If you ask me, Martyn is a don is this game and always will be, one of the most hypnotic and considered sets I have ever heard was when I saw him play at Deviation a few years ago. You didn’t need to be taking anything to get high to that. He has an evolving sound which, over the last 4 or 5 years, has spanned through most sub genres of bass music with his latest single seemingly a culmination of all of his previous work. ‘Viper‘ has got big crunchy cords reminiscent of early 2000′s D&B or early Distance sounding dubstep, all set upon a backdrop of spaced out rave sounds. The ‘London Arches Edit‘ is actually the better version of the two, a little more palatable and very ravey. ‘Masks‘ is an extension of the sounds form the album ‘Great Lengths‘, heavy 2-Step influenced, dancle floor house music. Good stuff, have a listen.
Back in August, whilst gearing up to his Planet Mu label compilation entitled Bangs & Works Vol.1 Mike Paradinas shared his take on the origins of Footwurk/Footwork and Juke. Whilst showcasing some snippets and teasers of the scenes best he also featured a couple of the tracks secured for Planet Mu. These clearly whet the appetites of many. Since then there has been a definite upspring in the mentions, conversations and touch points featuring Juke and Footwork.
Although many will tell you it’s been on their radar for a couple of years (or more) it’s only in the last few months that it has consistently crept into a plethora of infulential DJ’s mixes and set-lists. Just today, FACT dropped their one hundred and ninety-ninth mix by none other than Mosca. His mix goes straight in hard with DJ Roc ‘Let’s get it started’ on a Juke, into Jungle, jump up vibe. In a rather similar fashion Mark Pritchard, in his Africa Hitech guise, did a little something similar on Wednesday night at Deviation when he used a coupe of Juke bangers as his stepping stone into a sweet old school Jungle selection which went down a treat. Unfortunately not all crowds are as open-minded as the Deviation regulars. This is something our very own J Money found out first hand on Halloween Friday. It sounds like the punters may have been genuinely scared by the intensity of the Footwork vibes. Oh well, maybe next year By then we’ll probably have seen someone like Wiley riding the Juke to widespread acclaim, winning over initial doubters. Although I couldn’t make it in person I also hear that Mr Paradinas did a special guest set at CDR in October alongside Mark Pritchard. As a hotbed for fresh ideas, new talent and some serious innovations in production I imagine his set there would have been met with open ears.
So, while we’ve got a bunch of guys seeding the sound to the open-minded in a dancefloor context, we thought it would make sense to help satiate the interest that seems to be culminating by rounding up some tasters for you. Some more lengthy and focused explorations and showcases of the Juke sound and it’s peripheral influences in mix form come from the likes of Chrissy Murderbot (below), a guy called Screwtec (who runs a Juke/GhettoTech/BootyBass night in Leipzig, Germany) and another favourite of ours being Kaptain Cadillac’s ‘The Footwork Chainsaw Massacre’ mix that Ouzo posted here a few months back. Of course, there is also Mike Paradinas’ own Mixcloud rinse out.
To top it off, if you want my take on where this could be heading, I think Chrissy Murderbot hit’s a tasty note with his Trey Songz ‘Neighbors Know My Name’ remix. I know, it’s sometimes hard to swallow, but when new vibes get the vocal treatment they typically go on to gain wider appeal. And, to be honest, if it sounds like this, I ain’t complaining.
I am in Copenhagen at the moment and I missed the last Deviation session with Mala, a long time hero of mine and someone I have been lucky enough to sit next to on a flight to Munich and hear him play a massive 4 hour set to 20 people (plus countless DMZ sets, of course). Obviously I was intrigued to hear about how it went down and stumbled across a nice little post regarding Mala’s last tune. It is an absolute banger and if the rest of the set was up to this standard, I definitely missed a huge night! Here it is, check it out.
By then we’ll probably have seen someone like