Longtime player Traxman is so hasty in his stream-of-consciousness mixing and matching of samples that the chopped eighties loop on 'Brainwash' contains noticeable gaps that are way too big and sloppy to be accidental. There's a looseness in the footwork template that allows for an almost free-jazz aesthetic – where snares don't have to hit on every third beat and samples are broken and retriggered so many times over that they form their own unique linguistic framework. But as the disparate snippets of vocal and siren build up around one another, they start to form a semi-logical pattern, hinting at something greater than the sum of its parts. For all it's worth, it could just be the intro from Pharoahe Monch's 'Simon Says' skipping on a malfunctioning CD player. He opens this compilation with 'Heavy Heat' – no more than a hotch-potch of incongruous sounds, with the odd 808 snare thrown in to keep it all from falling apart. Scene originator RP Boo claims the first footwork rhythm was programmed in about five-minutes. Here, it's all about the twists and turns – the bluffs and dummies incorporated into footwork production that trip and wrongside dancers into having to think "on their feet". Still as unhinged as ever, the variety on show makes for a much more accessible listening experience. 2 is all the better off for exploring the style's outer limits. 1 set out to showcase footwork in its essence, Vol. Maybe it's something to do with time, having allowed the footwork sound to sink in over the last year, but to these ears this second volume feels like a remarkable step-up from the first outing. 2 makes a very good case for the affirmative. So after Bangs & Works, how much OG footwork do we really need? And does anyone seriously need to own more than one footwork album?īangs & Works Vol. Footwork remains a largely academic pursuit for many listeners, yet to spawn a big Fabric mix or a major clubbing scenario. But Bangs & Works' legacy so far has been a backboard to be bounced off - an interesting and inspiring artefact to be drawn from, twisted and bastardised at will, but not necessarily played (in its purest form) for pleasure alone. Global adopters like Africa Hitech and Addison Groove have found success through re-appropriation of the footwork template, bevelling its rough edges and cutting it with other styles of dance and electronica. There's an honesty, a rawness, a "punk rock-ness" inherent in footwork that hasn't really been heard since the early years of techno and its more extreme offshoots like gabba and 'ardkore. The style's frenetic rhythms and homespun productions sound erratic and alien in mainstream club and home listening environments.īut this is precisely why footwork has garnered a niche audience grown weary of rising production values. The music's primary function as a backdrop for dance battles has seen even devoted followers owning up to aural exhaustion through extended play. Accessible? Mmm, well… Footwork was never initially intended to be heard away from the ferocious dance circles formed in Chicago basements and gyms, far from our own home stereos and iPods. Twelve months since its release, and we've already seen the likes of Africa Hitech, Machinedrum and Sully paying tribute to Bangs & Works' 160bpm sample-splitting madness, to great effect in most cases. Mike Paradinas' original haul has made minor stars of hitherto unknown DJ/producers such as Roc, Spinn and Rashad, all of whom have released solo efforts on Paradinas' UK electronica label Planet-μ. If footwork ever goes on to prove as influential as dubstep, the first Bangs & Works will be recognised as its Run The Road, its Dubstep Allstars – the definitive compilation that brought the genre out of its own hyper-localised scene and under the wider global radar.
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