Sunday, 12 December 2010 11:03 (Yesterday) Bookmark

deej refers to the concept of a curve - the latency between juke originating and actually being noticed

however, even tho he was aware of juke years ago, ie not subject to 'the curve', he wasn't 'ahead of the curve'

this is amusing to him

brits discover new local dance form; integrate it into whatever IDM is being called at that time; no one outside that scene cares.

the thing is juke was 'noticed' earlier, its just who it is now being noticed by that makes this newsworthy

i admit im being kind of harsh here on dubstep / night slugs etc. & i recognize that this stuff matters to lots of people -- i just think its a bit critically overhyped

i mean mix this in w/ my general rmde about the echo chamber of criticism etc

the crowd that gets into this stuff in the uk (and music spotters from the u.s. into dubstep) has some vested interest in a narrative about sonic 'progress' that doesnt actually relate to crossover

― lotta diamonds ... but prolly more display names (deej), Monday, 13 December 2010 02:16 (1 minute ago) Bookmark

this is rather imputing motives to ppl u don't know

i mean there is some notion about 'progress' in the 'nuum' and related ideas which probably have a little bit of influence on the way producers think nowadays

syncretism has always been an element of that -- detroit, belgian hardcore, timabaland all influenced uk scenes

so obviously it has nothing to do with a crossover of those localized scenes in other places, tho by a side-effect it may introduce ppl to them -- eg uk person starting a thread about a 3+ yr old us microgenre learnt of via uk productions

the thing is juke was 'noticed' earlier, its just who it is now being noticed by that makes this newsworthy

― lotta diamonds ... but prolly more display names (deej), Monday, 13 December 2010 02:21 (3 minutes ago)

so juke has previously been noticed by other ppl, but nobody noticed those ppl while they were noticing it?

listened to “double cup” three times last night, how is this still so good

Been repping this excellent mix from HiTech—
https://soundcloud.com/carharttwip/carhartt-wip-radio-june-2023

yes i saw that, all that stuff is great!! i posted abt hi tech and full body du rag. haven’t heard detwat yet but i bet it’s going to be great

love Détwat, it really ups the game tbh

"last winter," a long circulating bonus track from double cup, has just been officially released in advance of its upcoming 10th anniversary reissue

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8kY46h_two

Damn, I can't believe it's been 10 years since that came out.

Me neither. Feels so recent